Filming wraps on Mitch Hedberg film

More than 100 friends, comics and fans interviewed for documentary

Filming has wrapped on a comprehensive documentary chronicling the life of American comedian Mitch Hedberg.

Film-makers have spend five years conducting more than 100 interviews, while unearthing a trove of unseen archival material and home movies offering insight into the life of the comedian, who died of a drug overdose in 2005 at the age of 37.

The Office star B.J. Novak, who contributed to the film, said: ‘We talked about him as if he was too special for this world. He had this energy that he was from another planet.’

Other interviewees include Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan, Margaret Cho, Dave Attell, Doug Stanhope and Todd Barry.

Mitch on stage, relatively young with long blond hair

© Tim Schlecht

Director Jeff Siegel said: ‘A lot of people have had a lot to say for a very long time, but no one to say it to until now. It’s taken many years to connect with nearly everyone who was a part of Mitch’s life and piece together his largely unknown story.

‘All that most people know is that he was hilarious and died young, but he was so much more than that.’

The documentary takes viewers into the world of the road comics who would play the comedy clubs of 1990s America, carving out a career before the internet, and before society learned to better address mental-health needs.

Hedberg in a diner, in dark glasses, staring into his coffee

Hedberg was found unresponsive in his hotel room in New Jersey on March 30, 2005 - with many initially convinced reports of his death were an April Fool’s joke. A post-mortem revealed that he died accidentally as the result of multiple drug toxicity, including cocaine and heroin.

Despite his tragic ending, filmmakers say the project celebrates Hedberg’s ‘enduring legacy and timeless comedy’. The comic’s sister Angie Anderson said: ‘Mitch would want us to be laughing. I miss him, but it would be unfair for all of us to be sad, because he wouldn’t want that. Not for one second.’

Hedberrg ounging in a hotel room
© Jo-Ann Colangelo

The list of interviewees also includes Felicia Michaels, Al Madrigal, Todd Glass, Greg Fitzsimmons, Brendon Small, Gary Gulman and Nick Swardson. Siegel also produces, with Julie Seabaugh and Becca Kinskey, and executive produces with Michael Blieden and Jack Vaughn.

The footage will now be edited, and there has been no news yet as to when or where the movie may be screened.

Here's Hedberg on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2004:

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Published: 6 Aug 2024