If I ever completely lost my nervousness I would be frightened half to death.

The coroner ruled the death a heart attack. Despite his campy television persona Lynde never publicly came out as gay and the press generally refrained from commenting about it. In his monologue from that revue the "Trip of the Month Club" Lynde portrayed a man on crutches recounting his misadventures on the African safari he took with his late wife.

Paul Edward Lynde (June 13 1926 – January 10 1982) was an American comedian and actor. A noted character actor with a distinctively campy and snarky persona that often poked fun at his barely in the closet homosexuality Lynde was well known for his roles as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched and Harry MacAfee the befuddled father in Bye Bye Birdie – both the stage musical and the film-version.