Simone WilsonThe lone fatality of an early-morning DUI pileup on January 3 has been identified as 26-year-old Angelo Bowers.
According to comedy site LaughSpin, Bowers — who didn't have a Twitter or Facebook account — was somewhat of a comic's comic, well-known and -loved by the insider L.A. comedy community. Twitter handle @AngelosJokes has since been set up to remember some of the drunk-driving victim's finest one-liners. (Example: “Everybody thinks I'm Jewish at the acting class I go to. It's the temple on Melrose. I study under Rabi Liev Schreiber.” More at the bottom.)
An LAPD statement describes the messy crash that led to Bowers' death:
An intoxicated driver caused two collisions just minutes apart in the early morning hours of Tuesday. The second collision proved fatal for one of the vehicles passengers.On January 3, 2012, at approximately 12:40 a.m., a 21-year-old man driving under the influence of alcohol was involved in a hit and run crash when his 2010 Toyota Matrix hit a 2005 Ford Crown Victoria Taxicab near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle Avenue. About five minutes later the driver hit a second car, a 1995 Jeep Wrangler that was northbound on Vine Street at Yucca Street.
It was a violent collision that caused serious injury to both drivers of the vehicles, as well as a passenger in the Jeep. All three were transported to a local hospital for treatment of their injuries.
Bowers, right; Meyers, left.; Credit: perezhilton.com
Bowers, the passenger in the Jeep, died a few hours later at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The Jeep's driver — friend and fellow comedian Josh Adam Meyers — reportedly suffered several broken bones, but is expected to live.
Via LaughSpin:
One industry insider says that Sarah Silverman had recently seen Bowers crush at a comedy show and the pair had swapped phone numbers in order to keep in touch. Bowers started his comedy career in San Francisco and then moved south to Los Angeles. The insider says Bowers was a cancer survivor. Comedian Eli Olsberg wrote on his Tumblr that Bowers was headed back home to finish up an unspecified medical treatment. Bowers was scheduled to perform at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood tomorrow on the 10 pm show.
(That obit was written yesterday, so Bowers' appearance would have been tonight.)
Comedian Brian Whitaker calls Bowers “one of the best comics I've worked with and one of the greatest people I've known period.” Meanwhile, fellow comics have set up a PayPal account for Meyers' medical bills.
According to the LAPD, “the driver of the Toyota is expected to be booked for murder once his medical condition improves.” Anyone with further information about the crash is urged to call Officer Zachary Hutchings of the West Traffic Division at 213-473-0234.
Here are a few videos of Bowers doing what he did best.
And here are some of our favorite Bowers jokes, via friends and fans on Twitter.
“If you haven't been to a Cher concert, then you haven't lived… With your aunt and her lover.”
“I got a job at Forever 41… It's a lot like Forever 21, except it's called Mervyns.”
“You know the economy's bad when pirates are making a comeback.”
“I failed a drug test for a job at Wienerschnitzel… Apparently I don't do enough drugs to work at Wienerschnitzel”
“I'm from a really nice part of Detroit… Denver, Colorado.”
“My acting never took off. I was, though, once cast in an off-Broadway production playing the woman who killed Selena.”
“I'm in a long distance relationship. It's not easy. I live in Los Angeles, and she lives in my imagination.”
“Every time my boo eat me out I be like, damn these ain't no collard greens! Hold it, holllld it. Sorry, that was my cousin Anita's set list.”
“I just want to make my dad proud. So he stops referring to me and my brother as Faggot and Costello.”
“Is it just me guys? Or do you think taco trucks are just lazy Mexican Transformers.”
“I'm really shy guys. My therapist molested me just so we had something to talk about.”
“I've never suffered from whiskey dick. I have suffered from Del Taco Fiesta Combo dick.”
“My dad told me there's no I in 'you need to play football faggot.'”
[@simone_electra / swilson@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]
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