Well, it’s all doom-and-gloom from me today, I’m afraid.
This is one of those things I’m not sure whether to cover on a gossip blog, or how. A lot of you maybe haven’t even heard of comedian Patrice O’Neal—although, if you watched the Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen back in September, you definitely remember him. O’Neal was edgy without being malicious, which I liked, and he was incisive, and it helped that he was very, very funny.
O’Neal was also a regular on the Opie and Anthony Show where, this morning, comedian Jim Norton made the announcement:
“We don’t know how he is. We don’t know how he’s going to be. I didn’t want to do this by myself. I wish we had more news for you.”
O’Neal suffered the stroke last week; that we’re only just hearing about it makes me fear that O’Neal’s odds are much worse than even Jim Norton is letting on. Norton also clarified that he was only making the announcement publicly because “we wanted it to come from us.”
Eerily, many of the jokes at the Sheen Roast were made at the expense of O’Neal’s weight and health (he has diabetes). Fellow friends and comedians repeatedly teased that O’Neal had one foot in an early grave, and he visibly took it all in stride. It was hilarious at the time; in retrospect, it’s heartbreaking.
uh, it was not hilarious at the time. i thought it was pretty brutal, and to me, it looked like he got hurt by it. but, what do i know.