US comic in 'critical but stable' condition

American comic Greg Giraldo is being treated in hospital after taking a drug overdose, according to reports.

However it is understood he took an excess of prescription painkillers by accident rather than a suicide attempt, according to sources speaking to the New York Post and gossip website TMZ.

The 44-year-old is said to have collapsed on Saturday night in his hotel room in New Jersey, where he was performing at a club.

He was a judge on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and last year he was one of the team captains in a pilot edition of an American remake of Have I Got News For You.

He has recorded two half-hour specials for Comedy Central and is a regular on the Howard Stern Show and Lewis Black’s topical debate show Root of All Evil.

TMZ says he is is in a critical but stable condition.

Published: 26 Sep 2010