Richard Jeni dead

[BlackFlagg]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-0...jeni-obit_N.htm

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

Police found the 45-year-old comedian alive but gravely injured in a West Hollywood home when they responded to a call Saturday morning from Jeni's girlfriend, Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.

Eisenman said the caller told police: "My boyfriend shot himself in the face."

Jeni died at a nearby hospital.

Eisenman said suicide had not been officially confirmed and the investigation was continuing.

[Scott McFly]

What the hell? Wow, didn't really know of him other than from The Mask, but he seemed a funny guy.

[zero]

Jesus Christ. He was a great comedian that you just didn't see enough of. I've been reading around that he was deathly ill or something of that nature and that may be why he killed himself. He doesn't look too good in that picture with Chris Rock from the link; if that's the case, then kudos for him doing things on his terms.

[Skummy]

I don't know too much about the guy, but he was pretty good in everything I did see him in, especially The Mask. If Zero's right and he killed himself due to illness then I have to say kudos to him too, I've always had respect for those who choose to end things on their own terms rather than allow themselves to fall further and further.

RIP.

[TOG]

I don't know who he is, but RIP and kudos.

Which brings me to something else... everytime I hear people talk about suicide they inevitably say that it's "selfish". That's utter bullshit. This case is different, because he was in bad shape, but still.

[bob saget]

.

Edited March 3, 2021 by bob saget

[Gene Kiniski]

I believe he was the guy after the mask. The "bad guy".

[ROC]

Oh God. I remember seeing a good deal of his standup and this is seriously one of those situations that shocked me as soon as I read it. I'm hardly gonna act like he was one of my faves, but he was definitely funny.

RIP.

[Big Tuna]

I saw the the headline and thought nothing of it because I didn't recognize the name. I didn't realize it was Charlie from The Mask. He was awesome.

RIP.

[Pepsi]

That's him, he's been in a bunch of stuff but never as a lead.

I just watched his latest stand-up too, it was really funny.

Edited March 12, 2007 by Pepsi

[Scott McFly]

I believe he was the guy after the mask. The "bad guy".

[JStarr]

I WILL say that Jeni was one of my favorites, one of the first guys that ever got me chewed out for quoting his dirty material at the dinner table. (Well, I was ten at the time.) He was one of those guys who could be just raunchy enough to add some zing to the joke, but not, like, Dice-level raunchy where you felt dirty just watching him. I saw one of his old specials a couple of years ago when I was staying with my dad and stepmom, and she sat down to watch. Proceeded to laugh harder than I did.

Jeni was criminally underappreciated, and how he could only get a UPN launch sitcom (for one season, no less) when people like Norm MacDonald could make the major networks for years is beyond me.

I wish Rich a fond RIP, and I'm off to find Platypus Man on DVD.

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

I wouldn't say "kudos" for offing himself but dying is sad. I saw him live on 21st birthday and had a great time.

[zero]

I wouldn't say "kudos" for offing himself but dying is sad. I saw him live on 21st birthday and had a great time.

Why not? If the rumors are true and he was deathly ill, isn't there something admirable about a man going out his way?

[YI]

I wouldn't say "kudos" for offing himself but dying is sad. I saw him live on 21st birthday and had a great time.

Why not? If the rumors are true and he was deathly ill, isn't there something admirable about a man going out his way?

Edited March 13, 2007 by YI

[TheSqauredCircleMessiah]

I wouldn't say "kudos" for offing himself but dying is sad. I saw him live on 21st birthday and had a great time.

Why not? If the rumors are true and he was deathly ill, isn't there something admirable about a man going out his way?

[Skummy]

We've kind of glossed over the idea of suicide being the "easy way out" earlier in this thread, and it's not always the case at all...personally, I don't think it ever is. It might be a selfish or misguided way out, but easy? God know. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to end your own life? Practically every function of your body exists with the sole purpose of allowing you to go on living, and if you're trying to stop that, every one of them is fighting against you. It's not a case of "I feel unhappy, fuck this life shit" and ending it there, if there were a big red suicide button you could turn to, half the world's population would have pressed it. And that's before you even get into the unreliability of practically every method of suicide. It's certainly not an "easy way out" for anyone involved.

And in cases like this, or like Hunter S. Thompson, where he hadn't been well for a long time, it's far from an easy way out, if anything it's an act of pride and an act of strength. When you know your whole body is giving out on you, and that you're only going to get worse, and that your loved ones are going to have to watch you slowly deteriorate, it's a pretty big, pretty gutsy decision to decide to go out on your own terms instead. My grandfather always used to tell me, from a very early age, that if he ever got into a state where he was incapable of looking after himself, to shoot him. Some people are just too proud to let such a thing happen to them, and want to be remembered at the prime of their life, rather than for slowly shuffling off this mortal coil hooked up to a life support machine as their bodily functions fail one-by-one until they're just a blithering mass of flesh.

[JStarr]

Skummy just made a quite compelling argument. I personally agree with his grandfather...if I ever get to the point where I'm nothing but a burden on my family, good for not much but one more "thing to take care of," I want the option to tell someone to get me the hell out of this body. A perfectly healthy person who offs themselves because, I don't know, their girlfriend left them=pussy. Person who chooses to end an existence defined by nothing else but physical suffering=...well, I dont want to say noble, but it's a lot more dignified than shitting and drooling all over yourself for however many years.