Ubiquitous sitcom actor Pat Finn, 60, died of cancer on Dec. 23. Finn was a college friend of Chris Farley’s, and joined the improv groups The Second City, Olympic Theater, and Beer Shark Mice. He later taught improv, and formed Improv-Ability, “a company that brings the principles of improvisation into the business world” (me, I agree with Marlene Dietrich that improv is “amateur stuff—you get the scwipt, and you learn the lines”). From the 1990s through this year, Finn was very busy on the big and small screens: The George Wendt Show, Murphy Brown (10 episodes, taking over as Phil, Jr., when Pat Corley died), Seinfeld, Friends, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dude, Where’s My Car?, Ed, According to Jim, The Drew Carey Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It’s Complicated, The Middle, and The Goldbergs (not the Gertrude Berg one), among the other vehicles. Finn told interviewer Christina Fuoco-Karasinski that “My mom and I watched The Carol Burnett Show and The Odd Couple. I really liked the idea of sitcoms. Growing up in Chicago, nobody said they wanted to be an actor. They wanted to be firefighters or in sales . . . if you were to tell me as a college kid or high school kid I’d be living in L.A., driving to the beach, surfing with my son, I’d think you were crazy. I don’t know how I fell into it. I feel so fortunate, and it fits. It feels right.”
