Comedian Ralphie May dies at age 45.

Comedian Ralphie May died on Friday at the age of 45. May, who was known for his touring schedule and the amount of comedy specials that he had on various different networks such as Netflix, was in Las Vegas in his residence in Harrah’s Casino, where succumbed to cardiac arrest. May was born 1971 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the later moved to Arkansas. That is where May learned he had a gift for comedy when he won a contest to open for comedian Sam Kinison. After this experience, May decided that his next move would be to Houston, Texas, in order to pursue comedy as a full time career. He did stand-up for a few years before making his way on to the big screen in 2002 as a mailman in the movie “For da Love of Money”. These were only minor roles for May as he would then burst onto the national scene when he was a contestant on the first season of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”. He ended up doing very well, coming in second to fellow comedian Dat Phan. From that exposure he then went on to get many more specials on Comedy Central and on Netflix. Ralphie May was not a small man by any sense of the word. He claimed that he had low testosterone, and then added in that he also had a thyroid imbalance that caused him to gain weight quicker than normal people. Ralphie was married to another comedian Lahna Turner, and they had had two children, April June May, and August June May. Personally before learning about May’s death today, I had no idea who Ralphie May was, and after watching some of his stand ups, I am torn on whether I liked him as a comedian, because some of the things he jokes about are really offensive, and I understand that he’s telling jokes, but there were some parts where I thought he crossed the line. It’s unfortunate that someone as young as himself would unexpectedly die. I am sure those he entertained over the years are upset that he is gone. According to himself, he wanted to eventually become a senator from the state of Tennessee. He also stated that he wanted to help people. There has been an outpouring of love all over twitter for this guy, so it is clear to me that he was a genuinely nice person, and from reading about him that is what I am going to take away from his work.