How Did Mitch Hedberg Die

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Interview with Lynn Shawcroft, Mitch Hedberg's wife

There weren’t being nasty. I’m sure that’s just what they do, but, yeah, I know it’s a weird thing; it just goes right to his [Mitch's page]. ‘Would Mitch be mad at me?’ is the question. I think they were just trying to link to a better comedian, I guess.

You don’t really think Mitch would be mad at you, would he? I think, from a person who loves comedy, first, seeing him do a headlining set and going, “Oh my God, he’s amazing!” You know, there’s different levels of that.

Falling in love is always great. We met and sort of fell in love; He was in Toronto. We met, then he went back to New York and I thought, “I like him.” Then, he came back and visited me and he said, “Why don’t you meet me in LA at this date in the terminal in LAX and you can come on the road for me for a bit?”

I did and we just stayed together right after that. That was a fond memory. We did a lot of things. We bought a home together, traveled together. One thing I think is amazing about stand-up, one of the gifts it gives, is you get to travel the country. I’m from Canada, but I’ve seen the [United] States so comprehensively and it’s because I was married and I worked a lot and we got to work together.

I think the road can be brutal. It really can be really hard. Like a lot of times we were on the road, Post-9/11, and flying at that time. He would be booked in Seattle at a college and then in Florida the next day. He was so overworked. We worked so much.

When we used to bitch, he used to honestly really say, “Look at what we get to do. We get to fly around. We don’t have a lot of alarm clocks.” You know what also helps? Being in a relationship. I think if you have someone at home in your life, it can be brutal. When you’re on your own, it can get lonely, but, I think, in a marriage, for good or bad, that’s how it works. You know what I mean? We got to spend a lot of time together, then have days off and hang out. So, I really miss him for sure.

That’s amazing; having your partner on the road. Yeah, you hang out with your best friend in hotels and then go do fun stuff like see haunted houses. Not to take away all of the stress involved in running around and keeping on top of it all, but it was amazing. Like, I got to Nashville eight times. I love it.

Do you think that there’s a silver lining in Mitch’s passing after all these years?