According to the Hollywood Reporter, after a protracted struggle with diabetes and end-stage renal failure, according to his wife Carole Raphaelle Davis and friend and former assistant Jay Mandyam. Rooney had reached age 71. Veteran stand-up comedian Rooney earned two Emmys for writing on HBO`s Dennis Miller Live in 1994 and 1995. He also worked with Jay Leno and coached Judd Apatow and other emerging comics.

After accidentally making his stand-up debut in 1977 at El Brookman`s in Washington, D.C., where he had a pitcher of beer poured on his head, Rooney returned to stand-up comedy, first in New York City and then in Los Angeles, where he became a regular at the Improv comedy club and met Leno, according to a notice submitted by Mandyam.