Robert Michael Morris, Who Played Mickey on "The Comeback", Dead at 77
by Dave Nemetz
May 30, 2017


Robert Michael Morris, who co-starred with Lisa Kudrow on the HBO comedy "The Comeback", has died at the age of 77.

According to our sister site Deadline, the cause of Morris’ death is unknown at this time.



He was best known for playing Mickey, the flamboyant hairdresser/best friend of Kudrow’s faded sitcom star Valerie Cherish, on HBO’s showbiz satire "The Comeback".

Morris appeared as Mickey in both the initial 2005 season and the 2014 revival, where Mickey’s health scare added a layer of poignancy to Valerie’s self-involved antics.



Kudrow remembered Morris on Twitter:

"We lost Robert Michael Morris today.He left us with many wonderful gifts, most importantly, an example of what a truly good soul looks like."

http://tvline.com/2017/05/30/robert-michael-morris-dead-dies-the-comeback-mickey/

"The Comeback" Season 3 will Honor the Late Robert Michael Morris' Mickey: "A Big Loss" (Exclusive)
by Patrick Gomez
January 1, 2026


As Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow prepare to bring "The Comeback" back for a third season after an 11-year hiatus, they will have to do so without Mickey, as Robert Michael Morris died in 2017 at the age of 77 after battling stage 4 melanoma.

Michael Patrick King tells Entertainment Weekly, "People fell in love with Valerie because of Mickey. They could see her through his eyes."



King promises that they will find a way to honor Morris and Mickey.

"How could you not?" he says. "You know that we're going to bring up Mickey. There has to be a way to acknowledge his absence. We tried to find a way that would not at all deny that, but also not.... Hopefully, he'll be served. It's important."

"His absence is a big loss. A big loss," he continues. "And Mickey being gone is a loss for us as well, so we'll have to address that."

https://ew.com/the-comeback-season-3-will-honor-late-robert-michael-morris-mickey-11869928

Very sad Jimmy :(

Lisa Kudrow Thought “We Were Done” with "The Comeback" after Robert Michael Morris’ Death in 2017: “Mickey’s Irreplaceable”
by Glenn Garner
March 20, 2026


With "The Comeback‘s" upcoming third and final season, fans of the HBO comedy will surely be mourning one character’s absence.

Following the 2017 death of Robert Micheal Morris, who played Valerie Cherish’s (Lisa Kudrow) best friend and trusted hairstylist Mickey Deane, the actress and co-creator told Deadline she was sure “that was it” with the series. “We were done,” she said.

“Mickey’s irreplaceable, and we know that’s how everyone would feel,” explained Kudrow at Deadline’s SXSW Studio last weekend.




Jack O’Brien plays new hairstylist Tommy Tomlin, who he says is not intended to be a replacement.

“Mickey’s character was so original, and his impact was so specific, that I felt like a proxy,” said O’Brien. “Like that had to be completed, it had to be delivered in some sense.”

“I think it was a great joy for him at the end of his life to be thought of that way. So, I just sort of borrowed the guise and carried that affection toward, because I realized that everybody watching it would miss him. And it was a lovely thing to be asked to do.”

O’Brien explained that he “wasn’t being asked to mimic [Morris] or be even in that mode. I was asked basically to carry him forward, and I felt that’s what I did.”




Morris was co-creator Michael Patrick King‘s drama teacher before finally making his onscreen debut on the show in 2005.

King praised O’Brien’s “authenticity, and a gravitas, and a heart, and a soul that is nothing like Robert Micheal Morris, but is fully Jack O’Brien’s. And we wanted Valerie to have someone with a heart, who saw her a star, which is why the I’m It [connection] was important. He saw her as a star, still.”

“But also, we wanted to have him help her deal,” added King. “Because Lisa didn’t even consider doing The Comeback once Michael died. … He couldn’t be replaced. So, we came up with the idea that maybe Valerie hasn’t really felt it yet.”

Kudrow added, “Yeah, it felt very Valerie too, because it’s something that’s difficult, so it’s not happening.”

https://deadline.com/2026/03/lisa-kudrow-done-the-comeback-robert-michael-morris-death-1236761052/