Barry Blaustein, comedy writer for ‘SNL’ and ‘Coming to America,’ dies at 71

Comedy writer Barry W. Blaustein, who collaborated with Eddie Murphy on “Saturday Night Live” and the “Coming to America” films, died on Tuesday. He was 71.

Blaustein, who also wrote and directed “Beyond the Mat,” the acclaimed 1999 documentary about professional wrestling, was told last month that he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

His death was confirmed by a spokesperson with Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, the Los Angeles Times reported. Blaustein had been a screenwriting professor at the school since 2012.

Blaustein was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.

Blaustein, who grew up on Long Island, and David Sheffield, who was raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, were hired for “SNL” before its sixth season began in 1980, along with Murphy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Blaustein and Sheffield became writing partners, and they clicked with Murphy and wrote exclusively for him. They would collaborate to produce some of the comedian’s most memorable work, the entertainment news website reported.

The trio created Murphy’s characters that mocked cartoon character Gumby, “Little Rascals” star Buckwheat and children’s show host Fred Rogers (as Mr. Robinson), according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“Mr. Rogers actually came up to the offices one day,” Blaustein told NPR’s Terry Gross in a 2000 interview. “He basically said, ‘You’ve had your fun, now stop doing the sketches.’ We were tired of doing them anyway.”

In addition to the television sketches, Blaustein and Sheffield teamed with Murphy to write the 1988 film “Coming to America” and its 2021 sequel, “Coming 2 America,” the Times reported.

They also wrote “Boomerang” (1992), “The Nutty Professor” (1996) and “The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps” (2000), according to the newspaper.

Blaustein also directed the 2010 feature film “Peep World” and 2005’s “The Ringer.”

Blaustein’s favorite project, however, was “Beyond the Mat,” a behind-the-scenes chronicle of pro wrestlers Terry Funk, Mick Foley, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and others, the Times reported.

Born on Sept. 10, 1954, Barry Wayne Blaustein graduated from W.T. Clarke High Schoo. He would earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University before taking an internship at NBC News in New York, according to the newspaper.

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