Talk:Richard Jeni

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[edit] High school?

where did he go to high school? Streamless 20:19, 15 February 2006 (UTC)


Lafayette High School.

[edit] Needs Serious Work

For such a prominent comedian, this article is severely lacking. I will be working on it for the next few days. -- Ubergenius 13:14, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Needs a picture, more in-depth biography, and a proper filmography section. Will be working on it more tomorrow. -- Ubergenius 20:14, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

This seems almost tragic now. :( -- Ubergenius 15:56, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Death?

AP confirms: http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=6210198

I don't know much about Wikipedia, but the only source for his death is a gossip website ("Dishing Hollywood Dirt Daily") with the following disclaimer: "The Post Chronicle™ accepts no responsibility for the accuracy or inaccuracies of any story or opinion. The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of The Post Chronicle™." This source seems to imply that because his website has gone dark, the guy must be dead. Is that acceptable? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.34.137.40 (talk • contribs)
Several comedians through SheckyMagazine are confirming it. They're pretty good at getting their facts straight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.74.64.177 (talk • contribs)
Also the Extra website has the new in the blog section with a cut-and-paste of the Wikipedia bio. Anyone could have posted it. Until now, I would hold off until some mainstream publication/website confirms. —Twigboy 16:44, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
For what it's worth, I work with Jeni's girlfriend. He is most certainly dead. 16:45, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
And she has spoken to a reporter or something? Since you are in a position of knowledge, can you tell us when an official statement from his publicist will be forthcoming?—Twigboy 16:54, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, this is going to be a revert war, as more and more editors want to be the first to report his "death". So far, no source has cited how they obtained the information. And, some seven hours after the first article, and CNN, E!, AP have not confirmed. So I have added the dubious and disputed tags to the article until we can get an actual confirmation from a publication willing to state unequivocally where it got the information from. —Twigboy 17:18, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Here are the sites that have reported his death. Keep in mind the news is only seven hours old. It's not like the internet's never broken a story before, keep that in mind.
http://www.ecanadanow.com/entertainment/2007/03/11/comedian-and-actor-richard-jeni-found-dead/
http://www.sheckymagazine.com/
http://www.perezhilton.com/
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/
(unreliable source - do not use) www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21268468.shtml
http://news.google.com/news?q=Richard%20Jeni&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn Charlesviper 17:24, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


His death was announced via Celebrity Death Beeper at 1:23 AM PST —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.233.26.81 (talk • contribs)
Jeni's official webpage at www.richardjeni.com has been "blacked out", a common practice when a celebrity dies to avoid overuse of bandwidth due to the huge number of people who might visit shortly after the death. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Midnightguinea (talk • contribs)

(outdenting)Let's look at:

  • Ecanadanow.com does not have any sources for their information, and probably picked it up from the Post Chronicle.
  • Sheckymagazine.com is a blog. The post starts out with "The word on the street confirmed by us..." Word on the street?
  • Extratv has it in the blog section. Then repeats verbatim the Wikipedia article. Not responsible journalism, and it becomes a circular reference.
  • Post Chronicle is a gossip site that does not claim accuracy of its stories right on the page.
  • Google is just reporting the hits of some of the above sites.
  • Celebrity Death Beeper only pulls information from web searches, and has been wrong or sent false messages before.
  • His official page is dark. Then why not a brief note stating he has, in fact, passed? In non-bandwidth-chewing text?

Sorry nothing to change my mind. By now, and with little difficulty, the Associated Press would have confirmed and published the story. It seems to be (and hopefully is) a joke based on the fact that Jeni's official site went dark.—Twigboy 17:40, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Doubt it's a joke. April's a few weeks away. I wouldn't go to his homepage if I were you either, Google says it's harmful. Light Grenade 17:42, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Those who are claiming he's dead, haven't told us what he died from. AP would have confirmed his death by now. This all seems suspicious (coming off the heals of the 'recent' Wikipedia controversy). GoodDay 17:55, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Rob Charry who knew him,and worked with him,announced it when he got on the air today on WIP

Soon be time to revert the hold page to pre-March 11, 2007. It was an anon-user, who started editing in his -supposed- death. PS- Who's Rob Charry? GoodDay 18:06, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Rob Charry is a small time comedian,but a pretty well known weekend Sports personality for Philadelphia's 610 Wip.Its the first thing he talked about when he came on the air.Its the whole reason I even looked it up

Just because Rob Charry said it doesn't make it true. Where did he get the information from? He might have just heard the rumor. Shuim 18:22, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Still waiting for the AP's confirmation. GoodDay 18:21, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
How bout NBC?
http://www.ksby.com/Global/story.asp?S=6210198
RIP Richard Jeni (1962-2007). GoodDay 18:24, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Both television news reports are identical and both cite that he was found dead at his home but end the article with "he died later at the hospital of his injuries". Huh? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.184.163.48 (talk) 18:26, 11 March 2007 (UTC).
That NBC link is an affiliate and they put that AP disclaimer on every news story. Still not on the CNN website. Shuim 18:29, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
Still no mention on the AP news feed http://news.yahoo.com/i/529;_ylt=Ao76KpKzBsbJVyh4fXZFu7DMWM0F Shuim 18:34, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

(outdenting) http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/03/11/state/n114828D53.DTL Comic Richard Jeni dead, police investigating possible suicide By ANA BEATRIZ CHOLO, Associated Press Sunday, March 11, 2007

WoW! Surprising it took so long. Thanks everyone for their patience while we sorted this out. Better to be right than first. —Twigboy 19:18, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
In this case, tragic to be right.Brocktoon 19:21, 11 March 2007 (UTC)Brocktoon
It's on FoxNews (so it must be true): http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258231,00.html WiccaWeb 19:58, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
CNN has it now: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/11/comedian.dead.ap/index.html Dstumme 20:33, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
It's on FARK now. Dr. Cash 22:06, 11 March 2007 (UTC)
I've had a great deal of laughs at Wikipedia's expense reading this page. I trust the future archaeologists who come across it will appreciate this comedy of (non-)errors. It's a fitting tribute to the subject. 71.131.220.242
you must have a pretty wack sense of humour. W guice 18:47, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Article should be reverted until each and every wikipedia user and editor has been able to see the body and test it for a pulse. Only then and upon a unanimous vote of his state of no longer existing should this page be updated.
Seconded; Article could use a photo of the body, and a death certificate to prove validity. Photos of grieving friends and family would certainly add credibility as well. --64.149.214.220 04:34, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
His official page says 1957-2007, yet this page says 1962, which goes along with other news stories saying he is 45. Any idea on the real age? --Gunsnpilots 02:30, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
News stories say he's 45 an 49. See the CNN article. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 20:28, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] biography

His page was taken down. But you can view his official biography using Google's cached page W3stfa11/Talk to me 05:31, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] birthdate

Anyone have a source for his birthdate? W3stfa11/Talk to me 07:10, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

  • The Los Angeles Times states in today's (March 12) edition: "Jeni's website lists his age as 45, four years younger than coroner's documents show."[1] So that made him 49 at the time of his death, but the news article does not specify his exact birthdate. 4.232.195.132 14:14, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
  • His official website lists states that he lived from 1957 through 2007[2]. I have not been able to find a source for the October 31st birthdate as of yet; we know he was born sometime between March 11 and December 31, 1957; that's about it. No precise birthdate has been found. --From Andoria with Love 16:13, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
  • For the record, Find A Grave is also listing his birthdate as October 31, 1957, but they may have gotten that from here. --From Andoria with Love 16:16, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
  • I went ahead and removed the October date as no source has yet to be found. His birth year of 1957, however, has been confirmed, as stated above. --From Andoria with Love 17:31, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
  • Okay, I did a search for "Richard Colangelo" (Jeni's birthname) at birthdatabase.com. I found two entries for a "Richard L. Colangelo", born August 15, 1957. The problem is that his middle-name is apparently "John"; there is a "Richard J. Colangelo" listed for August 7, 1962, but that would make him 44 at the time of his death, as opposed to the 45 on his MySpace page and the 49 being reported everywhere else. --From Andoria with Love 18:00, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
I've added 1957/1962 as the birthyear in the Infobox and opening sentence. We should leaves both dates listed, until this dispute is resolved, let's avoid 'edit wars'. GoodDay 18:13, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Well, technically, there is no dispute with regards to the birthyear -- at least, there shouldn't be; as I said, that has been confirmed via his official site and through a coroner's report as given by the LA Times. The New York Times also updated his age as 49 ([3], [4]) after originally reporting him as 45. But we can leave it as it is until further confirmation is released. --From Andoria with Love 18:55, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
An Orlando Sentinel writer who interviewed Jeni several times also gives his age as 49.[5]. Still quite a few sites still listing him as 45, though, including Variety ([6]), although I don't think they update articles just to correct someone's age. --From Andoria with Love 19:02, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
I just noticed the article stated his official site stated he was 45 years old; this is incorrect. Jeni's MySpace page ([7]) lists him as being 45; his official site ([8]) states he was born in 1957. This matches the coroner's report of his being 49 at the time of his death. I've corrected the info, though. --From Andoria with Love 19:09, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
  • A further update: his page at Comedy Central lists his years as "1957 - 2007" ([9]). The San Diego Tribune also states he was 49 ([10]), as does CNN ([11]). Can we change it back to 1957 now? :D --From Andoria with Love 19:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree, it should be be 1957. Does anyone object if I change it? W3stfa11/Talk to me 23:03, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes, please change it to 1957. All the reliable sources that originally gave the wrong date have been updated. We shouldn't be going by what's on a MySpace page, anyway. Still awaiting press confirmation of the October 31 birthdate. Jokestress 23:20, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
Jeni's IMDb page now lists his birthdate as 30 October 1957. I'll ask them where they received that information, though I don't expect for at least several hours. --From Andoria with Love 02:19, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
Jeni's Official Home Page lists his birthdate as 14 April 1957. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rhinehold (talk • contribs) 07:46, 13 March 2007 (UTC).
If anyone can find out the high school he attended, a yearbook would definitively place him in a class and an age group, rather than the range presently speculated. Chris 08:12, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
It is speculation no longer. To specify the unsigned comment left above, the Memorial Guestbook page at his official site (http://richardjeni.com/vipergb/) states he was born April 14, 1957. That ends that, thankfully. --From Andoria with Love 15:59, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Terminally Ill?

Someone added that friend and fellow comedian Andy Nelman suggested that Jeni was terminally ill before committing suicide, in addition to noting his donations to charity. I have read the blog post in the citation and see no mention of this. Where is this information coming from? There is no mention of any illness (other than depression) that I can see. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.44.169.255 (talk) 14:23, 12 March 2007 (UTC).

As far as I can tell, the 'terminal illness' was an extrapolation from Nelman's revelation about the donation to a charity. But since giving away money is often a precursor to suicide, I think this is an unfounded extrapolation, one that is undermined, moreover, by the fact that Nelman's post centers on a discussion of Jeni's depression. I'm removing the 'terminally ill' from the article. Bws2002 16:44, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] pt:Richard Jeni

exist a page in portuguese about this actor. Someone who can write in this page, please put the link pt:Richard Jeni in that.

[edit] Possibly misleading statement

"Fellow comic Andy Nulman claims that Jeni had recently made "a sizable donation" to charity before committing suicide." I'm not registered, so I can't edit this article, but I have some concern about this statement. All Nulman says is that Jeni made a donation to charity in Nulman's name, as a Christmas/holiday present. He says "sizable," but that could be $50. I assume it was Jeni's standard 2006 Christmas card/gift to many friends; there's nothing to suggest otherwise. Nulman is just giving a little eulogy, which is very nice, but does it really need to be in the article? I think probably not. Thanks for your consideration. 75.24.217.198 17:59, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I removed that statement. Wikipedia does not allow blogs to be cited as reliable sources. Jokestress 18:07, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Just for laughs

I've no sources for this, however Jeni made a few appearances on the Montreal comedy festival 'Just for laughs'. GoodDay 22:27, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Well, here's a place to start: http://www.justforlaughs.ca/videos/show/984-richard-jeni-jfl-honesty-card-table votohime 12 March 2007

[edit] Taking it too far

Theres a website that's advertising the gossip on his death. This is ridiculous!!! No friggin respect anymore. --69.67.230.120 04:13, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree. It's unfortunate that some people can't take suicides in good humor. Buyable 02:38, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation?

I want to read this as YAY-nee or YEH-nee, but if it's a stage name he chose in the US, I suppose it could be pronounced like "genie". Anyone know? --Trovatore 22:32, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

It's JEH-nee. --Zimbabweed 22:41, 21 March 2007 (UTC)
Yes, it's pronounced the same as "Jenny", a nickname for a girl named "Jennifer". It's possible that some people with the name pronounce it differently, but the "Jenny" pronounciation is how he was always announced on stage, and if it was wrong he would have made a correction at some point. - Ugliness Man 03:35, 23 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Should this be added?

On the Season 3 opener Carlos Mencia mentions Richard in the last line of the episode.

[edit] Most times appeared on the tonight show for a comedian?

Jeni appeared on The Tonight Show more than any other stand-up comedian, dating back to when the program was hosted by Johnny Carson.[ I find this very hard to believe. If you include David Brenner's appearances including guest hosting he is well over 100 visits. Is there any statistic for this claim? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.116.248.167 (talk) 05:22, 21 October 2007 (UTC)