--- description: Brenner appeared on 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson over 150 times title: David Brenner Dies at 78, Was Tonight Show Favorite image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ed8db759aabe39b/698685a513c79f78931910bd/163168068.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [obituary](/tag/obituary/) ## obituary Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # David Brenner, _Tonight Show_ Favorite, Dies at 78 by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2014 2:27 PM CUT  Comedian David Brenner on The Tonight Show, Dec. 5, 1975. Comedian David Brenner on The Tonight Show, Dec. 5, 1975.Gary Null—NBC/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2014 2:27 PM CUT David Brenner, the famed stand-up comedian who was a favorite on Johnny Caron’s _Tonight Show_, [died](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/arts/television/david-brenner-favorite-on-tonight-show-dies-at-78.html "undefined") Saturday. He was 78 years old and at his home in Manhattan, the New York _Times_ reports. Brenner frequently appeared on _The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson_ as one of the shows most popular guests, performing more than 150 times. He gained attention through his anecdotes about daily life, but as his career went on, his comedy increasingly focused on current events. Born in Philadelphia, Brenner graduated from Temple with a communications degree. He began as a writer of television documentaries and started in comedy in the early 1970s, landing his own late-night syndicated talk show, _Nightlife_, in 1986. “In David’s final request he asked that one hundred dollars in small bills be placed in his left sock ‘just in case tipping is recommended where I’m going,'” his family said in a statement. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/arts/television/david-brenner-favorite-on-tonight-show-dies-at-78.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/26468/david-brenner-tonight-show-dies/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/26468/david-brenner-tonight-show-dies/"},"headline":"David Brenner, Tonight Show Favorite, Dies at 78","datePublished":"2014-03-16T14:27:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:47:34.861Z","description":"The comic, who appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson over 150 times and gained attention through his anecdotes about daily life, died at his home in New York City at the age of 78","url":"https://time.com/26468/david-brenner-tonight-show-dies/","keywords":["obituary","People Premium","Comedy","tonight show"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ed8db759aabe39b/698685a513c79f78931910bd/163168068.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ed8db759aabe39b/698685a513c79f78931910bd/163168068.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson -- Season 14","caption":"The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson -- Season 14","creditText":"Gary Null—NBC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obituary/","name":"obituary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/26468/david-brenner-tonight-show-dies/","name":"David Brenner, Tonight Show Favorite, Dies at 78"}}]}] ```