His appearances were often distinguished by short, humorous poems he recited during the broadcast, which led to his nickname "the poet laureate of television".

He was a frequent guest on the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast series and often appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien during the program's early years.

[7] He served as a medic in the United States Army during World War II, enlisting as a private on June 27, 1941, and returning from Europe in 1945 as a second lieutenant.

[8][9] He got his start as a comedian in the 1940s as a carhop at the Atlanta drive-in The Varsity, where he increased the tips he earned by making customers laugh.

In 1978, he played the Tin Man in the film version of The Wiz alongside Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.

Scattered appearances on television series followed, as well as occasional guest-host stints on The Tonight Show during the Johnny Carson era.

Russell became the first black performer to become a regular panelist on a daily network game show when he joined ABC's Missing Links in 1964.

[14] In 1971, he started as a featured panelist on To Tell the Truth, which led to his being hired for The Match Game when Goodson-Todman Productions revived it two years later.

He hosted two revivals of Jack Barry and Dan Enright's Juvenile Jury for BET from 1983 to 1984, then again for syndication from 1989 to 1991.

I actually stumbled into it on the air.”[17] During the 1990s, Russell gained popularity with a new generation of television viewers as a regular on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

Russell died on October 2, 2005, at age 87 in New York City's Lenox Hill Hospital, of cancer.