R.I.P. Mitch Hedberg

[SaltwaterChaffy]

Comedian Mitch Hedberg was found dead in a New Jersey hotel room Wednesday morning, according to Minnesota's Pioneer Press. He was 37.

The cause of death has not been determined, and details concerning his death have yet to be released. The Pioneer Press reported that Hedberg's family has been told he suffered a heart attack.

The comic — who bore an uncanny resemblance to Rush frontman Geddy Lee and once explained the reason his was not a household name was because most of his fans lived in apartments — spent much of his career straddling that fine line between cult status and relatively larger stardom. Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, Hedberg was known for his disheveled hippie look, his relaxed, almost sedate stage manner, and his dawdling delivery — his face forever concealed behind a pair of shades and a wall of floppy bangs.

Much like Steven Wright, Hedberg was a master of the sharp-as-glass-shards one-liner ("Rice is great when you're hungry and want 2,000 of something"; "I would imagine if you understood Morse code, a tap dancer would drive you crazy"; "When someone hands you a flier, it's like they're saying, 'Here, you throw this away.' ") His comical, almost-too-obvious observations about life's subtle peculiarities inspired Time magazine to declare the stand-up comic "the next Seinfeld" in 2000.

A frequent guest on Howard Stern's morning radio show and "Late Show With David Letterman," Hedberg's resume also included several television and film roles, including appearances on FOX's "That '70s Show," the NBC comedy series "Ed" and the animated shows "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" and "Home Movies."

Hedberg also lent his voice to Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers," played the Eagles' road manager in the film "Almost Famous" and wrote, directed, produced and starred in the 1999 independent film "Los Enchiladas!" The film centered on a small Mexican restaurant in Minneapolis, where Hedberg's character, a drifter, was working as a cook until he suddenly found himself in charge of the joint after the manager attacked a customer and the chef left for a better job.

Hedberg's first television appearance came on MTV's stand-up series "Comikaze," a gig he landed by personally pitching his act to the program's talent coordinator. In 1997, he won the grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. Years of headlining club tours followed, and Hedberg eventually secured a development deal with FOX to create a sitcom, though that project never came to fruition. In 2003, Comedy Central Records issued his albums Mitch All Together and Strategic Grill Locations, and sponsored a tour with Hedberg, Lewis Black of "The Daily Show" Dave Attell of "Insomniac."

"He had a heart of gold," his mother, Mary Hedberg, told the Pioneer Press. "He was a brilliant comic and a wonderful person."

Hedberg joked often about drug abuse, but in a recent interview, he said he'd given up smoking marijuana several years ago. "For 10 years, it was amazing, but then I had to give it up because it didn't feel as good," he said. "The audience thinks I'm stoned all the time and I have to write my material that way ... so sometimes, when they come up to me after a show and ask me to join them, I just tell them I'm an undercover cop."

According to an article published in the Los Angeles Times in 2003, Hedberg spent two-and-a half-days in jail, and six weeks in a hospital bed, following his arrest in May of that year for felony heroin possession. But Hedberg said he was arrested for "possession of paraphernalia and pills and things like that. My actual bust was minor. I got a misdemeanor. People used that bust to try and prove that I was busted for having, like, a kilo of heroin on me."

A posting on Comedy Central's Web site reads, "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."

— Chris Harris, with additional reporting by Gil Kaufman

[DubOverdose]

This can't be true....he's my favorite comedian! RIP Mitch.

[ocelot_ark]

This is the first celebrity death that has true meaning for me. I've not been remotely affected by anyone else's passing, but I've loved Mitch's stuff for the last few years. Man - this just sucks. RIP MH.

[EricaLubarsky]

holy crap. He is my favorite.

[Drbio]

"Mr. Pibb is a poor imitation of Dr. Pepper. Dude didn't even get his degree "
- Mitch Hedberg




One of my favorite quotes from him.

[mary]

""I like rice. Rice is great if your hungry and want 2000 of something.""

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

One of the best.

[mercury_rev]

Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, Mitch Hedberg.....too bad so many great comedians die young.

[capitalcity]

this is so not cool.

I saw the guy live twice - he nearly killed me from an asthma/laughing attack. Hysterical, dude was the funniest and original. The delivery was tops.

not fucking cool.

RIP Mitch - I hope heaven is invested with Koala Bears.

[DubOverdose]

I really wanted to see him. Supposedly he was just at a college in the area (within an hour or two) the other week. I guess that's why he was in NJ (I can see NJ from my dorm)

[mary]

"Last week I helped my friend stay put. It's a lot easier than helping someone move. I just went over to his house and made sure that he did not start to load shit into a truck."

"One time a guy handed me a picture of himself, and he said, "Here's a picture of me when I was younger." Every picture of you is of when you were younger. Here's a picture of me when I am older. You son of a bitch, how'd you pull that off? Let me see that camera... "

"Sometimes I wave to people I don't know. It is very dangerous to wave to people you don't know, because what if they don't have a hand? They'll think you're cocky. "Look what I got motherfucker, this thing is useful...I'm gonna go pick something up."

"On a traffic light green means go and yellow means yield, but on a banana it's just the opposite. Green means hold on, yellow means go ahead, and red means where the fuck did you get that banana at... "

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it."

"An escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You would never see a escalator temporarily outta order sign, just escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience... we apologize for the fact that you can still get up there"

"2-in-1 is a bullshit term, because 1 is not big enough to hold 2. That's why 2 was created. "

"I bought a seven dollar pen because I always lose pens and I got sick of not caring."

"I have a friend who is a juggler. When I go to his house I don't like to take food from him if it is in threes. "He has three apples left...I guess I can't have one."

"I wrote a script for a guy, and he said he liked it but he thought that I need to rewrite it. I said, "Fuck that, I'll just make a copy."

"I never joined the army because at ease was never that easy to me. Seemed rather uptight still. I don't relax by parting my legs slightly and putting my hands behind my back. That does not equal ease. At ease was not being in the military. I am at ease, bro, because I am not in the military. "

" I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too. "

"People teach their dogs to sit, it's a trick. I've been sitting my whole life, and a dog has never looked at me as though he thought I was tricky. "

"Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only one you can get yelled at for having. Goddamn it Otto, you are an alcoholic. Goddamn it Otto, you have Lupus... one of those two doesn't sound right. "

"I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammable and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. "

"I tried to throw away a yo-yo. It was fucking impossible. "



Stuff that Mitch said while another guy was taking notes

Edited because Mitch would've objected to the term "Mitchism"

[capitalcity]

I'm a little late posting this, but last Sunday my fiancé took me to the Mitch Hedberg tribute at the cap. city comedy club. - what a cool experience.

The Austin Film Festival showed a special screening of Mitch's movie (a very Clerks-esque) "Los Enchiladas". It played at Sundance in 1997. Starring Mitch and buddy Bryan Mallow (who M.C.ed the nights events), and featuring Marc Marron, Dave Atell, and a couple other c-list comics, it was a short 75min day-in-the-life-of film taking place in a Minneapolis mexican restaurant on May 4th. Mitch wrote and directed it.

Before the screening Mallow introduced Mitch's parents who were in attendance... apparently this was only the third mitch tribute to date. He described mitch vividly and joked about some of the behind the scences stuff people never knew about the man. Following "Los Enchiladas" we saw some home movies of Mitch writing and compiling jokes for his first Letterman appearance (1997). It was sooo cool to get a glimpse into his preparation. Mallow was quizzing him about how he got the call that he was going to be on the show and then zoomed in on the notebook mitch was doodling on. (Mitch's handwriting was very stylized - Mallow mentioned that Mitch's dad was a architect and mitch picked up that blueprint-type handwriting from him). Then they joked about how his pen was magic... Mitch started throwing out joke ideas like "I got this from a wizard and it only writes funny jokes..." The funny part, as Mallow set it up, was later that night Mitch tried to use the "magic pen" bit and it totally bombed.

FUNNY STUFF.... Emotional evening, and afterwards I really felt like I "knew" him. Mitch's widow Lynn made her way up to the stage at the end of the night. Looking like hell, she courageously thanked everybody (250 approx.) for coming and then got too emotional to speak... her grief must be overwhelming.

All in all it was a eerie experience. With mitch's loved one's in attendance it felt very much like a memorial. I kinda felt guilty laughing.

Mitch was... well MITCH. And eventhough i didn't really know him... he'll always be the greatest comedian I ever "knew." R.I.P.

[dirno2000]

A frequent guest on Howard Stern's morning radio show and "Late Show With David Letterman," Hedberg's resume also included several television and film roles, including appearances on FOX's "That '70s Show," the NBC comedy series "Ed" and the animated shows "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" and "Home Movies."

I actually never heard of the guy and I missed this thread when it was posted but after reading a few of his one liners and finding out that he was involved with Dr. Katz and Home Movies I have to agree that he'll be missed.