Toronto comedian Andre the “Anti-Giant” Arruda, who appeared across the city in comedy clubs and on screens small and large in works like American Pie: The Naked Mile and Kenny vs. Spenny, has died.

The 33-year-old Arruda’s death Saturday followed a lifelong struggle with Morquio syndrome, a rare birth defect associated with dwarfism that makes it difficult to walk.

“Andre will always be remembered as the little man who gave us some big laughs,” wrote talent agent Jana Abrams in a Facebook post Sunday.

Arruda was born and raised in Kitchener, Ont., but moved to Toronto in 2001 to attend Humber College where he studied comedy writing and performance.

He also appeared in a Vice series called Standing Up With Andre Arruda. One of his final projects was a documentary called ,Andre: The Anti-Giant, which hits the film festival circuit this year and will be released online by Bravo Canada.

“I became a disability advocate by accident, by living my life,” Arruda says in a trailer for the documentary. “I don’t have a disability until I’m confronted with someone that says ‘You can’t get in here because of your height.’ ”

At “3-foot-something,” the comedian became not only a recognizable force in Toronto’s stand-up community, performing sets about what he called the “handicrap” he had to deal with, but an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.

In a 2014 video that went viral online, Arruda rode around the streets of Toronto in his motorized scooter to document the harassment he often faced. “Hey Mini Me, can you tie my shoes?” one man shouts at Arruda in the video. Another calls him a “leprechaun.”

Despite harassment, lack of accessibility in the city and multiple spinal surgeries, Arruda always maintained a sense of humour, friends said.

“Everything that could have bummed him out he turned into comedy,” said fellow comic Ben Miner, who gathered with other friends at Toronto’s Comedy Bar on Saturday night. “A few of us went up, chatted and told stories, cried over drinks.”

Many of Arruda’s best gags are too “dirty” to print, friends said, but many recall a popular bit where he joked about being the rarest person in the world — a red-headed dwarf.

Comic Matt O’Brien recalls gigs at Yuk Yuks and nights at the Rivoli on Queen St. W. with Arruda.

“He was just a complete goofball,” said O’Brien. On one of those nights at the Rivoli, O’Brien said they came up with a video series called “Andre Drives into Things,” which is exactly as it sounds. After the show that night, they stacked up a bunch of chairs and Arruda proceeded to drive his scooter into them, knocking them over.

“We just started laughing like idiots,” said O’Brien. “He always wanted to find a new way to make people laugh.”

He made close friend and fellow comic Bobby Knauff laugh for a decade. The pair saw movies, did karaoke, and filmed one-man shows together. Last year, they took a road trip to Ottawa where Knauff opened for Arruda who headlined a show by comics with disabilities.

“It was a really fun show,” said Knauff, who believes Arruda’s advocacy work in recent years was some of his best.

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But Knauff will remember Arruda’s strength the most, and his not-so-small spirit.

“Whenever he walked or rolled into a room, everyone just lit up,” he said. “He called himself the anti-giant, but he was opposite of that. He had a giant, loving personality.”

He is survived by his brother Mark and parents Lou and Teresa Arruda.

A visitation and vigil prayers will be held Friday and the funeral mass will be held Saturday at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Kitchener where he grew up.