OBITUARIES - Joey Bishop, 89; last of Rat Pack - The comedian had two '60s TV shows and made more than a dozen films.

Joey Bishop, the deadpan comedian who was ABC's answer to NBC's late-night talk show king Johnny Carson in the late 1960s and was the last surviving member of Frank Sinatra's legendary Rat Pack, has died. He was 89.

Bishop, who had been in failing health for some time, died Wednesday night at his home in Newport Beach, according to his longtime friend, publicist Warren Cowan.

An adept ad-libber with a dry, underplayed sense of humor, Bishop achieved his greatest fame in the '60s. He was master of ceremonies for President Kennedy's inaugural gala and joined Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford for the Rat Pack's historic "Summit" meetings on stage at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.

Time magazine referred to Bishop as that swinging, fun-loving group's "top banana."

Jack Benny called him "one of the funniest men I've ever seen."

And Danny Thomas was so impressed with Bishop that he had a weekly situation comedy built around him, which Thomas' production company sold to NBC.

For four years -- from 1961 to 1965, first on NBC and then CBS -- Bishop starred in the "The Joey Bishop Show," whose character, Joey Barnes, was changed from a low-level public relations man living with his mother the first season to a married, late-night talk show host.

It was a fitting fictional occupation for the quick-witted Bishop, who had become nationally known in the late '50s for his regular late-night appearances on "The Jack Paar Show." (Paar once likened Bishop's dour demeanor to that of "an untipped waiter.")

Bishop frequently filled in as host for Paar and later for Carson. In 1967, ABC signed him to host his own 90-minute late-night talk-fest.

"The Joey Bishop Show," with Regis Philbin as Bishop's announcer-sidekick, ran for 2 1/2 years.

"It was the thrill of my life to be chosen by Joey as the announcer for his talk show," Philbin said Thursday in a statement to The Times.

"I learned a lot about the business of making people laugh. He was a master comedian and a great teacher, and I will never forget those days or him."

In November 1969, with "The Joey Bishop Show" third in the ratings behind Carson and Merv Griffin's new late-night talk show on CBS, ABC told Bishop it was canceling his show at the end of December.