Al Franken's 'Saturday Night Live' partner Tom Davis dies at 59

Tom Davis, the former comedic partner of comedian/Senator Al Franken, died Thursday of throat and neck cancer at age 59.

Davis grew up with Franken in Minnesota, where they performed skits during their high school years. They joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live when NBC launched the series in 1975. Both occasionally made appearances on the show as well.
Among their contributions to SNL were the Coneheads. Davis also worked with Dan Aykroyd on the skits in which Aykroyd imitates chef Julia Child.

Davis’s work on SNL won him three Emmy Awards. He won a fourth in 1977 for his work on The Paul Simon Special.

He retired in the 1990s.

Davis and Franken also shared the screen in films such as Trading Places (1983) and One More Saturday Night (1986), which they co-wrote.

Davis died in his home in Hudson, N.Y.

"I visited Tom two weeks ago, and though he was deathly ill, we did a lot of laughing," Franken said. "He was a great friend, a good man, and so funny."