Matt Wright’s Ellen Show Colleague Andy Lassner Recalls Seeing Him Hours Before His Death

So, picture this. It's a typical day at The Ellen Show, and our dear friend Matt Wright is buzzing around like a human hummingbird on espresso. Now, Matt, he's not your average colleague. He's a walking, talking, laughing encyclopedia of random facts and puns. I mean, the man could make a joke about quantum physics and have you laughing so hard, you'd be checking your watch to see if time really is relative.

Matt Wright: The Original Human Emoji

Matt was our resident emoji, always ready to react with a 😂, 😮, or 🤣, depending on the situation. He was the human equivalent of that 'laughing so hard I'm crying' emoji, and he wore that title proudly. I swear, if they ever invent a 'laughing so hard I'm crying and also doing a silly dance' emoji, it'd be Matt's face on it.

Now, Matt had this uncanny ability to make even the grumpiest of people crack a smile. I mean, he once made our security guard, Big Rick, laugh so hard that Rick's mustache twitched. And if you know anything about Big Rick, you know that's no small feat. That mustache is as stoic as they come.

Matt's Last Hurrah

So, there we were, a few hours before the show. Matt was in full swing, regaling us with tales of his weekend antics. He'd been to some sort of Renaissance fair, dressed up as a knight, and had ended up in a jousting tournament. Yep, you read that right. Our Matt, the man who once told me that his idea of a workout was 'lifting a remote control to change the TV channel', had been jousting.

He was mid-story, acting out the dramatic moment when his lance 'shattered like a twig' (his words, not mine), when suddenly, he clutched his chest. 'Oh no,' I thought, 'he's finally laughed himself into a heart attack.' But no, it was just his pocket watch, the one he'd found at that Renaissance fair, chiming the hour.

'He didn't look well': Witnesses recall seeing Congressman Sylvester

Matt looked at it, then at us, and said, 'Well, folks, it's been a blast, but I've got a date with destiny. Or at least, a date with a burrito.' And with that, he was off, leaving us in stitches and wondering if he'd really just quoted Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.

And Then...

Hours later, we got the news. Matt had passed away. Suddenly, the laughter caught in our throats. It felt like someone had pressed 'mute' on our little world. We were devastated. But even in our grief, we couldn't help but smile, remembering Matt's laughter, his stories, his ridiculous jokes.

NYC mom who brutally neglected little boy before his death arraigned on

You see, Matt wasn't just a colleague. He was our own personal comedian, our storyteller, our emoji. He was the guy who made every day a little brighter, a little funnier. And even though he's gone, I like to think that somewhere, he's still laughing, still telling stories, still making people smile.

So, here's to you, Matt. You were one in a million. And even though you're gone, you'll always be our human emoji, laughing and crying and dancing your way through our hearts.