David Lloyd, the extraordinarily prolific, witty sitcom writer, died on Tuesday, Nov. 10. He was 75; the cause of death was prostate cancer.
A Yale graduate who started his career writing jokes for The Jack Paar Show, Lloyd went on to write for a number of exceptional sitcoms, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Bob Newhart Show, Cheers, Taxi, and Frasier.
Lloyd was perhaps best-known for writing what is probably the most famous episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, “Chuckles Bites The Dust,” for which he won an Emmy in 1976. The episode captured Lloyd’s comic sensibility: a nuanced understanding of the complex emotions that go into provoking a laugh:
There is a remarkable tribute to Lloyd on comedy writer Ken Levine’s blog. Levine describes better than probably anyone else will the diverse gifts Lloyd possessed.
Lloyd’s son Christopher is the creator of ABC’s new hit sitcom Modern Family. His son Stephen is a producer for How I Met Your Mother.
In many ways, David Lloyd helped to create what we call the “workplace family” comedy, in which people who labor long hours together bond and quarrel and joke and cry, as a “real” family might. Lloyd knew how to join people together — as characters, and as a vast audience for those characters.
Genius writer, wonderful man.
He wrote one of the best Cheers episodes “Coach Buries a Grudge” – Coach learned one of his dead best friends tried to make a pass at his wife years ago. The best line is at the end : “lets hang him in effigy” to which coach replies “The heck with that, let’s hang him right here in Boston!”
So sad. What an amazing legacy
He will be missed. Chuckles Bites the Dust is one of my favorite MTM episodes and I’m only 28! I grew up watching MTM on Nick @ Nite and that episode always stood out as one of my absolute favorites. Such a great talent!
There’s a reason why “Chuckles Bites the Dust” is consistently ranked among the top TV episodes of any type of show. Its ending is still the funniest things I’ve ever seen on TV.
And I’m no foagy – I’m 26 and a huge fan of contemporary comedy.
‘Chuckles Bites the Dust’ is right up there with the ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ episode that had me in hysterics:
Mr. Carlson: “As God is my witness I thought turkey’s could fly.”
This is an awful piece of journalism. THere is no indication of what he died from.
I know research isn’t a strong suit of this site but come on.
Which Cheers/Taxi episodes did he write?
I guess you skipped the very first sentence. If you bothered to read it, you’d learn that neither the age or cause of death was revealed as of yet. Clearly, reading isn’t *your* strongest skill or should I say…’suit’.
That sentence was added after i made this remark.
Thanks for the kind words about our father. We loved him and he will be missed. Of course, you and Levine are both incorrect on one fact. He died on the evening of Tuesday the 10th. Fortunately he was surrounded by family.
I am imagine this might not be the best way to reach you, as your father passed away almost a year ago, but I am writing a book – THE book – on seltzer, and would love to speak with you about its role in the classic Chuckles episode, if you would be willing.
a comedy classic indeed! a legend has been lost, thank you for the laughs david!
Well the world is worse off without a truly great writer, unlike today. I really enjoyed seeing MTM again she was the best looking funny lady on tv and was was lucky enough to have great material also, thank’s for the memories David Lloyd ( as Bob Hope would say)
I never had the opportunity to meet David. However I am a friend of Doug’s. Now I understand where Doug gets his sense of humor. I wish the family well in this time of sorrow.