PIERRE PART, La. — A cast member of the reality TV show “Swamp People” died Monday, a Louisiana sheriff said.

Assumption Parish Sheriff Mike Waguespack said Mitchell Guist was pronounced dead at a hospital. He had fallen while aboard his boat on the Intracoastal Waterway, near Pierre Part.

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Mitchell Guist, left, and his brother Glenn, from the series “Swamp People” in a photo from History. Mitchell Guist died Monday after falling on his boat. The Associated Press

Ellen DeGeneres Michael Rozman

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History, which produces the reality show with Original Media, said Guist would have turned 49 Friday.

“We are extremely saddened to report that our friend and beloved member of the Swamp People family, Mitchell Guist, has passed away. … Mitchell passed on the swamp, doing what he loved. We appreciate your respect for the Guist family’s privacy and hope you join us in sending our thoughts and prayers to his brother, Glenn, and the rest of the Guist family,” the network said in a statement.

Initial reports from deputies in neighboring St. Martin Parish are that Guist was traveling on the waterway around 9 a.m. when he fell, Waguespack said. The boat returned to a nearby landing in St. Martin and Guist was taken to a hospital. The cause of his fall is unclear, and there is no word yet on the official cause of death.

WAFB-TV reports 911 tapes were released later Monday, revealing the lengths people in the Belle River community went to try and revive Guist. Witnesses called the emergency response number and asked for ambulances or a helicopter.

“You say he’s in cardiac arrest?” the dispatcher said on the call. “Yes sir, we’re blowing and pumping the guy’s chest right now,” the caller said. “It looks like he may have had a heart attack.”

“Swamp People,” on the History cable television channel, features residents of Louisiana’s Atchafalaya swamp country during alligator hunting season.

DeGeneres to be awarded Mark Twain Prize

LOS ANGELES — This fall, Ellen DeGeneres will join Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Whoopi Goldberg, Tina Fey, George Carlin and Will Ferrell in a very exclusive comedy club: recipients of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The Emmy-winning host of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is being honored for her stand-up work, her daytime show, her various hosting gigs, activism and books.

According to the Kennedy Center, recipients of the Mark Twain Prize are “people who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist Samuel Clemens.”

In a statement, DeGeneres said, “It’s such an honor to receive the Mark Twain Prize. To get the same award that has been given to people like Bill Cosby, Tina Fey and Will Ferrell, it really makes me wonder … why didn’t I get this sooner?”

DeGeneres will have to make room on her already crowded awards shelf. She’s already won 12 People’s Choice Awards, three Teen Choice Awards, two Genesis Awards, a GLAAD Media Award and her talk show has won 35 Daytime Emmy Awards.

Indonesia denies permit to Lady Gaga

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Lady Gaga will have to cancel her sold-out show in Indonesia following protests by Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers, who said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt young people. National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar, responding to the pressure, said Tuesday that the permit for her June 3 “Born This Way Ball” concert had been denied.

Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more Muslims than any other. Although it is secular and has a long history of religious tolerance, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.

Worried they could not guarantee security, local police recommended the permit for the show be denied.

It would have been the biggest show on Lady Gaga’s Asian tour, with fans snapping up every seat in Jakarta’s 52,000-seat stadium.

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