The comedy writer and producer, responsible for 'Parks and Recreation' and 'Humblebrag' on Twitter, was discovered dead at his L.A. home on Thursday.
Harris Wittels, one of the executive producers of the successful NBC comedy ‘Parks and Recreation’, has died at his home in Los Angeles of a suspected drug overdose. He was just 30 years old.
According to TMZ and later confirmed to NBC News, police officers pronounced Wittels dead around 1 p.m. on Thursday (February 19th). Sources say that the officers found drug paraphernalia around his house but no other signs of trauma to his body.
The cause of death has not yet been established and will be determined by a coroner, but The Hollywood Reporter writes that his body was discovered by his assistant, who made a 911 call in the early afternoon.
Wittels had been to rehab twice in the past, as he has long battled with drug addiction and spoken openly about it. Just the night before, he had performed a set of stand-up comedy at L.A.’s Comedy Theater, during which he said that was clean and sober.
More: Paul Rudd re-joining ‘Parks And Recreation’ for final season in February
Aside from his involvement with ‘Parks and Recreation’, whose final season is set to wrap up with the broadcast of the season finale set to air next week, Wittels wrote and did production work for ‘Eastbound and Down’ and ‘The Sarah Silverman Show’.
He is credited with coining the social media phrase ‘humblebrag’, described as tendency for tweeters to make boasts but disguised with false modesty, operating a similarly-titled Twitter account as a platform to call out celebrities and even going so far as to publish a book about it in 2012.
Wittels was also a member of a band called Don’t Stop Or We’ll Die, alongside fellow comedy writers Paul Rust and Michael Cassady. He appeared several times on popular comedy podcasts including ‘Comedy Bang Bang’ and his sometime platform ‘Analyze Phish’.
More: ‘Parks And Recreation’ will finish after Season 7. Now go away and cry.
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
Ahead of the imminent release of his second solo album - Dekker, aka Brookln Dekker, took time out to let us know about the musical project he...