This may or may not be on-topic (the medical examiner’s report isn’t back yet, so no one can say for sure if it was drug-related – though odds are good) but Mitch Hedberg, my favorite comedian, died last night in a New Jersey hotel room at age 37.
His hometown paper, the Pioneer Press, describes his comedy style:
Hedberg’s one-liners, dished off in a spacy staccato, were based on absurdist, random observations. His long, dirty blond hair harkened to the image of a 1970s stoner, and his success occurred in light of, in spite of and even because of his quarter-century affair with drugs and alcohol.
I’m actually genuinely saddened by this. I have seen him perform and he always seemed very shy and nervous to be onstage, and you kind of wanted to yell out, “It’s ok dude, we’re your friends! We’re here because we like you!” He seemed very much a real person. But when I saw him (and from other people’s accounts this doesn’t sound like it was anomalous), he was clearly far from sober and it actually ended up ruining his act. Even so, I felt badly for him more than pissed off.
Whatever the reason for his death, the comedy world is definitely poorer for the loss of his deadpan silliness and humanity. I’ll link to some of his quotes, but they just don’t sound right in print. I think you’d have to snag a cd.
Source: The D’Alliance