Air Farce Comedian Roger Abbott Dead at 64

The pioneering Canadian comic was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia 14 years ago.

Canada got a little less funny Sunday, when veteran comic actor Roger Abbott passed away at Toronto General Hospital. Abbott co-founded CBC Radio’s Royal Canadian Air Farce with Don Ferguson and Luba Goy in 1973, and thanks in part to Abbott’s hilarious impersonations, the political satire proved so popular it morphed into a TV show that didn’t air its last episode until New Year’s Eve 2008. Abbott was born in Birkenhead, England, and in 1953 moved to Montreal, where he would later meet his long-time collaborator Ferguson in high school. He was diagnosed with cancer 14 years ago but kept the disease a secret to all but a few close friends until last week.