Birthday: January 23, 1932
Birth Place:
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Date of
death: May 10, 2000
Cause of
death: prostate cancer
Also credited as:
The Fox
William "The Fox" Foster
Biography:
The story of "The Fox" actually began on the Westwood campus of UCLA, where Foster was a border at a fraternity
house. He got his first
job performing at The Nickelodeon, a small pub at the corner of McClellan and Wilshire Blvd., and was later hired to
work at the Mammoth Mountain Inn. He quickly tired of working for others, however, and decided to strike out on his own.
For more than four decades, Foster was somewhat of a local
legend in barrooms across
Los Angeles (at least to the crowd that first learned He was the self-proclaimed "World's Fastest Beer Drinker" -- able to guzzle a pint of brew quicker than most of us could spill it on the floor -- and a master performer of what he called "songs your mother wouldn't sing."
Foster was best known as proprietor of the Fox Inn, a
popular west side tavern, from 1961 to 1989. He performed there nightly, leading his patrons in song and often challenging unsuspecting beer drinkers to chugging races. But the highlight of each night was to see Foster chug a pint of beer while standing on his head.
It wasn't long before Foster's combination of naughty lymrics and
stupid human tricks began turning heads in Hollywood. Although his act was sometimes considered too outrageous for primetime, he became a frequent guest
star on local and national television programs, including The Jeffersons, Taxi, The Mike Douglas Show and Thicke of The Night.
Foster briefly faded from the public eye in the late '90s, but discovered a whole new audience on cable television. In the summer of 1999, he combined the duties of emcee, house band and sidekick to stars Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel on Comedy Central's top-rated hit, The Man Show, Where He is Credited as the Creator of The Man Show Toast, also known as Ziggy Zahgee.
He Sadly Passed Away on May 10th 2000, of Prostrate Cancer. He
will Be Very Sadly missed.
And Fox? Wherever you are, We are still hoisting a Beer and Giving a cheer for you every time. We miss you, buddy.
