Comedian Richard Jeni dead at 45. Police investigating suicide.

[The Straight Story]

Comedian Richard Jeni dead at 45. Police investigating suicide.



WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) - Richard Jeni, a standup comedian who played to sold-out crowds and was a regular on the "Tonight Show," died from a gunshot wound in an apparent suicide, police said Sunday.

Police found Jeni alive but gravely injured in a home here after responding to a call Saturday morning from Jeni's girlfriend reporting the comic had shot himself, Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.

He died after being rushed to a nearby hospital.

Eisenman said she could not confirm that Jeni had killed himself and said the investigation was ongoing. She said the female caller told police: "My boyfriend shot himself in the face."

Jeni, who has appeared on the "The Tonight Show" and acted in the Jim Carrey movie "The Mask," was 45 years old.

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[hyphenate]

1. I just read that as well

How sad. I liked Richard Jeni based on his TV show some years ago. But like all of us, he was only human, and even when we think some of these people are "more than human" the truth is they have the same problems, hurts, and failings as the rest of us, and sometimes the pressures are worse for them. I think of some who we tend to think of as extraordinary but who face the world even more afraid than others--the only obvious sign in the long run is when they kill themselves, pretending in RL that there is nothing bothering them.

They are not mighty in any way that the rest of us are not, except for an incredible ability to hide their problems from the rest of the world.

[3waygeek]

2. Read about this over at HuffPo

fellow comic Elayne Boosler remembers Jeni.

[spoony]

3. Damn

That's awful. This happens too often in the comedy world. People dying way too young, succumbing to whatever despair lives underneath the humour :(