Now it rings a bell, or buzzes the eyeballs.
Mike died yesterday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, at 63.
Mike was a bit like my late friend Richard Jeni (who didn't make it into his 60's because his bipolar issues were much more severe than Mike's). Both Richard and Mike could do a killer 8 minutes on a late night talk show, and few would remember it the next day. Unlike Kinison or Emo or some of the others of that late 80's fraternity, Mike looked and acted "normal." Like Richard Jeni, who was always desperately looking for a hook (Richard tried to hang something on being dubbed "The Boy from New York City") Mike, the guy from Canada, looked and acted too normal. He was just...funny.
Yes, I probably quoted a McDonald joke or two in RAVE. After all, Mike was doing well enough to get his own SHOWTIME specials (and also specials aired on Canada's CBC). But frankly even I don't remember his shot at a sitcom in 1989, "Mosquito Lake." Let's say he didn't exactly graduate from stand-up to sitcom in the same way as fairly ordinary looking contemporaries Tim Allen and Jerry Seinfeld did.
Mike continued on, journeyman comedian and actor, till he ran into health problems with Hep C in 2011. Health coverage in America being what it is, he talked about selling his California home and moving back to health-insurance-friendly Canada.
While waiting for a liver transplant, friends and fans were raising money for his health care needs. He did get his operation in 2013, and though thinner and looking a bit like James Whitmore, was back on stage making people laugh.
What can you say? The laughs last There's no last laugh...when you can still see a comedian perform via DVD, CD or YouTube. But it would be nice to know you could maybe email the website or snail mail the star and say, "I just saw..." and "I loved the bit when..." But Mike can't hear the laughter now, and his wife is missing him a million times more than we are today.
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