A Redd Foxx moment. He was a standup comedian and he had the role as the father on the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son. One of his gags was to pretend he was having a heart attack.
Foxx did his scripted part of the scene (walking across the back of a chair) while being livid. However, he fell to the floor immediately after doing so. Reese said that nobody initially suspected anything was wrong. Foxx, after all, was famous for having Fred Sanford fake heart attacks on Sanford and Son and was particularly skilled at pratfalls. Reese went to the floor when Foxx did not immediately rise and heard him say "get my wife" twice. Reese called for paramedics.
According to Joshua Rich at Entertainment Weekly: "It was an end so ironic that for a brief moment castmates figured Foxx–whose 1970s TV character often faked coronaries–was kidding when he grabbed a chair and fell to the floor."
Crowd erupts into cheers thinking it's part of his speech
A Redd Foxx moment. He was a standup comedian and he had the role as the father on the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son. One of his gags was to pretend he was having a heart attack.