Patrice O'Neal
Outsized funnyman kept America laughing via a series of cable specials, capped in 2011 by an uproarious appearance on Comedy Central's Roast of Charlie Sheen. Not long after, he suffered a stroke and died a few days later.
Greg Giraldo
Last Comic Standing judge, whose razor-sharp wit was a regular feature on Comedy Central's annual televised Roast specials, died in 2010 following an accidental overdose of prescription medication. He was 44.
Robert Schimmel
Popular stand up artist best known for his HBO specials and hilariously raunchy appearances on Howard Stern died in a car accident in Australia in 2010. He was 60.
Bernie Mac
One of the Original Kings of Comedy, Chicago-born funnyman made a mark on both the small screen, with The Bernie Mac Show, and the big, with hilarious turns in such flicks as Ocean's Eleven and Friday. His life tragically ended in 2008 at the age of 50 due to complications of pneumonia after suffering from an inflammatory lung disease.
Richard Jeni
Funnyman known for his appearances on The Tonight Show and Bill Maher's and Howard Stern's talk shows as well as a slew of HBO and Showtime specials committed suicide in 2007 after battling depression for years.
John Ritter
Comic legend who played Jack Tripper on Three's Company and costarred in such big-screen hits as Problem Child and Sling Blade was once hailed by Don Knotts as the "greatest physical comedian on the planet." Sadly, he died in 2003 after suffering a heart attack on the set of his sitcom 8 Simple Rules.
Mitch Hedberg
Stand-up artist famed for his hilarious wordplay and non sequiturs died of a drug overdose in 2005.
Phil Hartman
One of the most tragic of all comedian deaths. This former SNL star, who earned legions of fans with his spot-on impressions of Bill Clinton and Frank Sinatra as well as his voice work on The Simpsons, was murdered in 1998 at age 49 by his wife, Brynn, who then killed herself.
Bill Hicks
Comic veteran credited with influencing the likes of Denis Leary passed away from cancer at the young age of 32.
John Candy
We know him from such hit '80s comedies as Stripes, Splash and John Hughes classics as Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. The beloved comedian, who struggled with his weight for years, died in his sleep of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 43.
Sam Kinison
Stand up man who became a sensation in the mid-'80s with his trademark screams (see his turn as the angry professor in the 1986 hit Back to School) and barbed observations was killed in 1992 after his car was hit by a drunk driver.
Gilda Radner
Veteran of Toronto's Second City troupe before joining Saturday Night Live this funnylady gave the world such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna and Baba Wawa, her spoof of Barbara Walters. Sadly, just two years after marrying her Women In Red costar Gene Wilder, Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1986.
John Belushi
Saturday Night Live star shot to fame as one of the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players before finding success on the big screen in such hits as 1978's Animal House and 1980's The Blues Brothers. His life was tragically cut short in 1982 when he accidentally overdosed on a combined injection of cocaine and heroin.
Andy Kaufman
Comic chameleon gained fame for a series of pranks and his ability to transform into a variety of characters like Foreign Man, which evolved into Latka on TV's Taxi. He died at the age of 35 in 1984, succumbing to a rare type of lung cancer (though to this day more than a few fans think he may have faked his death).
Lenny Bruce
Comic provacateur and social critic's satirical rants were the stuff of legend. But it was Bruce's arrest and conviction on obscenity charges that made him a free speech crusader up until the day he died in 1966 at the age of 40 from an accidental morphine overdose. He subsequently received a posthumous pardon.