Ralphie May | en

Ralph Duren "Ralphie" May (February 17, 1972 – October 6, 2017) was an American stand-up comedian and actor.

May first got into comedy after he entered and won a talent show while still in high school. The prize of the talent show was the right to open for Sam Kinison. After graduating from Clarksville High School in Clarksville, Arkansas, he then moved to Houston, Texas to perfect his comedy, and then to Los Angeles, where he has worked as an actor, writer, and producer.

May entered the public eye when he appeared in the first season of the reality television series, Last Comic Standing, in which stand-up comedians compete for a television contract. May finished as first runner-up, critics believe he was robbed of first. While critics said the winner, Dat Phan, delivers similar and repetitive jokes revolving around his Asian ancestry, May himself delivers typical jokes about his obesity. He and his housemates played fools on Dat Phan. His career has taken off since then, and he performs at some of the most well-known comedy clubs across the country. May's first CD and DVD, titled Just Correct, was released on February 10, 2004 and has since gone platinum.

He often appears as a guest on the Opie and Anthony show on XM Satellite Radio. He has also been a part of Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour with other comedians in 2006 and 2007.

He also often appears as a guest host on Rover's Morning Glory, an FM station based out of Cleveland Ohio.

He also did two specials on Comedy Central called "Ralphie May: Girth of a Nation" and "Ralphie May: Prime Cut".

He has appeared several times as a guest on Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld, and Comics Unleashed.

May at one point weighed over 800 pounds. He began gaining weight following a car accident at 16, in which he broke 42 bones. In recent years May has lost a great deal of weight especially after he elected to undergo gastric bypass surgery. In 2005, he appeared on the television show Celebrity Fit Club, where he lost 27 pounds. Even though May only lost 5.6% of his body weight (one of the lowest in the history of the show) he has managed to lose almost another 100 pounds since the show. May announced on the Opie and Anthony show on January 9th, 2008 that he now weighs 392 pounds and continues to lose weight.

On September 5, 2007 his wife gave birth to a baby girl by the name of April June May.

On July 3, 2005, May married comedienne Lahna Turner. The couple had two children, a daughter[5] and a son[6].

In October 2015, Turner filed for divorce seeking joint custody of their children.

May suffered from obesity throughout his life. His weight increased to 800 pounds following a car accident at age 16. May participated on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club and had gastric bypass surgery in 2004 which brought his weight down to 350 pounds (160 kg). A bout with viral pneumonia on a cruise in October 2011 caused May to lose 40 pounds.

On October 6, 2017, May died of cardiac arrest at the age of 45 after being afflicted with pneumonia for several weeks.



Ralphie May has a website at http://www.ralphiemay.com/ .