Michael O'Donoghue (January 5, 1940 â€" November 8, 1994) was an
American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and
destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to
National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday
Night Live. He was also the first performer to utter a line on that
series.O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New
York. His father, Michael, worked as an engineer, while his mother,
Barbara, stayed home to raise him.O'Donoghue's early career included
work as a playwright and stage actor at the University of Rochester
where he drifted in and out of school beginning in 1959. His first
published writing appeared in the school's humor magazine Ugh!After a
brief time working as a writer in San Francisco, California,
O'Donoghue returned to Rochester and participated in regional theater.
During this period, he formed a group called Bread and Circuses
specifically to perform his early plays which were of an experimental
nature and often quite disturbing to the local audience. Among these
are an absurdist work exploring themes of Sadism entitled "The
Twilight Maelstrom of Cookie Lavagetto", a cycle of one-act plays
called Le Theatre de Malaise and the 1964 dark satire The Death of
JFK.
American writer and performer. He was known for his dark and
destructive style of comedy and humor, was a major contributor to
National Lampoon magazine, and was the first head writer of Saturday
Night Live. He was also the first performer to utter a line on that
series.O'Donoghue was born Michael Henry Donohue in Sauquoit, New
York. His father, Michael, worked as an engineer, while his mother,
Barbara, stayed home to raise him.O'Donoghue's early career included
work as a playwright and stage actor at the University of Rochester
where he drifted in and out of school beginning in 1959. His first
published writing appeared in the school's humor magazine Ugh!After a
brief time working as a writer in San Francisco, California,
O'Donoghue returned to Rochester and participated in regional theater.
During this period, he formed a group called Bread and Circuses
specifically to perform his early plays which were of an experimental
nature and often quite disturbing to the local audience. Among these
are an absurdist work exploring themes of Sadism entitled "The
Twilight Maelstrom of Cookie Lavagetto", a cycle of one-act plays
called Le Theatre de Malaise and the 1964 dark satire The Death of
JFK.
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