Start Strong: By now practically everyone in the comedy world has heard the sad news, that comedian Richard Jeni took his own life this weekend.

By all accounts, Jeni was one of the funniest, creative guys on the stand-up circuit, with a signature rapid-fire delivery that won over audiences everywhere.

A recent statement from Jeni’s family insists there was no foul play, that Jeni did indeed take his own life, but also claims that Jeni was “not down or blue, he was ill….Perhaps Richard’s passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness.”

A good friend of mine was asked by e-mail why “so many comedians commit suicide.” While disavowing that so many do, he did allow that comedians are a little unbalanced. Why? “Because,” he replied, “comedians are fucked up people. Think about it: their entire personalities are geared towards seeking approval, love, acceptance, and they seek it so desperately that they literally do what most people would rather die than do: go talk to a roomful of people they’ve never met with the aim of making them laugh. And to do so they take some of the most sensitive, painful parts of themselves and their experiences and turn them into punch lines.”

He continued: “I’ve always found it very fitting that comedians use war metaphors to divide up the world. People who are non-comedians are ‘civilians.’ Comedians ‘kill’ an audience, or ’slay’ them. It’s fitting because most comedians are at war: with their pasts, their emotions, their experiences, with society and its accompanying demands and hypocrisies — but mostly with themselves. And Richard Jeni lost his war.”

Indeed.

E-mail me if you opened for Jeni when he was here in DC and would like to share your own thoughts and memories of him.

EL Wisty, per Richard Jeni, a “dried up loser…”