LOS ANGELES — Stand-up comedian Fuquan Johnson was among three people who died of a suspected overdose at a Los Angeles party, authorities said Monday.
Three people were declared dead at the scene in the Venice neighborhood early Saturday morning and a fourth was taken to a hospital in critical condition, LAPD Officer Mike Lopez said.
The dead were Johnson, 43, of Los Angeles; Enrico Colangeli, 48, of Medford, Massachusetts; and Natalie Williamson, 33, of Los Angeles, the LA County coroner’s office said.
A preliminary investigation found that the three died from an overdose, Lopez said. The coroner will determine and release the official cause of death after autopsies are performed.
Comedian Kate Quigley has been identified as the fourth person hospitalized.
In a text message exchange posted online by fellow comedian Brian Redban, Quigley wrote: “I’m alive. I’m not great. But I’m OK.”
Johnson had been a popular regular for years at Southern California comedy clubs, and wrote for the online show “Comedy Parlour Live: Quarantine Edition.”
Fellow comedians were paying tribute to him on social media as word spread of his death.
“Your energy would light up a room,” Damien Dante Wayans said on Instagram. “Everybody loved Fu!”
In an Instagram post, the Ha Ha Comedy Club in Los Angeles marquee was lit up with their names, “Rest In Peace Fuquan Johnson, Enrico Colangeli,” adding below, “these legends.”
