SNL & Simpsons Star Phil Hartman Killed By His Wife... Was Jealousy The Driving Reason?

today's episode is brought to you by hellofresh go to hellofresh. com and use code kendall16 at checkout for 16 free meals plus free shipping [Music] hello everyone and welcome back I'm so happy to have you here with me today to discuss yet another case and if you are new then welcome be sure to hit that subscribe button so today we are going to be talking about the life and the murder of Phil Hartman now Phil Hartman was a comedian who was famous through the 70s 80s 90s he was an SNL star I know a lot of my audience is on the younger side and I myself did not know who Phil Hartman was until I started researching this case and became familiar with his career and everything he did and he seemed like a real light in the industry who had a very successful career still ahead of him and what happened to him is extremely tragic we are going to talk about how his life came to an end however I wanted to really start this video out and for the majority of it talk about his life and what led up to that day so Phil Hartman's career is really one that so many comedians and actors look to for inspiration in the industry he was someone who figured out what his dream was and then stopped at nothing to make it come true even though his career peaked before I was old enough to even know who he was and he passed when I was about five his work is well documented and so I had a lot of material to kind of get familiar with who he was and learn a lot about him and how many people he impacted in a positive way Phil Hartman was such a talented person and from everything that I've learned about him while researching he seemed to be also just a really good person I mean he wasn't Perfect by any means but it seemed like he always had the best intentions and for those of you who aren't super familiar with Phil you'll probably recognize a lot of his work or at least the platforms that he had success on mainly SNL Not only was he on SNL he was also a co-writer for the Pee-wee Herman show and even had his own character on The Simpsons and these are just a few of the things that he accomplished in his career he was born on September 24th 1948 in Brantford Ontario to his parents Doris and Rupert and was one of eight children in his family he first moved to the United States when he was 10 years old and over the next few years they made their way from Maine to Connecticut and then finally settled in the west coast and as a middle child Phil mentioned later on in his life that he always struggled to get the attention in his family that he wanted and needed and because he didn't get that attention and sometimes love from his family he says that he started looking elsewhere for it and he began really relying on his humor and quirkiness to get people to pay attention to him and little did he know this Behavior would end up making him extremely famous one day as Phil got older he first attended Santa Monica City College but ended up dropping out in 1969. when someone close to him asked if he wanted to be a roadie for their band called The Rock and Foo and Not only was he there Roadie but he also made some graphic design stuff for them and really loved doing that he loved the whole atmosphere he really embraced that lifestyle and as a creative person himself I Can Only Imagine in how much he enjoyed being around other free-spirited creative people eventually though he did end up returning to college in 1972 at Cal State Northridge where he pursued a degree in graphic design he ended up becoming a graphic designer and even though this was the first job of his career he definitely did it well he designed over 40 record covers many of which are still famous today but graphic design was just the start for him and in the early to mid 1970s he ended up starting to work for his brother who owned a talent agency and this opened up a lot of opportunities for him and being around all these other creative people really inspired him to want to be in the spotlight himself and he definitely had the talent so in 1975 he started attending sketch comedy nights at the Groundlings Theater now if you're not familiar with the Groundlings it's not only a theater but also the name for the troop of comedians who perform there and when I say that a lot of today's famous actors and comedians got their start with the ground things I really mean a lot just to name a few we have Will Ferrell Melissa McCarthy Maya Rudolph Conan O'Brien Lisa Kudrow Jennifer Coolidge Jimmy Fallon Kristen Wiig and so many more at this point Phil started attending comedy classes with the improv group because he was interested in becoming more social with his creative output and at first he would just spend time in the audience and observe but one day he spontaneously just got up on stage and joined in the skit and at that point it was very clear to people that he was exactly where he was supposed to be he had so much talent one comedian even said this about Phil I never saw an audience member come up with that kind of excitement and energy it was like a hurricane hit the stage and I mean that in a good way and I think it will become super apparent to you the more that I talk about him that Phil had a great reputation in the industry he was known as being easy going easy to work with very kind he never asked much of those around him and he was always willing to say yes to benefit the group Bill ended up performing with Groundlings from 1975 all the way to 1985 but he definitely didn't let that restrict him from other opportunities like I mentioned earlier he was a co-writer that helped create the very famous character Pee-wee Herman after meeting Paul Rubens through the Groundlings the two of them worked together to create the show and Phil himself even had his own character named captain Carl you have to know the password sardine no turnip well sweet and I give up I can't give up you have to know the password I gotta use you a cream and Phil really established himself as a comedian through his voice acting abilities any type of voice you name it he could do it he had a bunch of characters that he would come up with that had all these different voices John Lovitz who is a very famous actor said this about working with Phil whatever he was going to imagine or say was nothing you could imagine or think of he could do any voice play any character and make his face look different without makeup and he was the king of the Groundlings but there was one area of his life that people say he really struggled and that was his love life in his lifetime Phil was married a total of three times he married his first wife Gretchen in 1970 five years before he was ever on anyone's radar the two of them divorced in 1972 and then he married his second wife Lisa in 1982 and the two of them stayed together for three years before they finally ended up divorcing but Lisa ended up staying friends with Phil following their divorce and said that he was someone who liked to disa appear emotionally things with Phil always started out quick and there was a lot of passion in his relationships but once that died down he pretty much checked out at the relationship Lisa explained that just like the characters he would play Phil was kind of two different people he had this really energetic playful side but then he also had a very quiet introverted side he was someone who really liked alone time and being famous and in this industry you don't get a lot of alone time and that was something that he really craved but with every failed relationship he always had something to rely on and that was his career and in 1986 just a year after him and Lisa split up his career really hit a whole new level when he auditioned had an incredible audition apparently and was immediately cast on Saturday Night Live which is a big deal hello my name is Philip Hartman and I'd like to introduce you to some of my characters Mrmusic this is my favorite character his name is Chick Hazard he's a hard-boiled private investigator thank you it was midnight when it happened I was parked in front of four fingers of bourbon at the Suwannee Club on La Brea Avenue most ex-fly boys were making babies and buying refrigerators but in the aftermath of my pow experience I'd rekindled a relationship with two old Pals Jack Daniels and Jim Beam these are a few of the things I'd like to do on Saturday Night Live I'd like to do Playhouse 90 90-second dramas that are very intense uh like uh Johnny Johnny the cops are here shut up shut up we're here I'm trying to think that kind of thing uh there are a few people I'd like to impersonate Peter Graves You Like Gladiator movies Jimmy uh William Shatner space the Last Frontier uh and I'd like to do an acting class with Charlton Heston wherein he uh teaches people how to say his favorite line oh my God and uh that's about it I can also do any dialect go ahead call out a dialect I don't do that no uh hello I am obscure and this is my friend Jorge from Greece it's great to be here hey thanks everybody I wish I could play you guys some of the clips from SNL but SNL is really tight on the copyright so I definitely can't do that however if you just you know search Phil Hartman a bunch of his gits on SNL will come up and I recommend watching them they're pretty funny he was really an instant success once he got on SNL and he was most well known for his Impressions specifically of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan this has been following this whole presidential intern sex scandal business so I thought we would go live via satellite there's an oval office in Washington find out for ourselves what is happening from the president himself ladies and gentlemen uh MrPresident MrPresident are you there can we go to the envelope [Applause] MrPresident can you hear me sir oh hi Jay I'm just doing a little homework here here are your briefs MrPresident oh thanks Connie here are your breeds [Applause] now Mruh MrPresident I thought it'd be good if our audience heard the story straight from the horse's mouth oh I wish I could help you Jay but Monica's back in Los Angeles he really had such a talent for impersonating people and his time on SNL is really what made him part of the big leagues you could say and despite becoming well known for some of his lead roles in SNL skits he was also known for his ability to play secondary roles he didn't really care if he was the big star he once said that he actually preferred to be in these middle tier roles because if a skit went poorly then he wasn't the one who got blamed and I loved this but his nickname on SNL was the glue and Adam Sandler gave him that name because he held the skits together and made the jokes stick and what I found interesting is he went on SNL with much bigger dreams in mind he kind of wanted SNL to be a launching point for him he had hoped that it would put him on the map so he could start acting and writing as well in bigger movies and while he did go on to act in different shows and movies SNL was really the biggest most successful part of his career but he stayed on SNL for a long time and by his eighth season he had performed as more than 70 different characters and like I said his impressions of former presidents were really his biggest hit and probably what he was most well known for but he first became known for his impressions of Eugene the anal retentive chef and the unfrozen caveman lawyer I can remember my parents talking about the unfrozen caveman lawyer all the time so when I started researching that I kind of connected the dots that that was him this was a really funny character and even just looking at the photos of him you can just see how likable he was he had this energy about him and real excitement about comedy that totally reminds me of Robin Williams who is God one of my favorite actors of all time you can call me Old Glory but let's just keep it simple uh just call me flag oh say can you see [Applause] you probably don't recognize we say who is that Evil Knievel no way thank you yeah you see you can't recognize me because I'm I'm in my suit yeah yeah I get choked up even talking about Robin Williams he was just so amazing and Robin was building a career right around the time that Phil Hartman was Phil's comedy overall was just incredibly influential and many believed he set himself apart from others by his ability to write jokes that nobody in their right mind would ever think of he just really thought outside of the box and he was so talented in many different ways he could write he could act he could direct I mean you name it he could do it and I could keep talking about Phil's career but at this point I want to start talking more about his personal life like I mentioned earlier Phil was married three times but so far I've only told you about two of his wives but we have to talk about his third wife who is the reason that I am talking to you about Phil's murder today so in 1986 the same year that Phil made his SNL debut he was set up on a blind date with a woman named Bryn omdahl Bryn who was born in Thief River Falls Minnesota with the name Vicki was an aspiring actress herself who definitely thanked her lucky stars that she was introduced to Phil and there are many people out there that think that Brynn really hitched her wagon to fill because he could maybe help get her to the top because she wanted to be famous there's no doubt about it that was a huge priority to her and like I mentioned her name was originally Vicky and she actually changed her name a couple of times while she was sort of trying to figure out her identity she first moved to LA and worked as a model but she didn't want that to be all she was mostly Brynn wanted to be an actress but not just any actress she wanted to be famous and I'm guessing that meaning Phil really gave her the confidence that one day she would be and even though they met just as Phil's SNL career was taking off there was a lot of promise that he would really find success success and what better way for Bryn to get famous than through Rising Star Phil Hartman who by the way she married after only one year of dating but here's the thing as Phil's career started really taking off brynn's just didn't now that left her with as you can imagine a lot of jealousy and I'm guessing probably a lot of resentment as well she was constantly asking him to help get her gigs but the truth was filled in and think that she was that funny and I mean he loved her but he didn't see a future in acting for her quite the way that she seemed to see a future in acting for herself but that doesn't mean he didn't try to help her he certainly did and at one point Phil was on SNL and asked Brynn to be the woman sitting next to him during the filming of one of the scenes and during this the camera pans over to Phil and Brynn is sitting next to him and she ends up looking over at the camera and the director literally stopped and had to tell her to look away so she wasn't on camera so it was things like this that made that jealousy really grow and later on in the 90s Phil was on some late night shows and Brynn made appearances with him and many people believe that it wasn't really Phil's idea to have her there and I can't imagine that anyone with jealousy issues took it well that their husband was in the spa Spotlight that they so wanted and they just weren't Bill and Brynn had a very rocky relationship with a lot of fighting and I mean a lot but before I get more into the bad I want to talk about some of the good Bill had always wanted to be a dad and in 1988 Brynn gave birth to their son Sean and actually jumping back to the bad here for a sec this is a good example of Bryn's jealousy remember how I mentioned that Phil remained good friends with his ex-wife Lisa well she called Phil to congratulate him on the birth of his son a day after he was born and when Brynn found out she called him she wrote Lisa a letter threatening her to never contact Phil again and Phil even told Lisa later that the letter Bryn sent her was tame compared to what she wanted to send her but back to the good here Phil was so happy to be a father he really was over the moon that his son was born and Brynn was very happy to be a mother as well and then in 1992 their daughter Bergen was born so but I didn't get any sleep I came back eight in the morning and uh the labor wasn't happening she wasn't dilating so they they went uh under the knife and at noon I got a little baby girl in my hands and I'm just you know you think you're going to be more blase on the second one but if anything I was more blown away so then I have to go to work begin a 12-hour day and a hundred people one at a time come up and say well what happened and I'm going through this story and every time I get to the bottom sleep deprived I'm just a wreck and I'm crying all day long and then at the end of the show Lauren puts me right together with her host Susan day and it makes me cry just thinking about it Susan day her good night was um on behalf of everyone in Studio 8 age we want to welcome Miss Bergen Hartman to the world yeah but it's you know I think it's Phil tear it off you know very good I love that name it's a it's a Norwegian Swedish and my wife is Swedish Norwegian and we wanted a Scandinavian name and Phil's wife Olaf Brynn Hi friend talk about yourself stabilized huh let me hold you you know that's interesting though you become this will happen to you because you got a little boy too but if you ever have a girl you become an instant feminist anybody get away my little girl none of this glass ceiling stuff she's going straight to the top of the executive [Laughter] you are running late running the original gamut here so in the span of four years he became a father to a little boy he won an Emmy while on the writing staff for SNL and then became a father to a little girl SNL was always going to be Phil's family in a way but now he had a family of his own that meant everything to him but of course I do have to mention that despite being a new father the late 80s and early 90s were a very very busy time for him and Brynn took on a lot of the parenting responsibilities at this time not only was SNL giving him National recognition but he was also filming commercials for Brands like Cheetos and McDonald's you're a mechanic here with Maggie Walter who Dove right into McDonald's this morning to get a 99 cent sausage McMuffin with egg I was out of control I know how you feel I'm craving one right now I really wanted me too but I've got to finish my broadcast it's 99 cent deals at McDonald's even if you just walk in and the world got to see more of Phil in the early 90s as he really began to make his rounds on all the late night shows he was on the Rosie O'Donnell show the Jay Leno show the Dennis Miller show Conan O'Brien and so many more but for all the good in Phil's life all the attention he was getting that he so desperately wanted as a child all the success that he had dreamed of things in his marriage were not going well at all like I said he and Bryn fought constantly and so many people could see that this was taking a real toll on him I mean he was exhausted from all the back and forth and drama at home many people said he put on a brave face but that didn't always hide what was happening behind the curtain literally Brynn was berating him at home she was yelling at him all the time she had so much resentment building up and it got to the point where Phil had to just go to sleep to get her to stop yelling at him and of course there is so much that goes on in a relationship behind closed doors we don't know exactly what was going on at home we don't know exactly what all their fights were about and I'm certainly not saying that Bryn was responsible for all of these arguments but most people in Phil's life argue that she was the Catalyst for most of their problems we do have to remember though that it takes two to tango and for as miserable as things were I think they were trying to work through things for their kids and a lot of their argument and tension definitely stemmed from Bryn's jealousy and resentment as she was home raising the kids most of the time and he was experiencing this successful career that she always wanted but there was also another big thing going on here Brynn really struggled with an addiction to cocaine she was in and out of rehab centers for many years but sadly always found her way back into Addiction in one instance she only lasted a few days in a rehab facility because she said it was just too hard to be away from her children and I've said this before in so many videos I'll say it again I don't care how many times I have to say it addiction is a disease again the American Society of addiction medicine defines addiction as a primary chronic disease of brain reward motivation memory and related circuitry in 1987 the American Medical Association and other medical organizations officially termed addiction as a disease I'm not making excuses for her I mean Bryn had had many faults and Phil did too but her addiction was something that she actively wanted to overcome especially for the sake of her family and it's important to note that Brynn spent a lot of time alone which I'm sure made her feel less supported in her recovery but addiction aside bran wasn't the perfect wife and Phil wasn't the perfect husband and like I said they tried to stay together for the kids they tried to do right by their kids they loved their children they both really did however over time they did really grow apart and that's when Phil started to spend more and more time away from home he loved Catalina Island and spent a lot of money on boats and even a plane he loved to go out fishing with friends and take a break from Life as a star and I struggle with this because of course I do believe that parents should get some time away from their kids it's healthy as a parent to take time for yourself but I do feel like he did a little bit too much of that it sounds like there was a good amount of time time that he could have spent with his family and really chose not to Parenting is always going to look different from family to family and I know that and I have read and watched so many things that insist that Phil was a very devoted and good father so I'd like to believe that this is true it seemed like most of the issues and him wanting to spend time away was because he was in such a toxic marriage many people who knew Phil said that it seemed like when he was at home he almost had to play a character to make it through life with Brynn like it was somehow easier to not be himself when he was around her and sure she still spent time next to him on red carpets and got all the attention that Phil was publicly able to give her but at the end this just wasn't enough for her a feature here and a feature there wasn't a full-time acting deal and it certainly wasn't going to make her famous but his future on the other hand was only looking brighter and brighter as time went on so that brings us to 1994.

Bill ended up up deciding to leave SNL he said that this was mainly because there was a big turnover in the cast and he felt the show was going in a New Direction and he actually had tried to leave before this in 1991 but was convinced to stay by NBC who promised to give him his own variety show this show is going to be called the Phil Show and they were going to allow him to produce write and act but the network ended up dropping the show before it even aired but Phil wasn't left completely empty-handed by this in 1995 he joined the sitcom news radio which was a comedic take on how staff members of a New York radio station did their jobs Phil played the character Bill McNeil and was definitely a beloved member of this cast this I have to read this for everyone in accordance with New York State ordinance 435a regarding secondhand smoke this is now officially a non-smoking office Hallelujah now I know that this is going to be hard for some of us I'm sorry Bill whatever what do we got chief uh well we're gonna do uh three five second station IDs and then three full 15 second promos over an audio bed now I'd like to have you and Catherine trading often sounds good we should also try one Clean 15 second pop without the audio bit Bill what are you doing oh sorry [Applause] no no thank you Bill uh did you hear the announcement I made at the meeting just now well to tell the truth Dave I tend to zone out unless my name is mentioned why was this something important uh well Bill actually yeah it was kind of important I'm on it Matthew yeah it was all kind of I'm on it Matthew oh we're now officially a non-smoking office what you're doing is punishable by a 100 fine you're kidding no I'm not kidding bill that's not how it's supposed to work I just put that out what's that Deca no no it's regular and he was really successful during this time he was actually making fifty thousand dollars per episode which is about ninety thousand dollars today and during this time he was also a voice actor on The Simpsons and was most famous for his role as Troy McClure throughout the 90s Phil acted on news radio and voice acted on The Simpsons and he was also featured in dozens of other Productions including Tom and Jerry Kids The 12 Days of Christmas Third Rock From the Sun Sesame Street and more and that brings us to May of 1998 when Phil's career and his life were suddenly taken from him the afternoon of May 27th wasn't anything out of the ordinary their children Sean and Bergen were being babysat by their Nanny Lorraine for a few hours while Phil and Brynn were out of the house bill returned home first and relieved Lorraine of her duties and Brynn stayed out for a few more hours she was actually with a friend at a restaurant a popular chain restaurant called Buca di Beppo she was having dinner and a few drinks two drinks to be specific nothing too crazy and when asked later Bryn's friend said it was a totally normal night and that Brin seemed fine she wasn't acting strange in any way there really wasn't any indication that she was gonna go home and do what she did in the early morning hours of May 28th around 2 A. M Brynn took a 38 caliber Smith and Wesson gun and shot her husband three times ending his life that night is pretty foggy of exactly what happened some sources say that Bryn then continued to drink in their house and after a few hours of that she decided to tell someone what she had done around 3am Brandon went over to her friend Ron's house and after collapsing on the floor and puking she ends up confessing that she had shot Phil and at first Ron didn't even believe her he just couldn't believe that she had actually done that and with her being in such a horrible state of mind and drunk he thought maybe she was confused even though she brought the gun with her over to his house and showed him when Ron looked at the gun he actually misread the number of bullets and he just thought there was no way that Brynn had actually done this after sobering up bran decided to drive home and Ron went with her but once he got back to their home in Encino he's saw the truth for himself and to no surprise he called 9-1-1 right away and Ron wasn't the only friend that Brynn told as they were driving back to the house she also calls her friend Judy and tells her what she had done but unlike Ron she believed her and immediately called police so by the time Ron and Brynn got to the house police were already outside waiting for them and the goal for police was to not only get Brynn out of the home safely but also their two children who were inside the home when their father was shot and only one of those two things happened just before police entered the home Brynn called up her sister and made arrangements for her children and then she took her own life The Gunshot Was Heard just as police were entering the home and Brynn was then found unresponsive laying next to her husband's body on the bed both Sean and Bergen were removed from the property and put into to police custody and thankfully neither of the children were physically harmed however when police asked them if they had any sense of what happened Sean said that he heard gunshots and I cannot imagine how terrifying that was for him he said that it sounded like doors slamming over and over and Bergen said that she knew her parents were gone but I don't think she really understood the gravity of what happened until much later the murder of 49 year old Phil Hartman really shocked the country at the time it was devastating to all his fellow Comedians and fans of course people knew that he and Bryn had been struggling but what's heartbreaking is just that week bill was telling people that things were starting to get better for them and I think he really thought that maybe they were but never in a million years did anyone think that Brynn was actually capable of doing this obviously we don't know her exact motive a lot of people have speculated on why she did it was it an argument that led to that moment was she angry and bitter and jealous and that all just led up to those emotions that just got out of control and maybe the drinking didn't help did she really have it in her to be a killer her brother doesn't think so he says that earlier that year she was prescribed Zoloft and her brother believes that the Zoloft in combination with her addiction is what caused her to finally snap and to be clear this is what he said not what I'm saying I'm certainly not justifying her murdering her husband but he ended up suing Pfizer and stated that Zoloft is what caused this to happen but the company settled for a hundred thousand dollars and never admitted to wrongdoing and because I'm not a doctor and because this is a very delicate issue that I do not know enough about I do not want to speculate too much here about why Brynn did what she did or what caused her to do it no no one truly knows many people believe that she was a jealous woman who couldn't stand being second tier to her husband's success and not being in the spotlight and that she killed him out of spite others truly believe that her medication and addiction caused her to do something that she normally wouldn't have done the reality is we may never know what really happened that night what happened in their room and why she did what she did and out of respect for their kids I'm just gonna leave it at that as for Sean and Bergen they ended up being raised by Bryn's sister Kathy and from what I can tell they've grown into incredible adults Bergen was six years old when her parents died and she's definitely not super public with her life but we do know that she has recently gotten married and works as a consent educator to help end sexual assault which I think is really amazing and I'm going to link her Instagram Down Below in case anyone is interested in learning more about consent education Sean was only nine years old when he lost his parents and I don't know much about him him now and what he's doing he isn't very public online and I'm sure that's for a reason Phil is remembered as the man of a hundred voices and his work is still celebrated to this day but I can't help but think about what a lost the world this was and what else he could have done what other influence could he have had on the world of comedy and TV had he been given that chance his fellow castmates have never stopped talking about how Misty is and I think his legacy really lives on please do yourself a favor and go check out some of his work he was really funny very very talented I think Phil would want us all to remember what he was like in life and not just remember his death his ashes ended up being spread among Emerald Bay on Catalina Island which was his favorite place on Earth and it does make me happy to know that this was his final resting place to leave you all with a bit of a positive ending I wanted to play this blooper reel of Phil it's pretty funny and I think maybe it'll bring a smile to your face I have something to tell you I used to work for that man Susan before you say anything else whatever you've done whatever you were doesn't matter to you or me because I love you and nothing can change that listen I've been lying hi I'm Johnny Cash and I'm a gratefully recovering alcoholic and drug addict [Applause] you know when family and friends get together there can also be a lot of drinking and drugging and that's why it's so important to pick your friends the part of your party you know what I'm saying right Eliza right Johnny but before I wrap up today I need to thank today's sponsor which is hellofresh and I'm so excited they're sponsoring because I am a huge hello fresh fan I have been using their service for years and I want to make it clear I paid for it for myself I get four recipes sent to me every week and it is so hard to choose which ones I'm gonna get because they have over 40 to choose from every week and Josh and I literally fight over what we want I love it for so many reasons I mean first of all it's delicious it allows me to save time I think that's my favorite part about it 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