Exclusive Portrait: In Memory of Comedian John Pinette

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CHICAGO – Comedian John Pinette passed away on April 5th, at the age of 50. The rotund jester was named Stand-Up Comedian of the Year at the American Comedy Awards in 1999, and appeared in the films “Duet,” “Dear God” and “The Punisher.” He is probably best remembered as the hapless portly man who gets harassed by the cast of “Seinfeld,” which led to the courtroom sequence of the final episode in 1998.

Pinette was born in Boston, and after college pursued a career in accounting. Friends advised him to go into stand-up comedy, and he broke in as a warm-up act while touring with a late career Frank Sinatra. In 2004, he played Edna Turnblad in the touring cast of the musical “Hairspray,” and eventually took over the role on Broadway. He continued his stand-up act around the country, and passed away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 5th, 2014, while on tour.

HollywoodChicago.com photographer Joe Arce took this Exclusive Portrait of John Pinette on June 18, 2009, at the “Just for Laughs Chicago” Festival. It is published here for the first time.

John Pinette
John Pinette at ‘Just for Laughs Chicago’ in 2009
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Source material for this article from Wikipedia. John Pinette, 1964-2014.

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2014 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

nzski69's picture

Such a Sad Passing...

That is an outstanding picture of John Pinette…it really, really captures his true personality! His smile just radiates through. Thanks for posting it…I’m going to cut it out and frame it as a remembrance of a man who never failed to make me laugh so hard that I cried and always made me smile just seeing him smile.

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