Joey Forman

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Forman and Dana
Forman and Dana

Joey Forman (November 18, 1929 - December 9, 1982) was an American comedian and comic actor. He first attracted attention in Las Vegas as the opening act for Mickey Rooney. He also co-starred in Mickey Rooney's 1954-55 sitcom Hey, Mulligan! as Mickey's best friend, Freddy.

He appeared in a number of films, and performed standup comedy on TV shows such as The Hollywood Palace. He was considered a standard Borscht Belt comic. He also appeared in two Get Smart episodes as Harry Hoo, a parody of Charlie Chan.

He distinguished himself from the field by inventing a character called "The Mashuganishi Yogi", a parody of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 1968, working with Bill Dana, he produced a comedy album consisting of a faux press conference, in which he responded to mostly-straight questions with funny answers, speaking in a stereotyped Indian accent. He was accompanied with a sitarist, "Harvey Shankar", a parody of Ravi Shankar.

In later TV appearances, he would sometimes reprise his Yogi character.

He died in 1982 from pulmonary fibrosis.

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