Ralphie May

Ralphie May was an American stand-up comedian and actor, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and raised in Clarksville, Arkansas, the youngest child in his family. At 17 he won a contest to open for his idol, Sam Kinison, who encouraged him to move to Houston to work on his act. He graduated from Houston’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

He became a national name in 2003, finishing second on the first season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing. Appearances followed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Wayne Brady Show, and in 2005 he was part of The Big Black Comedy Show.

May released his first album, Just Correct, in 2005, then recorded four Comedy Central specials (Girth of a Nation, Prime Cut, Austin-tatious and Too Big to Ignore) and two Netflix specials, Imperfectly Yours (2013) and Unruly (2015). He was known for long-form storytelling and a heavy touring schedule. In 2013 he and his wife, comedian Lahna Turner, started the podcast Perfect 10.

May died on October 6, 2017, at 45, of cardiac arrest after several weeks of pneumonia that had forced him to cancel shows. His memoir, This Might Get a Little Heavy, was published that December, and the 2019 documentary What’s Eating Ralphie May? looks back at his final year.