TRAGIC

Comedian Who Opened for Robin Williams Killed in Hit-and Run

The famed comedian, 73, was struck as he crossed the street in Los Angeles.

The famed comedian Perry Kurtz, who once worked as an opener to Robin Williams, was fatally struck in a crosswalk by a teen driver in Los Angeles on Thursday night, police said. A news release said first responders arrived to the crash scene around 11:30 p.m. to find Kurtz, 78, lying dead on Ventura Boulevard, the primary east-west highway in the San Fernando Valley area of LA. Police said they’ve since arrested an 18-year-old man after finding his damaged and abandoned Honda Civic not far from the crash scene. Cops said they tracked down the teen at his home and arrested him there, slapping him with a charge of suspicion of felony hit-and-run causing death. TMZ reported that Kurtz’s daughter, Zelda Velazquez, posted that her dad was traveling between comedy gigs when he was struck. He’d been a comedian for five decades, with two of his most high-profile performances coming on season eight of America’s Got Talent when he rapped about the judges—receiving three quick “Nos”—and when he joined The Late Late Show with James Corden.