MEXICO CITY — Xavier López, a Mexican youngsters’s comedian higher recognized by his stage identify “Chabelo,” has died at 88, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wrote Saturday.

López’s best-known work, the Sunday selection present En Familia con Chabelo, ran for an astonishing 48 years from 1967 to 2015.

The Mexican president wrote in his Twitter account that his personal eldest son, José Ramón, “woke up early to see him (on television) more than 40 years ago.”

López, who was no relation to the president, often carried out wearing child’s clothes properly into his 80s. He helped discovered a style of grownup comics dressed as children that grew to become a staple for many years on Mexican tv.

His longevity — he carried out in a toddler’s raspy squeak all through his profession — led to joking hypothesis he would outlive everybody else in present enterprise.

López’s agent, Jessica Nevilley, stated he died Saturday morning, and that funeral plans could be introduced later.

A U.S. citizen — he was born in Chicago to Mexican dad and mom — López returned to Mexico together with his household at a younger age and skilled as a physician. But he discovered his calling in appearing.

The comedian’s household wrote on his fan web page that López “died suddenly on abdominal complications.”

He was survived by a number of youngsters and his spouse.