Tom Davis, "Saturday Night Live" sketch writer and writing partner to Al Franken, died Thursday at the age of 59. Mimi Raleigh, his wife, said the cause of death was throat and neck cancer.
Davis grew up in Minnesota where he met Franken and where the pair forged a comedic writing relationship as teenagers. Both would go on to "SNL" with Davis writing for the show from 1975-2003.
Writing in his 2009 memoir, "Thirty-Nine Years of Short-Term Memory Loss: the Early Days of SNL from Someone Who Was There," Davis explained how he was inured with a spirit of rebellion at a Jimi Hendrix concert as an adolescent:
"As I walked into my first rock concert, I wanted to be a marine in Vietnam. Three hours later, I walked out wanting to grow my hair long, smoke pot, and make love to girls."
Davis would continue writing short comedic pieces until the end.
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