Über Robert Schimmel

With the exception of two appearances (on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Hollywood Squares), unapologetically X-rated comedian Robert Schimmel was excluded from broadcast TV because of his lifelong refusal to tone down his act. He survived a heart attack, beat cancer, divorced his wife to marry his daughter's friend and then, astonishingly, was killed in a car accident in 2010. Because of his raunchy style, Schimmel was restricted to appearances on Howard Stern and HBO. Despite this, however, the Bronx-born comic was highly respected by his stand-up peers, and the five albums he released between 1996 and 2009 are filled top to bottom with material that, while decidedly cringe-inducing, is almost always laugh-out-loud funny, due in no small part to Schimmel's distinctive deadpan delivery and willingness to go too far. Mike McGuirk