US comic suffers cardiac arrest

America comedian Ralphie May has died at the age of 45.

The comic died of cardiac arrest in Las Vegas following a brief battle with pneumonia.

He had long struggled with his weigh, at following a car accident at the age of 16, he reached 57 stone. He participated on Celebrity Fit Club and had gastric bypass surgery in 2004 which brought his weight down to 25 stone.

He came to prominence via the NBC reality comedy show Last Comic Standing, coming second in the first season in 2003. When he started out, he said: ‘I think there's a bias against fat people on network television. In general, it's endemic to the industry.’

Indeed, he only made a few brief appearances on TV shows including Inside Amy Schumer and Whoopi, but  recorded four Comedy Central specials.

His representatives wrote on his Facebook page last night: ‘We are heartbroken to announce the untimely death of our friend, Ralphie May. 

‘Ralphie had been battling pneumonia and had cancelled a handful of dates over the last month in an effort to recover. 

‘Earlier this morning at a private residence in Las Vegas his body was discovered, cause of death is cardiac arrest.

‘Two days ago he won the Casino Comedian of the Year at the Global Gaming Expo and had performances throughout the remainder of 2017 as part of his residency at Harrah's Las Vegas.’

Comics paid tribute on Twitter with Kevin Hart saying: ‘I'm truly saddened by this. He was a good dude. Heaven just got another funny angel RIP man.’

And Jim Breuer said: ‘Ralphie May RIP funny man. We shared good talks & good laughs . See you on the other side kid.

In 2015, May hit the headlines for the wrong reasons when police had to escort him out of his own gig after consuming so much legal marijuana that he 'couldn't string a sentence together’.

May is survived by his wife Lahna Turner and two children, whom he named after months of the year – April June May and August James May.

Published: 7 Oct 2017