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Inside Phil Hartman’s Tragic and Shocking Death · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's Deep Dive. We're going to be taking
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  a look at the life and career of comedian Phil Hartman,
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  and you've given us some really fascinating articles about him.
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  It seems like we're not just talking about his comedy,
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  but also about the tragic circumstances surrounding his death.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a lot to unpack. Yeah, but I.
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  Speaker 1: Think, you know, by looking at both the light and
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  the shadow, we can really try to get a more
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  complete picture of this complex and incredibly talented guy.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And what always gets me about Hartman is how
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  he kind of stumbled into comedy. You know, there's a
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  guy with a degree in graphic design. He had a
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  successful career in that field. It's not exactly the usual
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  path to stand up stages and iconic.
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  Speaker 1: Esmle characters, right, talk about a hard left turn.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. And one of the articles you provided mentions
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  that he kind of fell into performing almost by accident,
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  through the Groundlings, theater of La The Groundlings.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was like his training ground.
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  Speaker 2: I guess in a way, it really was, And that's
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  what I think makes his journey even more interesting. Yeah,
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  you know, he didn't find his comedic voice through these
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  big theatrical gestures, but in this very subtle and relatable
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  kind of humor. Like take his unfrozen cave man lawyer
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  character for example.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, such a classic.
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  Speaker 2: Right, I mean, the whole concept is absurd, but Hartman
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  delivered it with this straight faced seriousness that just made
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  it hilarious. Oh you know, he was a master of
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  finding the funny in the mundane, in those everyday struggles
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  we can all relate to.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's what made it so funny, I think,
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  because it was like relatable absurdity exactly. Okay, so he's
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  honing his craft with groundlings. He helps create Pee Wee Herman, which,
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  by the way, huge in the eighties. Oh yeah, and
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  then boom lands on SNL in nineteen eighty six.
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  Speaker 2: What a time to join the show too, right.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about a pivotal moment for both him and SNL.
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  Speaker 2: Totally Warren Michaels's back as producer. The cast is stacked.
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  It's like this perfect storm of comedic talent.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it seemed like SNL needed a bit of a
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  revival at that point.
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  Speaker 2: Right, They really did, and Hartman was the perfect person
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  for the job. Think about his impressions Reagan, Clinton, Sinatra.
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  He didn't just nail their voices, he inhabited their mannerisms,
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  their quirks, and he could do it all with his
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  twinkle in his eye. That just disarmed you.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you can't forget about his original characters either,
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  Like the anal retentive chef. It's hard to imagine anyone
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  else pulling that off with such a perfect blend of
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  absurdity and relatability.
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  Speaker 2: And you know it wasn't just about being funny either.
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  He was a brilliant writer too. He won an Emmy
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  for his writing on SNL, which is not something a
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  lot of performers can say.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's true.
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  Speaker 2: It shows, you know, real comedic talent.
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  Speaker 1: Oh absolutely. And speaking of his range, we have to
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  talk about his voice work. He's equally iconic as Troy
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  McClure and Lionel Hurts on The Simpsons.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, two completely different characters, both hilarious in their
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  own right.
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  Speaker 1: It's wild to think that he was juggling those roles
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  while still on SNL. Talk about a comedic powerhouse.
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you wonder how he did it all.
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  It speaks to his work ethic for sure, and his
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  dedication to his craft. But it also makes you think
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  about what was happening behind the scene. With all that
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  creative energy he was pouring out on stage and screening,
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  what was going on in his personal life Because the
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  articles you shared the kind of hint at this fascinating
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  contrast between his public persona and his.
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  Speaker 1: Private life, right, the whole two sides of Phil Hartman
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  things exactly. On the one hand, you've got this comedic
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  genius beloved by millions, but then there are these whispers
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  of a more introverted, maybe even reclusive side to him.
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  Speaker 2: It really makes you think, like, was that just how
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  he recharged, yeah, you know after being on all the time? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Was it just him being him? Or was it something more?
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  You know, like did he feel like he had to
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  put up this wall to protect himself.
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  Speaker 2: It's a good question, and it's something that comes up
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  a lot in these articles you shared, especially when you
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  start looking at his personal relationships, which, as you mentioned, were.
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  Speaker 1: Complicated to say the least, to say the least. Yeah,
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  and speaking of complicated, we really should talk about brin Olmdah,
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  Hartman's third wife. The articles you sent me about their relationship, Wow,
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  they really paint a picture of a couple that faced
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  a lot of challenges right from the beginning.
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  Speaker 2: It's true, and when you look at it from a distance,
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  you can kind of see the initial swark. You know,
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  they were both passionate about comedy. They met when Hartman's
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  career was really taking off, but as you pointed out,
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  their career paths were drastically different.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was like this rising star and she was
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  struggling trying to find her footing, both personally and professional exactly.
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  Speaker 2: And I think it's easy to see how that could
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  create tension, right, especially in a place like Hollywood where
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  everyone's striving for success and recognition.
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  Speaker 1: It's like this pressure cooker of ambition and insecurity. And
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  then you layer on top of that Omdahl struggles with addiction,
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  which according to your research, started pretty early on. That's right,
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  and man, that's a recipe for disaster.
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  Speaker 2: It is. And unfortunately it sounds like that volatility in
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  their relationship only escalated over time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's this one quote from Hartman that really stuck
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  with me. He was talking about their fights and he
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  said something like, I go into my cave and she
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  throws grenades to get me out.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, Wow, I hadn't heard that one before.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's in one of the articles you provided, and
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  it's just such powerful imagery.
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  Speaker 2: Right.
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  Speaker 1: You can just feel the tension, the sense of being
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  trapped in this cycle of conflict.
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  Speaker 2: It's really sad, and it makes you wonder, at what
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  point does a relationship become too toxic? Even with professional help,
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  can you really come back from that kind of dynamic? Right?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not a therapist or anything, but that
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  level of dysfunction, it just seems so ingrained in the relationship.
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  Speaker 2: It does. And then you mentioned that incident with the
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  letter from Hartman's ex wife, Yeah, which really highlights that dysfunction.
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  Speaker 1: Oh gosh. Yeah, that was after the birth of their.
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  Speaker 2: Son, right right, Hartman's second wife sends this really kind
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  note congratulating them on the birth of their baby. Yeah,
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  and well, Amdel didn't exactly react well to it.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it didn't react well as putting it mildly. She
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  totally lost it.
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  Speaker 2: According to that biography you shared, her reaction was pretty intense,
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  full of rage, even threats. And this wasn't just to
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  case of your typical jealousy. This pointed to something much deeper.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes you wonder if maybe she saw this
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  letter as some kind of threat to her relationship with Hartman.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think that's a valid point, and it speaks
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  to this underlying insecurity that seemed to plague their relationship, right.
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  Speaker 1: And sadly, all of this culminates in that horrific night
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  on May twenty seventh, nineteen ninety.
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  Speaker 2: Eight, the night of the murder suicide.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just awful. According to the articles you provided,
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  Omdel had been out to dinner with a friend that night,
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  apparently in good spirits. Is that right, Yeah, it seems
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  like it. But then when she gets home, another fight
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  breaks out with Hartman. He tries to escape the situation,
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  goes to bed, trying to de escalate, right, and that's
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  when everything just goes completely sideways.
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  Speaker 2: You mentioned earlier that detail about the guns in the
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  house belonging to Amdhal.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And what's even crazier is they were relatively recent purchase.
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  They got them when they moved back to La Wow.
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  Speaker 2: So they hadn't always been a prisons in the home.
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  Speaker 1: No, which is just chilling when you think about it,
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  like that were a new element in this already.
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  Speaker 2: Volatile mix, a new potential danger just sitting there, and tragically,
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  that's exactly what happened. In the early hours of the morning,
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  while Hartman was asleep, Ondahl took one of those guns,
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  a point three to eight caliber Smith and Wesson, and
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  shot him multiple times.
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  Speaker 1: It's just heartbreaking. It really speaks to how important it
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  is to be mindful of the presence of firearms, especially
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  in homes where there's a history of volatility or substance abuse.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and the most heartbreaking part is that their children,
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  Shawn and Bergen, they were in the house that night.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my god, how old were they at the time,
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  six and nine.
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  Speaker 2: It's just unimaginable. I know one of the articles mentioned
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  that Sean later said the gunshots sounded like a door slamming. Reputedly,
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  can you imagine being that young and hearing that.
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  Speaker 1: It breaks my heart to think about it, and it
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  speaks to the devastating ripple effects of domestic violence. This
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  wasn't just a tragedy that impacted Phil and Brinn. It
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  impacted their children too, and their lives were changed forever
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  because of it. It's just awful trying to imagine what
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  comes next, Like after she shot him, what was going
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  through her head?
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  Speaker 2: It's almost unfathomable. The articles you provided mentioned that she
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  started making phone calls to friends, right, yeah, and even
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  confess to what she'd done. But at first they didn't
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  believe her. They just thought she was drunk.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh gosh, So they didn't realize what had really happened.
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  Speaker 2: No, not at first. They didn't grasp the severity of
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  the situation, which is tragic but sadly not uncommon in
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  these types of situations. I mean, it's just so far
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  outside the realm of what we expect to hear from
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  someone we go into denial, I can only imagine.
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  Speaker 1: And meanwhile she's there alone with his body, the gravity
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  of it all sinking in.
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  Speaker 2: It's a horrific thought, it is.
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  Speaker 1: And eventually someone calls the police.
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  Speaker 2: It's just such a sad ending, a tragic end to
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  a story that had so much potential for joy and laughter.
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  Speaker 1: It really is. And what makes it even more tragic
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  is that it didn't end there with Phil's death.
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  Speaker 2: You're right, as the police were, right, Brinn, she locked
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  herself in the bedroom and took her own life. Oh
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  my god, It's just there are no words. It's a
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  heartbreaking end to a story already filled with so much
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  pain and loss.
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  Speaker 1: It really makes you think about mental health and addiction
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  and the devastating impact they can have, not just on
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  the individual struggling, but on everyone around them.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and it underscores the importance of seeking help. If
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  you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out.
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  There are resources available, there are people who care, and
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  you don't have to go through this alone.
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  Speaker 1: That's so important to remember this story. It's a stark
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  reminder that behind the laughter, in the bright lights, even
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  behind those seemingly perfect lives, there can be deeply hidden struggles,
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  and sometimes those struggles can have tragic consequences.
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  Speaker 2: And while we mourn the loss of Phil Hartman, and
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  while we grapple with the complexities of this case, it's
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  crucial that we also remember the incredible talent he shared
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  with the world.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Phil Hartman was a comedic genius, a mass of
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  his craft. He brought laughter to millions, and his legacy,
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  his character is his impressions. Those will live on.
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  Speaker 2: They will, and let's not forget the joy he brought
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  to so many. That's something to cherish and celebrate.
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  Speaker 1: Well said, listener, thank you for joining us on this
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  incredibly moving deep dive into the life and legacy of
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  Phil Hartman. It's been an emotional journal, full of ups
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  and downs, and we appreciate you being here with us
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  every step of the way.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you listener.
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  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep exploring, keep asking questions, and keep
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  diving deep with us