“Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus, or just a really cool Opotamus?” That’s not a joke that most stand-up comics would make, but it’s the kind of humor that’s instantly synonymous with the late, great Mitch Hedberg. One of the many comedians who died way too early , the spirited Minnesotan was just 37 when he passed away in 2005, and his surviving legacy will be explored in a new documentary that will hopefully be among other upcoming 2025 releases . The doc’s director, Jeff Siegel, originally expected to be a bigger part of Hedberg’s life at the point in which his career was blowing up, having met him at several stand-up shows, and was hoping to accompany the comedian on the road as part of an NYU film school thesis project.
That tour tragically never materialized, but Seigel never stopped appreciating the surrealist comic’s influence, and he laid out to THR exactly why fans past and present are so quickly swayed upon seeing Mitch Hedberg for the first time. Mitch doesn’t look like anyone else. He doesn’t sound like anyone else.
He’s smart, cool, complex, enigmatic and devastatingly funny. Equal parts dreamer, artist and rock star, all combining in such a compelling, irresistible way that Mitch instantly seduces nearly any crowd. His specific throwback appearance and stuttered joke patterns were integral to how his act evolved over time, to the point where even when he appeared in scripted projects such as That ‘70s Show and Almost Famous , it was hard.