Mitch Hedberg

Mitchell Lee Hedberg^[4] was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota on February 24, 1968,^[5][6] to Mary (née Schimscha; 1943–2012) and Arnold (Arne) Hedberg.^[4] He had two sisters, Wendy and Angie;^[6] Angie was five years younger than him.^[7] Hedberg was born with a congenital heart defect, and experienced chronic heart palpitations.^[6][8] He attended Ames Elementary School from kindergarten through sixth grade, and met lifelong friend and collaborator Tim Schlecht on his first day there.^[7] Both Schlecht and Hedberg's father, Arne, recalled that Hedberg was extremely shy during his childhood.^[7][9]

Hedberg attended Harding Senior High School in Saint Paul.^[10] He later stated in an interview that he was a straight-A student until his interest in school dropped around tenth grade.^[11] During his teenage years, Hedberg aspired to become a musician, and attempted to form a band with Schlecht, though this never materialized; he graduated from Harding in 1986.^[7] After graduating, he moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and worked in restaurant kitchens, including Applebee's, having first worked at a Chi-Chi's during high school.^[7][12]

Hedberg began his stand-up career in Florida, and after a period of honing his skills, he moved to Seattle and began to tour. He soon appeared on MTV's Comikaze, followed by a 1996 appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman that brought him his big break.^[13] He won the 1997 grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. The next year he appeared in an episode of Fox's series That '70s Show.

In 1999, he completed his own independent feature film, Los Enchiladas!, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in.^[13][14] He recorded three comedy albums: Strategic Grill Locations, Mitch All Together, and Do You Believe in Gosh?, the last released posthumously. He performed at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal three times: in 1998, 2001, and 2004.

Concurrent with his rising fame in the entertainment industry, Hedberg appeared on Letterman nine more times, signed a half-million-dollar deal with Fox for a television sitcom, and was dubbed "the next Seinfeld" by Time.^[15] George Carlin, Dave Chappelle, Mike Birbiglia, Norm MacDonald and Lewis Black were among his comedian fans.^[16] Comedians Anthony Jeselnik, Bo Burnham and Ron Funches have listed Hedberg as an influence.^[17][18][19]

On September 9, 2008, Comedy Central Records released the album Do You Believe in Gosh?, which contained material Hedberg recorded at The Improv in Ontario, California, in January 2005. Hedberg's wife Lynn wrote in the introduction that the performance had been in preparation for a year-end CD recording.^[20]

Hedberg's stand-up comedy was characterized by short, surreal, one-liners and absurd observations about everyday life, delivered in a distinctive low-energy, deadpan drawl.^[6][14] He often performed wearing sunglasses, with long hair covering his face, while staring down at the floor or at his feet.^[21] Hedberg suffered from stage fright throughout his career.^[12][14]

His one-liner comedy was often compared to that of Steven Wright, though Hedberg rejected the comparison.^[21] In 1998, Time magazine dubbed Hedberg "the next Seinfeld,"^[2] though writer Sam Anderson, in a Slate article following Hedberg's death, argued that the comparison overlooked Seinfeld's "edge of social superiority" and the positivity in Hedberg's comedy, stating, "unlike Seinfeld, he was easy to like."^[15]

Shortly after launching his stand-up career in 1989, Hedberg began a long-term relationship with Jana Johnson—an art student—after meeting her in a bar in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Later, he met Canadian comedian Lynn Shawcroft during a "New Faces" showcase at a Just for Laughs festival in 1996. Following a breakup with Johnson in October 1998, Hedberg married Shawcroft several months later, in February 1999.^[7][22] Shawcroft toured with Hedberg as his opening act.^[23]

Hedberg had a history of recreational drug use, including heroin. By the time he met Shawcroft in 1996, he had already tried the drug.^[22] On June 23, 2003, Hedberg was arrested at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for heroin possession,^[24] spending two and a half days in jail, and six weeks in a hospital.^[12] An infection in his right leg led to rumors that it would be amputated,^[12] though following a successful operation, Hedberg was left with a limp he experienced for the rest of his life.^[22]

In a December 2001 interview with Korn frontman Jonathan Davis for Penthouse, Davis asked Hedberg how he would end his own life if he could choose. Hedberg replied, "First I'd want to get famous, and then I'd overdose. If I overdosed at this stage in my career, I would be lucky if I made the back pages."^[25][26] On a March 17, 2005 interview for The Howard Stern Show two weeks before Hedberg's death, Howard Stern, prompted by Hedberg's mention of having his drug use under control, asked him if he knew how to use them responsibly, to which Hedberg replied "Yeah, you know, just for the creative side of it."^[26]

Following the conclusion of a 44-city tour on March 20, 2005, Hedberg and Shawcroft traveled between various hotels, reportedly avoiding phone calls from friends and family.^[16][6] On March 29, the couple checked into an upscale hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey.^[16] Shawcroft later found Hedberg collapsed in their hotel room,^[27][a] and he was pronounced dead on the morning of March 30, 2005, at the age of 37.^[10][14]

The next morning, Hedberg was scheduled for a phone interview with the Kirk, Mark and Lopez morning show on the Baltimore radio station WIYY-FM. When the show's hosts called his number, a "distraught-sounding" woman answered, stated Hedberg was unavailable, and hung up. He was additionally scheduled for five shows at the Baltimore Improv starting that night.^[28] Hedberg's death was first announced by Howard Stern on March 31.^[29][30] The timing of Stern's report led many to believe that the announcement of Hedberg's death was an April Fools' Day joke.^[26][31]

Initial speculation suggested Hedberg's death may have been drug-related, though his mother Mary dismissed these claims, attributing his death to heart failure related to a heart defect.^[1][32] However, in December 2005, the music magazine Spin obtained the official toxicology report from the New Jersey medical examiner's office, which formally ruled his cause of death as "multiple drug toxicity" resulting from an accidental overdose of cocaine and heroin.^[33]

Hedberg's funeral was held on April 5 at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Woodbury, Minnesota.^[34] He was buried at Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville, Minnesota, and his mother Mary was buried next to him following her death in 2012.^[7]