R.I.P. Greg Giraldo

I don't really give a fuck when most celebrities die. Even if they die young. But Greg Giraldo's death has gotten me quite upset. If you look over at my list of 20 favorite comedians, you may notice Giraldo isn't on there and go, "Well, what the fuck? Not even top 20, and you're broken up about him?" Well, just know that Giraldo would've been #21 on that list. In fact, his last album is one of my top albums of the last decade. http://lawsoncomedy.blogspot.com/2010/09/favorite-comedy-albums-of-decade-part-2.html

On top of that, what's upsetting about Giraldo's death to me is that I feel like he had finally reached a point in his comedy career where he was getting the recognition he deserved. Just about all of my favorite comedians working today are around that late 30's to mid 40's age range, Giraldo died at 44. It takes many comedians that long to get recognized. He didn't put out his first album until 2006, when he was 40.
Giraldo had also been through a lot. A couple of divorces, drinking problems...it wasn't a walk in the park for him. He finally overcame his drinking demons in '05.

He was a great comedian. Original, daring, insightful and fucking funny. When I watched the Flavor Flav roast, Giraldo was slaying it. About 5 great slams in a row, and he continues the rolling laughter by saying that Flav "looked like a skeleton wrapped in electrical tape." I've never laughed harder at anything in my life. I've laughed about that hard at some things, but that brought me to my pinnacle of laughter.

R.I.P. Greg Giraldo. The comedy world will miss you.