2008 Woodie Awards
Tribute to best comedian of all time: Mitch Hedberg
By: Spencer Marshak
Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Opinion
Due to an editing error in last week's edition, this opinion piece will be run again in this week's issue.
I owe my life to Mitch Hedberg. Maybe not literally, but if there was one person I wish I could have met, it would have been him.
For those of you who do not know who he was, Mitch Hedberg was one of the funniest and most original stand-up comedians ever to walk this earth.
I would even go so far as to say that he was a creative genius whose brilliance far surpassed most of his contemporaries. To say that his jokes were witty is an understatement.
"I was going to have my teeth whitened but then I said forget that, I'll just get a tan instead."
To say that his jokes were random is an understatement.
"Chicago is known as the Windy City, and Montana is called the Big Sky State, so I think that we should somehow combine the two to create the ultimate kite-flying experience."
To say that his jokes were observational is an incredible understatement.
"You know when you see an advertisement for a casino, and they have a picture of a guy winning money? That's false advertising, because that happens the least. That's like if you're advertising a hamburger, they could show a guy choking. 'This is what happened once.' "
Hedberg was the epitome of a surreal comedian. His usage of wordplay to go along with his odd manner of speech and bizarre stage presence all combined to form comedic magic. To sit here and try to tell you how he told jokes is impossible. You have to see it to get it.
What I loved about him was that, besides being ridiculously funny, he perfected his craft to the point of flawlessness. Every punch line that came out of his mouth, funny or not, still received laughs because of his unique style and technique.
I started performing improvisational comedy on stage at a relatively young age, and while I have no desire to pursue that as a career, it is one of the few things that I truly pride myself on. It is one of those things that I know I can look back on years from now and say, "I performed for people…and they laughed."
I owe my life to Mitch Hedberg. Maybe not literally, but if there was one person I wish I could have met, it would have been him.
For those of you who do not know who he was, Mitch Hedberg was one of the funniest and most original stand-up comedians ever to walk this earth.
I would even go so far as to say that he was a creative genius whose brilliance far surpassed most of his contemporaries. To say that his jokes were witty is an understatement.
"I was going to have my teeth whitened but then I said forget that, I'll just get a tan instead."
To say that his jokes were random is an understatement.
"Chicago is known as the Windy City, and Montana is called the Big Sky State, so I think that we should somehow combine the two to create the ultimate kite-flying experience."
To say that his jokes were observational is an incredible understatement.
"You know when you see an advertisement for a casino, and they have a picture of a guy winning money? That's false advertising, because that happens the least. That's like if you're advertising a hamburger, they could show a guy choking. 'This is what happened once.' "
Hedberg was the epitome of a surreal comedian. His usage of wordplay to go along with his odd manner of speech and bizarre stage presence all combined to form comedic magic. To sit here and try to tell you how he told jokes is impossible. You have to see it to get it.
What I loved about him was that, besides being ridiculously funny, he perfected his craft to the point of flawlessness. Every punch line that came out of his mouth, funny or not, still received laughs because of his unique style and technique.
I started performing improvisational comedy on stage at a relatively young age, and while I have no desire to pursue that as a career, it is one of the few things that I truly pride myself on. It is one of those things that I know I can look back on years from now and say, "I performed for people…and they laughed."
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