San Antonio stand-up comic and Comedy A Go-Go co-founder Larry Garza has died at age 41
Jaime Monzon
Larry Garza performs at San Antonio comedy club the Blind Tiger in 2019.
As a stand-up comedian, all that Larry Garza ever wanted to do with his life was make people laugh. He did that until the very end.
On Tuesday, Garza, the co-founder of local sketch comedy troupe Comedia A Go-Go, died after a nearly seven-year battle with cancer. He was 41. Garza leaves behind his wife of 15 years Andee; daughter Mykee, 17; and son Gunnar, 12.
Winner of the 2016 Funniest in South Texas competition, comedy was Garza’s true calling. Whether it was creating skits to parody Fiesta San Antonio or commanding the stages at local comedy clubs, Garza’s energy was irresistible, and his talent was undeniable.
Even when he was first diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer in 2016, Garza wasn’t going to let the disease stop him from doing what he loved. A month after doctors removed his right kidney and less than two weeks after they removed a portion of his lung, he took the mic at downtown’s Charline McCombs Empire Theatre to a packed house.
“I know it might sound cliché, but I didn’t want it to beat me,” Garza told the Current at the time. “I didn’t want to go dark.”
Instead, he chose to deal with his diagnosis the only way he knew how: by laughing his way through it and leaning on his family and friends for support.
“That’s how every true comedian copes with the bad stuff — we joke about it,” Garza said. “You make a joke out of it, so it’s not so heavy. It’s a true example of using comedy to lighten the load and let everyone know, ‘We’re OK. Nothing is going to take our sense of humor away.’”
Garza’s sense of humor was well intact in December 2021 when he decided to headline his own memorial, which doubled as a Comedy Central-style roast and fundraiser. He invited more than a dozen of his comic and non-comic friends to take the mic and give him an old-school verbal beatdown.
“A roast is the biggest honor a comedian can get,” Garza told the Current that month. “It’s your friends making fun of you in a harsh way, but it’s coming from a place of love.”
When asked what he would like his comedy legacy to be after he takes his proverbial final bow, the answer was simple: to be remembered as “that hilarious San Antonio comic.”
“Life is an ass-kicker for everybody,” he said. “But you have to laugh about it and celebrate it while you’re here.”
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