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U.S. comedian Mike DeStefano has died after suffering a massive heart attack on Sunday night March 6. The funnyman shot to fame in America last year when he was among the finalists of reality TV contest "Last Comic Standing". TMZ.com reports DeStefano was a former heroin addict, who had been clean for 11 years. Following his TV success last year, he often performed at prisons and rehab centers for free.

Weeks ago on his last performance in Manhattan, he wrote on his Web site, "I might die tomorrow and you won't get a chance to see my show, 'Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy by Mike DeStefano.' Then you'll feel bad. Let's avoid all that and buy tickets.' "...

U.S. comedian Mike Destefano has died after suffering a massive heart attack on Sunday night.

The funnyman shot to fame in America last year when he was among the finalists of reality TV contest Last Comic Standing.

TMZ.com reports DeStefano was a former heroin addict, who had been clean for 11 years.

Following his TV success last year, he often performed at prisons and rehab centres for free.

In news that just no one wants to hear, Last Comic Standing finalist Mike DeStefano died last night of heart failure. An HIV-positive former heroin addict know for his gruff stand-up style, the Bronx-born comedian made it to the top five during last year’s season, and toured with the other Standing comedians this fall. In addition to his foul-mouth stand-up routines, DeStefano’s story-telling through New York’s The Moth about the death of his wife from AIDS helped inform his signature fearless style.

Other comedians like Marc Maron are offering tribute to the comedian, who has performed on Late Night With Conan O’Brien and the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen to name a few. “Deep, real, life. Rip,” Maron tweeted. The comic’s management company 3 Arts Entertainment confirms Stefano’s death, saying in a statement “We are indeed incredibly saddened by the loss of this amazing man.

Comedian Mike DeStefano, best known for performing on last season's "Last Comic Standing," has died of a heart attack. He was 44.

In a statement, his representative said: "We are indeed incredibly saddened by the loss of this amazing man. He had touched the lives of many with his unique brand of comedy and was looking forward to sharing the same with so many more. Mostly, we will all miss his huge heart and incredibly loving and selfless passion for people.

A sad—and too-soon—end to what was a notable comedy career. Mike DeStefano, who mined material from his life as a former heroin junkie to become a finalist on last season's Last Comic Standing, has died, his rep confirmed. According to his MySpace page, he was only 44. "Mike had a lot of wisdom to share with the world from his own life lessons and he always did it with laughter and a smile," his publicist said in a statement, describing DeStefano as a "true gentleman, a great comic and a "fierce warrior." Per Punchline Magazine, DeStefano suffered a massive heart attack late Sunday—a day before he was due to perform his gritty new one-man show, A Cherry...

Comedian Mike DeStefano, who was a finalist on Last Comic Standing, died of a massive heart attack Sunday night at age 44. "I am deeply saddened to hear about Mike. He was not only an outstanding comic but more importantly a wonderfully warm human being who deeply cared about people," Last Comic Standing executive producer Peter Engel said in a statement Monday. "We will all laugh a bit less because of losing Mike." DeStefano's death was first confirmed by friend of the comedian's family to Punchline Magazine.DeStefano, who was set to perform his one-man show A Cherry Tree in the Bronx on Wednesday,...

Comedian and Last Comic Standing 7 finalist Mike DeStefano, who came in fourth on the show, died yesterday. His death marks the second from that season of the show; judge Greg Giraldo died last fall. AOL reported that he "died from a heart attack," and noted that his "recovery from heroin addiction fueled his no-holds-barred comedy"; he started using at 15 and at 30, "kicked his addiction and began working as a drug counselor. A...

'Last Comic Standing' Finalist Dies

Comedian Mike DeStefano -- one of the 5 finalists on last season's "Last Comic Standing" -- died last night ... TMZ has confirmed.

DeStefano was a former heroin addict who had been clean for 11 years. According to the NBC website, he frequently performed at prisons and rehab centers for free.

According to reports, DeStefano died after suffering a massive heart attack last night.

His rep released a statement saying, "It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of a dear friend, a true gentleman, a great comic, and a fierce warrior, Mike DeStefano."

The statement continues ...

"Mike had a lot of wisdom to share with the world from his own life lessons and he always did it with laughter and a smile.

It’s hard to think that there won’t be any ...

Comedian Mike DeStefano, who made it to the last rounds of NBC's "Last Comic Standing," has died, his manager confirmed. The HIV-positive comedian, who often joked about addiction and disease, died of a heart attack, according to Punchline Magazine. His path to comedy including heroin addiction, recovery, and becoming an addiction counselor. He explained in his online biography that he volunteered to entertain the audience at a convention, while working as a counselor, and became a comedian because of the good response. "We are indeed incredibly saddened by the loss of this amazing...

Comedian Mike DeStefano -- one of the 5 finalists on last season's " Last Comic Standing " -- died last night ... TMZ has confirmed. DeStefano was a former heroin addict who had been clean for 11 years. According to the NBC website, he frequently performed at prisons and rehab centers for free. According to reports, DeStefano died after suffering a massive heart attack last night. His rep released a statement saying, "It is with a heavy heart that we...

Mike DeStefano, a comedian who became a finalist last year on Last Comic Standing, has died of a heart attack, Punchline Magazine reported.

DeStefano had just finished a run of shows titled Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy, which was largely based on being HIV positive, his past drug addiction and his wife's death.

See other people who have died this year

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Comedian Mike DeStefano, who made it as one of the five finalists on last season's "Las Comic Standing" has died of a heart attack.

The former heroin addict, who had been clean for 11 years, died Sunday after suffering from a massive heart attack, according to TV Guide.

DeStafano used his personal struggle and tragedy as part of his stand-up titled "Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy," which talked about being HIV positive, his past drug addiction and his wife's death.

He was slated to perform in comedy clubs in Dallas, Fort Worth, TX and Tampa, Fla.

Comedian suffered a massive heart attack Sunday.

By James Dinh

Mike DeStefano

Photo: Michael Schwartz/ Getty Images

"Last Comic Standing" finalist Mike DeStefano died Sunday after suffering a massive heart attack, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A rep for the 44-year-old DeStefano, who was a finalist on the NBC reality competition, confirmed the news in a statement to TMZ. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of a dear friend, a true gentleman, a great comic, and a fierce warrior, Mike DeStefano," his rep said. "Mike had a lot of wisdom to share with the world from his own life lessons and he always did it with laughter and a smile.

"It's hard to think that there won't be any more 'hey sweetheart' calls, because Mike always made my day with his mix of kindness and warmth And profanity filled rants against the wrongs of the world.

Filed under: TV News

Comedian Mike DeStefano, who finished fourth on the most recent season of 'Last Comic Standing,' died yesterday after suffering a heart attack, Punchline Magazine reports.

The Bronx native was an HIV-positive recovering heroin addict who frequently tackled those tough topics in his act.

A friend of DeStefano's family confirmed the news to Punchline, and TV Guide reports that DeStefano's producer addressed the death on Twitter, writing, "We'll be talking about it later. Sorry if we've ignored the e-mails and text messages. Mike became a brother to us. We love him."

 

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Substance abuse and AIDs are hilarious, right? Well, no, not usually. But for the past decade, stand-up comedian Mike DeStefano has crafted a career telling jokes about these hardships, and the other painful and tragic parts of life that we're not supposed to laugh at. He's not trying to make life any easier -- just funnier.DeStefano's new one-man show, "Drugs, Disease, and Death: A Comedy" debuts this week at The Producers' Club in New York City. It is an autobiographical story based on the comedian's life in the Bronx, battling heroin addiction, losing his wife to AIDS, and simply struggling to survive."What I’m going to be talking about in 'Drugs, Disease and Death,'" DeStefano reveals, "is death, disease, and drugs." You might call him an expert on the subject. (In one joke, DeStefano explains: "I'm a stand up comic. Before that, I was a drug counselor.

East Los Angeleno Felipe Esparza became the .Last Comic Standing. in NBC.s season seven finale. .I am so happy that America loved me,. said Esparza. .Now I am America.s new homeboy.. From NBC: Esparza was one of five comics left in the competition, along with Mike Destefano (Bronx, NY), Tommy Johnagin (Benton, Il), Myq Kaplan (Boston, Ma) and Roy Wood, Jr. (Birmingham, Al). Johnagin was the runner-up, securing the second highest number of Amercia.s votes. Kathy Griffin and Tom Papa performed in the finale, along with .Last Comic Standing. judges Greg Giraldo, Andy Kindler and Natasha Leggero. Esparza took the title of .Last Comic Standing. and the $250,000 grand prize. Background Esparza was born in Mexico and...

Last Comic Standing 7 ended last night, and Felipe Esparza won the $250,000 prize and an NBC talent deal. Asked how he felt, he said in his typical dry style, "Good. Awesome." Tommy Johnagin was the runner up, and the other runners up were, in order, Roy Wood, Jr., Mike DeStefano, and Myq Kaplan. NBC's resuscitation of Last Comic dispensed with everything except the live performance shows, which mostly worked except for the judges, who...

Stand-up comic Myq Kaplan has a knack for winning comedy contests: The rising comedian won NY's Funniest Stand-Up Competition as part of the NY Comedy Festival, and "March Comedy Madness" at Carolines on Broadway. He was a finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival and Comedy Central's "Open Mic Fights." Earlier this year, Kaplan was given the "Emerging Comic Award" at NYC's Ecny Awards. He has also performed on the New Faces show at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, as well as Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and Comedy Central Presents.Which is why we think Kaplan, one of five remaining finalists on the seventh season of the NBC reality competition series "Last Comic Standing," has a good chance to win America's vote and take home the title. The voting has now ended, and he has already outlasted hundreds of other funny people from Los Angeles, New York City,...

Filed under: Recaps

(S07E07) The first 'Last Comic Standing' elimination show is upon us! Three of the ten comics get eliminated based on last week's votes in one fell swoop. It's cruel! It's quick! It's reality TV!

The show trots them all out on stage and gets to the elimination. The first group is Myq "with a Q" Kaplan, Mike DeStefano, James Adomian and Roy Wood Jr.

The first comic safe is DeStefano, followed by Wood Jr. It's down to Adomian in a pink shirt and Kaplan, who looks super relieved to be going on in the competition.

 

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This week's episode of Last Comic Standing showed us the New York auditions on the first day. Yet again, there were the usual weirdos wearing strange costumes or using some other sort of prop. The list included a goblin, an elf, a clown, a ventriloquist & dummy & the dummy's dummy, another ventriloquist with Bernie the bird dummy, and yet another ventriloquist with an old man dummy, and believe it or not, another ventriloquist with soul brother Ricky the dummy, then a ventriloquist with Dangerous the duck dummy...and none of them were funny.

The comics sent through to the semifinals this time were Alycia Cooper, Mike DeStefano, Claudia Cogan, Kurt Metzger, Tommy Johnagin, Jamie Lee, Roy Wood, Jr., Amanda Melson and Jesse Joyce. I think it's fair to say that the season is already shaping up o be fantastic.

Last Comic Standing: See which comedians from the first show made it on to the next round with the two highlight clips below and next week the judges head to New York in search of more standout comedians . previews below. Spoiler Alert: CringeHumor.net has revealed the top ten finalists for Last Comic Standing on NBC. Their picks for comics to watch for include Mike DeStefano, who CringeHumor says "we named Mike the 2007 Up & Coming Cringe Humor comedian of the year and he deserves all of the success coming his way." They also tip comic Laurie Kilmartin. "Laurie really does break the mold of female comedians by being an absolutely brilliant writer...Congrats to her for making it...

Dennis Leary has provided fans with outrageous comedy routines for over 20 years. Leary is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, writer and director whose rants have entertained audiences since his days working the Boston comedy-club circuit in the 1980's.

His angry comedic style takes jabs at everyone from Hollywood's elite to common people in the news. Leary's Rescue Me Comedy Tour - inspired by the FX series of the same name in its fifth season - made a stop at the Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood, Fl Sunday night.

He last toured in 1997 and stared in a smash hit one man show, No Cure For Cancer, which became the highest grossing comedy album of all time.

The 51-year old performed to a packed house along with comedians Adam Ferrara, Lenny Clarke and Mike DeStefano.

New York -- Several comedy pilots were among the big winners Wednesday at the fourth annual New York Television Festival, which celebrates independent TV programming.

"Teachers," a sitcom about a teacher at a suburban public school, received the 2008 Nytvf People's Choice Award. The pilot from Jim Garvey starred "American Idol" finalist Constantine Maroulis along with Katherine Holland, Sarah Litzinger and Noah Starr. It was voted upon by festival attendees.

Winning the Fox-nytvf Comedy Script Contest was "Selling Hell," Mike Maloney's creation about a divorced couple who has to work in marketing in Hell. Maloney will receive $25,000 and a Fox development deal.

"Below the Law," about two brothers who have to wait to get into the police academy, won for best comedy pilot. It was created by Dan Levy and Steve Basilone of Los Angeles. "Hit Factor," about three actors who moonlight as hit men in Hollywood, won for best drama pilot.