Yes, there is a new posthumous album from comedian Mitch Hedberg. It’s called Do You Believe In Gosh?
It was released today and I have it, but I’m afraid to listen to it. He died more than three years ago and this is all the remaining material, recorded two months prior. Having this feels like I’ve been in wandering the Sahara dying of thirst for three years and stumbled upon a gallon of water. I know that I shouldn’t ration water but I also know this will be the last I’ll ever have.
I’ll probably sit down and listen to this with my brother and friends, considering Hedberg’s budding career was a parallel to our lives.
From the first time I heard his standup in high school on a really bad day, recognizing his deadpan observational humor from “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” and having that redeeming feeling that there were still new and relatable experiences to be found…
to driving to Miami with Joey and Peter to see him in a very small club…
to listening to his cd’s on trips to Orlando with Josh while scouting places to move…
to being robbed of his performance in 2003 because of an airport arrest on his way to Orlando…
to his rebound with a national college tour; and then the anti-climactic end that seemed like a hoax, the archetype that he honed in South Florida and brought to the world— that ultimately became his demise— instilled a small amount of fear in my heart. Maybe doing great and ambitious things alone was dangerous. Maybe there was only one way it could end (and quickly). Maybe with enough psychoanalyzing Hedberg could be studied as a trigger of idleness and repressed creativity that is just now being shaken off. And maybe enough time has passed so that I can consume this new album for the first time and laugh like it isn’t the last.
