![Comedian Kenny DeForest dies in NYC bike accident at 37 Comedian Kenny DeForest dies in NYC bike accident at 37](https://trangangolf.storage.googleapis.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/23150242/412962084_779100577563268_3371857793184435682_n.jpg)
Stand-up comedian Kenny DeForest has died after a bicycle accident in New York City, according to his loved ones.
He was 37.
DeForest, who made appearances on NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” CBS’ “The Late Late Show with James Corden” and the HBO show “Crashing,” was in an e-bike accident on Dec. 8, his friend and fellow comic Ryan Beck wrote in an online fundraiser.
DeForest was on a Citi Bike near the intersection of Saint Marks and Rogers avenues in Brooklyn when he hit an unoccupied parked car, the New York City Police Department said Friday. He was found conscious with lacerations to the head and was hospitalized in critical condition. No criminality is suspected in the case, police said.
“Kenny underwent neurological surgery to remove a piece of his skull and relieve pressure from a brain bleed at Kings County Hospital,” the GoFundMe page said.
He died Wednesday at the hospital with his parents, family and friends at his side.
“Kenny’s final moments included some of his favorite songs, stories of his childhood, and memories of his extensive positivity and joy for life,” Beck wrote.
DeForest will continue to make an impact through “the gift of organ donation,” the GoFundMe page said. Funds raised will cover his medical bills, Beck wrote.
Born in Springfield, Missouri, the actor, writer and comedian first appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” in 2017. That same year he released his stand-up album “B.A.D. Dreams.”
He was named one of Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch” and “Best of the New Faces” by Village Voice at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, according to his YouTube biography.
DeForest had released a comedy special “Don’t You Know Who I Am?” on YouTube in August.
The comedy community has posted tributes to DeForest on social media.
The “Late Night with Seth Meyers” show remembered DeForest in an online tribute as “a universally beloved comedian who died tragically, and much too young.”
“His relaxed, confident delivery always stood out. As you can see from his debut late night set on LNSM, he wasn’t afraid to tackle controversial topics, but never just to be edgy — always in service of an original angle and a great joke. It’s a shame we won’t get to see what he comes up with next,” the tribute continued.
Comedian Adam Conover called DeForest “one of the funniest and most beloved comics any of us knew.”
Actor and comedian Joel Kim Booster remembered DeForest as “one of the brightest lights in the comedy community.”
“When I was new to everything and most of the guys in the Chicago scene saw me as a sideshow interloper, it was Kenny who went out of his way to make me feel welcome, gave me great advice and encouraged me to keep going. He was my comedy big brother and I’m realizing now that I am not sure I ever told him how much of an influence his small acts of kindness had on me. I’ll always regret that,” he wrote on Instagram.