Miss Fidget.com

Best known from his appearances on the Howard Stern Show, Kenneth Keith Kallenbach has died. Kenneth Keith was a performer who still lived near home and collected milk bottles.

He was best known for his folksy enthusiasm and regional South East Pennsylvania accent (think Amish with a dash of Philly and Baltimore). Before JACKASS and the WILD BOYS made it popular, Kenneth Keith was blowing smoke out his eyes, eating his own hair and “blowin shit up in the woods.” He wasn’t macho, but he was very male. He wasn’t real smart, but he was very nice. He loved his mother and concealed the disease that would kill him.

He was a slack jawed, skinny, ginger haired perpetual adolescent who may have felt aimless at times. He was unsophisticated in a refreshing way. He was apparently single and looking to start dating again at the time of his arrest and death. He was one of the first media celebrities who found fame didn’t necessarily beget fortune. His characteristic slack jawed gape probably had more to do with a life long struggle for breath than a lack of intelligence.

He had a marginal career in the entertainment industry, appearing semi regularly on The Howard Stern Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He also had bit parts in the movies Jerry McGuire, Girl Interrupted and an episode of Sex and the City. He was a musician and stand up comedian who performed regularly and produced and released a DVD, American Icon and a CD, Yeah.

Kenneth Keith had brushes with the law including a DUI. Recently he was arrested for attempting to lure a 16 yr old girl into his car. Due to legal twists that confuse me, his bail hearing was delayed for weeks. Kenneth Keith’s health failed while in jail. Medication and medical attention were alleged, and maliciously withheld. Witnesses have recounted guards taunting him with “Lets see Howard Stern get you out of this one.”

Cystic fibrosis requires constant medical attention and physical therapy to stave off death from drowning and infection. Kenneth Keith at 39, was on the high end of life expectancy for the disease. He begged his mother “Ma, you gotta get me outta here, I’m not gonna make it” in his last week of life. Witnesses also recount a semi-alert Kenneth Keith in a wheelchair being taunted by guards before he slipped into a coma and was rushed to a local hospital where he died.

The jail where he was held is run by a company based in Florida. Similar deaths of inmates have occurred at this facility in the past 2 years. After a week, I’m still pretty upset about this story. Google it, he died needlessly. There’s lawyers circling already.

Kenneth Keith Kallenbach was a nice person. I am very sorry he is dead. I am sad he suffered.