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While appearing on WDCM’s “Over Breakfast With Scott Spears & Company,” Gallagher, who suffered a heart attack earlier this year, said he lost his money “betting on America” such as his investment in a new AIDS medication that didn’t pan out. The comedian said he gave much of what was left over to his kids so they wouldn’t have to deal with probate after his death.
Adding to his problems is the lack of a driver’s license as well as a place to call “home.”
“I don’t know what’s the matter with my driver’s license, but they suspended it,” Gallagher said. “So, actually, now … Not only do I have no place to live – I’ve got a credit card and I can stay in hotels – but I can’t drive until I figure this out. California suspended my license.”
But even losing the right to drive hasn’t been a complete setback for the comedian, who estimates he was worth $3 million during his peak years in the 1980s.
“You learn,” Gallagher added. “I walk along the street. I go from the old Super 8 [motel] that you advertise there, which is really the center of economic activity in this town, out there where the Super 8 and the Meijer is.
“I walk over to the Buffalo … and I see things on the side of the road, which I, of course, would never see if I just drove by. And I pick up these things because to me it tells me about the society. And I find parts of cars, and they’re important parts. And I wonder how the car is driving without that part, now … We’re known by the things we leave behind.”
However, Gallagher is still an optimist of sorts, pinning his hopes on a new patent for slot machines which he believes will make him “rich all over, all over again.”