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“Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?” That’s not a joke that most stand-up comics would make, but it’s the kind of humor that’s instantly synonymous with the late, great Mitch Hedberg. One of the many comedians who died way too early, the spirited Minnesotan was just 37 when he passed away in 2005, and his surviving legacy will be explored in a new documentary that will hopefully be among other upcoming 2025 releases.
The doc’s director, Jeff Siegel, originally expected to be a bigger part of Hedberg’s life at the point in which his career was blowing up, having met him at several stand-up shows, and was hoping to accompany the comedian on the road as part of an NYU film school thesis project. That tour tragically never materialized, but Seigel never stopped appreciating the surrealist comic’s influence, and he laid out to THR exactly why fans past and present are so quickly swayed upon seeing Mitch Hedberg for the first time.
Mitch doesn’t look like anyone else. He doesn’t sound like anyone else. He’s smart, cool, complex, enigmatic and devastatingly funny. Equal parts dreamer, artist and rock star, all combining in such a compelling, irresistible way that Mitch instantly seduces nearly any crowd.
His specific throwback appearance and stuttered joke patterns were integral to how his act evolved over time, to the point where even when he appeared in scripted projects such as That ‘70s Show and Almost Famous, it was hard for fans like me to see him outside of his stage persona. That’s hardly a bad thing, however, since few comedians before or since Mitch Hedberg could ever hope to attain either his level of natural coolness or timelessness.
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Speaking to the latter point, even if some of his wildly funny jokes might focus on outdated technology or social norms, the thought process that went into crafting the humor will never get old or expire. And that unique creative ability only helps to bring new viewers and listeners to Hedberg’s too-few specials and albums.
Jeff Siegel spoke to the forever timeless nature of Mitch Hedberg’s comedy, saying:
Audiences immediately sense his authenticity and vulnerability, so they root for him from the start. And then he unassumingly spouts off some of the funniest, most well-crafted jokes of all time. He hits you hard with one after another, seemingly out of nowhere. There’s a timeless universality to Mitch that transcends comedy trends and makes him infinitely sharable to audiences of all ages and backgrounds as new people continue to discover him every day.
One can only hope that Siegel’s upcoming documentary, which doesn’t yet have an official title, will spark a new wave of obsessive appreciation for the man who adamantly disagreed with following an arrow just because of where it’s pointing. Thankfully, the new project has the approval and support of Hedberg’s sister, Angie Anderson, and will feature interview clips from talks with more than 100 stand-up comedians, including Dave Attell, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, B.J. Novak and more.
So keep an eye or two out for more updates about the upcoming Mitch Hedberg documentary, and don’t forget to say yes to an offer for a frozen banana if you think you’ll want a regular banana later.