R.I.P. Montgomery Wayne Seitz, active member of Austin’s comedy scene

The Austin comedy scene in the heart of Texas has been hot and getting hotter over the past decade, and in the most recent years, Montgomery Wayne Seitz was at the heart of its growing potential for aspiring comedians, creating an array of open mics and bar comedy shows across Texas’s capital city for them all to play.

Seitz died unexpectedly last week. He was in his 40s.

More than 200 of his friends have raised $12,543 as of this writing to a GoFundMe to help pay for his funeral service and take care of his two children. Seitz’s wife already had been set back medically by a past coma.

Cap City Comedy Club wrote “Montgomery Wayne was always so wonderful and polite to work with and had a true passion for comedy,” and donated funds from its Sunday show to the GoFundMe.

Maggie Maye, who just this past month made her TV debut on Conan, wrote: “Montgomery Wayne Seitz was the heart and soul of Austin comedy. He was the kindest, sweetest person you’d ever want to meet and his presence was comforting. He cared deeply and his actions showed time and time again that he loved us. And everyone loved him. My heart is just broken. Rest in peace, Outlaw.”

Kat Ramzinski wrote, in part: “He was a family man, but everyone he met may as well have been family because he treated us all so damn kind. He never shit on anyone, he never let you say a bad word about yourself, and he was EVERYWHERE. The man came to every open mic, then started about twenty or thirty just for shits and giggles. He did comedy on busses, trains, laundromats, and even performed spoken word pieces that made us all believe in true love again by proving that soul mates really do exist, and loving his lady unconditionally no matter what hardships life threw their way. He basically reinvented the art of decorating your own cowboy hat. He talked like boomhaur when he was excited. He talked about his kids more than himself. He was a proud father, a proud husband, and the humblest comic I knew. He was so fucking nice. He was a great person, a comic’s comic, and could sell a mattress to someone with too many mattresses already. Most importantly….he was FUNNY. That was Monty. Love you man.”

Ramin Nazer wrote: “A real life cartoon character that radiated joy and hope and the essence of party everywhere he went. Beloved husband, father, and comic. Couldn’t catch him without a smile on his face. He kept going just as hard no matter what life dealt him. Rest in peace Monty.”

Here are more Austin comedians remembering Montgomery Wayne earlier this week…

And here he was, in his own words, on the Storyfellers podcast talking about the accident that had changed his family’s lives.