1 hour 12 minutes | Monday, 3 August 2026
Episode 430: On the morning of May 28, 1998, police were called to a home on Encino Avenue in Encino, California. Inside the master bedroom, they found Phil Hartman — one of the most versatile performers in the history of North American television — shot three times at close range while he slept. His wife, Brynn, had pulled the trigger sometime around 2:30 in the morning, then driven to a friend's house and confessed. By the time police arrived, she was back in the bedroom. She never came out.
Phil Hartman was 49 years old and born in Brantford, Ontario. He had just wrapped his fourth season of NewsRadio. He had a film opening in July. Behind the public face of a thriving career was a marriage under years of sustained pressure — addiction, relapse, escalating volatility, and a final argument that ended in the worst possible way. The motive was listed as unknown. It remains unknown.
Sources:
Los Angeles County Coroner Case Report, Investigator's Report, Autopsy Report & Toxicology — Case No. 98-03785
Hartman's Death: The Police Version — Time, June 3, 1998
Reaction & Sanctions — NPR, May 28, 1998
Disturbing Details Found In Phil Hartman's Autopsy Report — Grunge, 2024
The Last Days of Phil Hartman — ABC News / 20/20, 2019
Phil Hartman — People Magazine, 1998
Jon Lovitz Blames Andy Dick for Hartman's Death — CBS News, 2007
Phil Hartman Wrongful Death Lawsuit / Zoloft — Salon, 1999
Birgen Hartman on her father's Simpsons legacy — The Hollywood Reporter, 2022
Brantford to honour Phil Hartman with mural — CBC News, 2024
Phil Hartman — Canada's Walk of Fame
Phil Hartman — Brantford Walk of Fame
You Might Remember Me: The Life and Times of Phil Hartman — Mike Thomas
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