NBC 'Parks and Recreation' Season 7 Cast News: Amy Poehler Doesn't Feel Like Telling Jokes After Show Executive Producer Harris Wittels Is Found Dead
“Parks and Recreation” executive producer Harris Wittels was found dead of an apparent overdose.
The comedian, writer and producer had been battling drug problems.
According to Deadline, Wittels’s assistant discovered the 30-year-old executive producer dead in his Los Angeles home at around noon on Thursday. Los Angeles Police Department sources said it appeared to be an overdose, but this could not be proved certain until the coroner’s report.
NBC News reports police found drug paraphernalia in Wittels' home, but a toxicology report will take six to eight weeks.
Amy Poehler, star and mind behind "Parks and Recreation," discussed Wittels' death at at Variety's unite4humanity event, saying "today, I lost a friend."
"I lost a dear, young friend in my life who was struggling with addiction," Poehler said. "I'm sharing it with you because life and death live so close together, and we walk that fine line everyday. When things happen in our lives, we turn to the people that we love ... and we lean on people, in a hope that we will ease our pain."
Poehler added that she didn't feel like "telling any jokes."
"I'm kind of sad ..." she explained.
Wittels had previously talked publicly about his two times in rehab and discussed his drug issues on a November episode of the podcast “You Made It Weird.”
Wittels was an executive producer with “Parks and Recreation,” NBC’s popular comedy show that will air its last episode on Feb. 24. The show ran for seven seasons, and Wittels began as a writer and occasional actor, playing Harris, the Animal Control guy. He continued to rise within the show as co-producer and then as co-executive producer, reports Deadline.
The writer's career took off when Sarah Silverman saw his stand up and asked him to write for her show on Comedy Central. He went on to work on various other projects. Among these are the podcasts "Comedy Bang! Bang!" and “Analyze Phish," about the band Phish, according to NBC News. Wittels is also credited for coining the term “humblebrag,” on which he wrote a book.
On social media, people he worked with remembered Wittels and expressed their sadness at his sudden passing.
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