This sucks. I was a big fan of his stand up. He was an incredibly funny comedian. Most would know him from Last Comic Standing and the Comedy Central Roasts, where the easiest joke made about him was that no one knew who he was. But he was great. It didn't look so good for him when he OD'd earlier in the week, but the worst came to pass.
A few years ago, Jeff and I caught his stand up at Comedy Connection in Boston. Jeff went to the men's room and Giraldo was there lurking, waiting to go on, so they shot the shit together at the urinal. That's the kind of cool guy Greg was.
Originally posted by Psycho PenguinHow do you accidentally overdose on pills?
Ummm, you take too many? It happens all the time. It has to be the most common form of tragic drug-related deaths in young Hollywood. You cannot be this obtuse.
The last time I saw Greg Giraldo, he was having a fairly off-night at the Hasselhoff roast (Gary Coleman joke...too soon), but I got a great laugh out of his Hogan jokes. Loved him on Last Comic Standing and the Comedy Central Roasts will never be the same going forward.
RIP
"Playing guitars. It's hard to sing while playing...guitars."
Originally posted by Psycho PenguinHow do you accidentally overdose on pills?
Ummm, you take too many? It happens all the time. It has to be the most common form of tragic drug-related deaths in young Hollywood. You cannot be this obtuse.
- StingArmy
I think what PP is talking about is the way they mention he accidentally overdosed as if he forgot to turn off the iron and his house burnt down.
According to the story, he was partying hard and took a lot of pills, probably to get high. The only reason they say "accidentally" is because they don't want people to think it was a suicide attempt.
I personally think they're doing a great disservice every time a death like this happens by (and this isn't the term I'm thinking of but it's the closest I can come up with right now) sugar-coating their deaths.
I really think if they were honest about how these guys are partying with these drugs the way others party with cocaine, maybe some who are in their situation might get the help they need. Instead, they call it an "accident" and make it sound like something that can be avoided if you say "yea, but I'm more careful than them".
Originally posted by Tribal ProphetAccording to the story, he was partying hard and took a lot of pills, probably to get high. The only reason they say "accidentally" is because they don't want people to think it was a suicide attempt.
Am I remembering incorrectly (and being too lazy to look it up) but didn't Heath Ledger die on an accidental, non-suicidal overdose? He just mixed the wrong drug with the wrong drug and his heart went "Nuh-uh."
Anyway, I don't think it is impossible to accidentally OD, especially on pain meds. Two don't work, so you take four. Four don't work, so you take six. Eventually that can catch up with you.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
Well, I just know from Wikipedia, which has parts of the autopsy report: "Mr. Heath Ledger died as the result of acute intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine." "We have concluded that the manner of death is accident, resulting from the abuse of prescription medications."
"Abuse" is a fuzzy word, but it usually means taking more than you're supposed to by a large amount. It does say that some of the drugs in his system were never prescribed to him in the first place, so it wasn't the case of him taking a drug because a doctor said it would help him.
Either way, taking a couple extra pain medications because two aren't cutting it anymore is a far cry from taking six (or more) medications at once, or in Giraldo's case, taking more drugs than his body can handle while partying.
I think when people read "prescription medications", there is almost a connection made in your head that these were drugs given to them by a doctor. All it really means is that it wasn't cocaine or crack or other "street drugs".
To me, the problem with shifting blame to "accidental" in these cases where celebrities overdose off drugs is much the same as the way the WWE shifts blame when a former wrestler dies from steroid or pain killer abuse. It lessens the outcry for these problems to stop, and so people forget quick and in a few weeks we're all reading on TMZ about someone else who's passed away too soon.
The Huffington Post has helpfully collected a bunch of great Greg Giraldo roast clips (including the awesome one posted by Broncolanche earlier). It's such a shame that he's gone, because he was absolutely hilarious.
RIP again.
EDIT: And for a double whammy of a tearjerker, try not to tear up as you see Farrah Fawcett in the Shatner clip. Speaking of people that went way too soon.
(edited by It's False on 30.9.10 0110)
"Playing guitars. It's hard to sing while playing...guitars."
Thanks to the Huffington Post, but Broncolanche's post is the one that had me watching Greg Giraldo and other roast clips on Youtube for an hour. Fantastic stuff.
RIP
"Put on your helmets, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!" "It was nice of you to give that dead woman another chance." "All right, look alive everybody...oh sorry Susan."- MST3K: Space Mutiny Click Here (myspace.com)
All the Giraldo roast clips have been pulled off YouTube. Some stuff can still be seen on Comedy Central's website, but most are just short clips. I understand completely, but wish they had waited a day or two to do that.
I never liked Greg Giraldo's standup as much as when he was on Tough Crowd or doing roasts. But in those venues, he was elite.
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by samoflangeAll the Giraldo roast clips have been pulled off YouTube... I understand completely, but wish they had waited a day or two to do that.
(with editing by me)
Maybe I'm completely irrational, but I don't even slightly understand. They say that they have been pulled due to a dispute by Viacom. Unless Viacom is controlling the estate of Greg Giraldo (which they might be, again I'm not informed) I don't see the point. They were available for months (if not years depending on the clip) prior to his death and no one cared. I know that the roasts are available for purchase, so I get the copyright issue. But to suddenly take them down is borderline infuriating. I know it's oranges and tangerines, but I'm positive that the death of Heath Ledger greatly increased the downloads of The Dark Knight trailer(s).
"What you don't understand, you can make mean anything." -Palahniuk
Originally posted by Kidbrooklyn Maybe I'm completely irrational, but I don't even slightly understand. They say that they have been pulled due to a dispute by Viacom. Unless Viacom is controlling the estate of Greg Giraldo (which they might be, again I'm not informed) I don't see the point. They were available for months (if not years depending on the clip) prior to his death and no one cared. I know that the roasts are available for purchase, so I get the copyright issue. But to suddenly take them down is borderline infuriating. I know it's oranges and tangerines, but I'm positive that the death of Heath Ledger greatly increased the downloads of The Dark Knight trailer(s).
Well, the point is that Viacom was allowed to submit DMCA takedown notices whenever they want to, and they only noticed that the videos were there because of all the attention being brought to them from Giraldo's death. The fact that they've been online for a long time is not at all relevant under the law (whether it makes business sense to remove them is another matter entirely).
I know a user on YouTube who has uploaded a bunch of old wrestling videos, and he misspells all the wrestler's names so that they can't be found by WWE searching for "Hulk Hogan", "Stone Cold", "Triple H", or "The Rock" on youtube.
Originally posted by samoflangeAll the Giraldo roast clips have been pulled off YouTube... I understand completely, but wish they had waited a day or two to do that.
(with editing by me)
Maybe I'm completely irrational, but I don't even slightly understand. They say that they have been pulled due to a dispute by Viacom. Unless Viacom is controlling the estate of Greg Giraldo (which they might be, again I'm not informed) I don't see the point. They were available for months (if not years depending on the clip) prior to his death and no one cared. I know that the roasts are available for purchase, so I get the copyright issue. But to suddenly take them down is borderline infuriating. I know it's oranges and tangerines, but I'm positive that the death of Heath Ledger greatly increased the downloads of The Dark Knight trailer(s).
The cynical person in me would believe that perhaps Viacom believes they can make more money from boxed sets and additional merchandise after his passing.
Originally posted by wannaberockstarThe cynical person in me would believe that perhaps Viacom believes they can make more money from boxed sets and additional merchandise after his passing.
Gosh, does that make me too jaded?
NBC released the Chris Farley Best of SNL video after he died. Brittany Murphy has had a half dozen DVDs come out since she died and most of those were just sitting collecting dust. I'm sure a 'Comedy Central's Best of Greg Giraldo' DVD will be out in about two months.
Originally posted by wannaberockstarThe cynical person in me would believe that perhaps Viacom believes they can make more money from boxed sets and additional merchandise after his passing.
Gosh, does that make me too jaded?
NBC released the Chris Farley Best of SNL video after he died. Brittany Murphy has had a half dozen DVDs come out since she died and most of those were just sitting collecting dust. I'm sure a 'Comedy Central's Best of Greg Giraldo' DVD will be out in about two months.
To be fair, DVDs were new at the time of Farley's death, and his was one of the first released. Even Belushi's and Aykroyd's collections came out much later, and Farley's preceded Sandler's as well (who was Farley's era). So I don't think it was one hundred percent exploitation, that was a product they must have been looking to put out and they targeted some of their most beloved performers to do them with. Of which Farley was always going to be one, dead or not. (I'm biased here, his best of DVD is something I watch at least a couple times a year and it always makes me laugh
Originally posted by TribalI think when people read "prescription medications", there is almost a connection made in your head that these were drugs given to them by a doctor. All it really means is that it wasn't cocaine or crack or other "street drugs".
Yes, but we can't speculate Ledger necessarily got his prescriptions at parties because we have no proof of it. No one doctor would prescribe those drugs together, but since different ones might prescribe all six individually. With celebs, access may very well be the problem. This would be a big government argument when it comes to healthcare, since that makes it harder to shop around for drugs like you do for nice counter-tops.
(edited by Hogan's My Dad on 4.10.10 1901) Quiet, Or Papa Spank!
I thought 'Joey' was pretty entertaining and not anything close to the horror that its critics claim it to be. It was a fun, inoffensive 22 minutes of comedy --- a solid B- in every episode, like Friends was over its last few seasons.
Thread rated: 4.12
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