Comedy News, Reviews, Videos and More
Kevin Meaney, veteran comedian and actor, has died at the age of 60. Fellow comedians, including Patton Oswalt, Judd Apatow, Paul Provenza, Michael McKean and others, have been expressing their grief through Twitter. Laughspin confirmed the news. “It is true as confirmed to me by his family. It is a tremendous loss to the comedy community as well. He was loved and will be missed,” Meaney’s agent Tom Ingegno tells
Read more
Gene Wilder, an inspirational presence in the comedy world who starred in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Producers, Blazing Saddles and many other iconic films, died today at the age of 83 in Stamford, Conn, where he lived. Though Wilder was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1989, it was complications from Alzheimer’s disease that eventually took his life, Wilder’s nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman revealed. Wilder never made his Alzheimer’s
Read more
Harris Wittels, co-executive producer of Parks and Recreation, was found dead in his LA home this afternoon. While no official cause is clear as of yet, The Hollywood Reporter stated that police had responded to a 911 call at 12 PM for a possible drug overdose. Wittels himself had previously been candid about his struggles with addiction, even recounting his issues on Pete Holmes’ You Made It Weird podcast last
Read more
We just lost a dear friend of the Minneapolis/St. Paul comedy scene. He passed away sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning. This was the second huge death the scene has had in less than two weeks and we are beyond devastated. The entire landscape of our community has changed. Bill Young was the nicest and funniest person that ever lived. This is not an exaggeration. Bill was a great
Read more
Real comedy nerds know Minneapolis has, for the past five years or so, become one of the most vital burgeoning comedy cities in the country. Along with a few other cities like Denver, Austin and Portland, Minneapolis has proven you don’t necessarily need to move to Los Angeles or New York in order to prove your comedy prowess. Well, Minneapolis continues to prove its merit and strength, though most recently
Read more
Just a week and a half before the anniversary of his passing, the 3rd annual Patrice O’Neal Comedy Benefit was announced, taking place at the New York City Center. In its third year, the benefit began as the brainchild of close friend and fellow comedian Bill Burr as a way to raise money for Patrice O’Neal’s family, in the wake of the veteran comedian’s untimely death on Nov. 29, 2011
Read more
The Big Bang Theory’s Carol Ann Susi has died at the age of 62 after a brief battle with cancer. Susi played Debbie Wolowitz, the mother of Simon Helberg’s character Howard; though she “appeared” on 39 episodes since The Big Bang Theory’s inception in 2007, Susi was never physically seen, though her gruff voice and hilariously overbearing demeanor has become famous. Susi would’ve been 63 this coming February. “The Big
Read more
Joan Rivers died at the age of 81 from low blood oxygen while undergoing a procedure on her throat, according to autopsy results released today by the New York City Medical Examiner. The official statement from the medical examiner is below. OCME has completed its investigation. The cause of Ms. Rivers’ death is anoxic encephalopathy due to hypoxic arrest during laryngoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with propofol sedation for evaluation
Read more
Elizabeth Peña, trailblazing comedy actress whose career spanned four decades, died Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 55. Recently seen on Modern Family, where she played Sofia Vergara’s character’s mother Pilar, Peña also starred on crime drama Matador (which airs on the newly launched network El Rey), and turned in a memorable performance as Mirage in 2004’s animated comedy action hit The Incredibles. No cause of death has
Read more
Everyone dealt with the death of Robin Williams differently. Some of us cried. Some of us watched every Robin Williams movie we could get our hands on. And some of us registered a new eBay account and tried to make money off the world’s loss of an icon. Well, that’s what eBay user “Warnecathe” did, anyway. It’s true. “Warnecathe” registered for an account on Aug. 21 and uploaded one item—
Read more
As the investigation into the death of Joan Rivers continues, more positive news has surfaced— a biography about the trailblazing comedian will be written and has been slated for a 2016 release. Titled Joan Rivers: A Life, the tome will be written for Little, Brown and Company by Leslie Bennetts, a veteran journalist for the New York Times and Vanity Fair. “Joan Rivers’ life story was, in every way, a
Read more
Joan Rivers was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers only one month ago, so it was surreal hearing Seth Meyers last night saying goodbye to the iconic comedian. Rivers died yesterday at the age of 81 after being in the hospital for a week. She was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York on Aug. 28 after she stopped breathing during an outpatient throat surgery at a
Read more
Immediately after news broke that Joan Rivers had died at the age of 81 today, fellow comedians took to Twitter to express their sadness. Below are some of those messages: My friend Joan Rivers has passed away once again to quote Billy Crystal… There are no words. Bon Voyage Joan — Whoopi Goldberg (@WhoopiGoldberg) September 4, 2014 Joan Rivers guest hosting the Tonight Show in the mid80s taught me that
Read more
UPDATE 6:22 pm ET: David Letterman said the following at the Late Show with David Letterman taping tonight. It will air on CBS at 11:35 pm ET. “Here’s a woman, a real pioneer for other women looking for careers in stand-up comedy. And talk about guts – she would come out here and sit in this chair and say some things that were unbelievable, just where you would have to
Read more
Last night on Late Show, David Letterman delivered a 10-minute tribute to Robin Williams, a man he first met at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles 38 years ago. The suicide of Robin Williams has seemingly affected the world of comedy and entertainment in a much more sincere and powerful way than most celebrity deaths. And Letterman has felt that pain as well. At the end of the tribute, Letterman
Read more