Humor

Ralphie May was so sick a couple weeks before he died that he was forced to call in for a radio interview instead of being in studio ... and he sounded awful.

The comedian's interview with Albuquerque's "Carlos & Kiki in the Morning" from September 22 is telling -- he reveals he's been battling bronchitis for several days and is completely worn down. Still, he tells them he fought through it and did 8 shows in 6 days ... despite struggling to walk.

Ralphie's poor health didn't stop him from doing what he always did best during the call, though -- cracking jokes.

We broke the story ... May died of cardiac arrest Friday at a private residence in Vegas. He was 45.

Pay attention Meghan Markle ... Prince Harry's got a serious case of baby fever -- based on the baby faces he busted out with a toddler, anyway.

HRH was hamming it up Wednesday with the daughter of British paralympian Dave Henson during the Invictus Games in Toronto. The little girl, Emily, seemed impressed with Harry's face game.

Tongue out, duck lips, shocked hand-over-mouth, nervous grimace -- he had all the classics working.

Tiffany Haddish's banking on slaying with her Halloween costume this year.

We got Tiffany at LAX and knowing how hilarious she is, we figured she had something great brewing with all the Halloween parties fast approaching.

Pretty obvious she's been thinking long and hard about her outfit, and has narrowed it down to 2 options. Both would kill, in our opinion.

A Post Malone fan hilariously apologized for not catching the rapper when he pulled off an awesome stage dive -- because the guy was too damn busy recording the dive with his phone.

Post tweeted about the epic fail at his Sunday night show near St. Louis, comparing his dive to Jack Black's in "School of Rock." He was aiming for something closer to the epic one Lil Uzi Vert did earlier this year.

Didn't take long for someone who had been standing in the front row to post a video of Post actually flying over his head with the caption, "My bad."

As another fan points out ... "you can hear them screaming in fear." Thankfully doesn't look like anyone was hurt. Even more miraculously, doesn't look like Post skipped a beat.

Marshawn Lynch went full Beast Mode on a TMZ Photog this weekend -- GROWLING at our guy ... and it was hilarious!!

It all went down on Saturday in D.C. -- when our camera guy saw the Oakland Raiders RB and asked him about Donald Trump slamming players like him who have demonstrated during the national anthem.

Lynch decided (correctly) that it would be funny to mess with our photog ... and menacingly stomped toward him ... snarling loudly as he got close.

Our guy was so scared, he shut down the camera and almost fell backwards -- Marshawn burst into laughter!!!

The whole thing is pretty funny. Especially after the last time he messed with us.

Beast Mode, 2. TMZ, 0.

Kanye West is definitely back to his old self, but with a twist -- he's shutting down questions from paparazzi again ... only now, doing it as a gentleman.

We got 'Ye Wednesday night coming and going from Matsuhisa in Bev Hills, and he quickly reminded our photog he doesn't take questions ... sans any hands on our gear.

He seems to be in on the "no questions" joke with himself, 'cause he shuts down an even bigger group of paps again as he's leaving with a grin and a chuckle.

Kanye was mum on the looming peace summit with Jay ... but at least he's got his sense of humor back. Still ... can't tell him nothin'.

Hollywood was rocked by a relatively minor earthquake Monday night -- but it was still enough to get several celebs shaking in their boots ... hysterically.

The 3.6 quake hit shortly after 11 PM, and rather than running for cover ... most celebs seemed to grab their phones and post reactions -- the funniest of which came from Kim Kardashian, her panicked friends and Chrissy Teigen.

Floyd Mayweather ain't no Swiftie, and he ain't no Ariana Grande or Selena Gomez fan either -- that much he made clear in an interview with a puppet.

Floyd sat down outside his strip club, Girl Collection, with the puppet Diego from YouTube's "Awkward Puppets" series. Diego lobbed up a bunch of pop trivia questions for the champ, but total softballs ... like what's your favorite Taylor Swift song?

If Gigi Hadid loses a high heel while working a Fashion Week runway, but keeps going like she still has it on ... did she really lose it?

The answer is yes, but Gigi did a helluva job Monday in NYC of covering up during the Anna Sui show. It's unclear how, or why, but she lost the shoe just as she headed down the cat walk.

This could've spelled disaster -- remember the spill her sister Bella took? But you'd never know there was a problem if you weren't looking at Gigi's feet.

She gets an A for the save. Whoever strapped on her shoe does not.

DeRay Davis has a funny way of explaining his on-set blow up with Tamar Braxton last week ... which involves board games, family, and only a partial denial.

We got the comedian Saturday night at Bootsy Bellows in WeHo, where we asked about his beef with Tamar on the set of "Hip Hop Squares" ... where he jokingly accused her of lip-syncing, and eventually threatened to get his sisters to beat her ass after an argument.

DeRay says the story's BS -- well, only part of it actually. He admits he and Tamar got into a spat, but that's only because they were competing ... and Tamar's a cheater, according to him. He denies threatening to sic any of his six sisters on her.

Taylor Swift is horning in on the life of Kylie Jenner in a big way ... the singer took up a bigger billboard than hers, right across the street.

A new billboard featuring Taylor's mug promoting her new single, "Look What You Made Me Do," moved in across the street from a "Life of Kylie" billboard 50 feet away on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and La Cienega in WeHo.

By the looks on their faces ... we'd say Taylor's got more to prove here -- and more turf to claim in this epic billboard face-off.

Taylor isn't known to have beef with Kylie personally, but we all know she's not on good terms with Kim and Kanye ... and probably, by extension, the whole Kardashian clan.

Craig Robinson followed in Justin Bieber's footsteps ... by putting on an impromptu show for some Canadian folks at the same bar and on the same piano Biebs did.

The actor and comedian was at the Fifth Pubhouse in Toronto Friday night when the mood struck him to get on the keys and have some fun with the crowd ... like a guy he referred to as "dark-haired Ryan Reynolds."

We're told Craig played and razzed the patrons for almost 2 hours, and looked like he had a blast doing it.

The Biebs was at the same spot in November 2016 for one of his cheapest concerts ever -- a spontaneous 5-song set that included "Sorry."

Wonder who'll be next?

Frankie Delgado isn't quite the famous face he used to be, and cops had to step in when the former reality star tried to get through VIP at the Mayweather/McGregor fight.

The incident went down when the ex-'Hills' star tried breezing past security Saturday night outside the VIP entrance to T-Mobile Arena. Our law enforcement sources tell us Frankie tried to walk in without showing credentials, and ignored security's objections.

Witnesses tell us he never used the words, but his attitude reeked of "You know who I am."

A Las Vegas PD Sergeant stepped in to stop Frankie while security sorted out the matter. The tense moment was captured in this photo, and despite how it looks ... everything worked out for Frankie.

Someone eventually confirmed he was on the list, and he watched the fight from VIP.

Fun fact: Frankie's still A-list at huge events! We underestimated "The Hills."

Joey Bada$$ mighta gotten a taste of his own waves -- electromagnetic waves from the sun, that is ... 'cause he's rockin' new eyewear after pulling a Trump during the solar eclipse.

The New York rapper posted a pic of himself Thursday with a pair of doctor-prescribed sun glasses that he says he's gotta wear during the day from now on ... for now, at least. He seems to like 'em though, he's calling them "pretty fire."

On its face, the new day shades seem to confirm possible eye damage Joey suffered at the hands of Monday's eclipse -- which he says he stared at without protective glasses ... this right before he canceled a few shows that many pegged to his Trump stunt.

You'll recall ... Trump did the same from a balcony at the White House, staring at the solar eclipse naked eyed at least twice.

However, Joey's shades could just be a style choice as opposed to survival tactics ... 'cause he's also calling his eye damage rumors BS.

If you thought Meek Mill and Drake had NOTHING in common, TMZ Sports has hilarious video to prove you totally wrong ... Meek airballin' 3's just like his former hip-hop rival!

You might remember ... Drake drew nothing but air warming up with the Kentucky Wildcats a few years ago, and has been roasted on the 'net about it since.

Meek got his chance to one-up his rival at James Harden's JH-Town charity game this past weekend, but the Philly spitter came up waaay short -- bricking a trifecta of 3's during warm-ups.

In all fairness to Meek, this was for a good cause ... but still, work on that form, bro.

12:50 PM -- USC went all Shakespeare in a statement to TMZ saying, "To E, or not to E, that is the question. Over the centuries his surname has been spelled 20 different ways. USC chose an older spelling because of the ancient feel of the statue, even though it is not the most common form."

"O USC, USC wherefore art thou E?" ... is probably what everyone's asking after USC spelled William Shakespeare's name without an "e" on a new statue.

The school unveiled a $700 million project featuring student housing, retail shops and restaurants. Nice and dandy, but UCLA's hawkeyed student section caught one mortifying mistake.

The statue of Hecuba features a quote from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" ... but if you look closely, USC appears to have cut some corners, or, in this case, the letter "e."

What's worse -- that a mistake happened or that UCLA caught it?

We reached out to USC ... so far, no word back.