Warren Thomas
Warren Thomas (June 5, 1958 – September 2, 2005) was an African-American comedian. His greatest fame came during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when he was a major figure in the San Francisco comedy scene and began appearing on HBO comedy specials. He won the San Francisco International Comedy Competition in 1987. According to Margaret Cho, Thomas was cited as the funniest comedian alive by Greg Proops. Because of its speed, rhythm and flow, his comedy was often compared to jazz music. His other television appearances included Comedy Central's Comics Come Home special, The Dennis Miller Show, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He also worked as a writer on In Living Color. Prior to his death in 2005, Thomas was working as a writer for Air America Radio, and was a frequent guest at Rocky Sullivan's "Satire for Sanity" show. He also was working on a project with Jamie Foxx.
Upon Thomas's death, memorials were held in his honor in New York City, where he had been living and working, in Los Angeles, and in his hometown of San Francisco. Mourners included many comedians who were close friends of Thomas's. Among them were Robin Williams, Barry Crimmins, A. Whitney Brown, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Proops, Will Durst, Bob Rubin, Sue Murphy, Tom Rhodes, Randy Kagan, Kurt Weitzmann, David Feldman, Charles Ezell, Barry Lank, Martin Olsen, and Barry Sobel. On the April 9, 2010 episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, comedian Chris Rock paid tribute to Thomas in the form of a rhetorical question, "Who was funnier than Warren Thomas?"
Thomas was an athlete and basketball player in high school as well as a lifelong San Francisco Giants baseball fan.