I don’t know if a lot of you know, but Matthew Courtney recently passed away due to an accidental drug overdose in New York. Matthew straddles the line between celebrity and friend. As the host of the long running open mike at ABC No Rio, (where I honed my deservedly forgotten performance art act), a published poet, and also an announcer on Comedy Central, Matthew was eminent enough to get his picture in the papers – the Village Voice, at least. But he was also enough of a friend that I occasionally hired him as a model for illustration reference. This image comes from a Voice review of a play Matthew appeared in.

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Matthew had a sense of humor and a laid-back stage presence, something rare in the self-serious downtown poetry scene. His razor sharp Bob Hope timing is on display in this performance clip of Matthew in his prime.

As part of my long running series of memorial portraits, I posted this End Strip on Patreon.