Robert Schimmel
Stand-up comedian · 1950–2010

Robert Schimmel

Also known as Robert George Schimmel and Bob Schimmel

Who Robert Schimmel is

Robert Schimmel was a stand-up comedian from the Bronx, the son of Holocaust survivors, known for blue comedy drawn from his own life and regarded as a "comic's comic" for his relentless touring, his albums and his frequent appearances on HBO and The Howard Stern Show. After a year in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam era, he was selling stereos in Scottsdale, Arizona, when his sister urged him to try a comedy club's open-mic night, and in 1986 Rodney Dangerfield put him on his HBO Young Comedians Special. He wrote material for In Living Color and for Yakov Smirnoff and Jimmie Walker, made the specials Guilty as Charged (Showtime, 1994), Unprotected (HBO, 1999) and Life Since Then (Showtime), released five comedy albums, shared the 1999 American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic with John Pinette, and was ranked 76th on Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time. He wrote Cancer on Five Dollars a Day (2008) about getting through non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with humor, and died on 3 September 2010, at 60, of injuries from a car accident in Scottsdale.

At a glance

Born
1950
Died
2010
Came up through
In Living Color
Stand-up specials
Robert Schimmel: Guilty as Charged, Unprotected and Life Since Then
Albums
Comes Clean, If You Buy This CD, I Can Get This Car, Unprotected and 2 more
Podcasts
Cancer on Five Dollars a Day
On screen
Rodney Dangerfield's HBO Young Comedians Special, In Living Color, The Howard Stern Show and 1 more

Specials, shows and podcasts

Stand-up specials

Albums

On screen

Podcasts

Where they got their start

Came up the same way

Other comedians in SUCDb who came through In Living Color:

The Launching Pads: the shows the comedians came through →

Comedians like Robert Schimmel

Each linked to them by something on the record — a stage they both came through, a bill, a show, a style or a home town.

Every stand-up comedian with a page, A to Z →

Career timeline

  1. 1950Born
  2. 1986Rodney Dangerfield's HBO Young Comedians Special (1986) On screen
  3. 1994Robert Schimmel: Guilty as Charged (1994, Showtime) Special
  4. 1996Comes Clean (1996, Warner Bros. Records) Album
  5. 1998If You Buy This CD, I Can Get This Car (1998, Warner Bros. Records) Album
  6. 1999Unprotected (1999, HBO) Special
  7. 1999Unprotected (1999, Warner Bros. Records) Album
  8. 2000Schimmel (Fox sitcom pilot, 2000; not aired) On screen
  9. 2002The Early Years (2002, Murder Inc. Records) Album
  10. 2003Reserection (2003, Murder Inc. Records) Album
  11. 2008Cancer on Five Dollars a Day (*Chemo Not Included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life (book, 2008) Book
  12. 2009Life Since Then (2009, Showtime) Special
  13. 2010Died

Questions about Robert Schimmel

What stand-up specials has Robert Schimmel released?

Robert Schimmel: Guilty as Charged, Unprotected and Life Since Then.

What podcast do they host?

Cancer on Five Dollars a Day.

What TV shows and films are they in?

Rodney Dangerfield's HBO Young Comedians Special, In Living Color, The Howard Stern Show and Schimmel.

Where did they get their start?

In Living Color (writer).

Who are some comedians like them?

Damon Wayans (also came through In Living Color), Jamie Foxx (also came through In Living Color), Jim Carrey (also came through In Living Color), Keenen Ivory Wayans (also came through In Living Color) and Larry Wilmore (also came through In Living Color).

The full SUCDb record

The full record — the career in order, the specials and credits, and the sources for each — is on SUCDb, with their place on the Legends ballots.

Their SUCDb record →

Sources

Updated 5 October 2026 · the record checked 29 September 2026