PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – Executive Producer Stephanie Cooke acknowledged the loss of her friend Adam Paine on the show.  Paine passed away last week at the age of 38. It was a loss felt by many in Hampton Roads.

“He was a very kind person,” she said. “He was a comedy performing giant in Hampton Roads and studied at Amy Poehler’s Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City.”

Paine was part of an amazing personal family, church family and comedy family. He was one of “The Pushers”, performing and teaching regularly at the Push Comedy Theater in Norfolk. Cooke said Paine was one of her sketch comedy teachers. It was a class he loved to teach. 

His many friends and family have used social media to share how much his kindness and passion for laughter meant to them using the #belikeadam hashtag.

Cooke reminisced that it was their shared love of movies that she would cherish most about Paine. She said the two loved talking about Tarantino movies, but above all, they were diehard fans of the film trilogy Back to the Future. 

“We said goodbye to him this weekend,” Cooke said, “and many feel we will seem him down the road. But I know… where he’s going… he doesn’t need roads.”