Comedian Ralphie May, a runner-up on Last Comic Standing, died on Friday at 45, his manager confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
The comedian’s career took off back in 2003 after he finished in second place on the competitive reality show that seeks to make the career of the undiscovered talented comedians. His success on the NBC show led to appearances on The Wayne Brady Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
May later went on record four special for Comedy Central including Girth of a Nation (2006), Prime Cut (2007), Austin-tatious (2008), and Too Big To Ignore (2012). In 2015, he also made two comedy specials, Unruly (2015) and Imperfectly Yours (2015) for Netflix and had toured the country performing standup consistently over the years.
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The late comedian was married to Lahna Turner, who also does stand-up comedy, from 2005 through 2015. The couple has two children together, one son and one daughter.
Online, numerous comedians paid tribute to May in the aftermath of his death.
.@Ralphie_May helped get me in @TheLaughFactory. He didn’t know me at all and after he saw my set he told Jamie Masada to have me onboard.
Whoa... man.. this sucks. Ralphie was a good guy & a very funny person. Condolences to his family & fans. twitter.com/TMZ/status/916…
Sad to hear of the passing of Comedian @Ralphie_May
He was always funny with his break out on Last Comic Standing.#RIPRalphieMay twitter.com/TMZ/status/916…
NO! #RalphieMay was such a nice guy! Last time we talked backstage at @zaniesnashville I promised to put him in the Jay/Bob movie. Dammit... twitter.com/thr/status/916…
I love you @Ralphie_May rest in paradise my friend. Thank you for giving me my first break in hollywood.
“We are heartbroken to announce the untimely death of our friend, Ralphie May,” his rep said in a statement Variety. “Ralphie had been battling pneumonia and had canceled a handful of dates over the last month in an effort to recover. Earlier this morning at a private residence in Las Vegas his body was discovered, cause of death is cardiac arrest.”