Life in General

Stand-up comedian and actor Richard Jeni a regular on NBC's "The Tonight Show" has died in apparent suicide. Jeni, 45 , was found alive and taken to hospital but was pronounced dead about an hour later.

Jeni appeared in movies including as "The Mask" and in the TV show "Everybody Hates Chris," and was named in 2004 in the Comedy Central list of 100 great stand-up comedians.

He was a regular guest on "The Tonight Show" when Johnny Carson hosted the late-night talk and variety show and also after Jay Leno took over as host in 1992.

Born in Brooklyn, he also appeared in the HBO Comedy Hour and wrote material for the 2005 Academy Awards show.