In Living Color and Def Comedy Jam star Reggie McFadden dead at age 57

Reggie McFadden, the accomplished comedian and actor known for Def Comedy Jam and In Living Color, has died at age 57.

McFadden passed in Tanzania, the country he had been residing in for the last 18 years, his sister, bestselling author Bernice McFadden, told TMZ.

Bernice says the family were made aware of his death by the U.S. State Department, who informed them the comic had passed in the country. 

Details about how or when he passed were not revealed to the family. 

According to Bernice, her brother had been estranged from the family for some time due to 'family s**t'.

A comedian and actor, McFadden's resume boasts credits in the Adam Sandler led comedy Little Nicky, along with the TV shows Martin, Coach, Moesha, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, McFadden got his start at age 18 doing stand-up at coffee houses in Manhattan before making it big, according to the LA Times.

It was a passion he followed in order to avoid the projects, according to The Comedy Store - and a topic that made his way in his stand-up sets.

'I just came from my cousin's house, man, he lives in the projects, man. We all got cousins who live in the projects, man. We hate going there, don't we?' McFadden joked on an episode of Def Comedy Jam.

'Brother lives on the 20th floor and why is it, when you go to the projects, the intercom never works? It's always broken!'

McFadden made multiple appearances on Def Comedy Jam, a show which featured stand-up sets from various rising comics and a program which he worked on as a writer and comedian on off from 1991 to 1995. 

The televised stand-up sets continued in the years to follow, including a performance which made ratings history at Comedy Central. 

In 1998, he earned his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special, and the show became the network's highest-rated comedy special, according to The Comedy Store. 

McFadden also performed stand-up on late night shows Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Last Call with Carson Daly, and The Late Show with David Letterman - a gig he auditioned for a dozen times before finally clinching a spot. 

'I had auditioned for his show 12 times,' he told the LA Times in 1996. 'I’ve been waiting a long time to get on his show. So when I went out I said, ‘There’s not going to be any mistakes.'

McFadden's set included a joke about crack cocaine that Letterman's producers were initially nervous to include. They eventually allowed him to make the joke. 

'It’s more of a physical joke,' he said. 'I just talk about how [crack] is spreading around so much, and I can’t understand it. 

'I tell them how my neighbor smokes it right on the porch like [he’s drinking] lemonade,' he said. 'He’ll talk to me while I’m walking down the block. He’ll say “Hey, how was work? Are they keeping you busy?’ I wouldn’t know what to say: ‘How’s the crack going? The pipe staying hot?'

The New York born comedian eventually relocated to Los Angeles - where his acting career really kicked off. 

'I’ve been taking acting [lessons] as long as I’ve been doing comedy,' McFadden told the LA Times. 

On the small screen, McFadden appeared in Martin, Coach, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Moesha, and even as Larry David's neighbor Officer Burt in Curb Your Enthusiasm. 

As a big screen actor, he appeared in The Inkwell, a romantic comedy starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Joe Morton and the Sandler comedy Little Nicky.