Sledge-O-Matic[edit]

Though it varies from performance to performance, Gallagher will usually end each of his shows with his
signature sledge-o-matic routine.

It traditionally begins with the following preamble:

"Ladies and gentlemen! I did not come here tonight just to make you laugh. I came here to sell you
something and I want you to pay particular attention!

The amazing Master Tool Corporation, a subsidiary of Fly-By-Night Industries, has entrusted who? Me! To
show you! The handiest and the dandiest kitchen tool you've ever seen. And don't you wanna know how it
works!?

Well first you get out an ordinary apple. You place the apple between the patented pans. Then you reach for
the tool that is not a slicer, is not a dicer, is not chopper in a hopper! What in the hell could it possibly be?!
The Sledge-O-Matic!"

Gallagher would then produce a large, usually wooden, mallet, roughly the size of a sledgehammer, and
smash it down onto the apples, hurling chunks of produce into the audience. People in the first several rows
are usually prepared with tarps and raincoats and many comedy clubs also take great measures to cover up
and protect their interiors with tarps and plastic sheeting.

Audience injuries[edit]

Gallagher signs head of a fan

Given the messy nature of his shows, on some occasions audience members have sustained injuries during
Gallagher's performances.

At a show at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on September 29, 1990, a woman named Robin Vann
was in the audience and struck on the head with a heavy plush penguin that had a fire extinguisher inside it.
She later sued the comedian for $13,000 in medical bills, $20,000 in lost wages and punitive damages
reportedly in excess of $100,000. The case went to trial in 1993 with the jury ultimately siding with Gallagher
after a raucous trial where Gallagher himself took the stand and reportedly got as many laughs as he would
during one of his shows. The presiding judge William Froeberg would later say "... in seven years on the
bench, I've seen a lot of characters, but none so theatrical...It was entertaining. It certainly wasn't boring." [11]

At a show at the Washington County Fair in Hillsboro, Oregon, on July 8, 2010, a woman rushed the stage and
slipped on debris and was taken to the hospital for her injuries. [12]

Legacy[edit]
In 2004, Comedy Central rated Gallagher the 100th best stand-up comedian of all time.[13] Gallagher was
displeased with being ranked so low, and he told The Oregonian, "I looked at the other people and I was
trying to find anyone I ever heard of. How could I be behind people I never heard of? ... I made 13 one-hour
shows for Showtime, which are available on videotape. I invented the one-man show on cable."[citation needed]

Personal life[edit]
Gallagher has claimed that he lost nearly all of his fortune speculating on the stock market, and jokes that he
is currently "broke." However, his longtime manager, Craig Marquardo, disputed this as a bit of comedic
exaggeration, adding "We all need to be as broke as Leo." [10]