American comedian Patrice O’Neal has died at the age of 41 – a month after suffering a serious stroke that left him unable to speak.

The news was broken by on the Opie and Anthony Show in America, the comedy-related programme which first revealed details of O’Neal’s illness.

Opie Hughes posted on Twitter: ‘Yes it's true that our pal Patrice O'Neal has passed away. The funniest and best thinker I’ve ever known. Period.’

More tributes have been paid on Twitter with Ted Alexandro posting: ‘Rest in peace Patrice O'Neal. Godspeed, brother’ and Doug Benson saying: ‘A sad day for comedians and comedy in general.’

Doug Stanhope added: ‘RIP Patrice O’Neal - one of the best ever. Inspiring every time I heard him on anything.’

In the UK, John Moloney said: ‘Had the pleasure of working with Patrice a few times over the years - hung out together in Montreal – a really really funny guy.’

And Omid Djalili added: ‘RIP Patrice O'Neale. Very sad news. One of the funniest US comics who graced us for years in the UK.

O’Neal, who died on Monday night, had been a comic since 1992, and spent some time in the late Nineties honing his act on the UK circuit. In February this year, he had his first Comedy Central hour-long special, Elephant in the Room.

He made appearances in the US Office, in which he played Lonny, and Arrested Development, as T-Bone. One of his last TV appearances was in the Comedy Central roast of Charlie Sheen in September, where he was the butt of many jokes about his size and health, including his diabetes.

Here he is at work:

Published: 29 Nov 2011