Rodney Dangerfield Exhibit Coming to the Grammy Museum

On Nov. 2, the Grammy Museum will open “The Comedic Genius of Rodney Dangerfield,” a special exhibit dedicated to the life and work of legendary Comic Rodney Dangerfield. The first of its kind for the Museum, the exhibit will also launch a month-long celebration of comedy. Dangerfield never got the respect of receiving an Oscar, but he’s no stranger to the world of Grammy Awards, as the comedian won the Grammy for Best Comedy Recording in 1981. And at the Museum exhibit’s opening ceremony, Dangerfield will be honored by his friends and peers in a special program. Michael Bolton is slated to host tributes from Don Rickles, Jay Leno and Lily Tomlin, among others.

Born as Jacob Rodney Cohen in 1921, Dangerfield wasn’t always an A-lister chumming with Hollywood’s elite. He spent much of his early career writing jokes for other standups before performing on his own as “Jack Roy” — and after nearly 10 years of little to no recognition, Dangerfield quit the business to work as a salesman. It wasn’t until the 1960s that he returned to comedy as “Rodney Dangerfield,” a name stolen from a cowboy character in Jack Benny’s radio show. He performed at hotels in the Catskills for little money and almost no acclaim, but when he stepped in as a last-minute act on the “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1967, his fate was sealed.

The comic legend soon became a regular on “The Dean Martin Show” and appeared on “The Tonight Show” 35 times, and his popularity lead to the opening of Dangerfield’s, a prolific comedy club on the Upper East Side known for launching the careers of standups and comedic actors. Dangerfield would also appear in more than a dozen comedic movies. Dangerfield worked hard to make audiences laugh, so much so that his widow Joan Child even collected a bottle of her late husband’s stage sweat from the last years of his life.

The Grammy Museum will display this bottle along with the iconic white shirt and red tie ensemble that Dangerfield donned on every “Tonight Show” appearance. His Grammy Award will also be on exhibit beside the pages and pages of Dangerfield’s handwritten jokes that his wife unearthed after the comic’s death in 2004. Dangerfield’s skillful writing and iconic, brilliant timing will make fans laugh for generations, whether at the Grammy Museum or forever on Rodney.com, an Internet tribute to the legend’s life and legacy.

“The Comedic Genius of Rodney Dangerfield” opens on Nov. 2, 2014 and will be on display at the Grammy Museum through Feb. 2015 . Tickets are available on the Grammy AXS website.