Sadly, news of comedian Mitch Hedberg's death last night have been confirmed by Comedy Central's bio . Rumors of a heroin overdose are unsubstantiated, but based on seeing a show last year (read my review here,) I am not surprised.
Here's the text of the Comedy Central release:
Tragically, Mitch Hedberg passed away this week. Mitch was a beloved member of the Comedy Central family, and we join fans in our sadness. He will be missed.Born and raised in the St. Paul area, Mitch Hedberg decided to start his own comedy career in South Florida. Not so much for the comedy scene, but for the sun. His landlord would drive him up and down the coast from club to club in his pick-up truck where Mitch would lie down in the back to avoid any of the negative conversations his landlord would try to have with him.
Mitch developed his style in Florida and decided to try it out on different audiences. He moved to Seattle and toured throughout the Pacific Northwest honing his act in front of the new audiences. While in Los Angeles, Mitch booked his first television appearance on MTV's "Comikaze" by walking into the MTV offices and personally pitching himself to the talent coordinator. Many cable shows followed including A&E's "Comedy on the Road", Comedy Central's "Comedy Product", and NBC's "Comedy Showcase" hosted by Louie Anderson.
In 1996, Mitch got his break with an invitation to perform at the prestigious Just for Laughs Montreal International Comedy Festival. His performances secured him a deal with a studio and a spot on "The Late Show with David Letterman." Letterman enjoyed the set so much that he actually quoted one of Mitch's bits later in the show.
With the money from his development deal, Mitch wrote, directed and stars in his own independent feature called "Los Enchiladas!" which premiered at Sundance. His film is a comedy about a drifter who gets a job at a Mexican chain restaurant in middle America, the relationships between the restaurant employees, and the deterioration of the business' hierarchy over a 24-hour period. While editing the film in Seattle, Mitch entered the 1997 Seattle Comedy Competition and won the grand prize of three thousand dollars. He immediately handed the check over to his editor and finished the film.
Continued on the next page Page 1 — Page 2
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Joanna
It is April Fool's tomorrow....and no one but this blog and comedy central has said anything more about it yet. Coincidence?
2 - Phillip Winn
Joanna, no. He was a comedian. That's why Comedy Central is a good source of info. Comedy, get it?
3 - chocolate fever
April fools..or sad sad day....
1st post ftw
4 - chocolate fever
or not...
comedy central is where i go for all my news
5 - M. Janosko
Howard Stern, this Blog, and Comedy Central are the only sources to this. Youd think SOME news market in america would cover this, at least briefly. Yet news.google.com shows this as the ONLY relevent result.
im no disbelieving it, but its a bit far fetched. even the venue hes playing at tonight is denying it.
6 - Joe
Big mistake being the first google news indexed source to run with this story. I have a direct line to someone at the Howard Stern Show who says this is a hoax. Guess who's taking the train up from Baltimore for tomorrow's show?
7 - Phil
An article from a few days ago mentioned he missed some dates - strange coincidence...
He was great.
8 - Jake
I hope this is a hoax, I had tickets and missed his show in December... WHY GOD WHY!!!!!!!!
PS: I hope with all my heart this is a hoax Mitch! I wont miss ur show next time yo!
I'm gonna go get a frozen banana out the freezer, save it for later. :(
9 - solace
more
10 - Wally Glenn
I like Mitch, he's funny. If this is a prank, it's a bit dark.
Speaking of pranks, if Mitch has died, make the most out of life and April 1st. Mitch would want it that way.
http://www.gwally.com/pranks/
11 - SCR
more
12 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Solace, USA Today just confirmed this. April Fools is April 1, only
13 - Kevin King
I just called the improve in Baltimore. They said allsohws are cancelled and refunds are available.
Good night funny man! You will be missed.
14 - Temple Stark
Enough with the long links lazy asses.
[a href="URL"] LINKWORD [ /a]
except replace [ and ] with < and >
15 - LegendaryMonkey
He was great.
Rest in peace, Mitch. Hang out with Bill Hicks.
16 - DrQu+xum
The Pioneer Press (here, free reg req) has reported on his death as well.
17 - nick
Google has added two more to their News search...
They mention a heart attack. Even though I'd love for this to be a pre-April Fool's day joke, I'm starting to think that may just be wishful thinking.
18 - Michael
Nooo!
19 - Tim
Just called the improv as well-- they confirmed that they had heard from his management company and were refunding tickets... news story online now says it happened wednesday morning. Sad -- had tickets for saturday night...
20 - Eric Olsen
thanks very much for all the input everyone
21 - Joe C.
USAtoday.com, search for mitch hedberg, they covere the story briefly.
22 - Jeff Clark
Dammit. This is so incredibly sad.
23 - Treetop
I went to see him last weekend in Richmond at the Funnybone, and he didn't make it to any shows Wed-Fri. So who knows what was going on.
24 - Brent
this sucks. i just saw him in Cleveland. not his best performance but he was so talented. sad to hear this today!
25 - Eric Olsen
hey Tom, great job, might be super to update with additional nfo, maybe an actual excerpt from your earlier reviews, etc. This is very big news and you and Jeff were there first.