One of the original writers of Saturday Night Live has left us. Tom Davis was 59 and the writing partner for Al Franken who often found himself along for the ride with many of Franken’s comedy and later adventures as a U.S. Senator. The two met in school growing up in Minnesota. Thirty-Seven years ago the duo were the first two paid writers for a new sketch comedy show, NBC’s Saturday Night (later changed to Saturday Night Live)

According to his wife, Davis passed away today at his home in Husdon, NY due to throat and neck cancer.

Davis helped shape the early years of SNL helping create legendary sketches such as the Coneheads, collaborated with Dan Aykroyd on characters like Julia Child and Irwin Mainway who made “Bag O’Glass,” as well as “Nick The Lounge Singer” with Bill Murray, to name a few. Davis also saw some screentime in sketches with Franken as the “Brain Tumor Comedian” and the “Franken and Davis Show.” He later wrote a memior of his time on the show and worked to write the movie versions of some of his famous characters.

Davis worked on SNL from 1975-1980 then did another stint from 1986-1994 then showed up every once in a while to write for the show, (as recently as 2003). He was most recently working with Aykroyd on the script for the rumored Ghostbusters III movie.

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