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| Harris Wittels |
There is something striking about a person's reaction to death. In some cases, there's a mere reverence and nostalgia of a fruitful career. Then there's cases like Harris Wittels, who died potentially of a drug overdose yesterday at the age of 30. More than a legendary comedian meeting their end as a senior citizen, there's something troubling about youth dying, especially when it involves someone whose career featured enviable positions on The Sarah Silverman Program and Parks and Recreation. However, there's something more striking that hits me than this. He was the first podcast personality that I had some appreciation for to die.
It would be too easy for me to share personal opinions on his overall career. I have seen most of his TV work in which he often played stoner types with wisecracks to spare. He was witty and knew how to bring a scene together. However, most of his work was behind the camera, and that is where I knew him best. I couldn't really determine what a Harris Wittels joke was through the mouths of Sarah Silverman or Amy Poehler, but I knew that when he popped up on podcasts, things would be different.
In the wake of his death, the most fascinating thing is not the grieving fans, but the inside references that popped up in the comments. For everyone outside of the comedy circles saying "Who was he?," there's even more who likely don't know what Foam Corner or Analyze Phish means. These are only the surfaces to a crazier universe of references that Wittels would have when he popped up on the premiere comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang!, formerly Comedy Death Ray. He was an oddball who did nothing really but bother host Scott Aukerman, and it was a delight to hear his deadpan comments lighten up the room. He made it seem effortless.
Still, the role of which I know him most from is from the inimitable Analyze Phish in which he co-hosted a show with Aukerman with a simple goal of trying to get people to like the psychedelic jam band. For those that love music analysis shows, this was a delight that was even more accessible to those who find Phish intolerable. Aukerman would complain about the excessive nature and Wittels would do his best to defend them. It was a very odd yet infectious comedy duo that continued to explore the music with funny offhand remarks and even managed to make Phish funny on their own.
Wittels obsession with Phish felt like an inside joke that eventually made its appearance on Parks and Recreation in which Wittels plays a man named Harris. He wore a Phish shirt and to an audience who had grown accustomed to his drawl on a podcast had a moment to celebrate. I don't like Phish, but Wittels made talking about them more tolerable. He would go on to appear on other shows, including Aukerman's following music analysis show U Talkin' U2 to Me? in which they discussed U2's "Joshua Tree" with that familiar frustrating chemistry.
While there's some discomforting loss that comes with his youth, it's the feeling that he was a cult figure that was beginning to break into the mainstream. For me, it will always be hard to think of him outside of those podcasts appearances, where his candid nature filled an episode with endless entertainment. Like with most young people, there's an extra tragedy to wonder what would have been had he gone on to more things. He clearly was in the right circles and even among the heavyweights of modern comedy, he stood his own ground. This is why if someone wishes to pay respect to his talent, I wouldn't recommend going to TV, but to the many, many podcasts he did. You won't regret it.
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