Know of Mitch?...are you kidding...he once had a joke in his repetoire about my friends and me. No kidding.
I started to like Mitch about 4 years ago. I remember the first time I saw him. It was the day before I had to go take my Praxis 2, the most important test in my becoming a teacher. I could either get a good nights rest and be ready for the 9:00 start time test ORRRRRR I could drive 6 hours to upstate New York, to see him perform at a college.(Sidenote-I ended up getting back at 3:00 AM, showing up 15 minutes late to the test and finishing in the top 96%)
I went and his show was amazing, though he was still only pulling in small crowds at this point. After the show, me and my friends had him sign a bunch of shit we brought that was related to jokes of his. I got him to sign a receipt for a doughnut. My friend got(I think) a kit kat wrapper, and my bro, something else.
The tradition continued the next time we saw him up at a college in Amherst. Again, he was happy to sign our stuff(Box of Ritz crackers, etc) and thought it was pretty neat. The thing I brought him was a photoshopped newspaper article. It had to do with the joke "I think that Bigfoot IS blurry. That's the fuckin problem. It's not the photographers fault. There is a big scary monster roaming the mountainside...and he's furry...and that is EXTRA scary to me." What I brought was a fake National Inquirer type magazine with a blurred out Bigfoot and a quote from Mitch at the bottom. He thought it was so cool and was taken aback when I wanted him to sign it and then take it back. "You didn't bring one for me?" was his question. I promised him I would email him a copy.
I did...and it is now here
http://www.mitchhedberg.net/submitted_art.html The third time I saw him was about 2 years ago. Me, Dave, and Theresa drove down to Washington, D.C. to see a show. We were equipped with a 2-in-1 shampoo bottle, among other things. So we are watching his show, and no lie, he busts out this joke on stage without the knowledge that we were there.
"Some people have been coming to my show and have brought stuff for me to sign related to jokes I have told in the past. It makes me wonder why I don't have a joke about a piece of paper with an "x" and a line that says SIGN HERE!"
We were speechless. We howled, laughed applauded at the top of our lungs. Unfortunately, no one else did, and as far as I know, the joke has fell out of his rotation.
Since then, I think I have seen Mitch a few more times, though he had really gained popularity since then, and I most recently saw him with Steve Lynch packing full the CT Oakdale. He at one point almost made me piss my pants when he just went backstage to get a tissue to blow his nose in the middle of his act.
He was truely an unmatched talent and I will sorely miss his brillant comedic style. Mitch, you are a true innovator. RIP
