Stand-Up Comedian Dies After Cancer and Crohn’s Disease Diagnoses: Hiram Kasten Was 71

Standup comedian and actor Hiram Kasten has died, according to an obituary shared on his official Facebook account. He was 71.

“Hiram Kasten saw the light flash before his eyes, as he so often did when he was a young comedian in the New York comedy clubs during the late 1970s and 1980s, meaning his time was up and start wrapping up his set. This time it was to make his exit from this worldly stage to another,” the obituary read.

Later in the obituary, Kasten’s health issues in recent years are detailed: “In 2017, his health had taken a downturn and he no longer performed or actively pursued his career. Never mentioning it to his friends, he carried on as usual over the phone and with trips to NY and LA. After seven years of fighting through a multitude of illnesses including prostate cancer and his lifelong battle with Crohn’s disease, he only began to share the terminality of it all with his friends in the last six months.”

Outside of the standup comedy world, Kasten went down in the TV canon by appearing in Seinfeld. He guest-starred on three episodes as Michael, a co-worker of Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). He also appeared in five episodes of 7th Heaven.

Kasten’s TV career also included one-off appearances in some certified TV staples, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Everybody Loves Raymond, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, My Wife and Kids, L.A. Law and the memorable oil spill episode of Saved by the Bell.