Nice Guy, Kevin Meaney

Kevin Meaney died last weekend. You may not know his name, but in stand-up comedy circles and among stand-up comedy nuts like me, he was a mainstay. Only 60, he was a favourite of Johnny Carson’s on The Tonight Show back when that was where comics got their big break. If Johnny invited you over to the couch, you became a star. Kevin always got to go to the couch. 

I’d love to post a photo of him but the second he died, everyone with open-source pictures changed them to copyright – cashing in, I suppose. You can visit his website and see his images HERE.

For most of his career, Meaney was a chubby guy who was probably best known for making fun of his parents, with the catchphrase, “That’s not right!” He starred in a short-lived, TV take on the John Candy movie, Uncle Buck. He appeared on Broadway in Hairspray and created another signature bit – a one-man version of We Are the World. Much later, he dropped 50 lbs after becoming a vegetarian. He came out of the closet and his act developed a lot more edge to it. Everybody in comedy knew him and liked him. Comics like Jim Gaffigan, Patton Oswalt and Louis ck took to social media to praise him for being funny and nice. I’ll always remember him for his imitations of his parents and their many quirks. Big Pants was a classic:

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