Jesus, a lot of people died this week. Between Johnny Cochran and the Pope, the very unexpected passing of comedian Mitch Hedberg at age 37 of apparent heart failure, for some, was the worst news this week.
He delivered perfectly crafted one-liners, with his long hair in his face, almost mumbling and refusing to interact with the audience by looking at the floor. He’s self conscious, but it works, often telling the audience “that was funny damnit” when they “forget” to laugh.
By leaving sex and politics to comedians who were more familiar with such topics, Mitch was able to address more complex issues such as donuts and koala bears. His set would literally include a laundry list of random observations written like a poet anguishing over every syllable. “I think foosball is a combination of soccer and shish kabobs.” Brilliant.
The strange thing about Mitch Hedberg is his following. A comedian for 15 years, we’ve only known him for the past six years when he surprised audiences at the 1999 Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival. While Time magazine was willing to call him “the next Seinfeld,” Mitch was making his underground following piss in their pants and wasn’t about to try to turn his standup into a cleaned up sitcom. He looks like a stoner, toured colleges and bars, has done voices for “Crank Yankers,” and made guest appearances in “That 70s show,” where one could easily mistake him for a scripted character.
In a recent interview, Mitch quickly replied that the most gratifying moment in his career was “Late Show with David Letterman five times, hell yes.” In fact, Mitch was so popular on Letterman that Dave himself referred to his jokes throughout the show. Much like his jokes, Mitch was able to pull off pleasing the mainstream and those “other” kind of people. He appealed to fans who would appreciate drug references; “I used to do drugs. I still do drugs. But I used to, too,” while making appearances on other late night shows and having a comedy central special. He wrote 1999’s “Los Enchiladas,” which debuted in the Sundance Film Festival and was based on his experience working in greasy Mexican restaurants while doing standup. He also made an appearance in Almost Famous smoking fake-pot with Peter Frampton. Before his death, he was preparing for an upcoming HBO special.
In 2003 Mitch released two albums of standup, Strategic Grill Locations and Mitch all together, the latter coming with a DVD of his comedy central work. Some people have a hard time buying a comedy album; I mean how many times can you really listen to it? Mitch’s genius decision to include the DVD is a real good incentive to by the CD.
If dying in a hotel in New Jersey wasn’t bad enough, friends, family, and fans have to deal with knowing that we lost him to heart failure at 37. Death was going around like the flu this week, and Mitch’s mom confirmed he was born with a heart condition. Although rumors of his death being drug related have been circulating, no information has led in that direction as of yet. Drinking and taking drugs was nothing new to Mitch. Lets hope that they didn’t make his heart condition worse over the years or cause his death last week. Heart failure seems more comforting than overdosing. Let’s hope that heaven is infested with koalas; it would be the cutest infestation ever.