Mitch Hedberg, who brought an extremely laid-back delivery style to his absurd, quasi-philosophical observations and one-liners, would have been 48 years old this Wednesday. The comedy world has not seen his like again since his untimely, drug-related death in 2005. One of Hedberg’s most famous and frequently quoted routines, as captured on his popular 1999 album Strategic Grill Locations, deals with the purchasing of doughnuts and the documentation thereof. To wit:
I bought a doughnut and they gave me a receipt for the doughnut. I don’t need a receipt for the doughnut. I’ll just give you the money, and you give me the doughnut. End of transaction. We don’t need to bring ink and paper into this. I just can’t imagine a scenario where I would have to prove that I bought a doughnut. Some skeptical friend: “Don’t even act like I didn’t get that doughnut! I got the documentation right here. Oh, wait it’s at home. In the file. Under “D.”
And now, a fan has paid tribute to the much-missed Hedberg in the most thematically appropriate manner possible by placing a single, frosted doughnut, accompanied by the prerequisite receipt, on the comedian’s grave at the Roselawn Cemetery in Roseville, Minnesota. And this is not the first time that Hedberg’s doughnut joke has been referenced in the real world. As early as April 2014, the joke popped up on a receipt from an actual doughnut emporium. Clearly, Hedberg’s fans have decided that they do need to bring ink and paper into this.
[via Uproxx]