Mitch Hedberg

Mitch Hedberg
Hedberg during his Comedy Central Presents special in 1999
Birth name	Mitchell Lee Hedberg
Born	February 24, 1968(1968-02-24) Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	March 29, 2005(2005-03-29) (aged 37) Livingston, New Jersey, U.S.[1]
Medium	Stand-up, film
Nationality	American
Years active	1989 – 2005
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, word play
Spouse	Lynn Shawcroft
Notable works and roles	Strategic Grill Locations Mitch All Together Do You Believe in Gosh?
Website	www.mitchhedberg.net

Mitchell Lee "Mitch" Hedberg (February 24, 1968 – March 29, 2005)^[2] was an American stand-up comedian known for his surreal humor and unconventional comedic delivery. His comedy typically featured short, sometimes one-line jokes,^[3] mixed with absurd elements and non sequiturs.^[4] Hedberg's comedy and on-stage persona gained him a cult following,^[5] with audience members sometimes shouting out the punchlines to his jokes before he could finish them.^[6]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Death 2 Style 3 Quotations 4 Discography 5 Filmography 6 TV appearances 7 References 8 External links

Biography

Early life

Mitch Hedberg was born on February 24, 1968, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Arnold and Mary Hedberg.^[7] He graduated from Harding High School in Saint Paul and was married to Canadian comedian Lynn Shawcroft^[8] on February 25, 1999.^[2]

Career

He began his stand-up career in Florida, and after a period of honing his skills moved to Seattle and began to tour. He soon appeared on MTV's "Comikaze", followed by a 1996 appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" which brought him his big break. He won the 1997 grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. The following year he appeared on Fox's hit series "That '70s Show". In 1999 he completed his own independent feature film 'Los Enchiladas!' which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. He recorded three comedy CDs entitled "Mitch All Together", "Strategic Grill Locations", and "Do you Believe in Gosh" which was released after his death. He also appeared at the 2001 Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival.

Death

Hedberg was known to be a drug user, referring to it in some of his jokes ("I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too"). He was arrested in Austin, Texas, in May 2003 for possession of heroin.^[1] On March 30, 2005, he was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey.^[9] Hedberg was born with a heart defect for which he received extensive treatment as a child.^[1][10] It was initially speculated that this condition may have played a part in his death. The New Jersey medical examiner's office reported "multiple drug toxicity", in the form of a cocaine and heroin "speedball", as the official cause of death.^[1] His funeral was held at St. Ambrose of Woodbury Church in Minnesota.

Style

Hedberg's stand-up comedy was distinguished by the unique manner of speech that he adopted later in his career,^[11] his abrupt delivery, and his unusual stage presence. His material depended heavily upon word play, non sequiturs, paraprosdokians and object observations. His act usually consisted equally of compact one- or two-liners resembling those of Steven Wright, in addition to longer routines, often with each line as a punchline. Many of his jokes stemmed from everyday thoughts or situations.

Because he suffered from stage fright, Hedberg often performed wearing sunglasses, with his head down, with his hair in his face or with his eyes closed in order to avoid eye contact with the audience. He would often stand upstage or perform with his back to the audience. He would also constantly move in one spot and, when holding the microphone in some skits, his nervousness would cause him to shake it uncontrollably.^[12]

Hedberg occasionally added disclaimers to the end of a joke to let the audience know that he shared their judgment of it, most notably acknowledging when jokes were poorly delivered or received with a resigned "all right." He also toyed with audiences that failed to respond in the way he had intended them to, occasionally quipping, "That joke's better than you acted." During recordings for CDs, he would often say that he would find a way to edit a failed gag to make it seem well received, for example by "adding" laughter. Following such a failure on Strategic Grill Locations, Hedberg suggested, "All right...that joke is going to be good because I'm going to take all the words out and add new words. That joke will be fixed."^[13]

Comedy Central Records announced the release of the first album of new Mitch Hedberg material on June 10, 2008. The album titled Do You Believe in Gosh? was released September 9, 2008 and contains material recorded at The Improv in Ontario, California in January 2005. Hedberg's wife Lynn wrote the introduction, in which she stated that the performance was in preparation for an end of the year CD recording.^[14]

Quotations

• "I was in a 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. Unless you're a table."

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

• "I like an escalator because an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. There would never be an 'Escalator Out of Order' sign. Only an 'Escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.'"

• "You know, I'm sick of following my dreams, man. I'm just going to ask where they're going and hook up with 'em later.'"

• "One time, this guy handed me a picture of him, he said, 'Here's a picture of me when I was younger.' Every picture is of you when you were younger. 'Here's a picture of me when I'm older.' 'You son-of-a-bitch! How'd you pull that off? Lemme see that camera... what's it look like?'"

Discography

• Strategic Grill Locations (1999) (Originally self-published, later re-released on the Comedy Central label, edited)
• Mitch All Together (November 18, 2003)
• Do You Believe in Gosh? (September 9, 2008)^[15]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
1999	Los Enchiladas!	Lee
2000	Almost Famous	Eagles Road Manager
2005	Lords of Dogtown	Frank Nasworthy (Urethane Wheels Guy)

TV appearances

Year	Title	Role/Info
1998	That '70s Show	Episode 11, as Frank
	Premium Blend	Episode dated May 23, 1998 as Himself
1999	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Episodes 604 and 609 as Himself
	Comedy Central Presents	Himself
1999	Home Movies	Episodes 104, 105, 112, and 113 as The Pet Eulogist, Mitch, Cop, and Dr. Fizzel (Anger Management Counselor), respectively
2001	Ed	Episode 110 as Dave
	Just for Laughs in Montreal	Himself
	Late Friday	Himself
2002	Saddle Rash	Various voices
2003	Late Show with David Letterman	Himself
	Late Show with David Letterman	Himself
	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Himself
	Crank Yankers	Himself
2004	Shorties Watchin' Shorties	Episodes 1 through 9 as Himself

References

Shecky magazine. http://www.sheckymagazine.com/mitch.htm

External links

• Official website
• Mitch Hedberg at the Internet Movie Database
• Mitch Hedberg at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Hedberg, Mitch
Alternative names	Hedberg, Mitchell Lee
Short description	stand-up comedian
Date of birth	February 24, 1968
Place of birth	Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States of America
Date of death	March 30, 2005
Place of death	Livingston, New Jersey, United States of America