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In works like “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” the playwright would force you to laugh, not to dull the pain but to hone it.

Mr. Flaherty first became known for playing a series of oddball characters on one of TV’s most influential sketch shows. He was later a familiar face in film and on TV.

The comedian has always had a sharp Borscht Belt approach, but only in his return to “The Daily Show” can we see how he wields this style so expertly.

Stewart, who hosted the Comedy Central show from 1999 to 2015, will also be an executive producer.

He wrote more than 100 symphonic, choral, solo instrumental and chamber works. But he was better known, and celebrated, as a musical parodist. Who can forget the “Concerto for Horn and Hardart”?

A Las Vegas institution, he would do just about anything for a laugh, including physical comedy so broad that it sometimes left him black and blue.

He was close with John Lennon, and had a sophisticated understanding of wine, politics and literature. He only played the bumpkin onstage.