John Pinette

John Pinette (March 23, 1964 - April 5, 2014) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he graduated from the University of Massachusetts Lowell with a degree in accounting before leaving the field to pursue comedy. An early break came in 1991 when he was asked to open for Frank Sinatra. He was named Stand-Up Comedian of the Year by the American Comedy Awards in 1999 and held the record for the highest-selling one-person show series in the history of Just for Laughs for 16 years. He often drew on his experiences with his weight for his comedy, in specials such as Show Me The Buffet, I'm Starvin', and John Pinette: Still Hungry, and he played the carjacking victim in the final episode of Seinfeld. In 2004 he joined the touring cast of the musical Hairspray as Edna Turnblad, later moving to the Broadway production. Pinette died in 2014 at age 50 of a pulmonary embolism.