Richard Jeni was born Richard John Colangelo on April 14, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York. Jeni graduated from Hunter College with a degree in Political Science with honors. Jeni’s start into show business was in the 1998 movie entitled “Bird” which was directed by Clint Eastwood. His debut as a comedian was in 1990 when he did a special for Showtime entitled “Richard Jeni: The Boy from New York City”. This special received three CableAce Awards. During this time Jeni made many appearances on “The Tonight Show” doing his stand-up routine. The people at HBO took notice of this and shortly after he made “Richard Jeni: Platypus Man” which debuted on The HBO Comedy Hour. This special also won a CableAce Award. In 1993, Jeni won an American Comedy Award for “Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic” which was presented to him by George Carlin. Jeni also played host to “Caroline’s Comedy Hour” for two years.
Next up, Richard Jeni starred in the film, “The Mask” with Jim Carrey as well as Cameron Diaz. In 1995, Jeni did another special for Showtime entitled “Richard Jeni: Crazy From the Heat”. It drew record ratings for the cable channel. The next year he did the voice for “Richard” in the popular animated comedy series called “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist” which aired on Comedy Central. In 1997, Jeni returned back with another HBO special entitled “Richard Jeni: A Good Catholic Boy”. The premiere was the fifth highest rated program for that week. The same year Jeni also released a CD compilation called “Richard Jeni’s Greatest Bits”. Jeni also starred in the television movie entitled “Dad’s Week Off” with Henry Winkler. The following year he hosted the television series, “Match Game”. In 2002, Jeni filmed another special called “Comedy Central Presents Richard Jeni”. He also hosted “Comedians Unleashed”. The next few years Jeni made appearances in television such as “The View”, “Pet Star” and “Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time” where Jeni made #57. He continued with appearances including “Hollywood Squares”, “Pyramid”, “Shorties Watchin’ Shorties” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”. In 2005, Jeni did the HBO special entitled “Richard Jeni: A Big Streaming Pile of Me”. That same year Jeni wrote material for “The 77th Annual Academy Awards”. The following year he guest starred in an episode of “Everybody Hates Chris” which was created by Chris Rock.
On March 10, 2007, Richard Jeni was found with a self-inflicted would to the face by a shotgun in his home in California. Paramedics were quickly called and Jeni was taken to Los Angeles’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Jeni passed away a short time later. The coroner hasn’t stated that the death was a suicide but Richard Jeni’s family made a statement confirming that Jeni did indeed take his own life. Sometime in early 2007, Jeni had been diagnosed with severe clinical depression with bouts of psychotic paranoia. Richard Jeni was only 49 years old. There is no current information on his resting place.
