Kelly was my friend, met him in Seattle ten years ago, we had LA and baseball in common - he too, played a little hardball after high school down in Orange County.
Last night in his sleep, Kelly passed away, he was only 46. He had been living and working in the comedy business out of Amarillo, Texas with his family for the last five or six years.
Who knows? - his heart had some problems, I’m not a doctor.
But Kelly was funny, a heavy hitter - faces, expressions, words, keyboard and power. Was new to comedy and Seattle when I first saw him around the Underground in Pioneer Square or Crossroads in Tacoma. After a year or so of steering clear (goatees and height frighten me), he said I was funny.
Cool. And that meant something to a young performer. To have a closer, a guy who understands the biz say you’re doing ok and to keep it up.
Then down here in LA around the late-90’s - letting comedians from Seattle hang with him, talking comedy and having solid belly laughs.
Guys like Teina Manu, the late Mitch Hedberg, Chard Hogan, Yoshi, Josh Wolf and myself - we all learned from the master, Kelly.
Years before and never a household name, he played piano at the Comedy Store in Hollywood. Influenced and influencing names such as Sam Kinison, Andrew Dice Clay and Jim Carrey before going solo behind the mic himself.
Read this<--that - Kelly is quoted prominently throughout the piece.
Those years, those nights, those stories were all passed down to guys like me.
Sure he had issues and his share of quirks, just like anybody else. But man, this guy worked the road hard, hell gigs in Montana and deep Canada.
So there you go. Kelly Moran was a solid guy, really got comedy and cared about those who cared about it.
Gonna miss him.