Gallagher Has Heart Attack Before Texas Show; Comedian Hospitalized
Pop Comedian Suffered Heart Attack Same Time in 2011 on Stage (VIDEO)
Comedian Gallagher suffered a heart attack before a show in Texas Wednesday night, but is now said to be "slowly recovering" in a local hospital.
Gallagher, 65, was preparing to go onstage at the Hat Tricks club in Lewisville, Texas when he started to complain of chest pains. Paramedics immediately rushed him to the hospital.
The prop comic's manager said he suffered a "mild to serious" heart attack, and his shows through next week have been postponed.
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"His family is with him and Hat Tricks has been unbelievable with the help and support with everything," said Gallagher's promotional manager, Christine Scherrer.
Last year, Gallagher collapsed during a performance in Minnesota with a minor heart attack. He was released from the hospital on March 14, 2011, exactly one year before the second attack. TMZ secured footage of the incident, which can be seen below:
Earlier reports quoted a source named Craig Marquardo who claimed that this was Gallagher's third heart attack and "he's weak." Scherrer has since said that information is "100 percent inaccurate."
The comedian, whose real name is Leo Anthony Gallagher, Jr. became one of the most popular comics of the 80s thanks to his "Sledge-O-Matic" bit, where he crushed watermelons and other items with a large sledgehammer.
Gallagher also had several other bits involving props, such as a large trampoline in the shape of a couch.
In more recent years, Gallagher has occasionally come under fire for portions of his bit covering race and homosexuality. In January of 2011, Gallagher abruptly left an interview with comedian Marc Maron when Maron brought up these allegations.
On Twitter, some users took an irreverent approach to the comic's hospitalization.
"Gallagher having a heart attack isn't funny," Tweets @robfee, "unless you imagine his heart smashing all of his arteries with a tiny mallet."
