Sunday
April 6th, 2014 – Island Lake, IL
As if I wasn’t feeling
low enough already, I got a phone call from a friend asking if I had
heard John Pinette was found dead in his hotel room today. I hadn’t, and it
struck a painful nerve in my heart. I have known, liked and respected John for
many years, and while I won’t lie and try to claim we were close friends he was
a comedy peer and we shared a stage on many occasions.
What
freaked me out deeply was that I had just thought of him yesterday. I was
between shows in the green room at Zanies Comedy Club in Chicago last night,
and happened to run across one of John’s DVDs laying around. John was a regular
at Zanies, and that’s how we hooked up years ago. The owner of Zanies Rick
Uchwat acted as John’s manager, and they were extremely close.
I’m not
sure exactly what their professional relationship was, but John and Rick were a
hell of a team. Both were loaded with natural charisma, and they could always
be seen together when he worked at Zanies – which was often. I loved them both,
and always looked forward to when they would both be around. John was a world
class comedian, and I never met a kinder human being.
John had a
March birthday like I do, and I tried to at least contact him on his birthday
if I’d not seen him in a while. Rick had a March birthday too. I’d accidentally
overlooked John’s birthday this year, and seeing that DVD last night jarred my
memory. I made a mental note to get in touch.
Unfortunately, now I’ve missed my chance forever and I feel horrible.
John was a super gentle soul, but did have some vicious demons. I could see he
was in pain, and we talked about it often. It was hard not to like the guy, and
I felt very sad for him when he’d tell me about his life story.
He was from
Boston originally, and totally a dented can. Like me, he was a big time giver
and those are the people that get screwed over the hardest. He told me of many
instances where he’d gotten the shaft, and I know it hurt him. It should have,
because he had a mammoth heart of gold.
Whenever he
would play a Zanies, he was famous for buying food for everyone from comics to
staff and even fans. One time I saw him spend $100 at Taco Bell, and that’s not
easy to do. There was a lot of pain inside him, but he always tried to make
others happy instead of wallowing in it.
I hadn’t
seen John a lot in the last few years, but the last time we did cross paths I
thought he’d looked as good as I’d ever seen him. He had an operation to keep
his weight down and it worked. He was in great spirits, and we had a lot of
laughs. I always felt relaxed and at home around him.
He possessed
an off the charts level of likeability onstage and off that few if any ever begin
to approach. He had ‘it’, and then some. He even opened for Frank Sinatra for a
while, and that’s a powerhouse credit all by itself. He was an amazing talent, and
I am lucky to have crossed paths.
His main
credit was being the guy that was car jacked on the final episode of “Seinfeld”,
but he was so much more than that. I salute his life and accomplishments, and I hope
he is finally at peace. If anyone deserves it, it’s him. He had a heart bigger than he was,
and everyone that ever met him adored him. I know I did - and still do.
 |
| There has never been a funnier - or kinder - comedian than John Pinette. He was beloved by all who knew him, and I'm one. He was a giant talent with an even bigger heart. |
No comments:
Post a Comment