Houston friends knew Harris Wittels was Hollywood-bound Longtime friend said Wittels had been sober for months before death

Houston comedian and TV producer Harris Wittels died this week at the age of 30 of an apparent overdose.



More notable deaths of 2015 ... Houston comedian and TV producer Harris Wittels died this week at the age of 30 of an apparent overdose.



More notable deaths of 2015 ... Photo: Mindy Tucker Photo: Mindy Tucker Image 1 of / 122 Caption Close Houston friends knew Harris Wittels was Hollywood-bound 1 / 122 Back to Gallery

The death of Houston comedian and producer Harris Wittels shocked friends back home.

A shining star of the Houston comedy scene, Wittels soared to success as a Hollywood TV producer, but died in his Los Angeles home Thursday of an apparent drug overdose. He was 30 years old.

"It's a huge loss to the Houston comedy community," said John Wessling, a veteran Houston comedian who recalls a young Wittels' first improv shows a decade ago. "He was one of the highest achievers that we had from our scene and we were really rooting for him. I know he had a lot of plans and he would have been one of the great TV writers if this hadn't happened."

Wittels left Houston in 2006 and shot up the ranks of Hollywood television writers, ending his tragically short career as an executive producer for NBC's "Parks and Recreation." Before that, he wrote for "The Sarah Silverman Program" and "Eastbound and Down," and produced the podcast Analyze Phish, in which he sought to comically spread the word about his favorite psychedelic jam band.

Before comedy, he followed Phish around the country with his childhood Houston friend Matt Marcus, now a chef at Eatsie Boys.

"Our first Phish show was in The Woodlands in 1998. Now we've probably seen at least 100 shows," said Marcus, who befriended Wittels through his Jewish community in 6th grade and stuck with him ever since. "That's how he got his start. He brought a funny light to this weird underground band."

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Marcus spoke with Wittels on Monday, and said the producer was 60 days sober at that time. Nonetheless, investigators suspect a drug overdose in Wittels' death. The comedian had spoken openly about his longtime struggle with prescription painkillers, and had gone to rehab twice.

But overwhelmingly, friends remembered him for his high spirits and goofy charm. For 10 years, Marna Meyer taught Wittels in weekly religious classes at the Emanu El Jewish Temple, and said he was always Hollywood-bound.

"He was always the standup comedian in the class and always had a very happy and friendly disposition. Everybody loved him. It didn't surprise me that he went on to doing what he did," she said.

His style was sharp, quick and to-the-point, and he packed jokes densely into his scripts. Wessling said Wittels stood out from the crowd of novice improv comedians from the start, and called his mastery of brevity a surprisingly wise skill for a young comedian.

"He did not waste time with long set-ups or telling stories; he was insanely funny in about 10 words," said Wessling. "It was like a straight overhand right punch to the mouth—the quickness of his jokes."

Everyone was devastated to learn of Wittels' surprising death this morning. Marcus said he's having a hard time getting through the day. He checked Facebook last night to see how his childhood friend was doing, and there hey caught a glance of the TMZ story that broke the news of Wittels' passing.

"All of a sudden I see it on his stream, and I'm like 'I can't believe this is true," Marcus said. "The first thing I thought was the worst and I Googled it and it was true. I couldn't even read the article."