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HA-HA! The rumors of his death were premature...

In 1982, People magazine erroneously declared him dead. Vigoda took the error with good humor, posing for a photograph showing him sitting up in a coffin, holding the magazine in question. This rumor was nearly started again in 1987 when a reporter for Secaucus, New Jersey television station WWOR, Channel 9 erroneously referred to him as “the late Abe Vigoda”.[citation needed] She corrected herself on the air the next day.

Erroneous reports of Vigoda’s death as well as questions of whether he is alive or dead have become a running joke:

* AbeVigoda.com lists Abe Vigoda’s current state as dead or alive.
* A Late Night with David Letterman skit showed Letterman trying to summon Vigoda’s ghost. Vigoda then walked in and declared, “I’m not dead, you idiot!”
* In a Comedy Central Roast of Drew Carey, with Abe Vigoda present in the audience, comedian Jeffrey Ross stated “and my one regret is that Abe Vigoda isn’t alive to see this.” He followed that with “Drew, you go to Vegas, what’s the over-under on Abe Vigoda?”
* In 2002, Greg Galcik recorded a song “Abe Vigoda’s Dead”, a parody of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus.
* In the show Yes, Dear Jimmy writes a song titled “Things I Think About at Work” with a line that says “I wonder if Abe Vigoda’s still alive”.
* A November 2006 Conan O’Brien sketch showed an audience member summoning the dead. The “deceased person” turned out to be Vigoda.
* In a 2009 episode of Canadian television show Corner Gas titled “Reader Pride”, Emma, Oscar and Karen argue about whether or not Vigoda is still alive.
* In 2005 Firefox added a Plug-in called the Abe Vigoda locater that updates his current whereabouts.
* A running gag on Fark.com is to refer to Abe Vigoda as either “dead” or “not dead” in relationship to a celebrity that has died or has been reported to have died.
* A Facebook application allows users to check on his status and display the status on their own pages.