Modified On July 11, 2005
In Entertainment Weekly’s “The Rise and Fall of comedy’s Kurt Cobain,” on the stands July 8th, Daniel Fierman tells about the tragic circumstances of Hedberg’s passing.
People would go, “‘Mitch is going to die’ and I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know,'” says Mike Birbiglia, a Hedberg protégé who performed at one of the final shows at Carolines. “He seemed to pull it off. He had this invincibility to him.”
Invincible? Hmm… And then there’s this paragraph:
No one is quite sure when Hedberg started seriously using heroin, but Shawcroft says he had tried the drug before they met. From the outside, it was hard to tell what was going on. Hedberg and Shawcroft’s relationship was startlingly opaque — Mary Hedberg estimates she and Arne spent a total of 24 hours with the couple over their six years of marriage — and the stand-up scene is filled with high-functioning drug users. Against that backdrop, he was the picture of professionalism. Despite rumors of heavy drug use, Hedberg would arrive, perform, and leave audiences happy.
“the standup scene is filled with high-functioning drug users?” Maybe (and that’s a big “maybe”) in the ’80s, but not any more. We don’t think we’re betraying any ignorance here, but we just don’t think this is anywhere near accurate.