On this date in 1956, comedian Emo Philips was born in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove. Philips is known for stand-up comedy and one-liners. His recorded comedy albums include “E=mo2 (1985) and “Live at the Hasty Pudding Theatre” (1987). Philips has also had many minor acting roles in movies and television shows.
Philips has told many religious jokes; one of them (too long to reprint here) was voted the funniest religious joke of all time by Ship of Fools and voted one of the 75 funniest jokes of all time by GQ magazine.
He retired in 2005 but emerged back on the comedy circuit around 2010 and experienced a considerable resurgence in popularity on national tours. He and “Weird Al” Yankovic toured together in 2018.
Photo by RanZag under CC 2.0, cropped.
