Mitch Hedberg RIP
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BugMeNot is your friend....
Comedian Mitch Hedberg dead at 37
BY MATT PEIKEN
Pioneer Press
Even family and close friends had a hard time understanding Mitch Hedberg, a St. Paul native who ran away from home and, despite living a scattershot life, became a runaway success as a standup comic.
Hedberg, whose space-case persona was as much part of his soul as it was his act, died early Wednesday morning in a New Jersey hotel room. He was 37. A medical examiner hasn't issued findings, but Hedberg's family is told he suffered a heart attack. His wife was with him.
After graduating St. Paul's Harding High School, Hedberg rose through the ranks at Minneapolis' Acme Comedy Co., and caught his big break through a Comedy Central special. He made several appearances on David Letterman's and Conan O'Brien's shows, made more Comedy Central appearances and produced two comedy CDs. His big dream, to have an HBO comedy special, was in the works.
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'd probably be living in Costa Rica, eating oranges on the beach, if I wasn't doing comedy," he told the Pioneer Press last September.
"There's no two ways about ??? having a son in entertainment industry is challenging," his mother, Mary Hedberg, said Thursday.
She recalls being at work when her oldest daughter called in a panic to tell her Mitch had packed some brown paper bags and left home. Mary Hedberg couldn't get home in time to either see him off or talk him out of it.
"That was heartbreaking for us, but he kept in contact with us. He called as soon as the car broke down," she said. "You know, it was like putting him through college, even though he wasn't at college. But when he got his first break, we were just so thrilled for him, because we wanted him to know he was O.K., and to have that self-confidence that he could do what he wanted to do."
Louis Lee, owner of the Acme, said Hedberg not only became the Twin Cities' first breakout comedian of the 1990s but, along with Lewis Black, helped shape a national resurgence in standup comedy.
"It's very difficult for one-liner comedians to get an audience going, but when Mitch worked here, you could see the kids call out the punchline," Lee said. "Mitch made the whole comedy community realize how important good writing is. It's a huge loss."
Unlike many comics, Hedberg was demonstrably thankful to his fans. Not long ago, a group of college students in Florida, speaking with Hedberg backstage after a show, mentioned how hot their dorm room was. Hedberg surprised them the next morning by showing up to their dorm with a new air conditioner.
"Mitch presented a lot of challenges, but a lot of opportunities for traveling that we wouldn't have otherwise had, and he had a heart of gold," his mother said. "He was a brilliant comic and a wonderful person."
Dates haven't been set, but eventual visitation and services will be at Wulff Family Services, Woodlane Mortuary, in Woodbury.
every time i want to use it I can't remember the name.
bookmarked now, thanks.
I dunno if you use Firefox, but if you do there's a nifty extension you can install that sets it so you can just right-click in the login screen of sites, click on "BugMeNot" and it will automatically fill in the info for you. That's pretty handy. That's all I did to check out the article... So, thank you "jb@jimbeam.com" for the account, whoever you are!
comedy central confirmed it in his bio (of all places)
http://www.comedycentral.com/standup/central/detail.jhtml?p=/comedians/h/mitch_hedberg.xml
B
bull_ox
Guest
R.I.P. indeed.
in all honesty he had become my favorite comedian as of late, and would have been the only standup act i would've paid to see (which i was lagging on doing so). respect due.
i hope i won't feel meloncholic when i watch/listen to his routines from now on.
in all honesty he had become my favorite comedian as of late, and would have been the only standup act i would've paid to see (which i was lagging on doing so). respect due.
i hope i won't feel meloncholic when i watch/listen to his routines from now on.
All I can say it that I knew this would happen cuz his image didn't seem to be just an image. Usually you hear how the guy cleaned up and then got killed in a car wreck (Sam Kin....)
Totally sucks cuz he wa really funny. I think I knowingly didn't get attached to him cuz I just saw it comming.
Also, if you ever saw Shorties Watching Shorties his stuff came across really funny in cartoon form.
Totally sucks cuz he wa really funny. I think I knowingly didn't get attached to him cuz I just saw it comming.
Also, if you ever saw Shorties Watching Shorties his stuff came across really funny in cartoon form.
Obit from the NYT:
April 1, 2005
Mitch Hedberg, a Comedian Who Performed Surreal Routines, Dies at 37
By JESSE McKINLEY
Mitch Hedberg, the lackadaisical, longhaired comedian whose surreal routines made him a cult figure on the national comedy circuit, died on Wednesday in Livingston, N.J., said his father, Arnold. He was 37.
The cause was not immediately known, said Michael O'Brien, his publicist. The Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn., his hometown, reported that Mr. Hedberg had a heart attack.
A shy, self-styled outsider, Mr. Hedberg carved a career out of casual observations delivered in a mumbling drawl. "I'm against picketing," he would say with a sly smile. "But I don't know how to show it."
Comedy was not a natural choice for Mr. Hedberg, who battled stage fright, and sometimes closed his eyes as he performed. Alcohol and drugs, however, played a large role in his on- and offstage routines. According to a profile in The Los Angeles Times, he was arrested in 2002 for possession of heroin. "I used to do drugs," went one of his most quoted jokes. "I still do drugs. But I used to, too."
In recent years Mr. Hedberg had shown signs of breaking into the mainstream, thanks to appearances on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and Howard Stern's radio show. Mr. Hedberg started performing comedy in 1989. His first gigs were at open-mike nights, but within two years he was touring comedy outposts across the United States, sometimes sleeping in his car. In 1996 he earned rave reviews for a performance at a comedy festival in Montreal, which led to appearances on Mr. Letterman's show, MTV and several sitcoms. The next year Mr. Hedberg wrote, directed and starred in a film called "Los Enchiladas!," about unhappy employees at a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota. The film played at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. He also released two CD's of his comedy.
Despite his personal struggles, Mr. Hedberg worked regularly, recently as part of a tour for Comedy Central. According to his Web site, he was to have performed last night at the Improv in Baltimore.
In addition to his parents, Arnold and Mary Hedberg of South Maplewood, Minn., Mr. Hedberg is survived by his sisters, Wendy Brown of Woodbury, Minn., and Angie Anderson, of South St. Paul, Minn.; and his wife, the comedian Lynn Shawcroft.
Mr. Hedberg spoke often of his love for the road, on which he lived for nearly half his life. "My theory is not to stop and smell the roses," he told the Wisconsin State Journal in September. "My theory is to find the roses and then go find more roses in another city."
April 1, 2005
Mitch Hedberg, a Comedian Who Performed Surreal Routines, Dies at 37
By JESSE McKINLEY
Mitch Hedberg, the lackadaisical, longhaired comedian whose surreal routines made him a cult figure on the national comedy circuit, died on Wednesday in Livingston, N.J., said his father, Arnold. He was 37.
The cause was not immediately known, said Michael O'Brien, his publicist. The Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn., his hometown, reported that Mr. Hedberg had a heart attack.
A shy, self-styled outsider, Mr. Hedberg carved a career out of casual observations delivered in a mumbling drawl. "I'm against picketing," he would say with a sly smile. "But I don't know how to show it."
Comedy was not a natural choice for Mr. Hedberg, who battled stage fright, and sometimes closed his eyes as he performed. Alcohol and drugs, however, played a large role in his on- and offstage routines. According to a profile in The Los Angeles Times, he was arrested in 2002 for possession of heroin. "I used to do drugs," went one of his most quoted jokes. "I still do drugs. But I used to, too."
In recent years Mr. Hedberg had shown signs of breaking into the mainstream, thanks to appearances on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and Howard Stern's radio show. Mr. Hedberg started performing comedy in 1989. His first gigs were at open-mike nights, but within two years he was touring comedy outposts across the United States, sometimes sleeping in his car. In 1996 he earned rave reviews for a performance at a comedy festival in Montreal, which led to appearances on Mr. Letterman's show, MTV and several sitcoms. The next year Mr. Hedberg wrote, directed and starred in a film called "Los Enchiladas!," about unhappy employees at a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota. The film played at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. He also released two CD's of his comedy.
Despite his personal struggles, Mr. Hedberg worked regularly, recently as part of a tour for Comedy Central. According to his Web site, he was to have performed last night at the Improv in Baltimore.
In addition to his parents, Arnold and Mary Hedberg of South Maplewood, Minn., Mr. Hedberg is survived by his sisters, Wendy Brown of Woodbury, Minn., and Angie Anderson, of South St. Paul, Minn.; and his wife, the comedian Lynn Shawcroft.
Mr. Hedberg spoke often of his love for the road, on which he lived for nearly half his life. "My theory is not to stop and smell the roses," he told the Wisconsin State Journal in September. "My theory is to find the roses and then go find more roses in another city."
Bernie Mac and Cedric would be still be doing Comic View if this man was still here.This loss reminds me of another.
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