Mitch Hedberg was born February 24, 1968, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the son of Mary (née Schimscha) and Arne Hedberg. He was of Swedish ancestry. Hedberg graduated from Harding High School in Saint Paul. Hedberg began his standup career in Florida, and after a period of honing his skills, he moved to Seattle and began to tour. He soon appeared on MTV’s Comikaze, followed by a 1996 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman that brought him his big break. He won the 1997 grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. The next year he appeared in an episode of Fox’s series That ’70s Show. In 1999 he completed his own independent feature film, Los Enchiladas!, which he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in. He recorded three comedy CDs: Strategic Grill Locations, Mitch All Together, and Do You Believe in Gosh?, the last released posthumously. He also appeared at the Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival in 1998 and 2001. Concurrent with his rising fame in the entertainment industry, Hedberg appeared on Letterman nine more times, signed a half-million dollar deal with Fox for a television sitcom, and was dubbed “the next Seinfeld” by Time Magazine. George Carlin, Dave Chappelle, Mike Birbiglia and Lewis Black were reportedly among his comedian fans. Hedberg was married to Canadian comedian Lynn Shawcroft from 1999 until his death in 2005. Hedberg was known to be a drug user, mentioning it in some of his jokes (e.g., “I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too”). In May 2003 he was arrested in Austin, Texas, for heroin possession.

On March 30, 2005, Hedberg was found dead in a hotel room in Livingston, New Jersey. He was 37 years old. Hedberg was born with a heart defect for which he received extensive treatment as a child. It was initially speculated that this condition may have played a part in his death, but the New Jersey medical examiner’s office reported “multiple drug toxicity” in the form of cocaine and heroin as the cause. Hedberg’s death was formally announced on April 1, 2005, leading many to believe it was an April Fools’ Day joke, only to find out later that it was not. His funeral was held at St. Ambrose of Woodbury Church in Minnesota. Hedberg was interviewed by Jonathan Davis in the December 2001 issue of Penthouse. In the interview, published three years before his death, he was asked, “If you could choose, how would you end your life?” His response: “First, I’d want to get famous, and then I’d overdose. If I overdosed at this stage in my career, I would be lucky if it made the back pages.” A few months before his death, on October 12, 2004, Hedberg sat in on the news with Robin Quivers on The Howard Stern Show. He appeared on the show again on March 17, 2005, just 12 days before his death, and briefly discussed his drug use, saying, “Well, you know, I got the drugs under control now.” Stern asked, “Do you? You know how to take them responsibly?” Hedberg replied, “Yeah, you know, just for the creative side of it.”