Mike DeStefano (1967 - March 6, 2011) was an American stand-up comedian. A previous drug addict since age 15, he turned his recovery from heroin addiction into brutally honest, profanity-laced routines. He also was a drug counselor to others. He had been clean for 11 years at the time of his death and was HIV positive. He died as a result of a heart attack. His first ever gig was at a Narcotics Anonymous convention in Atlanta, Georgia, where after a planned pool party was rained out and everybody was crammed into a tent; DeStefano stepped before the microphone and started ranting about drugs. A regular at clubs in New York and around the country, DeStefano gained popularity after appearing on television on Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham. He also appeared in Late Night With Conan O'Brien, Showtime's Whiteboyz in the Hood and other radio and television shows and at popular comedy festivals, most notably US Comedy Arts Festival and Montreal's Just for Laughs festival. In 2010, he competed in the seventh season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and finished in fourth place. DeStefano's death came just days before he was scheduled to perform his one-man show, "A Cherry Tree in the Bronx" in New York. He had just finished a run of shows titled "Drugs, Disease and Death: A Comedy", which was largely based on being HIV positive, his past drug addiction and his wife Fran's death several years ago after her drug addiction and affliction with AIDS. http://www.mikedestefano.com/ <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Destefano">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.