by Manjunath Naidu, an Indian stand-up comedian born in Abu Dhabi, collapsed and died onstage during a performance over the weekend in Dubai. Naidu was only 36.
Known by friends as Mango (he jokingly signed a Facebook post in March with “MANGO 🍍🍍 (ps where the hell is the mango emoji 🤬🤬)”), Naidu was the final act on the lineup at a show Friday night in Dubai.
According to Dubai’s Khaleej Times, Naidu died from a heart attack, reporting that he was joking about his anxiety when he collapsed, confusing the audience.
Miqdaad Dohadwala, friend and fellow comedian, told the publication:
“He was the last act in the line-up. He went on stage and was making people laugh with his stories. He was talking about his father and family. Everybody was enjoying. And then he got into a story of how he suffers from anxiety. And a minute into the story he collapsed. People thought it was part of the act. They took it as a joke as he was talking about anxiety and then collapsed. Everyone rushed to the stage. He stopped breathing in our hands. The paramedics reached within 20 minutes but couldn’t revive him. We took him to the hospital but after trying for 20 minutes they said Manju was gone. The man killed his performance and his performance killed him.”
Naidu didn’t have much of his act posted online, the only video on his YouTube channel a 2011 monologue in which he meets the devil.
May he rest in peace.
