Thank you for reading the first Heavy Laughs newsletter! Even though this particular newsletter issue is about a heavyset comic, Heavy Laughs is not only going to be about overweight comedians. I plan to write features about comics or whatever I find interesting, and maybe throw a few recommendations your way.
Do I know everything about comedy? No. Am I a comedy historian or expert? No. I’m a comedy fan that likes to share content from comedians I find funny.
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Patrice O'Neal: Killing Is Easy Documentary
Comedy Central premiered a documentary about Patrice O’Neal a few weeks ago and it’s definitely something every comedy fan should watch. I’ve heard so many stories about Patrice on podcasts from his comedian friends over the years and I was very excited when they announced that this documentary was being made.
If you haven’t heard of Patrice O’Neal, he is considered one of the best comedians that has ever lived. Patrice started comedy in Boston, his home town, and eventually moved down to New York City as he developed as a comic. Every comic that was around the New York scene at the time seems to have a Patrice story. Some stories are good, and some are bad. He was known as a ball buster to say the least. Bill Burr talks about how he would get a nervous feeling when he would walk up to the table of comics at the Comedy Cellar and saw Patrice. One thing that all comics seem to talk about is how funny he was on stage. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2011 after complications from a stroke.
Here’s the trailer for the documentary:
The documentary was made in collaboration between Comedy Central and All Things Comedy, a company owned by Bill Burr and Al Madrigal. Also, Patrice’s fiancee, Von Decarlo, is a producer of the documentary and seems to have been working on getting this made since 2015. The only bad part about the premiere was that, apparently, Comedy Central didn’t air 15 minutes of the documentary because they couldn’t bump an episode of The Office… I wonder what Patrice would have to say about that. You can now watch the full version online.
After the documentary aired, I was excited about all of podcasts that were about to come out where comedians talked about it and shared more Patrice stories. Here are a few that I listened to:
Patrice’s Comedy Central special, Elephant in the Room, is a hilarious watch as well. It might be a good idea to give it a watch before the documentary.
Here are some other notable and funny Patrice clips: