![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/static01.nyt.com/packages/flash/multimedia/ICONS/transparent.png)
Shelley Berman in an undated photo. He was in the vanguard of a movement that transformed the comedy monologue from a rapid-fire string of gags to something more subtle.
Photofest; thumbnail, Sally Ryan for The New York Times
Shelley Berman
Died on September 1, 2017 at age 92
Mr. Berman’s brittle persona and anxiety-ridden observations helped redefine stand-up comedy in the late 1950s and early ’60s.
Notable Deaths 2017
Remembering Mary Tyler Moore, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lewis, David Rockefeller, Trisha Brown, Glen Campbell, Dick Gregory, Edith Windsor, Sam Shepard, Tom Petty and many others who died this year.