The comedy world is in mourning after the death of Rudy Moreno at the age of 66. TMZ was the first to report the news with his agent Mark Scroggs confirming the comedian had died after a stint in the Los Angeles ICU. He had been battling pneumonia but no cause of death was given. Fellow comedian Ken Jeong was among those to pay tribute to Moreno, calling him “the Godfather of Latino Comedy”. “There are countless comedians who owe their start to this man,” he wrote on X. “My heart is truly broken.” In addition to his stand-up, Moreno starred in more than 35 TV shows including Mom, George Lopez, The Shield, Arrested Development, and Everybody Loves Raymond. Moreno was named the 1998-99 Latino Comedian of the Year and recorded a hit comedy special No Looking Back. “I have had a pretty entertaining career, I have worked with a lot of famous people and have traveled to places that I would have only dreamed of.... plus in my office, I get to work in my pajamas,” he said, according to the Laugh Factory.
My heart is truly broken. Rudy Moreno, the Godfather of Latino Comedy, was the first person to book me at the Ice House. In fact, the first time my wife ever saw me do standup was at the Ice House on Rudy’s show. All this ultimately led to me doing my Netflix special at the Ice… pic.twitter.com/aWXGr30av1
