Patrice O’Neal
Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O’Neal was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and radio host. He died of a stroke resulting from his type 2 diabetes on November 29, 2011, at the age of 41. Known for his conversational style, deconstructive analysis, and often confrontational point of view in his stand-ups.
About Patrice O’Neal in brief
Patrice Lumumba Malcolm O’Neal was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and radio host. He died of a stroke resulting from his type 2 diabetes on November 29, 2011, at the age of 41. He was known for his conversational style, deconstructive analysis, and often confrontational point of view in his stand-ups. O’ Neal was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 7, 1969, to African-American mother and Congolese father. He played football for West Roxbury High School, winning a state championship in his senior year. He turned down a sports scholarship at Northeastern University in Boston in favor of studying performing arts at the university, with a major in theater studies. He cited George Carlin and Richard Pryor as his comedic influences. He later moved to Los Angeles in the hopes of finding greater fame, but walked away from potential acting roles such as The Office, Arrested Development, and Web Junkie. He also appeared on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and, from 2002, XM Radio’s Opie and Anthony. In late 2000, he took a writing position with the WWE after an associate saw him perform. In 2010, he released his first and only hour-length special, Elephant in the Room for Comedy Central, an uncut version of which was released on CD and DVD. The story of his life goes deeper into his views of the world than his comedy, he said in an interview with The New York Times.
He said if he had had a gun back then, he would have shot himself. He once said: ‘I tap danced like you wouldn’t believe… trying to get something..%. If I’d have had a guns back then,. I would’ve shot myself’ He was a big fan of wrestling, and pitched his idea for a feud with WWE owner Vince McMahon’s house for a pay-per-view event which culminated in a show on their private jet, and won him the job. He had a 13-week contract with the organization, but turned it down as he had already had plans, and said he was already a professional bridge-burner. His mother Georgia named him after Patrice LumUMBA, the leader of the Congolous independence movement and the country’s first prime minister, and African- American human rights activist Malcolm X. He never had a relationship with his father, although he was aware of his identity. He performed his firstStand-up in October 1992 at Estelle’s in Boston. He worked regular spots at the Comedy Cellar in New York City, and took part in the fourth annual US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, in early 1998. He hosted The Black Phillip Show on radio from 2006 to 2008. In the mid-1990s, he first met comedian and later close friend Jim Norton. In early 1998, he moved to LA, where he performed regular spots in Los Angeles, and then moved to New York, where early on he performed under the name Bruiser.
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