#Bill Saluga, “You Can Call Me Ray” Comedian, Dies at 85

Bill Saluga, a comedian who became known for his trademark phrase, “You can call me Ray,” has died. He was 85.

Saluga spent eight months in the hospital and died March 28 in hospice care in Los Angeles, his friend Bill Minkin told The Hollywood Reporter.

Born Sept. 16, 1937, he was from Youngstown, Ohio, and later worked as a doorman at The Bitter End in New York before he took the stage at the famed nightclub as a member of the Ace Trucking Company. The improvisational comedy group found much success in the 1960s and 70s, with its founding members, including Saluga, George Memmoli, Michael Mislove, Patti Deutsch and Fred Willard.

The Ace Trucking Company even opened for Tom Jones in Las Vegas and did jokes on the singer’s ABC variety show, which was filmed in London.

Saluga’s Raymond J. Johnson Jr. is one of his most notable characters during comedy sketches, where he coined his famous catchphrase “You can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me…” and would continue the bit before ending it with “but you doesn’t has to call me Johnson.”

Saluga also played Richard Lewis’ uncle on three episodes of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2005 and was an usher in the 1992 Seinfeld installment “The Usher.”

Throughout his career, he made appearances on other shows, including Red Foxx, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The David Steinberg Show, Mad About You, Blossom, Home Improvement, Sisters and Murphy Brown.