Jay Thomas Dies At 69
We were saddened to learn that actor and radio personality Jay Thomas has died at the age of 69 after a battle with cancer. The news, as first reported by The New York Daily News, came from Thomas’ longtime friend and agent of 35 years Don Buchwald, who said, “Jay was one of a kind, never at a loss for words and filled with so much fun and wonderfully wacky thoughts and behavior.” Thomas’ wife Sally and his sons Sam, Jake and J.T. were by his side when he passed.
Thomas began his broadcasting career announcing high school football and college basketball while attending Gulf Coast College and Jacksonville University. He later worked at WAPE/Jacksonville before moving on to Charlotte, where he did mornings on Big WAYS-AM and WROQ. Thomas then got the big call and took his act to New York City, where he did mornings at the legendary WXLO (99X) and later, the original 92.3 WKTU — until he was replaced by Howard Stern when WKTU changed format and call letters to WXRK (92.3 K-Rock). After a brief stint with WXKS (Kiss 108)/Boston, Thomas moved out to Los Angeles, where he enjoyed a 10-year run at KPWR (Power 106). More recently he had hosted a show on SiriusXM.
Thomas also made the successful transition to television, playing such notably recurring roles as deli owner Remo DaVinci on Mork & Mindy from 1979-81, followed by his memorable portrayal of Eddie LeBec, Rhea Perlman‘s TV husband on Cheers from 1987-1989 — until his character, an ex-hockey player, was ironically run over by a Zamboni. He later played Jerry Gold on Murphy Brown from 1989-1998 and starred on the hit sitcom Love & War from 1992-1995. He had recently appeared on Showtime’s Ray Donovan.
• Fans also remember Thomas from his annual holiday visits to Late Show with David Letterman, where he and Dave would try and knock a giant meatball off the top of Letterman’s Christmas tree by throwing footballs at it. During that annual visit, Letterman would always prevail upon Thomas to tell what became known as “The Lone Ranger Story,” a delightful true-life tale from his WAYS/Charlotte radio days — a hilarious (and very stoned) encounter with Lone Ranger actor Clayton Moore, who making a promotional appearance at a local car dealership during Thomas’ remote. If you haven’t heard it, please take the time to savor it.
• Thanks, as always, to “Radio’s Best Friend,” Art Vuolo, who stayed up late last Thursday evening and dug into his vast video archives to assemble a really nice Jay Thomas tribute. It’s great to see Thomas clearly enjoying himself addressing the attendees of Morning Show Bootcamp — much of it at the expense of the good-natured Mr. Vuolo.
