Nipsy Russel Comic Poet Laureate

If you watched a game show in the 1960's,70's or 80's you had to have seen Nipsey Russell. He was the consummate game show celebrity.  Nipsy was on everything! Match Game, To Tell the Truth,  Hollywood Squares, Password Nipsey did them all and contributed a small poem on a regular basis.
Julius "Nipsey" Russell was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1918. One of his first jobs was as a carhop where he found if he made the customers laugh he made more money. After World War II Nipsey started performing in night clubs and recorded party albums. He hooked up with an old vaudevillian Mantan Moreland and performed Morelands famous "Interruption Routine" where a conversation ensues with no full sentences just interruptions. He eventually appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show". This lead him to a role on the TV show "Car 54 Where Are You?" He also appeared in the short lived sitcom "Barefoot in the Park" and on the "Dean Martin Show". In the 60's Npsey started doing game shows. This is where his quick wit and charm was able to shine. He was also one of the roasters on "Dean Martin's Celebrity Roast". He was known for his short and amusing poems. He would recite them from memory or at times ad lib them.

If you owe too much on American Express,

And your Diner's Club notes are too hard,

Take a loan on your Visa,

And pay it off with your MasterCard.

Although Nipsey made very few films one of them will be remembered as a classic. He played the Tin Man in the film version of "The Wiz".
Nipsey found a new fame and audience in the 1990's when he began appearing on The "David Letterman Show".
Nipsey died in New York at the age of 87 in 2005.