Ken Ober Passes at 52
Hosted MTV’s Remote Control
Ken Ober, a comedian and actor who in the 1980s became a familiar face on MTV as host of the pop-culture game show Remote Control, was found dead on November 15, 2009, at his home in Santa Monica, California. He was 52.
The cause was unknown, but Ober was reported to have been ill with a headache and flu-like symptoms in the days prior to his death.
Ober was working as a stand-up comedian when he landed the job as host of Remote Control in 1987. The show, which took place on a set designed to resemble a basement, featured college-age contestants, seated in reclining lounge chairs, fielding questions about television, music videos and pop culture. Eliminated contestants were pitched backward in their chairs through the wall of the set.
Born July 3, 1957, in Brookline, Massachusetts, Ober grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied communications and education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and worked as a substitute teacher in Boston before performing in comedy clubs in New York.
Ober left Remote Control in 1989 to pursue acting work, and went on to appear in such series as Parenthood, Who's the Boss? and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
He later became a writer and producer for the series Mind of Mencia and The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Ober, who was single, is survived by his mother, his father and stepmother and a brother.