The Late, Great Mitch Hedberg
I loved the comedy of Mitch Hedberg. He was sort of like a hip version of Steven Wright. His jokes were often obtuse and esoteric. Or they were stupid, depending on your perspective. At times his delivery was unprofessional – he’d stumble on a line or laugh as if he were hearing the joke himself. This wouldn’t work for most comedians, but somehow it worked for him, adding something to his charm.It must have been in ’03 or ’04. My wife and I used to watch Comedy Central on Friday nights. They do about 2 hours of stand-up. We’d never heard of Mitch Hedberg, but we hadn’t heard of half the comedians that the show featured. At first we didn’t know how to take him. Long hair, sparse beard and purple-ish round sunglasses. Shy and naturally affable, eyes often apparently closed or looking down at his feet. Lines like, “My friend came up to me and said, ‘Hey! You know what I like? Mashed potatoes!’ and I said, ‘That’s not fair – you didn’t give me time to guess!†and, “I don’t have a girlfriend – I just know a girl who’d be really really mad if she heard me say that.â€Â
We liked him, but he didn’t really grab us until we saw a repeat of the performance about 6 months later. Something clicked, and we were roaring.
Mitch Hedberg suffered from severe stage-fright, which he apparently tried to battle with drugs and alcohol. It was a battle he lost in March of 2005, right when he was on the verge of stardom. We had planned to see him in 2004, but had just spent money on a Lewis Black performance (which incidentally was hilarious!) We figured, ‘next time.’ He was due to play in Atlanta in May of 2005.
Please enjoy the comedy of Mitch Hedberg on youtube.
Clip from Mitch Heberg’s Comedy Special
Mitch’s appearance on David Letterman.
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Just now, I heard the clips you posted from another room, where Kathleen was listening--I thought it was a young Steve Martin. When he got to the turkey joke ("Someone has to tell the turkeys, 'hey man, be yourselves'") I laughed out loud, so I went to join her. By the time we got through the Letterman clip, I was laughing so hard I was crying.
thanks, Viscount
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Sometimes it's hard for me to get past that. A nervous person myself, I cringe in empathy at anxious comedians. Still, that turkey joke made me forget the pain, and even his too-close-to-home mantra. The one I use--not on stage; I'd never go there--but just silently in rooms with other people: "See if you can pass for likable."
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I should make note that the DVD has both the Aired version and the unedited version. Believe it or not the former is the better of the two.
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