‘Parks and Recreation’ Producer Harris Wittels Found Dead

Harris Wittels was found dead earlier today (Feb. 19) from a possible drug overdose. According to TMZ, the Parks and Recreation executive producer was found lying on his couch in his home and drug paraphernalia was allegedly discovered by police in the house. His body reportedly showed no signs of trauma.

Wittels often performed standup comedy, and put on a set as recently as Wednesday (Feb. 18) night at the Los Angeles comedy club The Meltdown. He reportedly talked about being clean and sober, which is no surprise considering how open and honest he has been about his addiction to drugs in the past. During an interview on the podcast You Made It Weird, Wittels went on to talk candidly about his drug addiction, saying he had begun using when he was 12, and went to rehab for a second time after becoming addicted to heroin.

Before becoming an executive producer for Parks and Recreation, Wittels was a staff writer on the show and even had a small, recurring role on the show as Harris, an animal control employee. E! reports that Wittels was a consultant writer for the MTV Movie Awards, as well as a writer for Secret Girlfriend, The Sarah Silverman Program and wrote and produced for the HBO series Eastbound & Down. He was 30 years old when he died.

Our thoughts go out to Wittels' family and friends during what we can only imagine is an incredibly difficult time.

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