Greg Giraldo

A sharp-witted and corrosive comic talent, Greg Giraldo rose quickly from clubs to television in the late 1990s, eventually making a home on television, most notably on Comedy Central's celebrity roasts, where he proved to be a formidable foil for the famous and less-than-famous. His electrically charged but never ill-considered routines earned him steady work on the comedy channel, which paved his way to the major networks as a guest and host on the 2010 season of "Last Comic Standing" (NBC, 2003- ). His untimely death in September of that year cut short a promising career that seemed poised for greater stardom.