Rest in peace Patrice O'Neal

About 10 years ago I spent many Friday nights at comedy clubs in New York City. On a few occasions I had the opportunity to see Patrice O'Neal's act and he never disappointed. In 2001, he was telling jokes about 9/11 that surprised the audience - not because he was telling the jokes 4 miles from where the towers had fallen just a few weeks earlier, but because he was able to make people laugh about the attacks without feeling uncomfortable.

In 2000 I went to the Comic Strip Live with a few friends from work. They sat us right up next to the side of the stage. As Patrice took the stage and started working the crowd, he immediately zoned in on one of my friends, who was clearly not quite 21 (none of the smaller comedy clubs carded). He asked my friend how old he was, to which my friend replied "ummmmm 21" which led to a barrage of jokes about kids getting drunk. A few times throughout Patrice's act, he would refer back to my friend and say things like "What do you think about that, ummmm 21?" In the train ride home my friend was complaining that he thought he was going to get kicked out but we were all happily drunk and his complaints only made it funnier.

Yesterday morning, Patrice O'Neal died after complications from a stroke. He was 41 years old. Though I haven't seen him perform in about 4 years, he has been a regular on the radio show I listen to daily. He was one of the funniest people on earth and stand-up comedy, especially in New York, will certainly never be the same without him.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i92lYJvqZGs[/youtube]