- published: 15 Nov 2012
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Atlanta
Atlanta (
/ətˈlæntə/, stressed /ætˈlæntə/, locally /ætˈlænə/) is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia with a 2010 population of 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest in the U.S. It is a major component of a growing southeastern megalopolis known as the Piedmont Atlantic Megaregion. Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County.
Atlanta began as a settlement located at the terminus of a railroad line, and it was incorporated in 1845. Today, the city is a major business city and the primary transportation hub of the Southeastern United States (via highway, railroad, and air), with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being the world's busiest airport since 1998. The World Cities Study Group at Loughborough University rated Atlanta as an "alpha(-) world city." With a gross domestic product of US$270 billion, Atlanta's economy ranks 15th among world cities and sixth in the nation. The city is a center for services, finance, information technology, government, and higher education. Metro Atlanta contains the country's third largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, and is the world headquarters of The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Broadcasting, The Home Depot, AT&T Mobility, UPS, and Delta Air Lines. As of 2010, Atlanta is the seventh most visited city in the United States, with over 35 million visitors per year.
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Boston
Boston (pronounced /ˈbɒstən/ or locally /ˈbɔstən/ (
listen)) is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper, covering only 48.43 square miles, had a population of 617,594 according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Boston is also the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the fifth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.
In 1630, Puritan colonists from England founded the city on the Shawmut Peninsula. During the late 18th century, Boston was the location of several major events during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party. Several early battles of the American Revolution, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill and the Siege of Boston, occurred within the city and surrounding areas. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the peninsula. After American independence was attained Boston became a major shipping port and manufacturing center, and its rich history now helps attract many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone attracting over 20 million every year. The city was the site of several firsts, including America's first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), and the first subway system in the United States (1897).
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County Kerry
County Kerry (Irish: Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. Kerry County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county is 145,048 according to the 2011 census.
Kerry is the 5th largest of the 32 counties of Ireland by area and the 13th largest by population. Uniquely, it is bordered by only two other counties: County Limerick to the east and County Cork to the south-east. The county town is Tralee. The diocesan see is Killarney, which is one of Ireland's most famous tourist destinations. The Lakes of Killarney, an area of outstanding natural beauty, are located in Killarney National Park. The tip of the Dingle Peninsula is the most westerly point of Ireland.
There are nine historic baronies in the county. While baronies continue to be officially defined units, they are no longer used for many administrative purposes. Their official status is illustrated by Placenames Orders made since 2003, where official Irish names of baronies are listed under "Administrative units".
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Eugene, Oregon
Eugene ( /juːˈdʒiːn/) is a major city in the state of Oregon. It is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the county seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about 50 miles (80 km) east of the Oregon Coast.
As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Eugene has a population of 156,185, and Lane County (co-located with the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area) (MSA) has a population of 351,715. While Eugene has long been the second largest city in Oregon, it was briefly surpassed by Salem between 2005 and 2007. The Eugene-Springfield, Oregon MSA is the 144th largest metropolitan statistical area of the U.S, and the third largest in the state, behind the Portland Metropolitan Area and the Salem Metropolitan Area.
Eugene is home to the University of Oregon. The city is also noted for its natural beauty, recreational opportunities (especially bicycling, running/jogging, rafting, kayaking), focus on the arts, activist political leanings, and residents with "alternative" lifestyles. Eugene's slogan is "A Great City for the Arts and Outdoors." It is also referred to as the "Emerald City", and as "Track Town, USA." The Nike corporation had its beginnings in Eugene.
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Finland
Coordinates: 65°N 27°E / 65°N 027°E / 65; 027
Finland
i/ˈfɪnlənd/ ( Finnish: Suomi; Swedish: Finland (help·info)), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
Around 5.4 million people reside in Finland, with the majority concentrated in the southern region. It is the eighth largest country in Europe in terms of area and the most sparsely populated country in the European Union. Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in Helsinki and local governments in 336 municipalities, and an autonomous region of the Åland Islands. About one million residents live in the Greater Helsinki area, which consists of Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa, and a third of the country's GDP is produced there. Other larger cities include Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lahti and Kuopio.
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Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees (the other being Harvard Extension School). Founded in 1636, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and one of the most prestigious in the world.
In 1636 the New College came into existence by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony—though without a single building, instructor, or student. In 1639 it was renamed in honor of deceased Charlestown minister John Harvard, who had bequeathed to the school his entire library and half of his monetary estate.
Harvard's first instructor, schoolmaster Nathaniel Eaton, was also its first instructor to be dismissed—in 1639 for overstrict discipline. The school's first students were graduated in 1642. In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, "from the Wampanoag ... did graduate from Harvard, the first Indian to do so in the colonial period."
At the time of Harvard's founding (as today) the colleges of England's Oxford and Cambridge were communities within the larger university, each an association of scholars (both established and aspiring) sharing room and board; Harvard's founders may have envisioned it as the first in a series of sibling colleges which, on the English model, would eventually constitute a university. Though no further "colleges" materialized, nonetheless as Harvard began granting higher degrees in the late eighteenth century it was increasingly styled Harvard University--even as Harvard College (in keeping with emerging American usage of that word) was increasingly thought of as the university's undergraduate division in particular.[citations needed throughout]
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Harvard University
Harvard University is an American private Ivy League research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation (officially The President and Fellows of Harvard College) chartered in the country. Harvard's history, influence, and wealth have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
Harvard was named after its first benefactor, John Harvard. Although never formally affiliated with a church, the college primarily trained Congregationalist and Unitarian clergy. Harvard's curriculum and students became secular throughout the 18th century and by the 19th century had emerged as the central cultural establishment among Boston elites. Following the American Civil War, President Charles W. Eliot's forty year tenure (1869–1909) transformed the college and affiliated professional schools into a centralized research university, and Harvard became a founding member of the Association of American Universities in 1900.James Bryant Conant led the university through the Great Depression and World War II and began to reform the curriculum and liberalize admissions after the war. The undergraduate college became coeducational after its 1977 merger with Radcliffe College. Drew Gilpin Faust was elected the 28th president in 2007 and is the first woman to lead the university. Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, standing at $32 billion as of September 2011.
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Holworthy Hall
Holworthy Hall is one of the dormitories housing first-year students at Harvard College. Housing 85 students, it is located in Harvard Yard and borders Kirkland Street. It is the closest dorm to the Harvard Science Center and the second-closest dormitory to Memorial Hall, which houses the freshman dining hall, Annenberg. Throughout its first century of existence, it was considered the finest dormitory on Harvard Yard and the most desirable in terms of the physical accommodations it offered.
Holworthy is part of the Ivy Yard grouping of freshman dorms at Harvard, along with Apley Court, Hollis Hall, Lionel Hall, Massachusetts Hall, Mower Hall, Stoughton Hall, and Straus Hall.
Holworthy's floorplan is unique among Harvard dormitories. On each floor of three entryways — Holworthy East, Middle and West — there are two suites connected by a 10-foot-long hallway and a shared bathroom. Each suite features a large common room, with two double bedrooms. While some residents choose to close the hallway doors, many leave the bathroom hallway open, creating an eight person "mega-suite," unmatched by other freshman housing. Each bathroom contains two sinks, two toilets, and two showers. The bathroom itself has no windows, but the lighting is bright.
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Massachusetts
Massachusetts (i/ˌmæsəˈtʃuːsɨts/), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Massachusetts is the 7th least extensive, but the 14th most populous and the 3rd most densely populated of the 50 United States. The state features two separate metropolitan areas – the eastern Boston metropolitan area and the western Springfield metropolitan area. Approximately two thirds of the state's population lives in Greater Boston, most of which is either urban or suburban. Western Massachusetts features one urban area – the Knowledge Corridor along the Connecticut River – and a mix of college towns and rural areas. Massachusetts is the most populous of the six New England states and has the US's sixth highest GDP per capita.
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Ropes & Gray
Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm with 10 offices located in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The firm has over 1,000 lawyers and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agencies, universities, and health care organizations. It was founded in 1865 in Boston, Massachusetts by John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray.
The firm's major practice areas include private equity, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, complex business litigation, securities litigation, health care, life sciences, bankruptcy and business restructuring, government enforcement and white collar crime, investment management, hedge funds, antitrust, employee benefits, tax, and real estate. The firm is a leader in intellectual property law; in 2010 the firm received the Chambers USA "Award for Excellence" recognizing it as the top IP firm in the country. In 2003, the firm acquired New York City-based private equity law firm Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt & Maynard. In 2005, the firm acquired New York-based intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave.
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Seattle
Seattle (pronounced /siːˈætɫ̩/ ( listen) see-AT-əl or /siːˈæɾɫ̩/) is the county seat of King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country. The city is a major coastal seaport situated on a narrow isthmus between Puget Sound (an arm of the Pacific Ocean) and Lake Washington, about 114 miles (183 km) south of the Canada–United States border. In 2010, Seattle was the sixth busiest port in the United States, serving as a major gateway for trade with Asia.
The Seattle area had been inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent white settlers.Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived at Alki Point on November 13, 1851. The settlement was moved to its current site and renamed "Seattle" in 1853, after Chief Seattle of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes.
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A. Whitney Brown
Alan Whitney Brown (born July 8, 1952) is an Emmy Award-winning (1988 "Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program," along with others including Al Franken, Tom Davis, Phil Hartman, Mike Myers, Lorne Michaels, Conan O'Brien) writer and comedian probably best known for his recurring appearances on Saturday Night Live in the 1980s opposite Dennis Miller in a biting satirical Weekend Update commentary segment called "The Big Picture." Also, he was one of the original correspondents on Comedy Central's The Daily Show from 1996 to 1998.
Born in Charlotte, Michigan, Brown began his career as a street juggler, and became a stand-up comedian after entering the 1975 San Francisco Comedy Competition. He became a member of the Writer's Guild when he was hired by Lorne Michaels to join the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 1985; he was also a featured performer. He left for personal reasons six years later. He worked briefly for the liberal radio network Air America Radio during its start-up period in early 2004 and remains active in online political discourse.
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Abe Vigoda
Abe Vigoda (pronounced /vɨˈɡoʊdə/; born February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor who appeared in such movies as The Godfather and Good Burger. Vigoda is well known for his portrayal of Sal Tessio in The Godfather and for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Phil Fish on the sitcom television series Barney Miller from 1975 to 1977 and on its spinoff show Fish that aired from February 1977 to June 1978 on ABC. Vigoda was also appearing on Barney Miller at the same time as he was on Fish during the 1976–1977 TV season; at the start of the 1977–1978 season, his character retired from the police force and left Barney Miller to focus full time on the spinoff.
Following an erroneous report of his death in 1982, and another in 1987, Vigoda has been the subject of running gags about whether he is alive or dead. A website was mounted and a Firefox extension was written solely to report on Vigoda's status. Good naturedly, he made regular appearances on television shows to make fun of the error. In February 2010, Vigoda appeared with fellow octogenarian Betty White in a widely seen and well-liked Superbowl ad for Snickers candy bars.
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Adam Resnick
Adam Resnick is an American comedy writer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work writing for Late Night with David Letterman.
Additionally, Resnick co-created and wrote for Get A Life with David Mirkin and Chris Elliott. Resnick also wrote and was co-executive producer of a season of The Larry Sanders Show for HBO. Two years later, in 1994, Resnick would team up with Elliott again for the motion picture Cabin Boy.
In 2000, Resnick wrote the film Lucky Numbers starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudrow.
In 2002, Resnick wrote the Edward Norton film, Death to Smoochy, which was directed by Danny DeVito.
Resnick also created and wrote the HBO television series The High Life.
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Adam West
William West Anderson (born September 19, 1928), better known by the stage name Adam West, is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Batman TV series on the ABC TV network and the 1966 eponymous feature film. He is currently known for portraying eccentric characters, as well as his voice work on animated series such as The Fairly OddParents and as the fictionalized character of the same name on Family Guy.
West was born William West Anderson in Seattle, Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer. The family moved to Walla Walla after his younger brother John was born. He attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman College in Walla Walla where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and participated on the speech and debate team.
Later, while living in Hawaii, West landed a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show.
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Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken (born May 21, 1951) is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party.
Franken achieved note as a writer and performer for the television show Saturday Night Live from its conception in 1975 before moving to writing and acting in films and television shows. He then became a political commentator, author of five books and host of a nationally syndicated radio show on the Air America Radio network.
In 2008, Franken narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman, by 312 votes, after a mandatory statewide manual recount. Coleman contested the outcome in court, but the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously upheld Franken's victory on June 30, 2009. Franken was sworn in to the Senate on July 7, 2009.
Franken was born in New York City. His mother, Phoebe G. (née Kunst), was a homemaker and real estate agent, and his father, Joseph P. Franken, was a printing salesman. The family later moved to St. Louis Park, a suburb near Minneapolis. Franken had a Jewish upbringing. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany, and his mother's family was from Russia. His older brother Owen is a photojournalist; MSNBC's Bob Franken is his cousin. Franken graduated in 1969 from The Blake School, where he was on the wrestling team. He attended Harvard College and graduated with an A.B. cum laude in 1973 in political science.
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Allison Silverman
Allison Silverman (born February 17, 1972) is an American comedy writer from Gainesville, Florida. She was the head writer and executive producer for The Colbert Report until 2009. In 2011, she was an executive producer and writer of Portlandia.
Silverman graduated from Buchholz High School, in Gainesville, Florida in 1990 and Yale University in 1994. She has written for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She has received several Emmy nominations for her work on these three shows, including two wins for her work on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Silverman attended Yale University in the early 1990s, where she was involved in one of the college's improvisational comedy groups, The Ex!t Players. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in Humanities, she made her way to Chicago, which is known for its vibrant comedy scene. She performed at Chicago's I.O. (then known as ImprovOlympic), and later at the Boom Chicago theater in Amsterdam.
Silverman won an Emmy and a Peabody Award as a member of The Daily Show's writing staff before joining Late Night in 2002. She moved to The Colbert Report in 2005 shortly after it was picked up to series. Although most of Silverman's work on the Report was off-camera, she occasionally made appearances on the show, as an audience member, as the voice of the alien woman "Juliax" in a Tek Jansen cartoon, and as "Your Soulmate" in the abridged audiobook of I Am America (And So Can You!), which she co-wrote. She was a 2009 recipient of NYWIFT's Muse Award, celebrating the achievements of women who work in film and television. She announced her departure from The Colbert Report in August 2009.
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Andrea Martin
Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American and Canadian actress and comedienne. She has appeared in films such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, on stage in productions such as My Favorite Year, Fiddler on the Roof and Candide, and in the television series, SCTV.
Martin, the oldest of three children, was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947, the daughter of Sybil A. (née Manoogian) and John Papazian Martin. Her paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants who moved to the U.S. from Turkey to escape the Armenian Genocide. Her father owned Martin's Foods, a grocery store chain. Her maternal grandparents were Armenians from Yerevan and Istanbul.
She has two sons, Jack (born ca. 1980) and Joe (born 1983), with ex-husband Bob Dolman, a screenwriter. Through this marriage, she was the sister-in-law of Dolman's sister, actress Nancy, and her husband Martin Short.
Soon after graduating from Emerson College, she won a role in a touring company of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After frequent visits to Toronto, she relocated from New York City to Toronto in 1970 and immediately found steady theater work.
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Andy Richter
Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and late night talk show announcer. He is best known for his role as the sidekick of Conan O'Brien on each of the host's programs: Late Night and The Tonight Show on NBC, and Conan on TBS. He is also known for his voice work in the Madagascar films and for starring in the sitcoms Quintuplets, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and Andy Barker, P.I..
Richter, the third of four children, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His mother, Glenda Swanson (née Palmer), was a kitchen cabinet designer, and his father, Laurence R. Richter, taught Russian at Indiana University for more than 32 years. Richter was raised in Yorkville, Illinois. He is of Swedish and German descent. In high school, he was elected Prom King.
In the late 1980s, Richter attended Columbia College Chicago as a film major. While at Columbia he learned the basics of comedic acting and writing by starring in numerous student films and videos. After leaving Columbia in 1988 Richter worked as a production assistant on commercial shoots in Chicago. In 1989, he began taking classes at Chicago's Improv Olympic. His quick wit and acting skills catapulted him from student to "House Performer" within a year. Richter branched out working with "The Comedy Underground" and the Annoyance Theater.
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Anthony Everett
Anthony Everett is a news anchor for WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate of Boston, Massachusetts.
Since September 2005, Everett has been a co-host of the channel's news magazine Chronicle. Everett is a fill-in anchor of the channel's local news at 5:00 PM, 5:30 PM, 6:00PM and 11pm weekday newscasts. He joined WCVB in 1990 as a general assignment reporter.
Earlier in his career Everett had been a reporter and anchor of the 6 and 11PM news at WVIT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Hartford, Connecticut. He began his professional broadcasting career at KSPN-TV in Aspen, Colorado where he served initially as a sports reporter, then as anchor and news director during years 1984 to 1987.
Everett currently resides outside of Boston with his wife and their two children. He is a graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
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Beck
Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck.
The four-time platinum artist rose to underground popularity with his early works, which combined social criticism (as in "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" and "Deep Fried Love") with musical and lyrical experimentation. He first earned wider public attention for his breakthrough single "Loser", a 1994 hit. Beck is known for creating musical collages of different styles.
Two of Beck's most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay (1996) and Sea Change (2002).Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by the American magazine Rolling Stone and by UK publications NME and Mojo. Odelay also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Both Odelay and Sea Change appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Beck was born in Los Angeles, California, to David Campbell, a Canadian musician, and Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist and former Warhol "star". His father is of Scottish heritage and his mother is half Norwegian, a quarter Jewish and a quarter Swedish. His maternal grandfather is Al Hansen, a visual collage artist of the Fluxus school of art. Beck's paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city's diverse musical offerings—everything from hip hop to Latin music and his mother's art scene—all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work.
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Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents. His albums have been commercially successful in North America, Europe and Oceania. Harper is a two-time Grammy Award winner as well, winning awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album, in 2005.
Harper was born in Claremont, in California's Inland Empire. His father, Leonard, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Chase-Verdries, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian-Lithuanian Jew. His parents divorced when he was age five, and he grew up with his mother's family. Harper has two brothers, Joel and Peter.
Harper began playing guitar as a child. His maternal grandparents' music store The Folk Music Center and Museum laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather. At the age of 12, Harper played his first gig. During the '80s, in his teen years, Harper began to play the slide guitar, mimicking the style of Robert Johnson. Next, Harper refined his style, taking up the Weissenborn slide guitar. Harper broke out of the Inland Empire after being offered an invitation by Taj Mahal to tour with the artist. They recorded Taj Mahal's album Follow the Drinking Gourd, released in November 1990, and toured Hawaii.
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Bender (Futurama)
Bender Bending Rodríguez (commonly known as Bender) is a fictional robot character in the animated television series, Futurama. The character, designated in the series as Bending Unit 22, was created by series creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, and is voiced by John DiMaggio. The character fulfils a comic, anti-hero-type role in Futurama and is described in a fourth season episode by central character, Leela, as an "alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking gambler".
According to the character's back-story, Bender was built in Mexico, with the other characters making reference to his "swarthy Latin charm" throughout the overall narrative. Viewers are informed, through the character's own testimony, of Bender's prejudice against non-robots and his dialogue often contains anti-human expressions, such as "kill all humans". Exceptions who are not subject to Bender's prejudicial attitude are those individuals on his "Do Not Kill" list, such as his best friend, Fry and Hermes, who helped Bender to trace a quality control inspector. However, Bender is also portrayed as a kind character, suggesting that he is not as belligerent as he claims, and this sentiment is also extended to human characters in the series.
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Bernie Mac
Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name, Bernie Mac, was an American actor and comedian. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley as The Original Kings of Comedy.
After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean's Eleven and the titular character of Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001 through 2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. His other films included starring roles in Booty Call, Friday, The Players Club, Head of State, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, Bad Santa, Guess Who, Pride, Soul Men, Transformers and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.
Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells (granulomas) form as nodules in multiple organs, particularly the lungs and lymph nodes. Lung scarring or infection may lead to respiratory failure and death. Mac had said the condition was in remission in 2005. His death on August 9, 2008 was caused by complications from pneumonia.
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Bill Oakley
Bill Oakley (born February 27, 1966) is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Oakley and Josh Weinstein became best friends and writing partners at high school; Oakley then attended Harvard University and was Vice President of the Harvard Lampoon. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period.
Oakley and Weinstein eventually penned a spec script for Seinfeld, after which they wrote "Marge Gets a Job", an episode of The Simpsons. Subsequently, the two were hired to write for the show on a permanent basis in 1992. After they wrote episodes such as "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)", "Bart vs. Australia" and "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", the two were appointed executive producers and showrunners for the seventh and eighth seasons of the show. They attempted to include several emotional episodes focusing on the Simpson family, as well as several high-concept episodes such as "Homer's Enemy", "Two Bad Neighbors" and "The Principal and the Pauper", winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for their work.
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Bill Wendell
Bill Wendell (birth name: William Joseph Wenzel, Jr.) (March 22, 1924 – April 14, 1999) was an NBC television staff announcer for almost his entire professional career.
Born in New York City, Wendell served in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II and graduated from Fordham University with a degree in speech. He worked briefly with the DuMont Television Network before beginning his long association with NBC. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, Wendell formed part of a fraternity of network staff announcers who held lifetime contracts; his colleagues were Don Pardo, Wayne Howell, Fred Facey, Bill McCord, Roger Tuttle and Howard Reig.
Wendell was a radio announcer on programs towards the end of the old-time radio era, but the majority of his announcing work was on television. He was a regular on the 1955-1956 version of The Ernie Kovacs Show, serving as the show's announcer, as well as a participant in sketches such as "Mr. Question Man" (a parody of The Answer Man). He also worked with Jack Benny, Bob Hope and other NBC personalities.
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Billy Gibbons
William Frederick "Billy" Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician, actor and car customizer, best known as the guitarist of the Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. He is also the lead singer and composer for many of the band's songs. Gibbons is known for playing his Gretsch Billy Bo guitar and his famous 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar known as Pearly Gates. Gibbons has a bass vocal range, spanning E♭1 to E♭5, one of the widest ranges in rock. He is noted for using an old five peso Mexican coin as a guitar plectrum and use of pinch harmonics in his solos.
Gibbons is a familiar fixture at the Sunset Marquis Hotel, producing studio sessions in the NightBird Recording Studio with actors Billy Bob Thornton and J. P. Shellnutt, along with musicians Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Jed Leiber, Joe "Backbeat" Fazzio, and Dwight Yoakam. Gibbons is also well known for his authentic preparations of Texas-style barbecue and Mexican cuisine and is frequently a guest chef around Hollywood, California serving his famous "Renegade Guacamole".
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Bob Dolman
Bob Dolman (born in 1949) is a Canadian screenwriter, actor, director and producer.
His work in television includes SCTV, SCTV Network 90, and WKRP in Cincinnati. Among his film credits are the screenplays for Willow and Far and Away, as well as The Banger Sisters and How to Eat Fried Worms, both of which he also directed.
Bob had been married at one time to actress Andrea Martin. His late sister, Nancy Dolman was also an actress, as well as the wife of Comedian/Actor/Screenwriter and Producer, Martin Short.
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Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk (born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known for his award winning appearances in Breaking Bad and The Larry Sanders Show and as co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he worked as a writer for such notable shows as Saturday Night Live, Get A Life, The Ben Stiller Show, and The Dennis Miller Show. In the mid-1990s, Odenkirk and David Cross created the Emmy-winning sketch comedy program Mr. Show, which ran for four seasons and ultimately became a cult success. In the early 2000s, Odenkirk discovered Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim and produced their television series Tom Goes to the Mayor and Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. He has directed three films: 2003's Melvin Goes to Dinner, 2006's Let's Go to Prison, and 2007's The Brothers Solomon.
Odenkirk was born in Berwyn, Illinois, and was raised in nearby Naperville. He is one of seven children of Barbara and Walter Odenkirk, who was employed in the printing business. His brother is comedy writer Bill Odenkirk. Odenkirk is of half Irish descent. His parents later divorced, and Walter eventually died from cancer and was "pretty down on his luck" towards the end of his life. His father's battle with alcoholism would later influence Bob's decision to avoid alcohol almost completely. Odenkirk would later say that he grew up "hating" Naperville because "it felt like a dead end, like Nowheresville. I couldn’t wait to move into a city and be around people who were doing exciting things."
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Brad Garret
Bradley "Brad" Garrett (born Bradley H. Gerstenfeld; April 14, 1960) is an American actor, voice-actor, stand-up comedian, and professional poker-player. He has appeared in numerous television and film roles.
Garret was initially successful as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s. Taking advantage of that success in the late 1980s, Garrett began appearing in television and film, in minor and guest roles. His first major role was Robert Barone on the CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond. The series debuted September 13, 1996 and ran nine seasons.
Garrett's film roles include Stuart Little 2, Finding Nemo, Garfield, The Amateurs, The Pacifier, Night at the Museum 2, Tangled, and Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil. Garrett also played the leading role of Eddie Stark on the FOX television series 'Til Death from 2006 to 2010.
Garrett has won three primetime Emmy awards, with three other nominations. Garrett is still prominent within stand-up comedy and is also a professional poker player. Garrett's trademarks are his height (6 feet 8½ inches; 204 cm) and deep voice.
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Branford Marsalis
Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.
Marsalis was born in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, the son of Dolores (née Ferdinand) and Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr., a pianist and music professor. His brothers Jason Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis III, and Delfeayo Marsalis, and father Ellis are also jazz musicians.
In the summer of 1980, while still a Berklee College of Music student, Marsalis toured Europe playing alto and baritone saxophone in a large ensemble led by drummer Art Blakey. Other big band experience with Lionel Hampton and Clark Terry followed over the next year, and by the end of 1981 Marsalis, on alto saxophone, had joined his brother Wynton in Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. Other performances with his brother, including a 1981 Japanese tour with Herbie Hancock, led to the formation of his brother Wynton’s first quintet, where Marsalis shifted his emphasis to soprano and tenor saxophones. He continued to work with Wynton until 1985, a period that also saw the release of his own first recording, Scenes in the City, as well as guest appearances with other artists including Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.
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Brian McCann (actor)
Brian McCann (born August 16, 1965) is an American Emmy and WGA award-winning writer/actor/comedian best known for his sketch comedy work on the late night talk show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and more recently on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and Conan.
McCann was born and raised in Wheaton, Illinois, which he describes as "an extremely uptight (and dry) town". He graduated from Boston College in 1987. There he met and was influenced by the as yet largely undiscovered sociological and political commentator and comic, JR Beretta. He has two older sisters, is divorced and has a daughter. McCann moved to New York in 1995 when he became a sketch writer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien until the end of the show's run in 2009. McCann played many recurring characters on the show, most notably Preparation H Raymond and The Suicidal Kayaker. He has also served as the warm-up comic that talks to the studio audience prior to each episode since 2000. McCann also wrote and provided many voices for the video games Deer Avenger (1998) and Deer Avenger 2: Deer in the City (1999). He is a graduate of the Player's Workshop of the Second City and the Second City Training Center.
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Brian McConnachie
Brian McConnachie is an American humor writer and comedy writer who is also an actor and a children's book author. In 1982 he won an Emmy Award as part of the writing team for SCTV Network, and in 1979 he was nominated for an Emmy as part of the writing team for Saturday Night Live.
During the early 1970s he was one of the main writers for National Lampoon, where he authored and co-authored many articles. He left the magazine after 4 years, but as Rick Meyerowitz commented in the book Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead in 2010,
"...[McConnachie's Lampoon work] is well loved, here on Earth, and on his home planet."
As an actor, McConnachie has appeared in 15 movies. As a television writer, in addition to SCTV Network and Saturday Night Live, he has also written for one episode of Noddy and two of Shining Time Station. He was the writer for an animated film, for two videos, and for a TV movie.
This is a list of television programs, videos and films for which McConnachie was a writer.
This is a list of films that McConnachie has appeared in, and the roles he played in those films.
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Brian Stack
Brian Stack (born August 18, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known for his sketch comedy work on all three Conan O'Brien late-night talk shows, previously working on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, and on O'Brien's current talk show, Conan on TBS.
Stack attended Catholic schools from grades 5-12, graduating from St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He earned an undergraduate degree from Indiana University, where he had worked at their radio station. He began doing improvisational comedy, or improv, in 1987 at the Ark Theater in Madison, Wisconsin, while attending graduate school at University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned his Master’s degree.
Stack became a sketch writer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1997, and served as a writer, actor and editor on the show and after O'Brien's move to the Tonight Show in 2009. Stack played many recurring characters on the show, most notably those clad in anachronistic or elaborate outfits, and was known for playing many characters with long beards and mustaches, such as God, Zeus, Socrates, Gandalf, and The Interrupter. Stack makes occasional appearances on the Tonight Show, such as when he played an NRA spokesman who intimates violence to accomplish his agenda.
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Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter-performer who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.
Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 21 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him as the 23rd Greatest Artist of all time.
Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver, although he was frequently unemployed; his surname is Dutch for jump stone. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.
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Catherine O'Hara
Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress, writer and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and also in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.
O'Hara was born in Toronto, Ontario, into a large Irish Catholic family, and was raised Roman Catholic. She attended Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, where she first met Robin Duke, who went on to her own comedy career.
Catherine started her comedy career in 1974 as a cast member of The Second City in her native Toronto. She was an understudy for Gilda Radner until Radner left for Saturday Night Live. Two years later, this theatre troupe created the sketch comedy show SCTV, for which O'Hara became a regular performer. Her memorable characterizations on the show included Las Vegas scorcher Lola Heatherton, buzzer-happy game show contestant Margaret Meehan, raunchy nightclub comedian Dusty Towne, soap opera seductress Sue Ellen, and stage actress Sue Bopper Simpson.
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Cee-Lo Green
Thomas DeCarlo Callaway (born May 30, 1974), better known by his stage name Cee Lo Green, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. Originally came to prominence as a member of the southern hip hop group Goodie Mob, later launching a critically acclaimed solo career and forming Gnarls Barkley with DJ Danger Mouse.
Internationally, Cee Lo is best known for his hip hop work, his most popular was Gnarls Barkley's 2006 worldwide hit "Crazy", which reached number one in various singles charts worldwide, including the UK. In the United States, "Crazy" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Parent album St. Elsewhere was also a hit, reaching number one on the UK Albums Chart and number four on the US Billboard 200 album charts. Gnarls Barkley's second album, The Odd Couple (2008), was less successful and missed the top ten in both the UK and U.S., where it charted at number 12 in the U.S. and 18 in the UK.
In 2010, Cee Lo took a break from recording with Gnarls Barkley and released the single "F**k You!" on August 19 as a solo recording artist. The song was an instant hit, with the radio-edit version "Forget You" reaching the top spot in the UK and the Netherlands and charted at number two on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The parent album, The Lady Killer (2010) saw similar success, peaking within the top five of the UK Albums Chart and debuting within the top ten on the Billboard 200 album charts, and received a Gold certification from the BPI in the UK shortly after its release. His second single "It's OK" was a hit in Europe and the third single, "Bright Lights Bigger City" has also seen similar charting success. Cee Lo is also currently a vocal coach on the NBC reality talent show The Voice with Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton.
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Charlie Grandy
Charlie Grandy is an American stand-up comedian, television writer and producer who has worked on series such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Saturday Night Live and The Office. He is the son of former Love Boat star turned politician Fred Grandy.
After working as a stand-up comedian, Grandy turned to television writing and became a writer on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show in 2001. After his Daily Show stint, Grandy became a writer and producer on Saturday Night Live, where he worked until 2008. In the same year, he joined the writing staff of the fifth season of the American version of The Office. At the beginning of the sixth season he became a co-producer and by the time the show entered its seventh season, he had become a supervising producer of the series.
Grandy has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, one for The Daily Show the other for Saturday Night Live. In 2009 he received two Writer's Guild of America award nominations, one for the fifth season of The Office and another for writing the episode Broke.
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Charlie Rose
Charles Peete "Charlie" Rose, Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American television talk show host and journalist. Since 1991 he has hosted Charlie Rose, an interview show distributed nationally by PBS since 1993. He has also co-anchored CBS This Morning since January 2012. Rose, along with Lara Logan, has hosted the revived CBS classic Person to Person, a news program during which celebrities are interviewed in their homes, originally hosted from 1953 to 1961 by Edward R. Murrow.
Rose was born in Henderson, North Carolina, the only child of Margaret Frazier and Charles Peete Rose, Sr., tobacco farmers who owned a country store. As a child, Rose lived above his parents' store in Henderson and helped out with the family business from age seven. Rose admitted in a Fresh Dialogues interview that as a child his insatiable curiosity was constantly getting him in trouble. A high school basketball star, Rose entered Duke University intending to pursue a degree with a pre-med track, but an internship in the office of Democratic North Carolina Senator B. Everett Jordan got him interested in politics. Rose graduated in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in history. At Duke, he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Duke University School of Law in 1968. He met his wife, Mary (née King), while attending Duke.
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Chris Elliott
Christopher Nash "Chris" Elliott (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known for his comedic sketches on Late Night with David Letterman, starring in the cult comedy series Get a Life and for his recurring role as Peter MacDougall on Everybody Loves Raymond. He is also known for appearing in movies such as Cabin Boy, There's Something About Mary, Scary Movie 2 and Groundhog Day. Since 2011, Elliott has starred in the Adult Swim series Eagleheart.
Elliott was born in New York City, the son of Lee and Bob Elliott, who was a well-known comedian as part of the very successful comedy team Bob and Ray. He attended the National Theater Institute in 1979.
Elliott became known in the mid-late 1980s, when he was a writer and performer on Late Night With David Letterman, playing an assortment of recurring oddball characters. His characters on the show included:
In 1986 Elliot starred in the Cinemax special FDR: A One Man Show, about the life and times of the president. He looked and sounded nothing like the man; he portrayed events from Roosevelt's life that never happened, such as a Japanese bombing of the White House, and his crossing the Potomac in a rowboat. He was also rude to the audience during the intermission, appearing out of character and scolding them. By the end of the disorganized show, he attempted to salvage it by reverting to former comedian Gallagher's shtick of smashing watermelons and other soft fruits on stage. The effect was only partially successful, however.
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Chris Langham
Christopher "Chris" Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor and comedian. He is most famous for playing MP Hugh Abbot in BBC Four sitcom The Thick of It and as presenter Roy Mallard in People Like Us, first on BBC Radio 4 and later on its transfer to television on BBC Two, where Mallard is almost entirely an unseen character. He subsequently created several spoof adverts in the same vein. He also played similar unseen interviewers in an episode of the television series Happy Families and in the film The Big Tease. He is also known for his roles in the TV series Not the Nine O'Clock News, Help, Kiss Me Kate and as the gatehouse guard in Chelmsford 123. In 2006, he won BAFTA awards for The Thick of It and Help.
On 2 August 2007 Langham was found guilty of downloading indecent images of children from the Internet, and not guilty of six counts of indecent assault. He was sentenced to ten months in prison on 14 September 2007. On 14 November 2007, he won an appeal against the length of his sentence and was released after serving three and a half months.
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Conan O'Brien
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later of The Simpsons. He hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard, and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants. In a Late Night episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.
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Darrell Hammond
Darrell Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He was a regular on Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1995 until 2009, the longest tenure of any cast member. Upon his departure, Hammond, at age 53, was the oldest cast member in the show's history. Hammond has made more SNL appearances than any other cast member and has impersonated more than 107 celebrities (with former President Bill Clinton as his most frequent impression). As of December 10, 2011, he has appeared on the show eight times since leaving the cast.
Hammond was born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of Margaret and Max Hammond. He graduated from Melbourne High School in 1973 where he was a star athlete who lettered in both football and baseball. Darrell was a high school baseball teammate of Bruce Bochy. He then attended Brevard Community College and the University of Florida where he majored in broadcasting. Hammond credits UF theater professor David Shelton for encouraging his work. After completing college, Hammond moved to New York City where he lived for several years before joining the cast of SNL.
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David Letterman
David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host and comedian. He hosts the late night television talk show, Late Show with David Letterman, broadcast on CBS. Letterman has been a fixture on late night television since the 1982 debut of Late Night with David Letterman on NBC. Letterman recently surpassed friend and mentor Johnny Carson for having the longest late-night hosting career in the United States of America.
Letterman is also a television and film producer. His company Worldwide Pants produces his show as well as its network follow-up The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Worldwide Pants has also produced several prime-time comedies, the most successful of which was Everybody Loves Raymond, currently in syndication.
In 1996, David Letterman was ranked #45 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Letterman was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father, Harry Joseph Letterman (April 1915 – February 1973), was a florist of British descent; his mother Dorothy Letterman (née Hofert, now Dorothy Mengering), a Presbyterian church secretary of German descent, is an occasional figure on the show, usually at holidays and birthdays.
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David Odell
David Odell is an American screenwriter and film director. He was nominated in 1980 for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for The Muppet Show alongside Jim Henson, Don Hinkley, and Jerry Juhl. He won the award the following year with co-nominees Jerry Juhl and Chris Langham.
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David Yazbek
David Yazbek (born 1961) is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty (2000), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005) and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (2010).
Yazbek was born to a Jewish-Italian mother and a Lebanese father in New York City. Musical from birth, he began cello lessons in elementary school and took up the piano as a teenager.
While attending Brown University as an undergraduate, he wrote an original musical with the production group Brownbrokers before graduating in 1982. He also directed a production of HAIR with student theatre group Production Workshop, for which he composed an original song to compliment the classic score. After college he got a job writing for David Letterman's late night television show. He won an Emmy as part of Letterman's writing team in 1986, but quit to pursue his love of music. From 1987 to 1989 he was the co-owner of Manhattan Recording Company and wrote many commercial jingles.
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Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen (born July 7, 1927) is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Severinsen was born in Arlington, Oregon, the son of Minnie Mae (1897–1998) and Carl Severinsen (1898–1972), a dentist. Nicknamed "Little Doc" after his father, he originally wanted to play the trombone, which he discovered at neighbor Art Fletcher's home, but the senior Severinsen, a gifted amateur violinist, urged him to study that instrument instead. The younger Severinsen insisted on the trombone, but had to settle for the only horn available in Arlington's small music store, a trumpet. A week later, with the help of his father and a manual of instructions, the seven-year-old was good enough to be invited to join the high school band.
At the age of twelve, Severinsen won the Music Educator's National Contest. While still in high school, he was hired to go on the road with the Ted Fio Rito Orchestra. However, his stay with the group was cut short by the World War II draft. After serving in the U.S. Army, Severinsen made his broadcasting debut playing live popular music on KODL radio in The Dalles, Oregon.
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Ed McMahon
Edward Leo Peter "Ed" McMahon, Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American comedian, game show host and announcer. He is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's sidekick and announcer on The Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992. He also hosted the original version of the talent show Star Search from 1983 to 1995. He co-hosted TV's Bloopers & Practical Jokes with Dick Clark from 1982 to 1998. He also presented sweepstakes for the direct marketing company American Family Publishers (not, as is commonly believed, its main rival Publishers Clearing House).
McMahon annually co-hosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. He performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser. In the 1970s and 1980s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities conducting the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. McMahon appeared in several films, including The Incident, Fun With Dick and Jane, Full Moon High, and Butterfly, as well as briefly in the film version of Bewitched. According to Entertainment Weekly, McMahon is considered one of the greatest "sidekicks".
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Edd Hall
Edd Hall (born December 7, 1958) is an American celebrity, television personality, and announcer. Most famous for his work on television as Jay Leno's announcer on The Tonight Show from 1992 to 2004, Hall replaced famed Tonight Show announcer Ed McMahon after Johnny Carson's retirement. Hall famously introduced himself by saying "...And me, I'm Edd Hall." In 2004, Hall was replaced on The Tonight Show by John Melendez.
Hall began his career when he was given a job as a radio announcer at the age of 14. He began his television career as a graphics coordinator on Late Night with David Letterman on NBC and performed voice-overs and appeared in sketches over the course of ten years.
Hall occasionally appeared in skits during the opening monologue. These skits often involved slapstick injury to Hall (by using a stunt double, dummy, or film clip), such as vehicles running him over in the studio parking lot. Unlike his predecessors on Tonight (i.e. McMahon with Carson, Hugh Downs with Jack Paar), Hall did not serve as a sidekick for Leno during his tenure on Leno's incarnation of The Tonight Show.
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Eddie Gorodetsky
Eddie Gorodetsky is a television writer and producer. His credits include Desert Bus, Two and a Half Men, Dharma & Greg, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Mike & Molly, Saturday Night Live, SCTV Network 90, and Late Night with David Letterman. He has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning one.
He has made Christmas compilations for over 20 years which he sends to friends and family which feature rare and obscure songs from a variety of genres. He released one commercially Christmas Party with Eddie G in the early 1990s.
He also produced Bob Dylan's weekly radio series, Theme Time Radio Hour, and appeared in Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette's documentary The Aristocrats.
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Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard (born 7 February 1962) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime. He had a starring role in the television series The Riches as Wayne Malloy and has appeared in many motion pictures such as Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Mystery Men, Shadow of the Vampire, The Cat's Meow, Across the Universe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Valkyrie. He is also the voice of Nigel in the 2006 animated film The Wild and Miles Axlerod in the 2011 Disney/Pixar animated film Cars 2.
He has cited his main comedy role model as Monty Python, and John Cleese once referred to him as the "Lost Python". In 2009, he completed 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief in spite of having no prior history of long distance running. He is also known for his transvestism. He has won numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his comedy special Dress to Kill, in 2000. Izzard's web site won the Yahoo People's Choice Award and earned the Webby Award.
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Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician.
Box office takes from Murphy's films make him the second-highest grossing actor in the United States. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984 and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for his performances in 48 Hrs, Beverly Hills Cop series, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls.
Eddie Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, Norbit, and Meet Dave.
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Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( /dɨˈdʒɛnərəs/; born January 26, 1958) is an American stand-up comedian, television host and actress. She hosts the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
DeGeneres has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney-Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, for which she was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first and only time a voice performance won a Saturn Award. She was a judge on American Idol for one year, having joined the show in its ninth season. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, DeGeneres came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming out process. She has won thirteen Emmys and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.
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Elliott Kalan
Elliott Kalan (born 1981, New York City) is an American comedian, and a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Kalan grew up in New Jersey where he started his long time friendship with Anne Hathaway and attended New York University, majoring in screenwriting. Today, Kalan lives in New York City where he began at The Daily Show as a production assistant, before moving up to producer and, ultimately, writer.
Before writing for The Daily Show, Kalan was co-founder of the comedy group the Hypocrites with fellow TV writer Brock Mahan ([1]). He also hosted a live talk/variety stage show, The Primetime Kalan, (originally The Midnight Kalan and later The New Kalan Show) It was created by Kalan, producer Erik Marcisak, and director Joe Guercio, and written and performed by Kalan, Marcisak, and Dan McCoy. Many of Kalan's Daily Show co-workers appeared on his show, including Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, and Rob Corddry.
Kalan occasionally appears in bit parts on The Daily Show and provided voice-over narration for "The Decider" comic-book segments. He was instrumental in putting together the "gay cowboy" montage (a comedic series of clips from classic westerns, illustrating that the gay content in Brokeback Mountain is nothing new), when Jon Stewart hosted the 78th Academy Awards.
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Eugene Levy
Eugene Levy, CM (born December 17, 1946) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, United States movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein. Levy was appointed to the Order of Canada on June 30, 2011.
Levy was born to a Jewish family in Hamilton, Ontario. His father was a foreman in an automobile plant. He went to Westdale Secondary School, and attended McMaster University. He was vice-president of the McMaster Film Board, a student film group where he met moviemaker Ivan Reitman.
He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Second City Television. An alumnus of both Second City Toronto and the sketch comedy series SCTV, Levy often plays unusual supporting characters with nerdish streaks. Perhaps his best known role on SCTV was as the dimwitted Earl Camembert, a news anchor for the "SCTV News" and a parody of real-life Canadian newsman Earl Cameron. Celebrities impersonated by Levy on SCTV include: Perry Como, Ricardo Montalban, Alex Trebek, Sean Connery, Howard Cosell, Henry Kissinger, Menachem Begin, Bud Abbott, Milton Berle, John Charles Daly, Gene Shalit, Jack Carter, Muammar al-Gaddafi, Tony Dow, James Caan, Lorne Greene, Rex Reed, Ralph Young (of Sandler and Young), F. Lee Bailey, Ernest Borgnine, former Ontario chief coroner Dr. Morton Schulman, Norman Mailer, Neil Sedaka, and Howard McNear as “Floyd the Barber”.
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Flannery O'Connor
Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925 – August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short-story writer and essayist. An important voice in American literature, O'Connor wrote two novels and 32 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often wrote in a Southern Gothic style and relied heavily on regional settings and grotesque characters. O'Connor's writing also reflected her own Roman Catholic faith, and frequently examined questions of morality and ethics.
Her Complete Stories won the 1972 U.S. National Book Award for Fiction and was named the "Best of the National Book Awards" by internet visitors in 2009.
Flannery O'Connor was born on March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, the only child of Edward F. O'Connor and Regina Cline. O'Connor described herself as a "pigeon-toed child with a receding chin and a you-leave-me-alone-or-I'll-bite-you complex." When O'Connor was six, she experienced her first brush with celebrity status. The Pathé News people filmed "Little Mary O'Connor" with her trained chicken, and showed the film around the country. She said, "When I was six I had a chicken that walked backward and was in the Pathé News. I was in it too with the chicken. I was just there to assist the chicken but it was the high point in my life. Everything since has been anticlimax.” In 1937 O'Connor's father was diagnosed with the disease systemic lupus erythematosus. The disease led to his eventual death on February 1, 1941, and the 15-year-old Flannery was left devastated.
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Frank Costello
Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello (born Francesco Castiglia; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian gangster and Mafia boss. Costello rose to the top of America's underworld, controlled a vast gambling empire across the United States and enjoyed political influence.
Nicknamed "the Prime Minister of the Underworld," he became one of the most powerful and influential Mafia bosses in American history, eventually leading the Luciano crime family (later called the Genovese crime family), one of the Five Families that operates in New York.
Costello was born in Lauropoli, a mountain village in Calabria, Italy in 1891. In 1900, he boarded a ship to the United States with his mother and his brother Edward in order to join their father, who had moved to New York's East Harlem several years earlier and opened a small neighborhood Italian grocery store. While Costello was still a boy, his brother introduced him to gang activities. By age 13, Costello had become a member of a local gang and started using the name Frankie. Costello continued to commit petty crimes, and went to jail for assault and robbery in 1908, 1912 and 1917. In 1918, Costello married Lauretta Giegerman, a Jewish girl who was the sister of a close friend. That same year, Costello served ten months in jail for carrying a concealed weapon. After his release, Costello decided to avoid street rackets and use his brain to make money as a criminal. Foregoing the use of violence as a road to success and wealth, Costello claimed that he never again carried a gun. Costello would not return to jail for 37 years.
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Fred Graver
Fred Graver is an American writer. He wrote a Choose Your Own Adventure book, number 35, Journey to Stonehenge.
Fred began performing in 1966 in a small midwestern town called Palos Park, Illinois.
Fred began his professional career in the early 1980s at a small trade book publisher called M. Evans. He forgot to enter one of his author's novels for a Mystery Writers of America "best first novel." In 1982 he authored an early self-help personal finance book, Get Out of Debt Now. Then he moved to the National Lampoon. He was co-Editor in Chief of the Lampoon (with Sean Kelly) under the pseudonym L. Dennis Plunkett. He left the Lampoon in 1984 to join Late Night with David Letterman, where he worked as a writer until 1990. While at Letterman, he and friend Kevin Curran wrote several unproduced screenplays -- mostly for the fun of being flown out to L.A., living in great hotels, and taking meetings.
In 1990, Graver went to work for Norman Lear's production company, leaving a year later to join the staff of In Living Color, where he worked until 1992, when he joined the staff of Cheers as a writer and, eventually, co-producer.
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Gene Rayburn
Gene Rayburn (December 22, 1917 – November 29, 1999) was an American radio and television personality. He is best known as the host of various editions of the popular American television game show Match Game for over two decades.
Born Eugene P. Rubessa ( /ruːˈbeɪʃə/) in Christopher, Illinois, he was the only child of Croatian immigrants and graduated from Lindblom Technical High School and later from Knox College. While a student at Lindblom, he was senior class president and acted in the plays Robert of Sicily, and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.
Rayburn was married to Helen Ticknor from 1940 until her death in October 1996. They had one child, a daughter, Lynn. After Lynn's birth, Rayburn enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and served in World War II. Public Service: He became the President of the organization "Patient's for the Preservation of Lens Implantation" in 1975 at the time the US government was attempting to stop intraocular lens (IOL) implantation for the treatment of cataracts. The organization worked closely with the American Intra-Ocular Implant Society (of surgeons) today called the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). He was pivotal in preventing the government from banning IOLs. Today it the standard of care throughout the world.
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George Meyer
George A. Meyer (born 1956) is an American producer and writer. Raised in Tucson, Arizona in a Roman Catholic family, Meyer attended Harvard University. There, after becoming president of the Harvard Lampoon, he graduated in 1978 with a degree in biochemistry. Abandoning plans to attend medical school, Meyer attempted to make money through dog racing but failed after two months. After a series of short-term jobs he was hired in 1981 by David Letterman, on the advice of two of Meyer's Harvard Lampoon cowriters, to join the writing team of his show Late Night with David Letterman.
Meyer left after two seasons and went on to write for The New Show, Not Necessarily the News and Saturday Night Live. Tired of life in New York, Meyer moved to Boulder, Colorado where he wrote a screenplay for a film for Letterman to star in. The project fell through and Meyer then founded the humor zine Army Man which garnered a strong following, although Meyer ended it after three issues. The producer Sam Simon was a fan and he hired Meyer to write for the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 1989. There, he led the group script rewrite sessions and has been publicly credited with "thoroughly shap[ing]...the comedic sensibility" of the show. He has held a number of positions on the show and also cowrote The Simpsons Movie. Meyer is in a relationship with the writer Maria Semple and the two have a daughter.
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Glenn Eichler
Glenn Eichler is a comedy writer who started out as an editor for the National Lampoon magazine. From there, he moved over to work as story editor for the MTV television shows, Beavis and Butt-head and The Maxx. He was later responsible for creating and producing the television show Daria, a spinoff from Beavis and Butt-head, for MTV as well as Hey Joel for VH1. He has also written for such shows as Rugrats, Married... with Children, and The Wrong Coast, a stop-action animation mini-series for the American Movie Classics cable channel. He currently writes for Comedy Central's The Colbert Report.
Glenn is the author of the humor books Mush!: Sled Dogs with Issues, Stuffed!, Bill and Hillary's Twelve-Step Guide to Recovery (a political satire), and Dr. Katz's Me At a Glance.
Because he was producer of Daria, he is sometimes claimed to be the creator of the character Daria Morgendorffer; this was actually the work of writer Beavis and Butt-head writer David Felton, with some input from Mike Judge .
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Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs (born February 14, 1921) is a long-time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978 to 1999. In addition, he's served as announcer/sidekick for The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar, host of the PBS talk show Over Easy and co-host of the syndicated talk show Not for Women Only.
Hugh Downs was born on St. Valentine's Day in the year 1921 in Akron, Ohio to Milton Howard and Edith H. Downs. He was educated at Lima Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio; Bluffton College, a Mennonite school in Bluffton, Ohio; and Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, during the period 1938 to 1941. He worked as a radio announcer and program director at WLOK in Lima, Ohio, after his first year of college. In 1940 he moved on to WWJ in Detroit. Downs served briefly in the U.S. Army in 1943 and then joined the NBC radio network at WMAQ as an announcer in Chicago, where he lived until 1954. He married a coworker, Ruth Shaheen in 1944. He also attended Columbia University in New York City during 1955–56.
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J. R. Havlan
J. R. Havlan is a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[1] As a writer for the Daily Show, he has won six Emmy's for Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. [2]
He was previously a stand up comic, including a stint doing crowd warm-up for Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher which led to writing jokes for that shows monologue.[3]
J.R. was also a writer for the New York Times best selling book "America: The Book", and the 2006, 2008 and 2011 Academy Awards.
He graduated from California State University, East Bay (previously known as California State University, Hayward) in 1987 with a degree in business.
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Jack Donaghy
John Francis "Jack" Donaghy ( /ˈdɒnəɡiː/ DON-ə-gee) is a fictional character on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. He begins the series as the Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming for General Electric, and later serves as the head of NBC after it is bought by the fictional Kabletown.
Donaghy is played by Alec Baldwin, who has received two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, six Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Television Critics Association Award for his portrayal of this character.
Jack Donaghy had an unhappy and impoverished childhood in South Boston and Sadchester, Massachusetts. When he was two, his father lured him to the edge of a swimming pool with a puppy and pushed him in the pool, and later abandoned his family. His mother Colleen Murphy Donaghy has nagged him his whole life, even blaming him for John F. Kennedy's death and for his father leaving. However, she was also devoted to her children. For example, it was noted that she had traded sexual favors with F. A. O. Schwarz for Christmas presents for Jack and his siblings. Young Jack took to calling his collie "Pop" until the dog was accidentally run over by the mailman and left to die in the street by his mother, which caused him to cry. The dog had earlier been neutered, causing Jack to charge his mother with "cutting off Pop's balls." His mother even tried to send him to Vietnam when he was 12 to make a man out of him. He also played hockey, the piano and the flute as a child, prompting his mother to embarrass him by having him play "The Star-Spangled Banner" on said flute in front of his team. He was also the captain of the diving team.
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Jack Paar
Jack Harold Paar (May 1, 1918 – January 27, 2004) was an author, American radio and television comedian and talk show host, best known for his stint as host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962. Time magazine's obituary noted that: "His fans would remember him as the fellow who split talk show history into two eras: Before Paar and Below Paar."
Paar was born in Canton, Ohio, the son of Howard and Lillian M. Paar. He moved with his family to Jackson, Michigan, 30 miles south of Lansing, as a child. As a child he had a stuttering problem which he conquered. He contracted tuberculosis when he was 14, and left school at 16.
He first worked near home as a radio announcer at WIBM in Jackson and later as a humorous disc jockey at Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland and WBEN in Buffalo. In his book P.S. Jack Paar, he recalled doing utility duty at WGAR in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast his famous simulated alien invasion, The War of the Worlds over the CBS network (and affiliate WGAR). Attempting to calm possible panicked listeners, Paar announced, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?"
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Jackie Mason
Jackie Mason (born June 9, 1936) is an American stand-up comedian and movie actor.
Born Yacov Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, he grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City.
Mason graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the City College of New York. At age 25, he was ordained a rabbi (as his three brothers, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had been) in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Three years later he resigned to become a comedian.
Mason had several one-man comedy stage shows over the years. His first Broadway show was called The World According to Me, which was well-received. Later, he had a show at the John Golden Theatre, called Politically Incorrect, which ran into trademark problems because it was performed at the same time that Bill Maher's TV show Politically Incorrect was on the air. Bill Maher brought a lawsuit against Mason's production, which was dismissed as 'frivolous.' To this day, Mason is able to use this show title, and it is one of his most successful road productions. Between these shows, Mason played the lead in a short-lived television show called Chicken Soup alongside Lynn Redgrave.
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Jason Reich
Jason Reich (born March 11, 1976 in Wantagh, New York) is an American television writer who has won four Emmy Awards (out of five nominations) for his work on The Daily Show, for which he wrote from 2002 to 2007. He was also one of the writers of America (The Book). An established sketch comedy actor, he is occasionally seen in the background of skits on the show. Reich has been a member of numerous comedy troupes, including the Skitsophrenics of Cornell University (from which he graduated in 1998 with a degree in Communications), Three Jews And A Persian, and Plants Need Water. He was also a one-time contributor to Wholphin. He was a 1997 IRTS (International Radio and Television Society) fellow. He is a brother of the Beta Chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. He left The Daily Show in 2007 to work on a start up comedy internet site owned by The Huffington Post, 236.com.
Reich currently writes about video games at The Faster Times.
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Jason Ross (writer)
Jason Ross is an American writer. Since 2002 he has been a staff writer at The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. As part of the writing team, he has received six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has occasionally performed on-camera as Muppet John McCain. He also helped to write that show's two best-selling books, America: The Book, (2004) and Earth: The Book (2010). He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served as editor of the student newspaper, The Daily Nexus. He lives in Manhattan with his family.
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Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno /ˈlɛnoʊ/ (born April 28, 1950) is an American stand-up comedian and television host.
From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. (Eastern Time, UTC-5), also on NBC. After The Jay Leno Show was canceled in January 2010 amid a host controversy, Leno returned to host The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on March 1, 2010.
James "Jay" Leno was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1950. His mother, Catherine (née Muir; 1911–1993), a homemaker, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and came to the United States at age 11. Leno's father, Angelo (1910–1994), who worked as an insurance salesman, was born in New York to immigrants from Flumeri, Italy. Leno grew up in Andover, Massachusetts, and although his high school guidance counselor recommended that he drop out of school, he later obtained a Bachelor's degree in speech therapy from Emerson College, where he started a comedy club in 1973. Leno's siblings include his late older brother, Patrick, who was a Vietnam veteran and a lawyer.
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Jeff Garlin
Jeffrey "Jeff" Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, voice artist, director, writer and author, best known for his role as Jeff Greene on the HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm. He is also a producer on the show.
Garlin was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 5, 1962 and grew up in Morton Grove, Illinois where his father had a plumbing supply business and his mother was active in community theater. Garlin is Jewish and attended Hebrew school. He graduated from Fort Lauderdale's Nova High School in 1980. He attended Broward Community College followed by a stint at the University of Miami, but eventually dropped out. He began performing stand-up comedy there.
In 1984, at the age of 22, Garlin moved back to Chicago, to perform with the comedy troupe The Second City, into which he had been accepted, as well as to pursue a stand-up comedy career there. Several years later, he was roommates with Conan O'Brien, who was then a comedy writer. (He remains close to O'Brien, and after O'Brien was removed as host of The Tonight Show in 2010 so that Jay Leno could return, Garlin stated that he would not be a guest on the show again.)
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Jeff Martin (writer)
Jeff Martin is an American television producer and writer. He was a writer for The Simpsons during the first four seasons. He attended Harvard University, where he wrote for The Harvard Lampoon, as have many other Simpsons writers. He left along with most of the original staff in 1993, and has since written for several TV shows, including Listen Up!, Baby Blues and Homeboys in Outer Space. He also wrote for Late Night with David Letterman during the 1980s, and occasionally appeared on the show as Flunkie the late-night viewer mail clown, a depressed clown who smoked cigarettes and sometimes talked about his infected tattoos.
He currently lives in Los Angeles with wife and fellow television producer and writer Suzanne Martin and his daughter. His other daughter recently graduated from college.
He is credited with writing the following episodes:
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Jeff Zucker
Jeffrey "Jeff" Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American television executive and former President and CEO of NBCUniversal.
Zucker was born to Jewish-American parents in Homestead, Florida, near Miami.[citation needed] His father was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arlene, was a school teacher. He has a younger sister, Pam.
He was captain of the North Miami Senior High School tennis team,[citation needed] editor of the school paper,[citation needed] and a teenage freelance reporter ("stringer") for The Miami Herald. The 5-foot-6-inch (1.68 m) Zucker also served as president of his senior class, running on the slogan: "The little man with the big ideas." Before college, he took part in Northwestern University's National High School Institute program for journalism.
Zucker went on to Harvard University, serving as President of the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, during his senior year. As President of the Crimson, Zucker encouraged the decades-old prank rivalry with the Harvard Lampoon, headed by future NBC colleague Conan O'Brien. Zucker recounts how O'Brien lived in the same dormitory and ran the Lampoon, which, he said, made them "natural rivals." Zucker studied abroad in Madrid in 1983 through IES Abroad. He graduated Harvard in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in American history.
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Jennifer Hudson
Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981) is an American recording artist, actress and spokesperson. She came to prominence in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol, coming in seventh place. She made her film debut in the 2006 film Dreamgirls, which won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, an NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
She won a Grammy Award for her eponymous debut album, Jennifer Hudson, which was released in 2008 on Arista Records and was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over 800,000 copies in the US; sales exceeded 1 million copies worldwide. Additionally, it spawned the hit single Spotlight. Her second album, I Remember Me, was released in March 2011, and reached number two on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in its first week of release. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, for shipping over 500,000 copies in the US.
In late 2008, after Hudson's mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting, Hudson stepped out of the limelight for three months. Hudson resumed her public appearances in 2009, and has since performed at the Super Bowl XLIII, the Grammy Awards, American Idol, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Hudson has been described as a friend of President Barack Obama, who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in Beverly Hills in May 2009. She also performed at the White House at the "Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" event. Her vocal range is mezzo-soprano. Hudson has sold 1,280,000 albums and 2,237,000 tracks in the United States as of February 2012.
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Jerry Juhl
Jerome Ravn "Jerry" Juhl (July 27, 1938 – September 26, 2005) was an American television and movie writer, best known for his work with Jim Henson's "Muppets".
Juhl was born in St. Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, when he was 14. He received a bachelor's degree in theater arts from San Jose State University in 1961 and worked on children's shows for local television stations while in college. He met Frank Oz when they both worked for the Oakland Recreation Department's Vagabond Puppet Theater as teenagers. The two later met Henson at a puppeteer gathering in California.
Juhl was recruited by Henson as a puppeteer and writer on Sam and Friends. He focused increasingly on writing as other puppeteers, such as Frank Oz, joined the Henson stable.
Juhl was the head writer on The Muppet Show. He also wrote for the television shows Fraggle Rock, and The Jim Henson Hour. He was involved in some capacity with all of the Muppet films from the first "Muppet Movie" in 1979 to "Muppets From Space" in 1999. According to Lisa Henson, "So much of the humour, irreverence, caring and heart began with Jerry. He was, in many ways, the real voice of the Muppets."
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Jim Earl
Jim Earl is a stage and radio comedian, comedy writer, musician and cartoonist from California.
Earl received a degree in Art History from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984, and then he began his comedy career in the stand-up comedy team of "Lank and Earl" with his high school friend Barry Lank. He later became a writer for the Daily Show winning the 2001 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program" and a 2000 Peabody award. After leaving the show he wrote and performed for a number of Air America Radio's radio shows: The Randi Rhodes Show, Unfiltered with Lizz Winstead and Rachel Maddow and Morning Sedition where he performed his regular bits "War on Brains," "Rapture Watch," "Morning Remembrance," "Sammy the Stem Cell," "Todd Brad: Policy Analyst," and "The 5 W's Plus 3 of Journalism." His comedy for the former show is now available for download on his own site, jimearl.com. Upon returning to California, Earl reunited with former Morning Sedition host Marc Maron on the Marc Maron Show which premiered on Air America Radio on February 28, 2006 and had its last show on July 14, 2006.
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Jimmy Pardo
Jimmy Pardo (born James Ronald Pardo, Jr., July 28, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the popular comedy podcast Never Not Funny. He is married to fellow comedian Danielle Koenig. They live in Los Angeles with their son Oliver. He is not related to the famed TV announcer Don Pardo.
Pardo was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent his first 8 years living on the south side, eventually moving to the south suburbs of Chicago. He spent his grade school years living in Hometown, Illinois. In 1980, his family moved to Oak Forest, Illinois where he attended Oak Forest High School. In 1986, he moved to Pasadena, California to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He attended for one year, then returned to Chicago to pursue a career in stand-up comedy.
In late 1988, Pardo started performing at open microphones at various venues around Chicago, including "The Roxy", "The Last Laugh" and "The Comedy Cottage". The plethora of successful comedy clubs in the area at that time meant Pardo started earning money almost immediately, allowing him to quit his day job as a sales rep for MCA Records. In addition to his comedy CDs Uno and Pompous Clown, in 2007 Pardo appeared on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray. Pardo is also featured on The Bob and Tom Show's comedy collection As Big As a Hat.
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Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty (born June 21, 1941) is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks.
Flaherty was born Joseph O'Flaherty in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but moved to Chicago where he started his comedy career with the Second City Theater as Joe O'Flaherty. After seven years in Chicago, he moved to Toronto to help establish the Toronto Second City theatre troupe. During those years, he was one of the original writer/performers on SCTV, where he spent eight years on the show, playing such characters as Big Jim McBob (of Farm Film Report fame), Count Floyd/Floyd Robertson, and station owner/manager Guy Caballero who goes around in a wheelchair simply for the respect therein.
Other memorable Flaherty characterizations included emotional talk show host Sammy Maudlin, seedy saxophonist-private eye Vic Arpeggio, aggressive elocution lecturer Norman Gorman, myopic public television host Hugh Betcha and "crazy as a snake" ex-convict Rocco.
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Joel Godard
Joel Clinton Godard, Jr. (born March 31, 1938 in Milledgeville, Georgia) is an American television presenter, best known as the announcer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien during its entire 16-year run from 1993 to 2009.
Godard attended Emory University, and earned his A.B. in 1960 with a double major in chemistry and pre-med. He was accepted into the school's medical program, but instead chose to try a career in the entertainment industry. Around 1968, Godard worked three jobs at the same time while living in Macon, Georgia: analyzing electroplating solutions at Maxson Electronics; acting as a news anchor and "stand-up weatherman" for WMAZ-TV; and as a licensed pilot for Lowe Aviation. He served as a production assistant at WMAZ radio in 1970.
During the early 1980s, Godard had roles in the made-for-TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones and the TBS soap opera The Caitlins. In the 1980s and 1990s, Godard made voiceover appearances on Saturday Night Live, NBC Nightly News, and Issues and Answers. Around 1986, he became an NBC staff announcer. Godard has been the voice of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since 2000.
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John Candy
John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle Buck. One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the loquacious, on-the-move shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Candy was born in Newmarket, Ontario in 1950. The son of Sidney James Candy and his wife Evangeline (Aker) Candy, he was raised in a working-class Roman Catholic family. His grandmother was Polish. Candy graduated from Neil McNeil High School, an all-boys Catholic public school in Toronto, where he played football.
Candy's first movie role was a small uncredited appearance in the 1973 film Class of '44. He appeared in several other low-budget films during the 1970s, including the bank-robbery thriller The Silent Partner with Christopher Plummer and Elliott Gould. In 1976, Candy played a supporting role (with Rick Moranis) on Peter Gzowski's short-lived, late-night television talk show, Ninety Minutes Live. That same year, as a member of Toronto's branch of The Second City, he gained wide North American popularity, which grew when he became a cast member on the influential Toronto-based comedy-variety show Second City Television (SCTV). NBC picked the show up in 1981 and it quickly became a fan favorite. It had won Emmy Awards for the show's writing in 1981 and 1982.
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John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( /ˈmeɪ.ər/ MAY-ər; (born October 16, 1977) is an American pop and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following, and he now lives in New York City. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland."
Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard throughout his 2005 live album Try! with the John Mayer Trio and his third studio album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009. His fifth album, Born and Raised, was released on May 22, 2012. He has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million albums worldwide.
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John Melendez
John Edward Melendez (born October 4, 1965), commonly known as "Stuttering John," is an American television writer and former radio personality. Prior to his work on television as a writer and announcer, Melendez was a regular on-air personality on The Howard Stern Show. He became known for asking impertinent questions of celebrities on the red carpet and at press conferences with his stuttering.
Melendez grew up in Massapequa, Long Island and attended Plainedge High School. Melendez began to stutter when he was in the second grade. According to Melendez, his problem came about because of the psychological mistreatment from his father, who also stutters. Both he and his father suffer from a form of obsessive compulsive disorder.
In 1988, Melendez attended New York University's film school, and belonged to a band called "Rock Slide." His college roommate, comedian Mitch Fatel, was on the verge of quitting his internship with The Howard Stern Show, when Melendez asked him for a recommendation for an internship there. The show's producer, Gary Dell'Abate, mentioned Melendez's stuttering to Howard Stern who, without seeing him and even before he was interviewed, told the producer to hire him.
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Johnny Carson
John William "Johnny" Carson (October 23, 1925 – January 23, 2005) was an American television host and comedian, known for thirty years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992). Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.
Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s Carson became an American icon and remained so until his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests, an approach pioneered by Arthur Godfrey and previous Tonight Show hosts Steve Allen and Jack Paar. Late night hosts David Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Fallon have all cited Carson's influence on their late-night talk shows, which resemble his in format and tone.
Carson was born in Corning, Iowa, in the year 1925, to Homer Lloyd "Kit" Carson, a power company manager, and Ruth Hook Carson, who was of Irish descent. He grew up in the nearby towns of Avoca, Clarinda, and Red Oak in southwest Iowa before moving to Norfolk, Nebraska, at the age of eight. At the age of twelve, Carson found a book on magic at a friend's house and immediately purchased a mail-order magician's kit. He debuted as "The Great Carsoni" at fourteen and was paid $3; many other performances at local picnics and country fairs followed.
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Jon Lovitz
Jonathan M. "Jon" Lovitz (born July 21, 1957) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is best known as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.
Lovitz was born in Los Angeles, California to Jewish parents of Hungarian, Romanian and Russian descent. His father was a successful physician and was the family doctor for the Jackson family of musical fame. He graduated with a theater degree in 1979 from the University of California at Irvine and then studied acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe where he befriended his future SNL fellow Phil Hartman.
Lovitz was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. He later said in an interview for the book Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live that his time on SNL was the most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being offered a $500,000 movie contract. He was nominated for an Emmy Award his first two years on Saturday Night Live. One of his most notable SNL characters was "Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" who used the old catchphrase, "Yeah! That's the ticket!" as he, after visible effort, finally finished constructing his latest lie. The line was previously said by Humphrey Bogart. Some of his other recurring characters included Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles, Harvey Fierstein and Michael Dukakis. In a 1986 episode of Saturday Night Live he played a virgin Trekkie, who was scripted to hang his head when asked by William Shatner if he had ever kissed a girl.
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Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his sixteen Emmy Awards.
Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.
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Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Kent Jones
Thomas Kenton "Kent" Jones (born June 12, 1964) is a writer and performer on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, airing live M-F at 9 p.m. Eastern time. He is an Emmy-winning comedy writer who also wrote and performed at Air America Radio.
A Missouri native, Kent moved to New York in 1986 and held a variety of journalism jobs working at InStyle and People and contributing freelance humor articles to various publications. In 1996, he discovered the 'far more legitimate field of fake news' at The Daily Show on Comedy Central, where he was a writer for five years. In 2000, Kent and his fellow writers won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy, Variety or Special, as well as the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Kent then moved to Los Angeles and worked as a producer on shows at Oxygen and ABC.[citation needed]
In 2004 Kent moved back to New York to become part of the launch of Air America Radio. He wrote for Unfiltered with Lizz Winstead, Chuck D and Rachel Maddow where he delivered the "Unfiltered News." He also wrote extensively for Morning Sedition where he performed several characters including Foreign Correspondent Angus McFarquhar, Bill from Harlem and, most frequently, Planet Bush Bureau Chief Lawton Smalls. After the cancellation of Morning Sedition in December 2005, Kent continued to write and perform on The Marc Maron Show until its cancellation in July 2006. He appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show, with daily Sports and "Kent Jones Now" segments and additional co-hosting, especially during her "Ask Dr. Maddow" and "Pet Story" segments. The Lawton Smalls character made "calls" to The Sam Seder Show and was on the Nov 7th 2006 live webcam election coverage with Rachel Maddow. Jones left Air America on Friday, December 14, 2007, as a result of a "business decision" by the management.
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Kevin Bleyer
Kevin Bleyer is a multiple Emmy award-winning writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, contributor to President Barack Obama's speeches, co-author of the #1 NY Times Bestseller Earth: The Book, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
After doing commentaries and freelance reporting for NPR's "All Things Considered" and American Public Media's "Marketplace", Bleyer began his television writing career as a writer and producer for Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher from 1996 to 2002. He then wrote for the critically acclaimed Bravo series Significant Others and created and executive produced the Showtime pilot Nightly, in which he was also featured as an on-air correspondent. In 2003, Bleyer became a writer and producer on Dennis Miller, a position he held until the show's cancellation in 2005.
In 2005, Bleyer joined the writing staff of The Daily Show, where he has worked on over 1000 episodes and several specials, earning three Emmys in the process. He also won a WGA Award in 2010 for his work on the show in 2009.
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Kevin Eubanks
Kevin Tyrone Eubanks (born November 15, 1957 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz guitarist and composer who was the leader of the Tonight Show Band with host Jay Leno from 1995 to 2010. He also led The Primetime Band on the short-lived The Jay Leno Show.
Eubanks was born into a musical family. His mother, Vera Eubanks, is a gospel and classical pianist and organist. His uncle, Ray Bryant, was a jazz pianist. His older brother, Robin Eubanks, is a trombonist, and his younger brother Duane Eubanks is a trumpeter. Two cousins are also musicians, the late bassist David Eubanks and the pianist Charles Eubanks. Kevin studied violin and trumpet, before settling on the guitar.
As an elementary school student, Eubanks was trained in violin, trumpet, and piano at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia. He later attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and then moved to New York to begin his professional career.
Eubanks is a pescetarian and maintains a diet of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, egg whites, and fish. He is also an avid fan of Philadelphia sports teams. He once lost a bet on the Philadelphia 76ers, and he was forced to eat a corn dog when he lost. In 2007, he was voted PETA's "World's Sexiest Vegetarian Man".
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Laura Krafft
Laura Krafft is a comedic writer and actress. An ImprovOlympic and Second City alum, she is a former staff writer for The Colbert Report.
Bust Magazine Columnist, "News from a Broad", (2006, present)
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Liz Lemon
Elizabeth Miervaldis "Liz" Lemon is the main character of the American television series 30 Rock. She is portrayed by Tina Fey, who is also the creator of the series and its showrunner.
Liz Lemon was born on October 14, 1970. Raised in the town of White Haven, Pennsylvania, Liz is the daughter and second child to Dick Lemon and Margaret Lemon (née Freeman). Liz's parents are outwardly very optimistic and supportive of her, but privately they actually dislike many of their daughter's attributes and life decisions, as revealed during the climax of "Ludachristmas". Liz's elder brother, Mitch, was the victim of a skiing accident on Sunday, December 8, 1985, when he was a high school senior. Afterwards, he experienced anterograde amnesia, remaining "stuck" in the day before the accident, thinking for the next 22 years that he was still 17 and that the year was still 1985. In the episode "The Moms," her mother is said to have worked as a secretary at Sterling Cooper.
In the season 3 finale, "Kidney Now!", it is revealed that Liz attended elementary school with musician and actress Sheryl Crow, co-starring with her as one of a pair of kidneys in a 5th grade musical (although in reality, Crow grew up in Kennett, Missouri, and is eight years older than Liz). While Liz believes that the two were great friends, Crow only vaguely remembers her, and refers to Liz as a "loser".
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Lorne Michaels
Lorne Michaels, CM (born November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-Americantelevision producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.
Michaels was born Lorne David Lipowitz in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Florence (née Becker) and Henry Abraham Lipowitz, a furrier. He was the eldest of the Lipowitz children. He has a sister, Barbara Lipowitz, who currently resides in Toronto, and a brother, Mark Lipowitz, who died from a brain tumor. Michaels attended the Forest Hill Collegiate Institute in Toronto and graduated from University College, University of Toronto, where he majored in English, in 1966. Michaels began his career as a writer and broadcaster for CBC Radio. He moved to Los Angeles from Toronto in 1968 to work as a writer for Laugh-In and The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. He starred with Hart Pomerantz in The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour, a Canadian comedy series which ran briefly in the early 1970s. During the late 1960s, Michaels married Rosie Shuster, who later worked with him on Saturday Night Live as a writer. She was the daughter of Frank Shuster, one half of the famous comedy team, Wayne and Shuster. Michaels and Shuster were divorced in 1980.
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Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live. He starred in such comedic films as Three Amigos, Innerspace, Pure Luck, Jungle 2 Jungle, Mars Attacks!, Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II and created the characters of Jiminy Glick and Ed Grimley.
Short, the youngest of five children, was born in Hamilton, Ontario, the son of Olive (née Hayter), a violinist, and Charles Patrick Short, a corporate executive with Stelco, a Canadian steel company. He and his siblings were raised Catholic. He had three older brothers, David (now deceased), Michael, and Brian, and one older sister, Nora.
Short's father was a Catholic from Crossmaglen, South Armagh (present-day Northern Ireland), who came to North America as a stowaway during the Irish War of Independence. Short's mother, who was the concertmaster of the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra, encouraged Martin's early creative endeavours. His eldest brother, David, was killed in a car accident in 1962, when Short was 12. His mother died of cancer when he was 17; and, two years later in 1969, his father died of complications from a stroke.
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Matt Piedmont
Matt Piedmont is an American Emmy winning writer, producer and director.
At age 25 he secured a job as a writer for Saturday Night Live, a position he held for six years, earning an Emmy in the process. On his final show in 2002, Will Ferrell held up a sign in the show's closing credits that read "Matt Piedmont is the best in the biz".
Piedmont also created, wrote and directed the popular web series "The Carpet Brothers" starring David Spade and Tim Meadows. "Carpet Brothers" went on to be featured on HBO with Piedmont again writing and directing and starring Will Ferrell.
Piedmont directed the Spanish language feature film Casa de Mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell, Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal, Nick Offerman and Genesis Rodriguez. The movie is entirely in Spanish and was shot using the Panavision C series anamorphic lenses. The film is in post-production as of January 2011.
Piedmont additionally wrote and directed the short film "Brick Novax's Diary", using hand made 1/6 scale figures and sets, as well as other miniatures. The film won the U.S. Narrative Short Film Competition of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
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Max Brooks
Maximillian Michael "Max" Brooks (born May 22, 1972) is an American author and screenwriter, with a particular interest in zombies. Brooks is also a television and voice-over actor.
Brooks was born in New York City, the son of the Jewish American director, producer, writer, and actor Mel Brooks and Italian American actress Anne Bancroft.
He is a graduate of Pitzer College, majoring in history, and delivered the commencement speech for the class of 2011.
From 2001 to 2003, Brooks was a member of the writing team at Saturday Night Live.
Brooks is the author of The Zombie Survival Guide. The book touches on what it describes as pop cultural myths about zombies. The book was later followed up in 2009 by The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, a graphic novel depicting several of the events detailed in the book's latter section.
Brooks' book World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, which deals with the war between the human race and zombies, was released on September 12, 2006. Paramount Pictures has acquired the movie rights; Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment will produce the film. In the October 2006 issue of Fangoria Magazine, Brooks stated that he will not be writing the screenplay for the motion picture, as he feels he is not an accomplished enough screenwriter to "do it right" (J. Michael Straczynski is writing the screenplay).
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Max Weinberg
Max Weinberg (born April 13, 1951) is an American drummer and television personality, most widely known as the longtime drummer for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and as the bandleader for Conan O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.
Weinberg grew up in suburban New Jersey and began drumming at an early age. He attended college planning to be a lawyer but got his big break in music in 1974 when he won an audition to become the drummer for Springsteen. His powerful but controlled playing on albums such as Born to Run and Born in the U.S.A. stabilized the E Street Band sound and Weinberg became a mainstay of Springsteen's long concert performances. Springsteen dissolved the band in 1989 and Weinberg spent several years considering a law career and trying the business end of the music industry before deciding he wanted to continue with drumming.
In 1993, Weinberg got the role as bandleader of The Max Weinberg 7 for Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Weinberg's drums-driven jump blues sound and his role as a comic foil prospered along with the show, giving him a second career. In 1999, Springsteen reformed the E Street Band for a series of tours and albums; Weinberg worked out an arrangement that allowed him to play with both O'Brien and Springsteen. In 2009, Weinberg moved to the short-lived Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien as leader of Max Weinberg and The Tonight Show Band. After that ended, he formed and toured with a new ensemble, the Max Weinberg Big Band, and in 2010 chose not to follow O'Brien to the new Conan show.
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Merrill Markoe
Merrill Markoe (born August 13, 1948)[citation needed] is an author, an Emmy Award-winning television writer and a sometime standup comedienne.
Markoe attended the University of California, Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in Art in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972. Her first job after leaving the university was teaching art at the University of Southern California After auditing scriptwriting classes, and doing research for the head writer of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Markoe was hired as writer for the 1977 revival of Laugh-In, joining a team that included Robin Williams.
In 1980, Markoe was original head writer for The David Letterman Show, a short-lived live NBC morning show whose writing team was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award.
She may be best known for her work on Late Night with David Letterman (a show for which she shared in three Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing). She engineered most of the original concepts and architecture for the ground-breaking late night talk show, along the way creating the segment "Stupid Pet Tricks", as well as "Stupid Human Tricks" and "Viewer Mail." Many of the ideas behind the remote segments outside the studio came from Markoe, who also won a Writer's Guild award for her writing/performing work on HBO's late-1980s hit Not Necessarily the News. She and Letterman were also involved romantically from 1978–1988, after which Markoe moved to California to pursue a writing career.
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Michael Schur
Michael Herbert Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels. Schur is also known for his small role on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute, who is played by Rainn Wilson.
Michael Schur said he first became interested in comedy when he was 11 years old, when he read Without Feathers, a 1975 collection of humorous essays by Woody Allen. Schur said he found the book on his father's bookshelf and stayed up reading it until 4 a.m.
Schur wrote for six seasons on NBC's Saturday Night Live until 2004. Soon after, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he has written ten episodes so far. He is a graduate of William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut and of Harvard University (class of 1997) where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He is married to Jennifer Philbin, who was formerly a writer on The O.C. and is television star Regis Philbin's daughter. Their first child, son William Xavier Schur, was born on Feb 18, 2008. His middle name, Xavier, is in honor of Regis Philbin's confirmation name. At 7:54 p.m., on July 14, 2010, Jennifer Philbin gave birth to a daughter, Ivy Elizabeth, in California. Schur appeared on The Office as Dwight's cousin Mose in the episodes "Initiation," in which Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm, "Money," in which Jim and Pam spend a night at the farm, "The Deposition", "Koi Pond", and "Counseling." He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein.
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Mike Huckabee
Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won (behind both John McCain and Mitt Romney). He won the Iowa Republican caucuses. Huckabee exited the race as McCain became the presumptive Republican nominee after winning the delegate-rich winner-take-all states of Florida, California, and New York.
Huckabee is the author of several best selling books, an ordained Southern Baptistminister, musician and a public speaker. He is also an ABC Radio political commentator. He and his wife, Janet, have been married for over 37 years and have three grown children: John Mark, David, and Sarah. Janet Huckabee was an unsuccessful candidate for Arkansas Secretary of State in 2002.
Huckabee currently hosts the Fox News Channel talk show Huckabee. Starting April 2, 2012 he will host The Mike Huckabee Show from noon until 3 pm weekdays for Cumulus Media Networks.
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Mike Myers
Michael John "Mike" Myers (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage. He was a long-time cast member on the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live in the late 1980s and the early 1990s and starred as the title characters in the films Wayne's World, Austin Powers, and the Shrek film series.
Myers was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, the son of British-born parents Eric Myers (1922–1991), an insurance man and World War II veteran of the Royal Engineers, and his wife Alice E. (née Hind; born 1926), an office supervisor and veteran of the Royal Air Force. Both of his parents are from Liverpool, England. He has two older brothers, Peter Myers and Paul Myers, an indie rock singer-songwriter, broadcaster and author. Myers is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, and was raised Protestant. He holds three citizenships, American, British, and Canadian.
Myers began school at Bishopbriggs Academy then changed to the Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ontario. He began performing in commercials at age eight, and at ten he made a commercial for British Columbia Hydro Electric, with Gilda Radner playing his mother. When he graduated from high school, he joined the Second City Theatre. He left to tour Britain with comedian Neil Mullarkey.
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Milton DeLugg
Milton DeLugg (born December 2, 1918; Los Angeles, California) is an American composer and arranger.
A talented accordionist, he appeared in short Soundies musicals and occasional movies (like 1949's Jolson Sings Again). He quickly became a successful arranger and composer. His clients ranged from the American Junior Miss Pageant to Jackie Wilson, and he was a musician on such radio programs as The Abe Burrows Show. One of his best-known tunes is an arrangement of the song "The Happy Wanderer", and his brassy polka "Hoop Dee Doo" became a game-show staple. He is also the composer of "Hooray for Santy Claus", the catchy theme song for the low-budget motion picture Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. He also composed "Roller Coaster" - recorded by Henri Rene Orchestra on RCA Victor. It was used as the closing theme for the popular Goodson-Todman panel show "What's My Line?" from the early 1950s until its cancellation in 1967.
In 1950 and 1951, DeLugg was musical director, bandleader, and accordionist on Broadway Open House an NBC late-night television program which has been considered a forerunner to The Tonight Show. He often played a song he co-wrote, titled, "Orange Colored Sky", which was best remembered as a hit for Nat King Cole. In 1950, DeLugg was also orchestra conductor for the short-lived Abe Burrows' Almanac.
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Mr. T
Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud; May 21, 1952) is an American actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team, as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler. Mr. T is known for his trademark African Mandinka warrior hairstyle,[citation needed] his gold jewelry, and his tough-guy image. In 2006 he starred in the reality show I Pity the Fool, shown on TV Land, the title of which comes from the catchphrase of his Lang character.
Mr. T was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud Sr., was a minister. Tureaud, with his four sisters and seven brothers, grew up in a three-room apartment in one of the city's housing projects, the Robert Taylor Homes, in a poorly constructed building, in an area with high levels of environmental pollutants and the largest concentration of poverty in America. While growing up Tureaud regularly witnessed murder, rape, and other crimes, but attributes his survival and later success to his will to do well and his mother's love.
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Neil Young
Neil Percival Young,OC,OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation.
Young began performing as a solo artist in Canada in 1960, before moving to California in 1966, where he co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield along with Stephen Stills and Richie Furay, and later joined Crosby, Stills & Nash as a fourth member in 1969. He forged a successful and acclaimed solo career, releasing his first album in 1968; his career has since spanned over 40 years and 34 studio albums, with a continual and uncompromising exploration of musical styles. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website describes Young as "one of rock and roll’s greatest songwriters and performers". He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame twice: first as a solo artist in 1995, and second as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997.
Young's work is characterized by his distinctive guitar work, deeply personal lyrics and signature alto or high tenor singing voice. Although he accompanies himself on several different instruments, including piano and harmonica, his idiosyncratic electric and clawhammer acoustic guitar playing are the defining characteristics of a varyingly ragged and melodic sound. While Young has experimented with differing music styles, including swing and electronic music throughout a varied career, his best known work usually falls into two primary styles: acoustic (folk and country rock) and electric (amplified hard rock, very often in collaboration with the band Crazy Horse). Young has also adopted elements from newer styles such as alternative rock and grunge. His influence on the latter caused some to dub him the "Godfather of Grunge".
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Nikki Finke
Nikki Finke (born 1953) is an American journalist and blogger. She is Founder and Editor in chief and President of Deadline.com, a website with original content consisting of her and other veteran showbiz journalists' reporting and commentary on the business of the entertainment industry formerly known as Deadline Hollywood Daily. Finke has been called the "most feared, despised, and uncompromising journalist in Hollywood."
Finke was raised on Long Island in New York, where she attended Buckley Country Day School and the Hewitt School. She graduated from Wellesley College.
She worked in Washington D.C. for New York congressman Ed Koch, before joining the Associated Press (AP). She worked for the AP in Baltimore, Boston, the foreign desk at the New York City headquarters, Moscow, and London. Finke later worked for The Dallas Morning News. She joined the staff of Newsweek as a correspondent in Washington and Los Angeles, then at the Los Angeles Times as a staff writer covering entertainment and features. Finke became West Coast Editor for The New York Observer and then New York, where she penned Hollywood business columns. Finke has also written for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, The Washington Post, Salon.com, Premiere, and Los Angeles magazine. She appears occasionally on radio and television commenting about the entertainment and media business.
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Obama family
The family of Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America, is made up of people of African American, English, Kenyan (Luo), and Irish heritage, who are known through Obama's writings and other reports. His immediate family is the First Family of the United States. The Obamas are the first First Family of African descent.
Barack Obama was raised by his mother Stanley Ann Dunham and grandparents Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham. He has often referred to his family during his candidacy and term as President.
Ohrdruf was in that string of towns going across, south of Gotha and Erfurt. Our division was the first one in there. When we arrived there were no German soldiers anywhere around that I knew about. There was no fighting against the Germans, no camp guards. The whole area was overrun by people from the camp dressed in the most pitiful rags, and most of them were in a bad state of starvation.
The Obamas are members of the Luo, Kenya's third-largest ethnic group, which is part of a larger family of ethnic groups, collectively also known as Luo. Linguistically, the Luo language belongs to the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. The Obama family is largely concentrated in the western province of Nyanza.
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Paul Mecurio
Paul Mecurio is a Rhode Island-born comedian featured on Comedy Central Presents. A lawyer by education (graduated from Georgetown University Law Center), Mecurio took up stand-up comedy after working as an investment banker and merger and acquisitions lawyer.
A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Mecurio graduated with honors from Georgetown University Law Center and began his career on Wall Street as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and later as an investment banker at CS First Boston. At the same time Mecurio was honing a second career writing and performing comedy, and was hired by Jay Leno to write jokes for The Tonight Show. In 1995, with the encouragement of Leno, Mecurio left Wall Street and began a career as a stand-up comedian.
In 1996, Mecurio was invited to be on the original writing team for a new Comedy Central show called The Daily Show. In 2001, as a writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Mecurio won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Writing In A Variety, Music or Comedy Program. For his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2000, Mecurio was honored with a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. In 2002, Mecurio received his second Emmy nomination for his work on The Daily Show. Mecurio has also been featured in The Daily Show segment, “Second Opinion,” in which he skewered the medical profession playing an HMO representative with a less than sympathetic mindset.
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Paul Shaffer
Paul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM (/ˈʃeɪfər/, born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian-American musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.
Shaffer was born and raised in Fort William (now Thunder Bay), Ontario, Canada, the son of Shirley and Bernard Shaffer, a lawyer. Shaffer was raised in a Jewish family. As a child, Shaffer had lessons on the piano, and moved on to playing the organ by his teenage years, in a band (Fabulous Fugitives) with his schoolmates in Thunder Bay. Later he performed with the "Flash Landing Band" at different venues around Edmonton and the Interior of B.C. Educated at the University of Toronto, he began playing with jazz guitarist Tisziji Muñoz, performing in bands around the bars there, where he found an interest in musicals, and completed his studies, with a B.A. degree in Sociology in 1971.
Shaffer began his music career in 1972 as the musical director for the Toronto production of Godspell, starring Victor Garber, Gilda Radner, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas and Andrea Martin. He went on to play piano for a Broadway show called The Magic Show in 1974, then became a member of the house band on NBC's popular Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program from 1975 to 1980 (except for a brief departure in 1977). Though Shaffer was at the piano and appeared to be directing the band's actions, Howard Shore was credited as SNL's musical director, eventually turning the actual conducting of the band to sax player Howard Johnson. Shaffer also regularly appeared in the show's sketches, notably as the pianist for Bill Murray's Nick the Lounge Singer character, and as Don Kirshner.
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People magazine
People (originally called People Weekly) is a weekly American magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories, published by Time Inc. As of 2006, it has a circulation of 3.75 million and revenue expected to top $1.5 billion. It was named "Magazine of the Year" by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation and advertising.People ranked #6 on Advertising Age's annual "A-list" and #3 on Adweek's "Brand Blazers" list in October 2006.
The magazine runs a roughly 50/50 mix of celebrity and human-interest articles. People's editors claim to refrain from printing pure celebrity gossip, enough so to lead celebrity publicists to propose exclusives to the magazine, evidence of what one staffer calls a "publicist-friendly strategy".
People's website, People.com, focuses exclusively on celebrity news. In February 2007, the website drew 39.6 million page views "within a day" of the Golden Globes. However "the mother ship of Oscar coverage" broke a site record with 51.7 million page views on the day after the Oscars, beating the previous record set just a month before from the Golden Globes.[not in citation given]
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Peter Grosz
Peter Grosz (born January 11, 1974, New York City, New York) is an American actor and television writer.
Grosz has worked as both an actor and as a producer. He is most recognizable for his "two guys" Sonic commercials. Grosz is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he worked with Seth Meyers of Saturday Night Live. He worked as a writer for The Colbert Report from 2007 to 2010, where he has appeared on screen at least three times: once as the Time-Travelling Brandy Thief, once as a version of himself on September 23, 2008, and once on May 13, 2010 to interrupt Stephen Colbert's attempt to introduce guest band The Hold Steady, only to perform the introduction himself. In addition, the May 13, 2010 episode ended with Colbert wishing farewell to the Time-Travelling Brandy Thief; Grosz confirmed on his Facebook page that this was his last episode of the Colbert Report as a writer. Additionally, the birth of his child was announced on the show on March 9, 2009.
Peter has also appeared as a panelist and guest host on the NPR show "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!".
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Peter Gwinn
Peter Gwinn is an American comedy writer and improviser from Evanston, Illinois. He attended Carleton College in Northfield, MN. He has taught at both the I.O. and Upright Citizens Brigade theaters and is the founder of the musical improv group Baby Wants Candy. He is the author of the 2003 book, Group Improvisation: The Manual of Ensemble Improv Games. Gwinn is currently a staff writer for the TV political satire The Colbert Report. He has made several on-screen appearances, as Jimmy the director, as a singer in a "Formula 401" sperm commercial and as a barbecue attendee.
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Phil Hartman
Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman (September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998; né Hartmann) was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands like Poco and America. Feeling the need for a more creative outlet, Hartman joined the comedy group The Groundlings in 1975 and there helped comedian Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the screenplay for the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse.
Hartman became famous in the late 1980s when he joined the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He won fame for his impressions, particularly of President Bill Clinton, and he stayed on the show for eight seasons. Called "the Glue" for his ability to hold the show together and help other cast members, Hartman won a Primetime Emmy Award for his SNL work in 1989. In 1995, after scrapping plans for his own variety show, he starred as Bill McNeal in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio. He also had frequent roles on The Simpsons as Lionel Hutz, Troy McClure, and others, and appeared in the films Houseguest, Sgt. Bilko, Jingle All the Way, and Small Soldiers.
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Rachel Axler
Rachel Axler is an American television writer and playwright. In television, her credits include New Girl, Bored to Death, Parks & Recreation and The Daily Show.
As a playwright, with a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego, her works include the plays Smudge and Archaeology.
In 2006 and 2009, Axler won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her work on The Daily Show as a part of the writing team.
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Reggie Watts
Reggie Watts (born March 23, 1972) is a Brooklyn-based comedian and musician. His shows are mostly improvised and consist of stream of consciousness stand-up in various shifting personae, mixed with loop pedal-based a cappella compositions. He performs regularly on television, radio, and in live theater. His comic skills come into play in improvisational performance, as well as performance of written music.
Born in Germany as Reginald Lucien Frank Roger Watts, Watts is the only child of Christiane and Charles Alphonso Watts; his mother is French and his father is African-American. His father was an officer in the United States Air Force and the family lived in Germany and Spain before relocating to Great Falls, Montana, where Watts was raised and graduated from Great Falls High School. Watts also took piano and violin lessons from the age of five until he was 16.
Watts moved to Seattle at age 18 where he briefly attended the Art Institute of Seattle before eventually studying jazz at Cornish College of the Arts. He went on to play in a number of Seattle bands of wildly varying styles/genres, including Hit Explosion, Swampdweller, Action Buddy, Chiarrscuro, Clementine, Smell No Taste, Wayne Horvitz 4+1 Ensemble, Das Rut, Synthclub, Elemental, Eyvand Kang Seven Nades, Free Space, etc. He became the front man for soul, rock, and hip hop group Maktub, with whom he has recorded five albums.
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Rich Blomquist
Rich Blomquist is a staff writer for The Daily Show. The show has won six Emmy awards during his employment; in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011. He has also contributed material to Saturday Night Live, specifically for Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse. Blomquist is originally from Westbrook, Connecticut. He was educated at Elon University School of Communications.
Blomquist lives in New York City and is dating comedienne Kristen Schaal. They recently wrote a book together called "Sexy Book of Sexy Sex". It was published in July 2010 by Chronicle Books.
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Rick Moranis
Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is an American actor. Moranis came to prominence around 1980 in the sketch comedy show Second City Television, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew; Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of Horrors; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Little Giants; Parenthood; The Flintstones; and My Blue Heaven.He is the widower of his only wife Anne Moranis.
Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, and went to high school at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School. He went to elementary school with Geddy Lee, frontman of the rock band Rush. His career as an entertainer began as a radio disc jockey in the mid-1970s, using the on-air name of "Rick Alan" at three Toronto radio stations.
In 1980, Moranis was persuaded to join the third-season cast of Second City Television (SCTV) by friend and SCTV writer/performer Dave Thomas. At the time, Moranis was the only cast member who had not come from a Second City stage troupe. He became famous for his impressions of Woody Allen and George Carlin, among many others.
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Rickey Minor
Rickey Minor is a music director, composer and music producer, now best known as musical director and bandleader for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after Kevin Eubanks left. Minor was born in Monroe, Louisiana to parents Cole and Goldie Minor and was raised in South Central Los Angeles, CA. Much of his musical training was self-taught.
Minor has served as musical director for numerous superstar tours, including: Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Ray Charles, Alicia Keys and Beyoncé and for television productions, including: the Grammy Awards, the NAACP Image Awards and the Super Bowl. In addition to his work as musical director for American Idol, he served as bandleader on Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!.
As bandleader, Minor differs from Eubanks in terms of material used. While Eubanks would play original music with the band, Minor on the other hand plays established hits ranging from heavy metal to rap to classic rock to soul.
Minor resides in Southern California with wife, Karen Denise, and son, Sean Anthony. His book, There's No Traffic on the Extra Mile, was released in January 2009.
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Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.
Smigel was born to a Jewish family in New York City. His father is Dr. Irwin Smigel, DDS, "The Father of Cosmetic Dentistry", and the founder and president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics. He attended and graduated from NYU.
Smigel began developing his comedic talent at The Players Workshop in Chicago, where he studied improvisation with Josephine Forsberg. Fellow students included Bob Odenkirk. Smigel was also a member of the Chicago comedy troupe "All You Can Eat" in the early 1980s.
Smigel first established himself as a writer on Saturday Night Live by joining the writing staff when Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer for the 1985-1986 season. Smigel was hired after then-SNL producers Al Franken and Tom Davis saw Smigel in a Chicago sketch show. After the 1985-1986 season proved to be a disappointment with critics, in the ratings, and with Brandon Tartikoff (who was planning to have SNL canceled by the last episode of season 11 due to its sliding ratings), Michaels fired most of the cast and writers, retained the cast and writers who were standouts during the otherwise dismal season (Smigel being one of them), and hired new ones for the 1986-1987 season. This is when Smigel began to write more memorable sketches, including one where host William Shatner urged worshipful attendees at a Star Trek convention to "get a life." Smigel rarely appeared on screen; although, he was credited as a feature player in the early 1990s and has played a recurring character in the Bill Swerski's Superfans sketches.
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Robert Todd Lincoln
Robert Todd Lincoln (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926) was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. Born in Springfield, Illinois, United States, he was the only one of Lincoln's four sons to live to adulthood.
Lincoln graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1860, then studied at Harvard University from 1861 to 1864, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Alpha chapter).[citation needed] (Later in life, Lincoln also joined the Delta Chi fraternity.[citation needed]) He then enrolled in Harvard Law School but did not graduate.[citation needed] Much to the embarrassment of the President, Mary Todd Lincoln prevented Robert Lincoln from joining the Union Army until shortly before the war's conclusion in 1865.[citation needed] He held the rank of captain, serving in the last weeks of the American Civil War as part of General Ulysses S. Grant's immediate staff, a position which sharply minimized the likelihood that he would be involved in actual combat. He was present at Appomattox when Lee surrendered.
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Rory Albanese
Rory Albanese (born 29 May 1977), a Long Island, New York native, is an executive producer and writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which he joined in 1999. Albanese is also an accomplished stand-up comedian. His family is of Albanian origin who had migrated into Italy during the Ottoman Invasion.
In the summer of 2006 he joined Lewis Black's "Red White and Screwed" tour performing with Lewis all over the country. Most recently, Albanese has been seen performing with Daily Show correspondents John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac, as well as headlining his own shows at clubs and colleges throughout the country.
He is the voice of 'The American' on The Bugle podcast.
Albanese's first half-hour comedy special premiered April 2, 2010 on Comedy Central.
Albanese graduated from Boston University's College of Communication in 1999.
Was arrested on September 27, 2010 for misdemeanor assault involving a 9/11 conspiracy theorist outside of a venue at which Jon Stewart was appearing.
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Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American radio personality, television host and producer. He is known internationally as host of the top-rated primetime talent showcase American Idol. He has been nominated for an Emmy award in the "Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program" category for his work on American Idol. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for co-hosting the 2005 Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade with Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa. As a television producer, Seacrest has won an Emmy for the ABC show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. On radio, Seacrest is host of On Air with Ryan Seacrest, his market-topping #1 nationally syndicated LA morning drive-time radio show for Clear Channel’s 102.7 KIIS-FM. , as well as a nationally-syndicated Top 40 radio show. Seacrest hosted the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards on September 16, 2007. Seacrest has extensive deals with brand heavyweights Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Microsoft, and has a strategic marketing and technology alliance with Eventful, Inc.
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Sam Means
Sam Means is a writer for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and a cartoonist for The New Yorker. He is a former contributing writer for The Onion and Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update," and wrote the satirical book A Practical Guide To Racism in character as Professor "C. H. Dalton."
Means received his A.B. from Dartmouth College, and an M.Phil. in philosophy from King's College, Cambridge.
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Sandy Frank
Sandy Frank is an American television producer and international TV program distributor as well as a marketer of TV shows to US networks.
Frank started his career as a sales executive for Paramount Pictures, subsequently moving on to Guild Films, and NBC television. He landed the key position of Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales with the television division of the Wrather Corporation, which produced and distributed the Lassie and Lone Ranger TV programs.[citation needed]
In 1964, he opened his first company, Sandy Frank Program Sales, Inc., and his first distribution successes were You Asked For It and Lassie (which he had acquired the rights for from the Wrather Corp.).[citation needed]
Frank's Company also sold the original, off-network, half-hour Bill Cosby Show, The Dating Game, The Bobby Vinton Show, Treasure Hunt, and Lee Mendelson's Superstar Specials (Lee Mendelson created and produced the classic Charlie Brown specials).
Sandy Frank later produced and distributed Name That Tune and Battle of the Planets. Frank was also the leading distributor of travel adventure shows including America, High and Wild, Across the Seven Seas, The Traveler, American West, etc.
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Sarah Vowell
Sarah Jane Vowell (born December 27, 1969) is an American author, journalist, essayist and social commentator. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written six nonfiction books on American history and culture, and was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International from 1996–2008, where she produced numerous commentaries and documentaries and toured the country in many of the program’s live shows. She was also the voice of Violet in the animated film The Incredibles.
Vowell was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma and moved to Bozeman, Montana with her family when she was 11. She has a fraternal twin sister, Amy. She earned a B.A. from Montana State University in 1993 in Modern Languages and Literatures and an M.A. in Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996. Vowell received the Music Journalism Award in 1996.
Vowell is a New York Times’ bestselling author of six nonfiction books on American history and culture. Her most recent book is Unfamiliar Fishes (2011), which reviews the growing influence of American missionaries in Hawaii in the 1800s and the subsequent takeover of Hawaii's property and politics by American sugar plantation owners, eventually resulting in a coup d'état, restricted voting rights for nonwhites, and annexation by the United States. A particular focus is on 1898, when the U.S. "annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded Cuba, and then the Philippines, becoming a meddling, self-serving, militaristic international superpower practically overnight." [from the dust jacket] The title of the book is an allusion to a quotation from the aged David Malo, who had been the first Native Hawaiian ordained to preach and Hawaii's first superintendent of schools:
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Skitch Henderson
Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson (January 27, 1918 – November 1, 2005) was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname ("Skitch") reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.
Skitch Henderson was born on a farm near Halstad, Minnesota, to Joseph and Josephine Henderson, both of Norwegian descent. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he was then sent to live with his Aunt Hattie, who raised him. She taught him piano, starting at the age of four. Although he didn't receive formal conservatory education in music, Henderson received classical training under Fritz Reiner, Albert Coates, Arnold Schoenberg, Ernst Toch and Arturo Toscanini, who invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Henderson would later recount his learning the ropes by playing in taverns with popular singers of the day.
He started his professional career in the 1930s playing piano in the roadhouses of the American Midwest, his major break being as an accompanist on a 1937 MGM promotional tour featuring Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. Henderson later said that as a member of MGM's music department, he worked with Garland to learn "Over the Rainbow" during rehearsals for The Wizard of Oz and played piano for her first public performance of the song at a local nightclub before the film was finished. However this account is at odds with the memoirs of the tune's composer, Harold Arlen, who said he first performed the song for the 14-year-old Garland.
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Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( /koʊlˈbɛər/ or /ˈkoʊlbərt/; born May 13, 1964) is an American political satirist, writer, comedian, television host, and actor. He is the host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.
Colbert originally studied to be an actor, but became interested in improvisational theatre when he met famed Second City director Del Close while attending Northwestern University. He first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago; among his troupe mates were comedians Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, with whom he developed the critically acclaimed sketch comedy series Exit 57.
Colbert also wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the cult television series Strangers with Candy. He gained considerable attention for his role on the latter as closeted gay history teacher Chuck Noblet. It was his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show, however, that first introduced him to a wide audience.
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Steve Allen
Stephen Valentine Patrick William "Steve" Allen (December 26, 1921 - October 30, 2000) was an American television personality, musician, composer, actor, comedian, and writer. Though he got his start in radio, Allen is best known for his television career. He first gained national attention as a guest host on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. He graduated to become the first host of The Tonight Show, where he was instrumental in innovating the concept of the television talk show. Thereafter, he hosted numerous game and variety shows, including The Steve Allen Show, I've Got a Secret, The New Steve Allen Show, and was a regular panel member on CBS' What's My Line?
Allen was a "creditable" pianist, and a prolific composer, having penned over 14,000 songs,[citation needed] one of which was recorded by Perry Como and Margaret Whiting, others by Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Les Brown, and Gloria Lynne. Allen won a Grammy award in 1963 for best jazz composition, with his song The Gravy Waltz. His vast number of songs have never been equaled. Allen wrote more than 50 books, has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and a Hollywood theater named in his honor The Steve Allen Theater.
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Steve Bodow
Steve Bodow is co-executive producer and former head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
He is also a founding member and a past artistic director of the New York theater group Elevator Repair Service, best known for Gatz, its full-text adaptation of The Great Gatsby.
Before joining The Daily Show in 2002, Bodow was a journalist for Wired, New York Magazine, Salon.com and the New York Times Magazine. He grew up in Rye, NY, graduating Rye High School, Yale University, and NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. While at Yale, Bodow co-founded the improv group Just Add Water.
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Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell ( /kəˈrɛl/; born August 16, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office. He has also starred in lead roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart, Date Night, Dinner for Schmucks, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.; and voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge, Horton Hears a Who!, and Despicable Me. Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine, and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series for playing the lead role of Michael Scott for The Office in 2006.
Carell, the youngest of four brothers, was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, and was raised in nearby Acton by his parents, Harriet T. (née Koch), a psychiatric nurse, and Edwin A. Carell, an electrical engineer. His maternal uncle, Stanley Koch, worked with Allen B. DuMont to create cathode ray tubes. Carell's paternal grandfather was Italian; his father was born with the surname "Caroselli", later shortening it to "Carell". Carell was raised Roman Catholic, and was educated at The Fenn School and Middlesex School. Carell also played ice hockey as a teenager for his high school.[citation needed] He played the fife, performing with other members of his family, and later joined a reenacting group portraying the 10th (North Lincoln) Regiment of Foot. Carell attributed his interest in history to this, in which he earned his degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1984. While at Denison, Carell was a member of Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company, a student-run improvisational comedy troupe.
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Steve Kroft
Steve Kroft (born August 22, 1945) is an American journalist and a longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes. His investigative reporting has garnered him much acclaim, including three Peabody Awards and nine Emmy awards, one of which was an Emmy for Lifetime Achievement.
Born on August 22, 1945 in Kokomo, Indiana, Kroft attended Syracuse University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in 1967. After his graduation, he was drafted into the United States Army and served in the Vietnam War. He was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, where he was a reporter for the Armed Forces Network; he covered the Division's participation in the invasion of Cambodia. Kroft won several Army journalism awards for his work and a Bronze Star for Meritorius Achievement. When the Division was redeployed, he was reassigned to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes as a correspondent and photographer.
Shortly after receiving an honorable discharge from the army in 1971, he began his broadcast journalism career as a reporter for WSYR-TV in Syracuse, New York. Kroft returned to academics in 1974, enrolling at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and earning his master's degree in 1975. Upon graduation Kroft moved to Florida, where he worked for two stations owned by the Washington Post Company. As an investigative reporter for WJXT in Jacksonville, his reports on local corruption led to several grand jury investigations and established his reputation. In 1977 he moved to WPLG-TV in Miami, where his work came to the attention of CBS News.
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Storytelling (film)
Storytelling is a 2001 film, directed by Todd Solondz. It features original music by Belle & Sebastian, later compiled on an album of the same name. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
The film consists of two stories that are unrelated and have different actors, titled "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction." "Fiction," starring Selma Blair, is about a group of college students in a creative writing class taught by a professor who has affairs with his students. "Non-Fiction," starring Paul Giamatti and John Goodman, is about the filming of a high school student and his family through the college application process.
The original version of the film featured a third story, concerning, among other things, a closeted football player played by actor James van der Beek. But for unknown reasons, possibly that the character had an explicit sex scene with a male partner Steve Rosen, the entire story was cut from the final version.[1]
During the sex scene in the "Fiction" part of the film, a red box was added for the American version of the film, blocking the audience's view of a rough sex scene between Selma Blair and Robert Wisdom. This was used to bend the rules of the MPAA's rating system, allowing the film to obtain the R rating instead of NC-17. Initially the red box was to have had the word "Censored" on it, but the MPAA also deemed this unacceptable because they do not consider themselves censors.[citation needed] Solondz described the addition of the box as a political statement: "I was prepared to make that political statement. This is something I've always been prepared to do, as long as the audience is aware of what it's not allowed to see. That's how I feel "politically" about that. (...)" [2][dead link]The box is not present in the international version of the film, although in the American DVD release, both options are available.
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Tarja Halonen
Tarja Kaarina Halonen ([tɑrjɑ kɑːrinɑ hɑlonen] ( listen); born 24 December 1943) was the 11th President of Finland, serving from 2000 to 2012. The first female to hold the office, Halonen had previously been a member of the parliament from 1979 to 2000 when she resigned after her election to the presidency. In addition to her political career she had a long and extensive career in trade unions and different non-governmental organizations.
Halonen is a graduate of the University of Helsinki, where she studied law from 1963 to 1968. She was active in student politics and served as the Social Affairs Secretary and Organization Secretary of the National Union of Students from 1969 to 1970. In 1971 she joined the Social Democratic Party and worked as a lawyer in the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions until she was elected to parliament in 1979.
Halonen served in the parliament of Finland for six terms, from 1979 to 2000, representing the constituency of Helsinki. She also had a long career in the city council of Helsinki, serving there from 1977 to 1996. She started her campaign for the presidency at the beginning of 1999 after President Martti Ahtisaari announced that he would not stand for a second term in the office. She easily won her party's nomination, and eventually got 40% of the votes in the first round of the presidential elections, and 51.6% in the second, thus defeating the Centre Party's Esko Aho and becoming the 11th president of Finland.
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Teri Hatcher
Teri Lynn Hatcher (born December 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and presenter. She is known for her television roles as Susan Mayer on the ABC comedy-drama series Desperate Housewives, and Lois Lane on the ABC comedy-drama series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. For her work on Desperate Housewives, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as a Primetime Emmy nomination.
Hatcher was born in Palo Alto, California, the daughter of Esther (née Beshur), a computer programmer who worked for Lockheed Martin, and Owen Walker Hatcher, Jr., a nuclear physicist and electrical engineer. Her father is of Welsh descent (Hatcher has said that he also has Choctaw ancestry) and her mother is of half Syrian and half Bohemian (Czech)-Irish ancestry. Teri Hatcher took ballet lessons at the San Juan School of Dance in Los Altos. Her big debut was as the lead flying monkey in a production of The Wizard Of Oz.[citation needed] Hatcher grew up in Sunnyvale, California. and attended Mango Junior High (now Sunnyvale Middle School), Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and De Anza College in Cupertino. As an undergraduate she studied mathematics and engineering.
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The Miz
Michael "Mike" Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, reality television star, media personality, and actor better known by his nickname and ring name The Miz. He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment on its Raw brand. Mizanin first gained fame as a cast member on MTV's The Real World: Back to New York, which first aired in 2001, and its spinoff series, Real World/Road Rules Challenge. He later entered the fourth season of Tough Enough, a televised competition that would award the winner a WWE contract, and became the first runner-up. Mizanin has also made appearances on television shows including Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor, Identity, Ghost Hunters, Dinner Impossible, Psych and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?.
Mizanin trained and wrestled with Ultimate Pro Wrestling and Deep South Wrestling, where he became the first Deep South Heavyweight Champion. Mizanin was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), working in tag team matches and winning the tag team title, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, on one occasion.
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Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church (born June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.
Church, the fourth of six children, was born Thomas Richard McMillen in Yolo, California, to an Army officer/health care worker father and a telephone company sales rep mother. He was raised under his stepfather's surname, "Quesada", and later changed his surname to "Haden Church" (both names are in his family tree). He was raised in Laredo, Texas, and graduated from Harlingen High School, Harlingen, Texas, in 1979, going on to attend the University of North Texas.
Church started in the entertainment business as a radio personality and doing voice over work. A part in an independent film convinced him to move to California to pursue an acting career. He played the part of slow-witted airport mechanic Lowell Mather for six seasons (1990–1995) on the NBC sitcom Wings. He worked in television for two more seasons with a lead role on Ned and Stacey opposite Debra Messing. He has had supporting roles in films such as Tombstone, George of the Jungle, and The Specials. Church often plays villains or comic relief in films, most evident by turns in Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight and Over the Hedge.
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Tim Carvell
Tim Carvell is the head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. As a staff writer for the show, he won Emmy Awards in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2011. Since 2005, he has also written the "Planet Tad" column for Mad Magazine. He has also written for Fortune Magazine, McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, The New York Times, Modern Humorist, Entertainment Weekly, and Slate.com.
He is a 1995 graduate of Columbia University.
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Tim Russert
Timothy John "Tim" Russert (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's Meet the Press. He was a senior vice president at NBC News, Washington bureau chief and also hosted an eponymous CNBC/MSNBC weekend interview program. He was a frequent correspondent and guest on NBC's The Today Show and Hardball. Russert covered several presidential elections, and he presented the NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey on the NBC Nightly News during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Time magazine included Russert in its list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2008. Russert was posthumously revealed as a 30-year source for syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Russert was born in Buffalo, New York to Irish American Catholic parents Elizabeth (Betty), a homemaker, and Timothy Joseph "Big Russ" Russert (November 29, 1923 – September 24, 2009), a sanitation worker. Elizabeth and Joseph were married for 30 years before separating in 1976. He was the second of four children; his sisters are Betty Ann (B.A.), Kathleen (Kathy) and Patricia (Trish). He received a Jesuit education from Canisius High School in Buffalo.
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Time 100
Time 100 is an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, as assembled by Time. First published in 1999 as a result of a debate among several academics, the list has become an annual event.
The list was started with a debate at a symposium in Washington, D.C., on February 1, 1998, with panel participants CBS news anchor Dan Rather, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, former New York governor Mario Cuomo, then–political science professor Condoleezza Rice, neoconservative publisher Irving Kristol and Time managing editor Walter Isaacson.
The list was first published in 1999, when Time magazine named the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. Based on the popularity of the installment, in 2004 Time magazine decided to make it an annual issue, listing the 100 people most influencing the world. Making the list is frequently mistaken as an honor; however, Time makes it very clear that people are recognized for changing the world, for better or for worse. Those recognized fall in one of five categories: Leaders & Revolutionaries, Builders & Titans, Artists & Entertainers, Scientists & Thinkers, and Heroes & Icons. Within each category, the 20 most influential people (sometimes pairs or small groups) are selected, for a grand total of 100 each year.
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Tina Fey
Elizabeth Stamatina "Tina" Fey ( /ˈfeɪ/; born May 18, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer and producer, known for her work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live (SNL), the NBC comedy series 30 Rock, and films such as Mean Girls (2004) and Baby Mama (2008).
Fey first broke into comedy as a featured player in the Chicago-based improvisational comedy group The Second City. She then joined SNL as a writer, later becoming head writer and a performer, known for her position as co-anchor in the Weekend Update segment. In 2004 she adapted the screenplay Mean Girls in which she also co-starred. After leaving SNL in 2006, she created the television series 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at SNL. In the series, Fey portrays the head writer of a fictional sketch comedy series. In 2008, she starred in the comedy film Baby Mama, alongside former SNL co-star Amy Poehler. Fey next appeared in the 2010 comedy films Date Night and Megamind.
She has received seven Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, four Writers Guild of America Awards and has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her autobiographical book Bossypants, which topped the The New York Times Best Seller list for five weeks. She was singled out as the performer who had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment in 2008 by the Associated Press, which gave her its AP Entertainer of the Year award for her satirical portrayal of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a guest appearance on SNL. In 2010, Fey was the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the youngest-ever winner of the award.
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Tom Davis (comedian)
Tom Davis (born August 13, 1952) is an Emmy Award-winning American writer and comedian. He is best known for his former partnership with Al Franken, as half of the comedy duo "Franken & Davis" on Saturday Night Live.
Davis attended The Blake School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he began his friendship and professional partnership with Franken. In 1975, Davis got his big break as one of the original writers for Saturday Night Live, where he and Franken also performed together.
Franken and Davis also wrote the screenplay for, and appeared in, the film One More Saturday Night, and had cameos in Trading Places and The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. Davis was a frequent guest on The Al Franken Show, appearing in sketches as characters including Treasury Secretary John W. Snow and a male prostitute. Davis created the SNL sketches "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber" with Steve Martin, the "Nick The Lounge Singer" sketches with Bill Murray, and "The Continental" with Christopher Walken.
In 2010, Davis was diagnosed with tongue and neck cancer. He originally refused traditional treatment that would have left him disfigured and unable to speak. Eventually he went to Mt. Sinai, where they removed a tumor with minimally invasive robotic surgery.
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Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks is known for his roles in Philadelphia and as the title character in Forrest Gump, roles which won him two consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor. Hanks is also known for his Oscar nominated roles in Big, Saving Private Ryan and Cast Away.
Hanks' other acting roles include Apollo 13 as Jim Lovell, The Green Mile as Paul Edgecomb, Toy Story as Woody and Charlie Wilson's War as Charlie Wilson.
Hanks was born in Concord, California. His father, Amos Mefford Hanks (born in Glenn County, California, on March 9, 1924 – died in Alameda, California, on January 31, 1992), was an itinerant cook. His mother, Janet Marylyn (née Frager; born in Alameda County, California, on January 18, 1932), was a hospital worker. Hanks' mother is of Portuguese ancestry, while two of his paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Britain. Hanks's parents divorced in 1960. The family's three oldest children, Sandra (now Sandra Hanks Benoiton, a writer)[citation needed], Larry (now Lawrence M. Hanks, PhD, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Tom, went with their father, while the youngest, Jim, now an actor and film maker, remained with his mother in Red Bluff, California.[citation needed]
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Tom Schiller
Tom Schiller is an American Emmy Award winning writer best known for his eleven-year stint writing and directing short films for Saturday Night Live (following the show's original short film makers Albert Brooks and Gary Weis). His films, often featuring members of the original SNL cast, aired on the program in a segment titled, "Schiller's Reel." Schiller was part of the original 1975 writing team when Saturday Night Live debuted on NBC. Notable films included the Federico Fellini send-up "La Dolce Gilda" and "Don't Look Back in Anger", which depicted an elderly John Belushi as the last living "Not Ready For Primetime Player" and dancing on the graves of his deceased castmembers. (Belushi would become the first SNL cast member to die, four years after the film first aired). Another favorite was "Java Junkie", a send-up of a 50s style cautionary film about a coffee addict (played by Peter Aykroyd). Schiller wrote and directed the short film "Love is a Dream" for SNL with Phil Hartman and producer/cinematographer Neal Marshad. Schiller also wrote and directed a unique feature film, Nothing Lasts Forever (1984). The film, which was unreleased at the time and featured Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Zach Galligan, Sam Jaffe, Mort Sahl, Lauren Tom, Imogene Coca, Apollonia van Ravenstein and Eddie Fisher, has gained a cult following and influenced a number of young directors in recent years.
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Tracy Jordan
Tracy Jordan, is a fictional character in an American television series 30 Rock, played by the actor Tracy Morgan. The character is a movie star whose name is "Ogbert Jordan" and whose stage name is "Tracy". The character's personality traits and life events are taken from Morgan's own life. In the episode "Grandmentor", Jordan refers to himself as "Tracy Morgan".
Jordan has a reputation for unpredictable behaviour. In the pilot episode, another protagonist, Jack Donaghy forces character Liz Lemon to hire Jordan as the new star of her sketch comedy program The Girlie Show. To the chagrin of Liz, Jack renames the show TGS with Tracy Jordan in the show's second episode. Tracy has since remained the star of TGS.
Jordan is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemings. Jordan was born in Yankee Stadium but his age is unknown as he has no birth certificate. He was given the honorary birthday of February 24, shared with TGS Co-star Jenna Maroney and male supermodel Steve Harnden in the March 5, 2009 episode "Goodbye, My Friend". He grew up in a tough neighborhood in The Bronx, though many of his claims about it sound fictitious. As a child, Jordan was a cast member on the Nickelodeon show Ray Ray's Mystery Garage. He also claims to have attended middle school in an Exxon station. He lived with his single mother in 1979, dropped out of Frank Lucas High School over his inability to dissect a frog, and was discovered after doing stand-up at the Apollo in 1984. Jordan did a Christmas album in 1998 and is a big fan of Pat Benatar. In addition to his acting career, he writes a column in Ebony Magazine called "Musings". He owns several houses but got into debt because he didn't make the payments on them.
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Victoria Justice
Victoria Justice (born February 19, 1993) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, and dancer. She debuted as an actress at the age of 10 and has since appeared in several films and television series including the Nickelodeon series Zoey 101 and Victorious. She has made appearances in several theatrical releases, including Unknown as well as the 2006 thriller The Garden. She has appeared in several Nickelodeon series, including True Jackson, VP, The Troop, The Penguins of Madagascar and iCarly, as well as on the Nickelodeon game show BrainSurge as a contestant. In 2010 she starred in the Nickelodeon film The Boy Who Cried Werewolf.
Aside from acting, Justice is involved in her musical career. She has performed several songs for the soundtrack to the Nickelodeon musical Spectacular!, in which she starred. She has recorded a number of songs for the Victorious series. Justice has announced the release of her debut album, which is expected to be released sometime during 2012.
Victoria Justice was born on February 19, 1993, in Hollywood, Florida, to Serene and Zack Justice. Her mother is Puerto Rican and her father is of English, German, and Irish descent. She first developed an interest in acting when she was 8 years old after watching a children's commercial. She and her family relocated to Hollywood, California, in 2003. In 2005, she auditioned and was accepted into the musical theatre program at Los Angeles' renowned Performing Arts Magnet school. Her family moved from Hollywood, Florida, to Los Angeles when she was 11 after Justice had stated she wanted to be a part of filming commercials as well as television series and films. Justice has done commercials for companies such as Ralph Lauren, Gap and Guess. She appeared in national commercials for Mervyn's, Peanut Butter Toast Crunch and Ovaltine.
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Viveca Paulin
Viveca Paulin (born April 24, 1969) is a Swedish actress, born in Askim, Gothenburg Municipality, Sweden, who married American comedic actor Will Ferrell in August 2000. She attended Pomona College, graduating in 1991. The couple have three sons, Magnus Paulin Ferrell, born March 7, 2004, Mattias Paulin Ferrell, born December 30, 2006, and Axel Paulin Ferrell, born January 23, 2010. They have a cottage (called stuga in Swedish) in Gnesta, Sweden where they occasionally spend their summers.
Paulin has appeared in several small parts in both film and television, including A Night at the Roxbury.
Paulin appeared with husband Will Ferrell on the last televised episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, hours before she gave birth to son Axel. Paulin played the character Dawn, the wife of Will Ferrell's rock 'n' roll character.
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Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (born January 5, 1928) is an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States (1977–1981) under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator from Minnesota (1964–1976). He was the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the United States presidential election of 1984.
Mondale was born in Ceylon, Minnesota and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1951. He then served in the US Army in the Korean War before earning a law degree in 1956. He married Joan Adams in 1955. Working as a lawyer in Minneapolis, Mondale was elected to the position of attorney general in 1960. He was appointed US Senator in late 1964 as a member of the Democratic Party upon the resignation of Hubert Humphrey, and held that post until 1976. In the Senate, he supported fair housing, tax reform and the desegregation of schools.[not verified in body] He opposed United States involvement in the Vietnam War.[not verified in body]
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Will Forte
Orville Willis Forte IV, better known as Will Forte (born June 17, 1970), is an American actor, voice actor, comedian and writer best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2002–2010 and for starring in the SNL spin-off film MacGruber, as well as for the role of Paul L'Astnamé, Jenna Maroney's cross-dressing boyfriend, on NBC's 30 Rock.
Forte was born in Alameda County, California, the son of Patricia C. (née Stivers) and Orville Willis Forte III. He was raised in Lafayette, California, and graduated from Acalanes High School and UCLA with a history degree. While at UCLA, he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.
Forte joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2002 as a featured player. He was upgraded to full cast member the next season. Forte took over the role of then-president George W. Bush following the departure of Will Ferrell, a season with Chris Parnell in the role, and a brief half-season of Darrell Hammond playing the part. Forte featured as a number of recurring characters over the years, including The Falconer, MacGruber, Tim Calhoun, Mr. Dillon in the Gilly sketches, Greg Stink, and as one of the characters in the Song Memories sketches. Forte was often featured as a guest at the Weekend Update desk. He had several recurring Update characters, such as Tim Calhoun; He often appeared in musical Update bits, such as one of The Kelly Brothers, Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates, and a member of reverse Bon Jovi band, Jon Bovi. On August 26, 2010, Forte announced that he would be leaving SNL after eight years on the show (2002–2010) to focus on other projects. On April 2, 2011 & May 12, 2012, he made a guest appearance on the show, reprising his role of Greg Stink.
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William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (born Falkner, September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career. He is primarily known and acclaimed for his novels and short stories, many of which are set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, a setting Faulkner created based on Lafayette County, where he spent most of his childhood, and Holly Springs/Marshall County.
Faulkner is one of the most important writers of the Southern literature of the United States, along with Mark Twain, Robert Penn Warren, Flannery O'Connor, Truman Capote, Eudora Welty, Thomas Wolfe, Harper Lee and Tennessee Williams. Though his work was published as early as 1919, and largely during the 1920s and 1930s, Faulkner was relatively unknown until receiving the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Two of his works, A Fable (1954) and his last novel The Reivers (1962) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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Wyatt Cenac
Wyatt Cenac ( /ˈwaɪ.ət sɨˈnæk/) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is currently working as a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Cenac was born in New York City, and attended high school in Texas at the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas. While in elementary school, he became friends with comic book writer Brian K. Vaughn, who also introduced him to comic books. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before moving to Los Angeles to further his career.
Having previously worked for three years as a writer and story editor on King of the Hill, Cenac garnered public attention in a The Doomed Planet comedy sketch in which he did an impression of then-senator Barack Obama, discussing possible campaign posters. He was considered for a role on sketch show Saturday Night Live in which he would have portrayed the Democratic presidential candidate, but was passed over in favor of Fred Armisen.
In June 2008, Cenac was hired as a correspondent and writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. After making several comedic appearances along with other correspondents, Cenac filed his first field report on July 21, 2008, concerning Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama. He continues to integrate satirical Black-oriented material in his Daily Show segments, including "Rapper or Republican". In October 2009, he worked with rapper Slim Thug on the music video "Still a Boss", a parody of how the recession is affecting the rap community. Cenac appeared in the lead role in the indie movie Medicine for Melancholy, an independent film released in 2008 that explores issues of African-American identity and gentrification in San Francisco.
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Conan O'Brien Reviews "Hitman: Absolution" - Clueless Gamer - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:49
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
As an assassin, Conan is a rather tidy killing machine, even while wearing a kimono. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien_Reviews_Hitman_Absolution_Clueless_Gamer_CONAN_on_TBS
As an assassin, Conan is a rather tidy killing machine, even while wearing a kimono. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
Statistician Nate Silver - Serious Jibber-Jabber with Conan O'Brien - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 49:55
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Nate Silver, the New York Times' statistical whiz, joins Conan for an in-depth discussion about politics, media glut, & the power of hard data. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Statistician_Nate_Silver_Serious_Jibber-Jabber_with_Conan_O'Brien_CONAN_on_TBS
Nate Silver, the New York Times' statistical whiz, joins Conan for an in-depth discussion about politics, media glut, & the power of hard data. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 11 Dec 2012
- views: 10839
- author: teamcoco
R2-D2 Dreidel Joins The Human Centipede Menorah - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:53
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
C'mon R2! We've got 1000 galactic credits riding on Gimel. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/R2-D2_Dreidel_Joins_The_Human_Centipede_Menorah_CONAN_on_TBS
C'mon R2! We've got 1000 galactic credits riding on Gimel. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 13 Dec 2012
- views: 12154
- author: teamcoco
Conan's Holiday Super Slo-Mo Camera Moments - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:59
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Feast your eyes on the terrible beauty of slo-mo holiday destruction. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan's_Holiday_Super_Slo-Mo_Camera_Moments_CONAN_on_TBS
Feast your eyes on the terrible beauty of slo-mo holiday destruction. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 14 Dec 2012
- views: 82917
- author: teamcoco
Conan O'Brien's 2011 Dartmouth College Commencement Address
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 23:45
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan has some encouraging words for the 2011 Dartmouth College senior class on the day of their graduation. Visit teamcoco.com for more Conan.
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien's_2011_Dartmouth_College_Commencement_Address
Conan has some encouraging words for the 2011 Dartmouth College senior class on the day of their graduation. Visit teamcoco.com for more Conan.
- published: 12 Jun 2011
- views: 1407572
- author: teamcoco
Seth MacFarlane's "Ted" R-Rated Teddy Bear Malfunctions - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:33
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
But don't worry, Seth is there to provide the voice...but not the swears. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Seth_MacFarlane's_Ted_R-Rated_Teddy_Bear_Malfunctions_CONAN_on_TBS
But don't worry, Seth is there to provide the voice...but not the swears. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 11 Dec 2012
- views: 124376
- author: teamcoco
@Google & YouTube present A Conversation with Conan O'Brien
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 48:24
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan O'Brien may have been "legally prohibited from being funny on television," but thanks to TBS he'll be back on the air very soon. Conan and Andy Richter stop by Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters for a morning of hilarity. This event took place on May 5, 2010. Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host and comedian. He served as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien from 2009 to 2010. Prior to his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for Saturday Night Live and the animated series The Simpsons. www.youtube.com teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/@Google_YouTube_present_A_Conversation_with_Conan_O'Brien
Conan O'Brien may have been "legally prohibited from being funny on television," but thanks to TBS he'll be back on the air very soon. Conan and Andy Richter stop by Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters for a morning of hilarity. This event took place on May 5, 2010. Conan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host and comedian. He served as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien from 2009 to 2010. Prior to his hosting career, O'Brien was a writer for Saturday Night Live and the animated series The Simpsons. www.youtube.com teamcoco.com
- published: 07 May 2010
- views: 1437770
- author: AtGoogleTalks
Amanda Seyfried On Playing Linda Lovelace of "Deep Throat" - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:58
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
Amanda reveals that the secret to playing Linda Lovelace is lots and lots of popsicles. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Amanda_Seyfried_On_Playing_Linda_Lovelace_of_Deep_Throat_CONAN_on_TBS
Amanda reveals that the secret to playing Linda Lovelace is lots and lots of popsicles. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 18 Dec 2012
- views: 70882
- author: teamcoco
Conan Visits The Dublin Guinness Brewery - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:31
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan wants to skip the technical blah-blah-blah and get right to the free beer. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan_Visits_The_Dublin_Guinness_Brewery_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan wants to skip the technical blah-blah-blah and get right to the free beer. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 16 Nov 2012
- views: 137155
- author: teamcoco
Conan O'Brien & Alex Morgan Review "Just Dance 4" - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:46
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan & USA Soccer gold medalist Alex Morgan engage in an epic dance battle. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien_Alex_Morgan_Review_Just_Dance_4_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan & USA Soccer gold medalist Alex Morgan engage in an epic dance battle. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 27 Sep 2012
- views: 218915
- author: teamcoco
Conan O'Brien Delivers Dartmouth's Commencement Address
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 24:33
- Updated: 21 Dec 2012
Conan O'Brien, whom The Washington Post has called "the most intelligent of the late-night comics," delivered the main address at Dartmouth College's 2011 Commencement exercises on Sunday morning, June 12. Learn more about Dartmouth's 2011 Commencement: now.dartmouth.edu Stay Connected to Dartmouth on: Facebook - www.facebook.com Twitter - www.twitter.com Flickr - www.flickr.com
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien_Delivers_Dartmouth's_Commencement_Address
Conan O'Brien, whom The Washington Post has called "the most intelligent of the late-night comics," delivered the main address at Dartmouth College's 2011 Commencement exercises on Sunday morning, June 12. Learn more about Dartmouth's 2011 Commencement: now.dartmouth.edu Stay Connected to Dartmouth on: Facebook - www.facebook.com Twitter - www.twitter.com Flickr - www.flickr.com
- published: 12 Jun 2011
- views: 473483
- author: Dartmouth
Conan Visits The Halloween Store - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:06
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan rings in Halloween with bacon dresses, sexy maid outfits and an oddly familiar mask. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan_Visits_The_Halloween_Store_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan rings in Halloween with bacon dresses, sexy maid outfits and an oddly familiar mask. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 01 Nov 2012
- views: 68932
- author: teamcoco
Jim Parsons Will Never, Ever Forget "The Elements" Song - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:10
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
Not to be outdone by Jim, Conan shows he can still rattle off his Santa speech from 2nd grade. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Jim_Parsons_Will_Never,_Ever_Forget_The_Elements_Song_CONAN_on_TBS
Not to be outdone by Jim, Conan shows he can still rattle off his Santa speech from 2nd grade. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 06 Dec 2012
- views: 74533
- author: teamcoco
Conan O'Brien Reviews "Skyrim" - Clueless Gamer - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:21
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan's on a quest for love (and chickens) in his review of "Skyrim". See more Clueless Gamer reviews @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien_Reviews_Skyrim_Clueless_Gamer_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan's on a quest for love (and chickens) in his review of "Skyrim". See more Clueless Gamer reviews @ teamcoco.com
- published: 03 Aug 2012
- views: 688168
- author: teamcoco
Paul Rudd Is Prepping For "Anchorman 2" - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:39
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Right now Paul's preparation is mostly growing his hair out like an insane person.
http://wn.com/Paul_Rudd_Is_Prepping_For_Anchorman_2_CONAN_on_TBS
Right now Paul's preparation is mostly growing his hair out like an insane person.
- published: 21 Dec 2012
- views: 21609
- author: teamcoco
Animal Expert David Mizejewski: Baby Jaguars & Binturong - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:59
- Updated: 22 Dec 2012
Animal Expert David Mizejewski introduces the world to something called a binturong.
http://wn.com/Animal_Expert_David_Mizejewski_Baby_Jaguars_Binturong_CONAN_on_TBS
Animal Expert David Mizejewski introduces the world to something called a binturong.
- published: 05 Jun 2012
- views: 360446
- author: teamcoco
Senior Tech Lesson #3: Google Plus - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:56
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Google's "digital network" can help you "connect" to more love and attention. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Senior_Tech_Lesson_3_Google_Plus_CONAN_on_TBS
Google's "digital network" can help you "connect" to more love and attention. More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 10 Dec 2012
- views: 17261
- author: teamcoco
Simon Pegg Loves To Torture His Twitter Followers - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:36
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Simon Pegg likes to have a little fun with the folks who take Twitter a little too seriously.
http://wn.com/Simon_Pegg_Loves_To_Torture_His_Twitter_Followers_CONAN_on_TBS
Simon Pegg likes to have a little fun with the folks who take Twitter a little too seriously.
- published: 28 Mar 2012
- views: 214062
- author: teamcoco
Flirt Fight: Jessica Biel vs. Conan O'Brien - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:41
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
The last time Mrs. Timberlake was on CONAN, was she the flirter or the flirted? More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Flirt_Fight_Jessica_Biel_vs_Conan_O'Brien_CONAN_on_TBS
The last time Mrs. Timberlake was on CONAN, was she the flirter or the flirted? More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 29 Nov 2012
- views: 95352
- author: teamcoco
The Honorary Patronage of Conan O'Brien | University Philosophical Society
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 58:10
- Updated: 21 Dec 2012
Famous for hosting Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and most recently Conan, one of America's most successful television hosts ever has become an Honorary Patron of The Phil. Earlier in this career, Conan was a writer on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. A rare comedic talent, the Irish-American presided over undergraduate humour publication, Harvard Lampoon, while studying history and literature at Harvard University.
http://wn.com/The_Honorary_Patronage_of_Conan_O'Brien_|_University_Philosophical_Society
Famous for hosting Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien and most recently Conan, one of America's most successful television hosts ever has become an Honorary Patron of The Phil. Earlier in this career, Conan was a writer on Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons. A rare comedic talent, the Irish-American presided over undergraduate humour publication, Harvard Lampoon, while studying history and literature at Harvard University.
- published: 12 Oct 2012
- views: 39218
- author: TCDPhil
Conan O'Brien's "Halo 4" Voiceover Remote - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:11
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
"Halo 4" for XBox 360 is coming November 6th, and Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter have been cast to play ridiculously key roles in the latest installment of this epic video game saga.
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien's_Halo_4_Voiceover_Remote_CONAN_on_TBS
"Halo 4" for XBox 360 is coming November 6th, and Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter have been cast to play ridiculously key roles in the latest installment of this epic video game saga.
- published: 18 Apr 2012
- views: 581379
- author: teamcoco
Conan Visits "Conan O'Brien College" - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:41
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan recently went down to San Diego to pay a visit to the students at UCSD Conan O'Brien College!
http://wn.com/Conan_Visits_Conan_O'Brien_College_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan recently went down to San Diego to pay a visit to the students at UCSD Conan O'Brien College!
- published: 27 Apr 2012
- views: 102938
- author: teamcoco
Clueless Gamer: Conan O'Brien Reviews "Resident Evil 6" - CONAN on TBS
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:03
- Updated: 23 Dec 2012
Conan discovers the joys of zombie slaughter in his review of "Resident Evil 6". More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
http://wn.com/Clueless_Gamer_Conan_O'Brien_Reviews_Resident_Evil_6_CONAN_on_TBS
Conan discovers the joys of zombie slaughter in his review of "Resident Evil 6". More CONAN @ teamcoco.com
- published: 15 Sep 2012
- views: 381004
- author: teamcoco
photo: AP / Aijaz Rahi
22 Dec 2012
Tweet. 0 Email. Report. Photo 1 of 18. In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics. She is an icon of fashion in her country. Credit. Aimee Kligman. In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics. She is an icon of fashion in her country.In 2009, ELLE Magazine named Mrs Assad the most stylish woman in world politics ... Syrians detained by the Assad regime. 13 Photos ... 10 Photos ... ....(size: 6.3Kb)
photo: AP
23 Dec 2012
North Korea's launching of a rocket into space last week amounted to the test of a ballistic missile capable of carrying a half-ton payload over 10,000km, the South Korean defence ministry says. "Based on our analysis and simulation, the missile is capable of flying more than 10,000km with a warhead of 500-600kg," a defence ministry official told reporters on Sunday ... 415 Source.. Agencies. Share. Send Feedback. Featured on Al Jazeera. Jaws....(size: 18.8Kb)
photo: AP / Virginie Nguyen Huang
23 Dec 2012
Tweet. Moscow, Dec 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Chemical weapons in Syria are under the control of the government, which has consolidated them in one or two locations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. "As of right now, the (Syrian) government is doing all it can to safeguard those weapons," he said. "We are following all leads concerning chemical weapons," Lavrov said ... "My answer is very simple. Why use us as a postman ... pm/ ... ) .. ). ... . ....(size: 3.2Kb)
photo: AP / Altaf Qadri
23 Dec 2012
A commission will be set up to probe the gang-rape and torture of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi and measures to ensure such crimes do not recur while laws will be amended to enhance punishment for rape, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said . He also appealed the thousands of protesters on the capital’s streets, demanding justice for the victim, to withdraw ... “The government is serious on the issue. ... . . ....(size: 2.4Kb)
photo: AP / Eranga Jayawardena
22 Dec 2012
Salman Khan's Dabangg 2 has broken the record for the biggest non-holiday opener ... "Biggest opener [holiday] #EkThaTiger 32.92 cr ... Biggest opener [non-holiday] #RowdyRathore 15.1 cr ... ....(size: 0.9Kb)
Celebrity Café
23 Dec 2012
An astounding number of stars consisting of Jon Hamm, Steve Carell, Zooey Deschanel, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Banks, Brooke Shields, Conan O'Brien, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, Selena Gomez, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow and so many more united to ......(size: 1.6Kb)
Celebrity Café
23 Dec 2012
An astounding number of stars consisting of Jon Hamm, Steve Carell, Zooey Deschanel, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Banks, Brooke Shields, Conan O'Brien, Will Ferrell, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Chris Rock, Ellen DeGeneres, Selena Gomez, Kate Hudson, Gwyneth Paltrow and so many more united ......(size: 1.5Kb)
The Examiner
23 Dec 2012
This week CNN Newsgroup’s outgoing president, Jim Walton left CNN Center for the last time as the boss. Walton, has been with the cable network for 31 years. He is credited with turning the company around after it struggled financially ... CNN’s new boss is said to have been the architect of the chaos that resulted when Conan O’Brien was relieved of his duties at The Tonight Show and Jay Leno was reinstated as host ... Photo credit. ... Cox....(size: 2.6Kb)
noodls
23 Dec 2012
(Source ... By Adam Fluck . 12.23.2012 ... in this year's edition of A Christmas Carol ... for the Bulls ... "La'Ren is truly inspiring." ... Aside from various commercials during his playing career and more recently, a quick visit on the Conan O'Brien show during their week of shooting at the Chicago Theater, most of the time he's been on camera has either been as a player or former player in a setting which surrounded the game of basketball ... Scrooge!"....(size: 8.3Kb)
The Inquisitr
22 Dec 2012
Timed to perfection to follow the NRA’s press conference, among the stars involved in the video were; Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Aniston, Jamie Foxx, Ellen DeGeneres, Beyonce, Will Ferrell, Michelle Williams, John Hamm, Chris Rock, Jessica Alba, Conan O’Brien, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeremy Renner and Sarah Silverman....(size: 7.6Kb)
Detroit Free Press
22 Dec 2012
Beyonce, Jennifer Aniston, Selena Gomez, Jaime Foxx, Conan O'Brien, Ellen DeGeneres and other entertainers are appearing in a PSA calling on Americans to "demand a ......(size: 0.9Kb)
Newstrack India
22 Dec 2012
... Diaz, Ellen DeGeneres, Julianne Moore, Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Olivia Munn, Selena Gomez, Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Westfeldt, Will Ferrell, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Rashida Jones, John Slattery, Jeremy Renner, Conan O'Brien, and others, have featured in the clip released on Friday on DemandaPlan.org, the Daily Mail reported....(size: 2.6Kb)
The Daily Telegraph Australia
22 Dec 2012
"Columbine. Virginia Tech. Tucson. Aurora. Fort Hood. Oak Creek. Newtown. Newtown ... The video, also featuring Ellen DeGeneres, Jon Hamm, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Aniston and Conan O'Brien, appears on the website of the campaign, which claims 750 mayors and 750,000 people support its demand "that President Obama and Congress step forward with a plan to end gun violence". Recommended Coverage ... ... ....(size: 3.3Kb)
Huffington Post
21 Dec 2012
'Conan'. Rita Wilson Mistook Conan O'Brien For An Ex-Boyfriend Last Summer On The Beach. http.//www.aoltv.com/celebs/conan-obrien/1484087/main likes to make comedy about how distinctive he looks ... Wilson was on "Conan" where she shared the embarrassing story. Seeing O'Brien, Wilson called out the name of her ex-boyfriend. When O'Brien turned around to clarify for her that he wasn't the guy she was thinking of, she still didn't buy it....(size: 10.2Kb)
IMDb
21 Dec 2012
Stereogum
21 Dec 2012
Last night, Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard was Conan’s musical guest. He sang “Something’s Rattling (Cowpoke),” a song from his solo album Former Lives, and the Los Angeles mariachi troupe Trio Ellas backed him up ... Watch it below. Former Lives is out now on Barsuk. TweetTags. Ben Gibbard, Conan O'Brien, Death Cab For Cutie, Trio Ellas . You Might Also Like ... Deconstructing ... Comments (0). Leave a Reply ... ....(size: 5.4Kb)
Huffington Post
21 Dec 2012
With a lengthy presidential election and countless hours of cable news coverage about it, Jon Stewart had more than enough material to work with in 2012 ... Relive all of Stewart's best "Daily Show" moments from 2012 in the supercut above ... Tell us your favorite segments in the comments section below!. Video edited by Ben Craw ... This Interview With Baby Jon Stewart And Baby Conan O'Brien ... His Epic Fight With Conan O'Brien And Stephen Colbert ... ....(size: 7.9Kb)
STL Today
21 Dec 2012
| Conan O'Brien | |
|---|---|
 O'Brien in 2006 |
|
| Birth name | Conan Christopher O'Brien |
| Born | (1963-04-18) April 18, 1963 (age 49) Brookline, Massachusetts, United States[1] |
| Medium | Television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Genres | Improvisational comedy, sketch comedy, physical comedy, surreal humor, self-deprecation |
| Influences | Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Robert Smigel, Pee-Wee Herman |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Ann Powel (since 2002; 2 children) |
| Notable works and roles | The Simpsons (writer, producer, 1991–1993) Late Night with Conan O'Brien (host, 1993–2009) The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (host, 2009–2010) Conan (host, 2010–present) |
| Signature |  |
| Emmy Awards | |
| Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program 1989 Saturday Night Live 2007 Late Night with Conan O'Brien[2] |
|
Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.[3][4]
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later of The Simpsons. He hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.
Early life[link]
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard,[5][6][7] and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray.[8] He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants.[7] In a Late Night episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.
O'Brien attended Brookline High School, where he served as the managing editor of the school newspaper.[7] In his senior year, O'Brien won the National Council of Teachers of English writing contest with his short story, "To Bury the Living".[9] After graduating as valedictorian in 1981, he entered Harvard University.[10] At Harvard, O'Brien lived in Holworthy Hall during his freshman year[11] and Mather House during his three upper-class years. He concentrated in history and literature and graduated magna cum laude[12] in 1985.[13] His senior thesis concerned the use of children as symbols in the works of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.[14] Throughout college, O'Brien was a writer for the Harvard Lampoon humor magazine. He also briefly served as the drummer in a band called "The Bad Clams".[15] During his sophomore and junior years, he served as the Lampoon's president.[16] At this time, O'Brien's future boss at NBC, Jeff Zucker, was serving as President of the rival The Harvard Crimson.[17]
Career[link]
[edit] Saturday Night Live (1987–1991)
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O'Brien moved to Los Angeles after graduation to join the writing staff of HBO's Not Necessarily the News.[18] He was also a writer on the short-lived The Wilton North Report.[18] He spent two years with that show and performed regularly with improvisational groups, including The Groundlings. In January 1988, Saturday Night Live's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, hired O'Brien as a writer. During his three years on Saturday Night Live (SNL), he wrote such recurring sketches as "Mr. Short-Term Memory" and "The Girl Watchers"; the latter was first performed by Tom Hanks and Jon Lovitz.[19] O'Brien also co-wrote the sketch, "Nude Beach", with Robert Smigel, in which the word "penis" was said or sung at least 42 times. While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987–88 season, O'Brien put on an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel called Happy Happy Good Show.[20][21] While living in Chicago, O'Brien briefly roomed with Jeff Garlin.[22] In 1989, O'Brien and his fellow SNL writers received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.
O'Brien, like many SNL writers, occasionally appeared as an extra in sketches; his most notable appearance was as a doorman in a sketch in which Tom Hanks was inducted into the SNL "Five-Timers Club" for hosting his fifth episode. O'Brien returned to host the show in 2001 during its 26th season. O'Brien and Robert Smigel wrote the television pilot for Lookwell starring Adam West, which aired on NBC in 1991. The pilot never went to series, but it became a cult hit. It was later screened at The Other Network, a festival of unaired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret; it featured an extended interview with O'Brien and was rerun in 2002 on the Trio network.
[edit] The Simpsons (1991–1993)
From 1991 to 1993, O'Brien was a writer and producer for The Simpsons[19] and was credited as writer or co-writer of four episodes.[23] Of all the episodes he wrote, he considers "Marge vs. the Monorail" to be his favorite.[19] Along with this episode, he has sole writing credits on "New Kid on the Block," "Homer Goes to College," and "Treehouse of Horror IV," on which he wrote the episode wraparounds. He was an active producer during seasons 4 and 5 as well, meaning he would frequently contribute to scripts from those seasons as well as come up with story ideas, plot points, and jokes.[24] The style of the show's comedy during this period was also influenced by his sensibilities, with "Marge vs. the Monorail" being cited by several former writers as the turning point in the show's history where more absurd and visual comedy became acceptable.[25][26] He also developed a reputation as a "room guy," or a writer who performs comedy bits throughout the day to entertain other writers.[25]
In his speech given at Class Day at Harvard in 2000,[27] O'Brien credited The Simpsons with saving him, a reference to the career slump he was experiencing prior to his being hired for the show.[28]
During his time at The Simpsons, O'Brien also had a side project working with former writing partner Robert Smigel on the script for a musical film based on the "Hans and Franz" sketch from Saturday Night Live. The film was never produced.[29][30]
[edit] Late Night (1993–2009)
Main article: Late Night with Conan O'Brien
As executive producer, Lorne Michaels invited O'Brien to audition to host the successor show to Late Night with David Letterman.[7] Premiering on September 13, 1993, Late Night with Conan O'Brien received generally unfavorable critical reviews during its first few years. The show remained on multiweek renewal cycles while NBC decided its fate.[7] O'Brien later poked fun at the first three years of the show, when on his 10th Anniversary Special Mr. T appeared to give O'Brien a gold necklace with a giant "7" on it. When O'Brien tried to point out that he had actually been on the air for ten years, Mr. T responded, "I know that, fool; but you've only been funny for seven!"[31]
Beginning in 1996, O'Brien and the Late Night writing team were nominated annually for the Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series, winning the award for the first and only time in 2007. In 1997, 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2004, he and the Late Night writing staff won the Writers Guild Award for Best Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series. In 2001, he formed his own television production company, Conaco, which subsequently shared in the production credits for Late Night.[7]
A long-running joke, which stems from the recurring segment "Conan O'Brien Hates My Homeland", is that O'Brien resembles the first female president of Finland, Tarja Halonen. After joking about this for several months (which led to his endorsement of her campaign), O'Brien traveled to Finland, appearing on several television shows and meeting President Halonen. The trip was filmed and aired as a special.[32]
O'Brien ad-libbed the fictional website name "hornymanatee.com" on December 4, 2006, after a sketch about the fictional manatee mascot and its inappropriate webcam site.[7] NBC opted to purchase the website domain name for $159, since the website did not previously exist. The network was concerned that the Federal Communications Commission would hold NBC liable for promoting inappropriate content if a third party were to register the domain and post such material.[33] For a period of time, the website hosted material concerning Conan's initial manatee joke and other Tonight Show references, but today the site just redirects to NBC's main web page.
A popular recurring bit on the show was "Pale Force", a series of animated episodes in which comedian Jim Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their "paleness". As Gaffigan introduced each new episode, O'Brien protested the portrayal of his character as cowardly, weak, and impotent. As of October 2005[update], Late Night with Conan O'Brien had for eleven years consistently attracted an audience averaging about 2.5 million viewers.[34] O'Brien is an avid guitarist and music listener. When Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band appeared on the show as musical guests, O'Brien joined the 17-piece band, along with the Max Weinberg 7 and guests Jimmy Fallon and Thomas Haden Church, playing acoustic guitar and contributing backup vocals for the song "Pay Me My Money Down". On the June 13, 2008, episode of Late Night, O'Brien simply walked onto the stage at the start of the show. Instead of his usual upbeat antics and monologue, O'Brien announced that he had just received news about the sudden death of his good friend, fellow NBC employee and frequent Late Night guest, Tim Russert. O'Brien proceeded to show two clips of his favorite Russert Late Night moments.[35] On February 20, 2009, NBC aired the last episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. The show consisted of a compilation of previous Late Night clips and included a surprise appearance by former sidekick, Andy Richter. Will Ferrell, John Mayer, and the White Stripes also appeared. O'Brien ended the episode by destroying the set with an axe, handing out the pieces of the set to the audience,[36][37] and thanking a list of people who helped him get to that point in his career. Among those thanked were Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jay Leno, and O'Brien's wife and children.
The Colbert / O'Brien / Stewart mock feud[link]
Main article: Who Made Huckabee?
During the writers' strike in 2008, O'Brien staged a mock feud with Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (of The Daily Show) and Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) over a dispute about which of the three were responsible for giving a "bump" to Mike Huckabee's campaign to become the Republican presidential nominee. This feud crossed over all three shows during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.[38]
[edit] The Tonight Show (2009–2010)
Main article: The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
In 2004, O'Brien negotiated a new contract with NBC. As part of the deal, O'Brien would take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2009.[7] O'Brien was a guest on Jay Leno's final episode of The Tonight Show. On June 1, 2009, Will Ferrell became Conan's first Tonight Show guest on the couch and Pearl Jam appeared as his first musical guest.[39]
During the taping of the Friday, September 25, 2009, episode of The Tonight Show, O'Brien suffered from a mild concussion after he slipped and hit his head while running a race as part of a comedy sketch with guest Teri Hatcher. He was examined at a hospital and released the same day. A rerun was aired that night, but O'Brien returned to work the following Monday and poked fun at the incident.[40][41]
[edit] Departure from The Tonight Show
Main article: 2010 Tonight Show conflict
On Thursday, January 7, 2010, NBC executive Jeff Zucker met with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien to discuss how to get Leno out of prime time, where his ratings were lackluster, and back into late night. A proposal was made that would see O'Brien remain as host of The Tonight Show, which would be moved to 12:05 am with Leno hosting a 30-minute show at 11:35 pm[42] On January 10, NBC Universal Television Entertainment Chairman Jeff Gaspin confirmed that The Jay Leno Show would indeed end at the start of the Winter Olympics on February 12, 2010, and be moved to 11:35 pm following the Olympics coverage.[43] Sources familiar with the situation told the New York Post that O'Brien was unhappy with NBC's plan.[44]
"Every comedian, every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and—for seven months—I got to do it. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second [of it].... All I ask is one thing, and I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch: Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism; for the record it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien, on his departure from The Tonight Show, January 22, 2010.[45]
On January 12, O'Brien released this statement: "I sincerely believe that delaying The Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. The Tonight Show at 12:05 simply isn’t The Tonight Show."[46][47] On January 21, 2010, it was announced that Conan had reached a deal with NBC that would see him exit The Tonight Show the next day. The deal also granted him $45 million, of which $12 million was designated for distribution to his staff, who had moved with Conan to Los Angeles from New York when he left Late Night.
The final Tonight Show with Conan aired January 22, 2010, and featured guests Tom Hanks, Steve Carell (who did an exit interview and shredded Conan's ID badge), Neil Young (singing "Long May You Run"), and Will Ferrell. For Ferrell's appearance, Conan played guitar with the band and Ferrell sang "Free Bird" while reprising his SNL cowbell. Ferrell's wife, Viveca Paulin, together with Ben Harper, Beck, and ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, also joined the band for this final performance.[48]
Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show following NBC's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Under the $45 million deal with NBC, Conan was allowed to start working for another network as soon as September 2010.[49][50][51] Conan's rumored next networks ranged anywhere from Fox[52] to Comedy Central.[53][54]
[edit] After Tonight
On February 8, 2010, it was reported that O'Brien was attempting to sell his Central Park West penthouse in New York with an asking price of $35 million.[55] He purchased the apartment in 2007 for $10 million.[55] Two years earlier, O'Brien had purchased a home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles for over $10.5 million.[56] Some industry insiders have speculated that O'Brien had chosen to stay on the west coast in order to facilitate a return to late night television[55] and because he did not want to put his children through another move.[57]
On February 24, 2010, O'Brien attracted media attention for starting a Twitter account.[58][59] His tweets, although primarily jokes, amounted to his first public statements since leaving The Tonight Show one month earlier.[60] After about one hour, O'Brien's subscriber list had rocketed to over 30,000 members and approximately 30 minutes later, he was on the brink of passing 50,000 followers, already 20,000 more than the verified @jayleno account.[61][62][63] After 24 hours, O'Brien had well over 300,000 followers.[60] In late May 2010, he surpassed the one million mark for number of Twitter followers,[64] and as of April 2012[update] he has over 5.3 million followers.[65]
O'Brien has been named to the 2010 Time 100, a list compiled by TIME of the 100 most influential people in the world as voted on by readers.[66] After being prohibited from making television appearances of any kind until May, O'Brien spoke about the Tonight Show conflict on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes on May 2, 2010.[67] During the interview with Steve Kroft, O'Brien said the situation felt "like a marriage breaking up suddenly, violently, quickly. And I was just trying to figure out what happened." He also said he "absolutely" expected NBC to give him more of a chance and that, if in Jay Leno's position, he would not have come back to The Tonight Show. However, Conan said he did not feel he got shafted. "It's crucial to me that anyone seeing this, if they take anything away from this, it's I'm fine. I'm doing great," said O'Brien. "I hope people still find me comedically absurd and ridiculous. And I don't regret anything."[68]
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour[link]
On March 11, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account that he would embark on a 30-city live tour beginning April 12, 2010, entitled "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour".[69][70] Co-host Andy Richter, along with members of the former Tonight Show Band, joined O'Brien on the tour.[71] Max Weinberg, however, was not able to join,[72] except for a guest appearance at one of Conan's New York City shows. VIP tickets for $695 offered the opportunity to meet O'Brien in person.[73] On the same day, teamcoco.com—an apparently official website—was launched.[74]
On April 12, 2010, O'Brien opened his two-month comedy tour in Eugene, Oregon, with a crowd of 2,500 and no TV cameras. The tour traveled through America's Northwest and Canada before moving on to larger cities, including Los Angeles and New York City, where he performed on the campuses that house both of the NBC-owned studios he formerly occupied. The tour ended in Atlanta on June 14. With ticket prices starting at $40, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour" was effectively sold out.[3]
[edit] Conan (2010–present)
Main article: Conan (TV series)
On April 12, 2010, just hours before the start of his tour in Eugene, Oregon, O'Brien announced that he would host a new show on cable station TBS.[3] The show debuted on November 8, 2010,[75] and airs Monday through Thursday beginning at 11:00 pm ET/10:00 pm CT. O'Brien's addition moved Lopez Tonight with George Lopez back one hour to midnight ET/11:00 pm CT.[4] Refusing at first to do to Lopez what had happened to him at NBC, O'Brien agreed to join the network after Lopez called to persuade him to come to TBS.[76] In Canada, CTV will air the show[77] and in Turkey, CNBC-e will air the show.
Other networks that were reportedly interested in O'Brien include TBS' sister networks TNT and HBO, Fox, FX, Comedy Central, Showtime, Revision3,[78] and even the NBC Universal-owned USA Network.[79]
On September 1, 2010, O'Brien announced via his Twitter account and Team Coco YouTube page that the title of his new show on TBS would simply be Conan.
Television writer/producer (2002–present)[link]
In 2004, O'Brien apologized to Canadians for engaging in Quebec bashing, something which some felt reflected prejudice against Francophones.[80] On March 7, 2006, NBC announced a new adventure/comedy series entitled Andy Barker, P.I., starring O'Brien's former sidekick, Andy Richter. O'Brien was executive producer and co-wrote the pilot. After six episodes and low ratings, the show was canceled despite being named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Top Ten Shows of 2007.[81] USA Network has handed out a 90-minute, cast-contingent pilot order to the medical-themed Operating Instructions from O'Brien's production banner. O'Brien will serve as an executive producer through his Conaco label. The script comes from Just Shoot Me veterans Judd Pillot and John Peaslee who will also executive produce."[82] NBC ordered two pilots from Conaco in January 2010, the one-hour courtroom drama, Outlaw, and a half-hour comedy.[83] Outlaw was produced in eight episodes and premiered on September 15, 2010.[84]
Voice work and guest appearances[link]
O'Brien's first guest appearance after beginning his late-night career was on the show he used to write for, The Simpsons. He played himself in the season five episode "Bart Gets Famous", interviewing Bart Simpson during his rise to fame as a catchphrase comedian. The episode was produced after O'Brien's audition to replace David Letterman, but before he was hired for the show. O'Brien recorded his part after his own show went on the air, though he believed his show would be canceled by the time "Bart Gets Famous" aired.[85] In 2006, he voiced himself in a short South Park scene as part of the opening of the 2006 Emmy Awards. In 2005, he provided the voice of Robert Todd Lincoln in the audio book version of Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell.[86]
File:Simpsonconan.jpg
O'Brien appearing as himself on The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets Famous".
O'Brien has made multiple voice appearances on the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken, including the specials Robot Chicken: Star Wars, and Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II as the voice of the bounty hunter Zuckuss.[87] On the TV show 30 Rock, O'Brien is depicted as an ex-boyfriend of lead character Liz Lemon, who works in the same building. In the episode "Tracy Does Conan," Conan appears as himself, awkwardly reunited with Lemon and coerced by network executive Jack Donaghy into having the character Tracy Jordan on Late Night, despite having been assaulted in Jordan's previous appearance.[88]
O'Brien made an appearance on Futurama in the second-season episode "Xmas Story". O'Brien plays himself as a head in a jar and still alive in the year 3000. O'Brien performs a stand-up routine at a futuristic ski lodge while being heckled by Bender the robot.[89]
O'Brien also made a cameo appearance on the U.S. version of The Office. In the episode "Valentine's Day", Michael believes that he spots former SNL cast member, Tina Fey, but has actually mistaken another woman for her. In the meantime, Conan has a quick walk-on and the camera crew informs Michael, when he returns from talking to the Tina Fey lookalike.[90]
In January 2010, O'Brien appeared in The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special – In 3-D! On Ice! to honor the show he had written for in the early 1990s.[91]
O'Brien created a superhero character with veteran DC Comics animator Bruce Timm during one episode of Conan. Named "The Flaming C", the superhero bears a likeness to O'Brien, with a typically muscular superhero body and costume with chest insignia, but also with idiosyncrasies arbitrarily suggested by O'Brien like an oven mitt, a jai alai glove, marijuana leaf buckle, golf shoes, sock garters and fishnet stockings.[92] O'Brien later aired a clip in which the character appears in Young Justice.[93]
In 2011, O'Brien hosted the Christmas in Washington special for TBS' sister network, TNT, featuring performances from Justin Bieber, Victoria Justice, Cee-Lo Green, The Band Perry and Jennifer Hudson; with a special appearance by the Obama family.[94]
Emmy host[link]
O'Brien hosted the 58th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, to critical acclaim.[95] He had previously hosted the Primetime Emmys in 2002, and co-hosted in 2003.
Commercials and product placements[link]
According to Marketing Evolutions, the company that produces Q Scores measuring the familiarity and appeal of celebrities and brands, almost 74% of U.S. consumers are familiar with O'Brien.[96] In spite of that high score, O'Brien hasn't done many commercials for corporate America; two recent examples are a 2009 appearance in a Super Bowl XLIII commercial for Bud Light, and one for American Express, which debuted on the same day as Conan.[96] He donated his proceeds from the Super Bowl commercial to the Fresh Air Fund, a charity which sends inner-city New York children to the country for vacations.[97] According to The Wall Street Journal, O'Brien was paid more than one million dollars to do the American Express commercial, which required him to spend three days in Jaipur, India filming it.[96]
While O'Brien has done few commercials, he "does do plenty of promoting, weaving product pitches into his show"; he has said "it's increasingly incumbent to help with tie-ins [but] if it can't be funny, I'd rather go hungry."[96]
Comedy and mannerisms[link]
On Late Night, O'Brien became known for his active and spontaneous hosting style,[7] which has been characterized as "awkward, self-deprecating humor".[98]
Personal life[link]
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O'Brien met Elizabeth Ann 'Liza' Powel in 2000 when she appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in an advertising skit involving Foote, Cone & Belding, where she worked as senior copywriter.[99] The couple dated for nearly 18 months before their 2002 marriage in Powel's hometown of Seattle. O'Brien and Powel have a daughter, Neve (born in 2003)[100] and a son, Beckett (born in 2005).[101]
O'Brien repeatedly affirms his Irish Catholic heritage on his show. On a 2009 episode of Inside the Actors Studio, he stated that both sides of his family moved to America from Ireland in the 1850s, subsequently marrying only other Irish Catholics, and that his lineage is thus 100% Irish Catholic.[7]
He has been a staunch Democrat since casting his first vote for President in 1984 for Walter Mondale, although he considers himself a moderate on the political spectrum.[7] O'Brien's longtime friend and former roommate at Harvard is Father Paul B. O' Brien, with whom he founded Labels Are For Jars,[102] an antihunger organization based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and helped open the Cor Unum meal center in 2006.[103] The two are not related.
In January 2008, after his show was put on hold for two months owing to the strike by the Writers Guild of America, he reemerged on late-night TV sporting a beard, which guest Tom Brokaw described as making him look like "a draft dodger from the Civil War." After leaving The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on Jan. 22, 2010, O'Brien again grew a beard, which he kept until May 2, 2011, when it was partially shaved on the set of his TBS talk show, Conan, by Will Ferrell with battery-operated clippers (and completely shaved off-screen by a professional barber).[104] The event was dubbed on the show as "Beardocalypse," and included a contest for fan-submitted artwork.[105]
O'Brien purchased a $10.5-million mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, to prepare for his move there in 2009 from New York City to host The Tonight Show at Universal Studios Hollywood.[106] As part of a long running gag, he brought his 1992 Ford Taurus SHO with him to California, showcasing it on both the inaugural episodes of The Tonight Show and Conan.
On October 21, 2011, O'Brien was ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church,[107] allowing him to perform a same-sex marriage while back in New York (where gay marriage is legal) to tape a week's worth of shows. The wedding, between a member of O'Brien's staff and his partner, was held on the stage of the Beacon Theatre on November 3, 2011, and broadcast on Conan.[108]
Conan vs. Bear[link]
Conan vs. Bear is a comedic website, lampooning the prospect of Conan O'Brien fighting bears. Artists from around the world have sent in images and videos with their own take on this theme. Currently the site boasts over 400 unique renderings, as well as several original videos inspired by the site. The website was noted by O'Brien on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[109][110]
Victim of stalking[link]
It was reported that since September 2006, O'Brien had allegedly been stalked by Father David Ajemian of the Archdiocese of Boston, who, despite multiple warnings to stop, had been sending O'Brien letters signed as "your priest stalker" and coming in contact with O'Brien's parents. Frustrated that he had been denied a spot in the Late Night audience, Ajemian sent a letter to O'Brien stating that he flew to New York "in the dimming hope that you might finally acknowledge me." He stated in another letter, "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans??? You owe me big time, pal." In another letter, Ajemian seemed to make a death threat, saying, "Remember Frank Costello once dodged a bullet in your building and so can you." Ajemian then tried to forcefully enter a taping of Late Night but was caught and arrested. He was previously warned by the NBC security team to stay away from the studio. After a psychological evaluation, he was deemed fit to stand trial. He has since been bailed out of jail.[111] He was then reported missing by his father on November 10, 2007. He was found and underwent evaluation at a hospital. It is known that the two had attended Harvard University at the same time. He was found fit to stand trial on April 4, 2008. On April 8, 2008, Ajemian pleaded guilty to stalking, stating that he "never meant to cause anxiety or to upset anyone." He was ordered to pay a $95 US$ court charge and to sign a two-year restraining order barring him from coming near O'Brien.[112] On September 11, 2008, Ajemian checked himself out of his treatment at a hospital against the wishes of his bishop, Seán Patrick O'Malley. Cardinal O'Malley then released a statement saying that because he violated his bishop's wishes, Ajemian could no longer serve as a priest in the Catholic Church.[113] As of late 2010, Ajemian has moved on to stalking Anthony Everett.[114]
Nicknames[link]
Conan acquired the nickname "Coco" after its use in the first "Twitter Tracker" sketch during the second episode of his Tonight Show run.[115] Guest Tom Hanks used the nickname during his subsequent interview, even getting the audience to chant it. In reaction to the moniker, Conan remarked to Hanks in jest, "If that catches on, I'll sue you."[116][117]
In a March 23, 2011, interview with WWE Champion The Miz on Conan, The Miz dubbed Conan "The Ginja Ninja", a reference to Conan's red hair and the fact that he came back fighting to get his new late-night talk show. A week later, "Team Ginja Ninja" T-shirts were available on TeamCoco.com.[118]
Filmography[link]
- Appearances on talk shows
- Guest appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1993,[119] 2007, 2008, 2009)
- Guest appearance on Late Night with David Letterman (1993)
- Guest appearance on The Jon Stewart Show (1993)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993–2009)
- Guest appearance on Last Call with Carson Daly (2002)
- Guest appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2007, 2008)
- Guest appearance on The Colbert Report (2007, 2008)
- Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009)
- The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009–2010)
- Guest appearance on Lopez Tonight (2010, 2011)
- Conan (November 8, 2010–)
- Guest appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2011)
- Guest appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight (2012)
- Guest appearance on Late Show with David Letterman (2012)
- Other shows
- Saturday Night Live (1991, 2001)
- The Simpsons (as himself) (1994)
- Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (as himself) (1999)
- Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995)
- The Single Guy (1996)
- Arli$$ (1996)
- Spin City (1999)
- Futurama (1999)
- Storytelling (2001)
- Vanilla Sky (2001)
- Sugar & Spice (2001) (cameo in end credits)
- Dr. Katz (as himself) (2002)
- Andy Richter Controls the Universe (2003)
- End of the Century (2003)
- Bewitched (as himself) (2005)
- Robot Chicken (2005)
- The Denial Twist (The White Stripes music video) (2005)
- O'Grady (2006)
- The Office (cameo) (2006)
- Queer Duck (as himself) (2006)
- 30 Rock (as himself) (2007, 2009)
- Robot Chicken Star Wars (as Zuckuss) (2007)
- Sesame Street (2008)
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II (as Zuckuss, Star Wars nerd) (2008)
- The Backyardigans (2009)
- 60 Minutes (interview) (2010)
- Eagleheart (himself) (2010)
- How I Met Your Mother (cameo) (2012)
Awards and nominations[link]
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Emmy Award | Saturday Night Live | Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program | Won[120][121] |
| 1990 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| 1991 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| 1996 | Emmy Award | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] |
| 1997 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120] | ||
| 1998 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| 1999 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2000 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120] | ||
| 2001 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2002 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120][121] | ||
| 2003 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120][121] | ||
| 2004 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2005 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| People's Choice Award | Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host | Nominated[120] | ||
| Telvis Award | For the color spot of the year | Special Telvis | Won[120] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120] | |
| 2006 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| People's Choice Award | Favorite Late Night Talk Show Host | Nominated[120] | ||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Won[120] | ||
| 2007 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Won[120][121] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2008 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| 2009 | Emmy Award | Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Variety or Music Program | Nominated[120][121] | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2010 | Emmy Award | The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien | Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series | Nominated[122] |
| Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[122] | |||
| Writers Guild of America Award | Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series | Nominated[120] | ||
| 2011 | People's Choice Award | Conan | Favorite TV Talk Show Host | Won |
| Emmy Award | Outstanding Comedy, Music or Variety Series | Nominated[123] | ||
| Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[123] | |||
| Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety, Music or Comedy Series | Nominated[123] | |||
| American Express | Outstanding Commercial | Nominated[123] | ||
| 2012 | People's Choice Award | Conan | Favorite TV Talk Show Host | Pending |
References[link]
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- ^ "Outstanding Comedy Series". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. http://www.emmys.tv/awards/2007pt/nominations_pt.php?action=search_db#1. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Conan O'Brien to Debut New Late-Night Show on TBS". Associated Press. FOX News. April 12, 2010. http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/04/12/conan-obrien-debut-new-late-night-tbs/. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ a b Frazier Moore, Associated Press (April 12, 2010). "Conan O'Brien to Make TBS His New Late-Night Home". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=10352884. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien Biography (1963–)". Film Reference. http://www.filmreference.com/film/42/Conan-O-Brien.html. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
- ^ "Conan Christopher O’Brien". Ancestry. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/obrien.htm. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2009
- ^ "Ruth Reardon O'Brien 1931–". Stanford.edu. http://www.law.stanford.edu/library/womenslegalhistory/papers/ObrienR-Peddie97.pdf. Retrieved January 23, 2010.
- ^ Coons, Phyllis (December 3, 1980). "Extra Credit: Starting Out with Style". The Boston Globe.
- ^ Beggy, Carol (November 6, 2003). "Monet goes to Vegas; Kerry goes out on the town". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2003/11/06/monet_goes_to_vegas_kerry_goes_out_on_the_town/. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Harvard College Freshman Dean's Office". Harvard College. http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page101294. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Laufenberg, Norbert B. (2005). Entertainment Celebrities. Trafford. p. 482. ISBN 978-1-4120-5335-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=mzTW9Nitee4C&pg=PA482&dq=Conan+O%27Brien+Laufenberg&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- ^ "@Google & YouTube present A Conversation with Conan O'Brien", AtGoogleTalks, May 7, 2010
- ^ Aucoin, Don (August 31, 2003). "Understanding Conan". The Boston Globe Magazine. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2003/08/31/understanding_conan/?page=full.
- ^ Conan O'Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, January 15, 2010.
- ^ Longcope, Kay (October 24, 1983). "A Star Rising". The Boston Globe.
- ^ Finke, Nikki (January 14, 2010). "NO JOKE: Jeff Zucker Had Conan Arrested". Deadline Hollywood. http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/no-joke-jeff-zucker-had-conan-arrested/. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
- ^ a b Rabin, Nathan (August 30, 2006). "Conan O'Brien". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/52144. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Host of Late Night With Conan O'Brien". Greater Talent Network. Archived from the original on April 18, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080418032637/http://www.greatertalent.com/speakers/speakers.php?speakerid=235. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Boulware, Hugh (June 24, 1988). "Laugh Lines The Bits and Pieces That Get Comics Into the Act". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ Bommer, Lawrence (July 29, 1988). "Live, From Chicago, It's...". Chicago Tribune.
- ^ "Jeff Garlin interview". Late Night with Conan O'Brien. 2007-09-07.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien". IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005277/. Retrieved May 9, 2008.
- ^ Oakley, Bill (November 29, 2010). "How We Wrote Classic Simpsons Episodes". Splitsider. http://splitsider.com/2010/11/how-we-wrote-classic-simpsons-episodes/. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
- ^ a b Ortved, John. The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History. 2009.
- ^ Ortved, John (July 5, 2007). "A Q&A with Conan O'Brien". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/08/conan200708. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
- ^ Volonnino, Michael R. (June 8, 2000). "O'Brien Returns to Harvard". Harvard Crimson. http://thecrimson.harvard.edu/article.aspx?ref=101192. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien's Commencement Speech for the Harvard Class of 2000". everything2. August 8, 2000. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=692946. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Pearlman, Cindy (July 8, 1994). "Muscle-Man Bound". People. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,302839,00.html. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
- ^ Interview with Kevin Nealon. Conan. December 2, 2010.
- ^ Mr. T at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Barish, Mike (January 26, 2010). "5 places Conan should go on vacation". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/26/conan.obrien.vacation/index.html?hpt=C2. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
- ^ Steinberg, Jacques (December 12, 2006). "So This Manatee Walks Into the Internet". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/arts/television/12mana.html?em&ex=1166158800&en=226627e969708f1a&ei=5087%0A. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Grigoriadis, Vanessa (September 26, 2005). "Conan on the Couch". New York magazine. http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/features/14575/index.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien Pays Tribute to Tim Russert". http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008/06/14/tim-russert/.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien Takes Ax To 'Late Night' Set". http://www.kirotv.com. http://www.kirotv.com/entertainment/18729975/detail.html. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
- ^ HUFF, RICHARD (February 19, 2009). "Conan O'Brien ends 16-year run in New York to take over 'Tonight Show'". http://www.nydailynews.com. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/02/19/2009-02-19_conan_obrien_ends_16year_run_in_new_york.html. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
- ^ Gomez, Fin (February 6, 2008). "Who Created Huckabee? Conan, Stewart, and Colbert Fight it Out". Fox News. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080420164850/http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/02/06/who-created-huckabee-conan-stewart-and-colbert-fight-it-out/. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Will Ferrell Helps Conan Kick Things Off". Ok!. May 18, 2009. http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/14317. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Elber, Lynn (September 26, 2009). "Conan O'Brien OK after hitting head in show stunt". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2009946418_apustvconanobrien.html. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
- ^ "O'Brien back on 'Tonight,' joking about accident". Hudson Valley Media Group. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TV_CONAN_OBRIEN?SITE=NYMID&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT. Retrieved September 28, 2009. [dead link]
- ^ Carter, Bill (January 8, 2010). "NBC Wants Leno Back in Old Slot". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/business/media/08leno.html?ref=business. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ "Leno returns to late night: NBC". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. January 10, 2010. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/01/10/nbc-leno-return.html. Retrieved January 10, 2010.
- ^ Daly, Sean (January 11, 2010). "Just Call Him Conan O'Flyin'". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/just_call_him_conan_flyin_ThND8Mdv5MI5Pv8udof1LJ. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
- ^ Graham, Adam (2010). "Classily, Conan exits the Tonight Show". DETNEWS. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2010/01/conan_obrien_farewell.html. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
- ^ Conan O'Brien Says He Won't Host "Tonight Show" After Leno, New York Times, January 12, 2010
- ^ Conan O'Brien: I Won't Do "The Tonight Show" at 12:05AM, Zap2It.com, January 12, 2010
- ^ Conan O'Brien Thanks Fans in "Tonight" Farewell, NY Times, January 23, 2010
- ^ Exclusive: Conan, NBC Officially Splitsville, The Wrap, January 21, 2010
- ^ NBC, Conan O'Brien Reach Deal for "Tonight Show" Exit, Broadcasting & Cable, January 21, 2010
- ^ Conan O'Brien Signs Deal to Leave NBC, MarketWatch, January 21, 2010
- ^ New York Times article: "NBC’s Shift in Schedule May Be Up to O’Brien".
- ^ Business Insider article: "Why Is USA Network, NBC's Sister Station, Wooing Conan?".
- ^ Brian Gallagher (January 22, 2010). "Conan O'Brien Mulls Post The Tonight Show Options". MovieWeb.com. http://www.movieweb.com/news/NErxpxvwq6pAux. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ a b c Business Insider article: "Conan O'Brien Staying Close To Fox, Selling His New York Apartment."
- ^ LA Times article: "Conan O'Brien's palatial Brentwood home[dead link]."
- ^ Laist article. "Conan Says He'll Stay in L.A. for Cable Show, Will Appear on '60 Minutes'".
- ^ Conan O'Brien at Twitter
- ^ Entertainment Weekly article: "Conan O'Brien's Twitter debut."
- ^ a b Chicago Tribune article: "Conan, Ozzie and the Dalai Lama: Together on Twitter."
- ^ Cnet article: "Conan joins Twitter, beats Leno in hours."
- ^ LA Times article: "Conan O'Brien joins Twitter and doubles Jay Leno's follower count in two hours."
- ^ Kanalley, Craig (First Posted: 02–24–10 06:16 pm; Updated: 04–26–10 05:12 am). "Conan O'Brien Joins Twitter: New Account EXPLODES With Followers". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/conan-obrien-joins-twitte_n_475722.html. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
- ^ USA Today article: "Tweet this: Conan reaches 1 million; Britney overtakes Ashton."
- ^ Conan O'Brien on Twitter
- ^ Lopez, George (April 29, 2010). "Conan O'Brien – The 2010 Time 100". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1984685_1984940_1985538,00.html. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ Carter, Bill (April 29, 2010). "Conan O'Brien Opens Up About NBC Departure". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/arts/television/30conan.html. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ^ Hibberd, James (May 2, 2010). "Conan O'Brien '60 Minutes' transcript". The Hollywood Reporter. http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/conan-60-minutes-transcript.html. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ Twitter page for Conan O'Brien: "Hey Internet."
- ^ "O'Brien's's Tour Site". Teamcoco.com. http://www.teamcoco.com/. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien Announces Live Tour Across U.S., Canada – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/conan-obrien-announces-live-tour-us-canada/story?id=10073505. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Variety. http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/2010/03/coco-coast-to-coast-conan-obrien-announces-his-national-tour.html.
- ^ "Details about O'Brien's "meet and greet" ticket package". Purchase.tickets.com. http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val2883&pid=6728241. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "Conan Launches TeamCoco.com to Promote 30-City Comedy Tour". http://mashable.com/2010/03/11/teamcoco/.
- ^ "Jack White will perform in the first show" (spanish) CYAN mag #14 November'10
- ^ Bill Carter (April 12, 2010). "How the Conan O’Brien-TBS Deal Happened". The New York Times. http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/how-the-conan-obrien-tbs-deal-happened/?src=busln. Retrieved April 12, 2010.
- ^ "Inside Shows – CTV 2010 fall schedules and lineups announced". Shows.ctv.ca. http://shows.ctv.ca/allshows/article/CTV-2010-fall-schedules-and-lineups-announced#c_0. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "> Blog > An Open Letter to Conan O’Brien". Revision3. January 18, 2010. http://revision3.com/blog/2010/01/18/an-open-letter-to-conan-obrien/. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ HeadlinePlanet.com article "Report: FOX, TBS, FX, HBO Among Networks Interested in Conan O’Brien".
- ^ "Conan O'Brien apologizes to Canadians". CNN. February 18, 2004. http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/18/leisure.obrien.reut/. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
- ^ Flynn, Gillian (December 21, 2007). "Andy Barker, P.I.". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20162677_20164091_20166802,00.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien scrubs up for medical drama — Yahoo! News". News.yahoo.com. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080918/tv_nm/usa_dc. Retrieved October 13, 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "Television – News – NBC orders pilot from Conan O'Brien". Digital Spy. January 27, 2010. http://www.digitalspy.com/ustv/news/a199645/nbc-orders-pilot-from-conan-obrien.html. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "NBC Unveils 2010–2011 Primetime Schedule Accented by Five New Comedies, Seven New Dramas, and New Alternative Program". The Futon Critic. May 16, 2010. http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/05/16/nbc-unveils-2010-2011-primetime-schedule/20100516nbc01/. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
- ^ O'Brien, Conan. (2004). Commentary for "Bart Gets Famous" in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
- ^ "LoDingo® – Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell – Audio Book Download". Lodingo.com. http://www.lodingo.com/_product_54365/Assassination_Vacation. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "DVD: Robot Chicken: Star Wars with Hulk Hogan (voice) and Conan O'Brien (voice)". Tower.com. July 22, 2008. http://www.tower.com/robot-chicken-star-wars-hulk-hogan-dvd/wapi/111835834. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "30 Rock" Tracy Does Conan (TV episode 2006) – IMDb
- ^ "Futurama" Xmas Story (TV episode 1999) – IMDb
- ^ "The Office: Valentine's Day Episode Summary on". Tv.com. http://www.tv.com/the-office/valentines-day/episode/621947/summary.html. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Abramson, Dan (January 13, 2010). ""The Simpsons" Anniversary: Memories From Sting, Conan O'Brien, And More (VIDEO)". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/11/the-simpsons-anniversary_n_418370.html. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ "Conan Gets Animated", Conan, TBS, December 9, 2010
- ^ ""The Flaming C" Returns!". Conan. Team Coco/TBS. January 10, 2011. http://www.tbs.com/video/conan.jsp?oid=239470&eref=sharethisUrl. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
- ^ Zabriskie, Phil (December 11, 2011). "Justin Bieber, Jennifer Hudson, others take the stage at ‘Christmas in Washington’". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2011/12/11/gIQAORUooO_story.html. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
- ^ Adalian, Josef (August 27, 2006). "article". Variety. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117931393?categoryid=1264&cs=1. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ a b c d Vranica, Suzanne (November 8, 2010). "Card for a Card: AmEx Hires Conan". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704405704575596860479420010.html. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien Bud Light Super Bowl 2009 Ad". I4U. February 1, 2009. http://www.i4u.com/article23001.html. Retrieved November 20, 2010.
- ^ "Awkward, Self-Deprecating Humor Makes A Return As Conan O'Brien Debuts In LA". Starpulse.com. June 2, 2009. http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/06/02/awkward_self_deprecating_humor_makes_a_r_1. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
- ^ Serpe, Gina (November 10, 2005). "Conan's Baby O'Brien". E! Online. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b51057_Conans_Baby_OBrien.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien and wife have baby girl". USA Today. October 15, 2003. http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-10-15-obrian-baby_x.htm. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien & Wife Have Second Child". People magazine. November 11, 2005. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1128416,00.html. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Labels are for Jars". Labels are for Jars. http://www.labelsareforjars.org. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ Betances, Yadira, "One year, 100,000 meals; Cor Unum reaches milestone feeding the hungry", The Eagle-Tribune, Lawrence, Massachusetts, September 28, 2007.
- ^ "Watch Conan's Beard Get Shaved For Real During The Commercial Break". TeamCoco.com. http://teamcoco.com/content/watch-conans-beard-get-shaved-real-during-commercial-break. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- ^ "The Best Of The Beardpocalypse Photoshop Contest". TeamCoco.com. http://teamcoco.com/content/slideshow-best-beardpocalypse-photoshop-contest-so-far?photo=8561. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- ^ Reardanz, Karen (January 21, 2008). "O'Brien Spends Big in L.A.". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=23616. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- ^ "Universal Life Church Ministers". universallifechurchministers.org. http://www.universallifechurchministers.org/. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
- ^ Conan O'Brien Officiates Gay Wedding Of Scott Cronick And David Gorshein On Air (VIDEO), Huffington Post, November 4, 2011.
- ^ Conan O'Brien vs. Bear
- ^ USAToday article
- ^ "Conan's Alleged 'Priest Stalker' in Court". http://news.aol.com/entertainment/television/tv-news-story/ar/_a/conans-alleged-priest-stalker-in-court/20071108070609990001.
- ^ "Conan Stalker Pleads Guilty". http://news.aol.com/entertainment/story/_a/conan-obrien-stalker-pleads-guilty/n20080408181909990014.
- ^ "Conan O'Brien's Stalker Checks Out of Treatment". Huffington Post. September 12, 2008. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/12/david-ajemian-conans-prie_n_125918.html.
- ^ "David Ajemian, Conan O'Brien's Stalker Priest, Arrested AGAIN". Huffington Post. November 19, 2010. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/19/david-ajemian-conan-obrie_n_785912.html.
- ^ "Twitter Tracker, 2 June 2009". tonightshowwithconanobrien.com. http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/twitter-tracker-060209/1116881/. Retrieved January 21, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Tom Hanks Interview Pt. 1, 2 June 2009". tonightshowwithconanobrien.com. http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/tom-hanks-interview-pt-1-060209/1116835/. Retrieved January 21, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Tom Hanks Interview Pt. 2, 2 June 2009". tonightshowwithconanobrien.com. http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/video/clips/tom-hanks-interview-pt-2-060209/1116734/. Retrieved January 21, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Look Out! The Ginja Ninja T-Shirts Are Here!". teamcoco.com. http://teamcoco.com/content/look-out-ginja-ninja-t-shirts-are-here. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
- ^ As stated on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, May 29, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Internet Movie Database staff (2010). "Awards for Conan O'Brien". Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc.. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005277/awards. Retrieved January 15, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Conan O'Brien". NBC.com — The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com. 2010. http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.com/about/bios/. Retrieved January 15, 2010. [dead link]
- ^ a b "62nd Primetime Emmy Award Nominations". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. July 8, 2010. http://www.emmys.com/sites/emmys.com/files/62ndemmys_noms.pdf. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Conan is a cable guy now, but Emmy still likes him while neglecting Jay". Associated Press. 2011-07-14. http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/conan-is-a-cable-guy-now-but-emmy-still-likes-him-while-neglecting-jay/2011/07/14/gIQAaaJPEI_story.html. Retrieved 2011-07-14. [dead link]
Further reading[link]
- DeFrank, Ginny (2007). Marry me Conan O'Brien and other tales of well-planned self-delusion. University of Southern California. p. 608.
- "Late night talk show host Conan O'Brien". NPR. September 8, 2003. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1423695. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- Rabin, Nathan (August 23, 2006). "Conan O'Brien". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/51876. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- Rabin, Nathan (August 30, 2006). "Conan O'Brien". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/content/node/52144. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
- Rose, Charlie (August 24, 2006). "Charlie Rose — An hour with Conan O'Brien". Google Video. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4443560267878598550&q=charlieroseconano%27brien. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Conan O'Brien |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Conan O'Brien |
- Conan O'Brien on Charlie Rose in 2006
- Conan O'Brien on Charlie Rose in 1998
- Conan O'Brien at the Internet Movie Database
- Conan O'Brien on Twitter
- I'm With Coco Facebook
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Jay Leno |
Host of The Tonight Show June 1, 2009 – January 22, 2010 |
Succeeded by Jay Leno |
| Preceded by David Letterman |
Host of Late Night September 13, 1993 – February 20, 2009 |
Succeeded by Jimmy Fallon |
| Preceded by Ellen DeGeneres |
Host of Emmys 2002 |
Succeeded by Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Garret, Darrell Hammond, George Lopez, Himself, Bernie Mac, Garry Shandling, Martin Short, Jon Stewart, Wanda Sykes |
| Preceded by Conan O'Brien |
Co-Host of Emmys 2003 |
Succeeded by Garry Shandling |
| Preceded by Ellen DeGeneres |
Host of Emmys 2006 |
Succeeded by Ryan Seacrest |
| Preceded by Ellen DeGeneres |
Host of Christmas in Washington 2011 |
Succeeded by incumbent |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | O'Brien, Conan |
| Alternative names | O'Brien, Conan Christopher |
| Short description | Television personality |
| Date of birth | April 18, 1963 |
| Place of birth | Brookline, Massachusetts, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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 Armorial of O'Brien |
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| Country | Kingdom of Munster, Kingdom of Thomond |
|---|---|
| Ancestral house | Dál gCais |
| Titles | |
| Founder | Brian Boru |
| Final sovereign | Murrough O'Brien, King of Thomond |
| Current head | Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond and 18th Baron Inchiquin |
| Founding | 978 |
The O'Brien dynasty (Irish: Uí Briain or Ua Briain; Modern: Ó Briain; IPA:oːˈbʲɾʲiənʲ) are a royal and noble house founded in the 10th century by Brian Boru of the Dál gCais or Dalcassians. After becoming King of Munster, through conquest he established himself as Ard Rí na hÉireann (High King of Ireland). Brian's descendants thus carried the name O'Brien, continuing to rule the Kingdom of Munster until the 12th century where their territory had shrunk to the Kingdom of Thomond which they would hold for just under five centuries.
In total, four O'Briens ruled in Munster, and two held the High Kingship of Ireland (with opposition). After the partition of Munster into Thomond and the MacCarthy Kingdom of Desmond by Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair in the 12th century, the dynasty would go on to provide around thirty monarchs of Thomond until 1542. During part of this period in the late 13th century they had a rivalry with the Norman de Clare house, disputing the throne of Thomond. The last O'Brien to reign in Thomond was Murrough O'Brien who surrendered his sovereignty to the new Kingdom of Ireland under Henry VIII of the House of Tudor, becoming instead Earl of Thomond and maintaining a role in governance. Today the head carries the title of Prince of Thomond, and depending on succession sometimes also Baron Inchiquin.
Throughout the time that the O'Briens ruled in medieval Ireland, the system of tanistry was used to decide succession, rather than primogeniture used by much of feudal Europe. The system in effect was a dynastic monarchy but family-elected and aristocratic, in the sense that the royal family chose the most suitable male candidate from close paternal relations—roydammna (those of kingly material) rather than the crown automatically passing to the eldest son. This sometimes led to bitter quarrels and in-family warring. Since 1542, the head of the O'Brien house adopted primogeniture to decide succession of noble titles instead.
Contents |
Background[link]
The O'Briens emerged as chiefs of the Dalcassian race from the south-west of Ireland — a cohesive set of septs, related by blood, all claiming descent in tradition from a common ancestor of Cormac Cas.[1] In the Annals of the Four Masters, the father of Cormac Cas was said to be Oilioll Olum, who was according to tradition King of Munster and King of Leinster in the 3rd century.[1] Such a connection would have meant that the race held kinship with the Eoghanachta who had dominated Munster since the earliest times.[2] While founder mythologies were very common in antiquity and the medieval world, such a connection is generally regarded as fanciful and politically motivated in the context of the rise to prominence of the Dalcassians.[2]
Instead, academic histories generally accept the Dalcassians as being the Déisi Tuisceart, after adopting a new name — first recorded under their newly adopted name under the year 934 in the Annals of Inisfallen.[2] The Déisi, a people whose name means literally vassals, were originally located where today is Waterford, south Tipperary and Limerick;[3] the O'Rahilly's historical model counts them as ethnically Érainn; the sept split into the Déisi Muman who continued to hold territory in Waterford and Tipperary, while the west Déisi controlled areas either side of the River Shannon.[3] During the 8th century, the latter was further divided into the Déisi Deiscirt and the Déisi Tuisceart who would become the Dalcassians.[2][4] Prehistoric ancestors of the Déisi Tuisceart and Dál gCais may have been a once prominent Érainn people called the Mairtine.[5]
It was during this century that the race annexed to Munster the area today known as Clare and made it their home. Taken from the weakened Uí Fiachrach Aidhne it had previously been part of Connacht but was renamed Thomond (Tuamhain, meaning North Munster). After gaining influence over other tribes in the area such as the Corcu Mruad and Corcu Baiscinn, the Dalcassians were able to crown Cennétig mac Lorcáin as King of Thomond, he died in 951.[4] His son Mathgamain mac Cennétig was to expand their territory further according to the Annals of Ulster; capturing the Rock of Cashel capital of the Eoghanachta, the Dalcassians became Kings of Cashel and Munster over their previous overlords for the first time in history.[2]
Mathgamain along with his younger brother Brian Boru began military campaigns such as the Battle of Sulcoit, against the Norse Vikings of the settlement Limerick, ruled by Ivar. The Dalcassians were successful, plundering spoils of jewels, gold and silver, saddles, finding "soft, youthful, bright girls, booming silk-clad women and active well-formed boys".[2][6] The males fit for war were executed at Saingel, while the rest were taken as slaves.[6] Through much of his reign Mathgamain was competing with his Eoghanachta rival Máel Muad mac Brain.[4] Mathgamain was only defeated in the end by a piece of treachery; he believed he was attending a friendly meeting, but was betrayed at Donnubán mac Cathail's house, handed over to his enemies and executed in 976.[7] The crown of Munster was briefly back in the hands of the Eoghanachta for two years until Brian Boru had thoroughly avenged his brother,[8] with the defeat and slaying of Máel Muad in the Battle of Belach Lechta.
Rise of Brian Boru[link]
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This section requires expansion. |
The following year Brian came to blows with the Norsemen of Limerick at Scattery Island where a monastery was located. Whilst all parties were Christians, when their king Ivar and his sons took refuge in the monastery, Brian desecrated it and killed them in the sanctuary; the Vikings of Limerick had earlier killed Brian's mother.[9] Following this the Dalcassians came into conflict with those responsible for the death of Mathgamain, the Eoghanachta represented by Donovan and Molloy. A message was sent to Molloy, where Boru's son Murrough would challenge him in single combat; eventually the Battle of Belach Lechta took place where Molloy along with 1200 of his soldiers were slain. Donovan was destroyed together with Aralt, his brother-in-law and Ivar's remaining son, newly elected king of the Danes and Foreigners of Munster, in Donovan's fortress of Cathair Cuan, which Brian razed. With this Brian Boru was now the King of Munster.[6]
Brian's rise did not go unnoticed, however; Máel Sechnaill II from the Clann Cholmáin sept of the Uí Néill, as reigning king of Mide and High King of Ireland marched an army down to Munster to send a warning to the Dalcassians. His army cut down the tree of Magh Adhair, which was sacred to the Dalcassians as it was used as their site of royal inaugurations.
Dynasts[link]
- Donnchad mac Briain, King of Munster
- Tadc mac Briain, assassinated by Donnchad in 1023
- Toirdelbach Ua Briain, King of Munster and High King of Ireland
- Muirchertach Ua Briain, King of Munster and High King of Ireland
- Diarmait Ua Briain, King of Munster
- Blathmin Ua Briain, Queen Consort of Norway
- Carson Mór Ua Briain, King of Thomond and King of Munster
- Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond
- Connor O'Brien, 3rd Earl of Thomond
- Donogh O'Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond
- Barnabas O'Brien, 6th Earl of Thomond
MacTadhg Ó Briain of Arann
See also[link]
References[link]
Footnotes[link]
- ^ a b O'Dugan, The Kings of the Race of Eibhear, 9.
- ^ a b c d e f Duffy, Medieval Ireland, 121.
- ^ a b Fitzpatrick, Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland C. 1100-1600, 36.
- ^ a b c Koch, Celtic Culture, 554.
- ^ Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, "Ireland, 400-800", in Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (ed.), A New History of Ireland (Volume 1): Prehistoric and Early Ireland. Oxford University Press. 2005. p. 222
- ^ a b c Frances Cusack, Ireland, 294.
- ^ Corbishley, The Young Oxford History of Britain & Ireland, 82.
- ^ Lydon, The Making of Ireland, 31.
- ^ Fitzroy Foster, The Oxford History of Ireland, 37.
Bibliography[link]
- Cusack, Mary Frances (1868). Ireland. Plain Label Books. ISBN 1-60303-630-X.
- Corbishley, Mike (1998). The Young Oxford History of Britain & Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910466-2.
- Lydon, James F (1998). The Making of Ireland. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-01348-8.
- O'Dugan, John (1999). The Kings of the Race of Eibhear. Gryfons Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 0-9654220-6-2.
- Fitzroy Foster, Robert (2001). The Oxford History of Ireland. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280202-X.
- Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth (2004). Royal Inauguration in Gaelic Ireland C. 1100-1600. Boydell Press. ISBN 1-84383-090-6.
- Duffy, Seán (2005). Medieval Ireland. CRC Press. ISBN 0-415-94052-4.
- Koch, John T (2006). Celtic Culture. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1-85109-440-7.
External links[link]
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the author and statistician. For the American football player, see Nate Silver (quarterback).
| Nate Silver | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Nathaniel Read Silver (1978-01-13) January 13, 1978 (age 34)[1] East Lansing, Michigan |
| Residence | Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | A.B., Economics (2000) |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago East Lansing High School |
| Occupation | Statistician, journalist |
| Known for | PECOTA, FiveThirtyEight.com |
| Website | |
| fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com | |
Nathaniel Read "Nate" Silver (born January 13, 1978) is an American statistician, psephologist, and writer. Silver first gained public recognition for developing PECOTA,[2] a system for forecasting the performance and career development of Major League Baseball players, which he sold to and then managed for Baseball Prospectus from 2003 to 2009.[3]
In 2007, writing under the pseudonym "Poblano," Silver began to publish analyses and predictions related to the 2008 United States presidential election. At first this work appeared on the political blog Daily Kos, but in March 2008 Silver established his own website, FiveThirtyEight.com. By summer of that year, after he revealed his identity to his readers, he began to appear as an electoral and political analyst in national print, online, and cable news media.
The accuracy of his November 2008 presidential election predictions—he correctly predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states—won Silver further attention and commendation. The only state he missed was Indiana, which went for Barack Obama by 0.9%. He also correctly predicted the winner of all 35 Senate races that year.
In April 2009, he was named one of The World's 100 Most Influential People by Time.[4]
In 2010, Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog was licensed for publication by The New York Times.[5][6] The newly renamed blog, FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus,[7] first appeared in The Times on August 25, 2010. In 2012, FiveThirtyEight won a Webby Award as the "Best Political Blog" from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Contents |
Early years[link]
Nate Silver was born in East Lansing, Michigan, the son of Sally Silver, a community activist, and Brian D. Silver, a former chair of the political science department at Michigan State University.[8] He was an early math wizard.[9] According to journalist William Hageman, "Silver caught the baseball bug when he was 6.... It was 1984, the year the Detroit Tigers won the World Series. The Tigers became his team and baseball his sport. And if there's anything that goes hand in glove with baseball, it's numbers, another of Silver's childhood interests. ("It's always more interesting to apply it to batting averages than algebra class".[10])
As a student at East Lansing High School, in 1996 Silver won first place in the State of Michigan in the 49th annual John S. Knight Scholarship Contest for senior high school debaters.[11]
Silver first evinced his journalism skills as a writer and opinion page editor for The Portrait, East Lansing High School's student newspaper, from 1993–1996.
In 2000, Silver graduated with Honors with an A.B. degree in economics from the University of Chicago. He also wrote for the Chicago Weekly News and the Chicago Maroon. He spent his third year at the London School of Economics.[12]
Career synopsis[link]
Economic consultant and baseball statistician[link]
After college graduation in 2000, Silver worked for three and a half years as an economic consultant with KPMG in Chicago. When asked in 2009, "What is your biggest regret in life?" Silver responded, "Spending four years of my life at a job I didn’t like".[13] While employed at KPMG, however, Silver continued to nurture his life-long interest in baseball and statistics, and on the side he began to work on his PECOTA system for projecting player performance and careers. He quit his job at KPMG in April 2004 and for a time earned his living mainly by playing online poker.[14]
In 2003, Silver became a writer for Baseball Prospectus (BP), after having sold PECOTA to BP in return for a partnership interest. After resigning from KPMG in 2004, he took the position of Executive Vice-President, later renamed Managing Partner of BP. In addition to providing executive functions, Silver maintained and further developed PECOTA as well as wrote a weekly feature column under the heading "Lies, Damned Lies". In this column he applied sabermetric techniques to a broad range of topics in baseball research—including, among others, forecasting the performance of individual players, the economics of baseball, metrics for the valuation of players, and developing an Elo rating system for Major League baseball.[15]
Between 2003 and 2009, Silver was a co-author of the Baseball Prospectus (ISBN 0-7611-3995-8) annual book of Major League Baseball analysis and forecasts as well as a co-author of other books published by Baseball Prospectus, including Mind Game: How the Boston Red Sox Got Smart, Won a World Series, and Created a New Blueprint for Winning (New York: Workman Publishers, 2005) (ISBN 0-7611-4018-2), Baseball Between the Numbers (New York: Basic Books, 2006) (ISBN 0-465-00596-9), and It Ain't Over 'til It's Over: The Baseball Prospectus Pennant Race Book (New York: Basic Books, 2007) (ISBN 0-465-00284-6).
He was an occasional contributor of articles about baseball to ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, Slate, the New York Sun and The New York Times.[16]
Political analyst and blogger[link]
In November 2007, while still working for Baseball Prospectus, Silver began to write about politics, specifically the 2008 U.S. Presidential race. Until the end of May 2008, this writing was under the pseudonym "Poblano" and appeared on Daily Kos or on his blog FiveThirtyEight.com, which he launched in March 2008. In June he began to publish political analysis under his own name, including in his blog, newspapers, and The New Republic. He first appeared on national television on CNN's American Morning on June 13, 2008.[17]
Shortly after the November 4 election, ESPN writer Jim Caple observed, "Forget Cole Hamels and the Phillies. No one in baseball had a more impressive fall than Nate Silver.... [R]ight now Silver is exhausted. He barely slept the last couple weeks of the campaign – 'By the end, it was full-time plus' – and for that matter, he says he couldn't have kept it up had the campaign lasted two days longer. Plus, he has his Baseball Prospectus duties. 'We write our [Baseball Prospectus 2009] book from now through the first of the year,' [Silver] said. 'I have a week to relax and then it gets just as busy again. In February 2009 I will just have to find an island in the Caribbean and throw my BlackBerry in the ocean'".[18]
Later in November 2008, Silver signed a contract with Penguin Group USA to write two books, reportedly for a $700,000 advance.[19] In an intervew, Silver described his first book-in-progress as about "the value and limitations of predictions, looking at such diverse industries as fashion design, hurricane forecasting, and the search for extraterrestrial life".[20][21][22] Silver's book The Signal and the Noise is scheduled for publication in September 2012.
He was invited to be a speaker at TED 2009 in February 2009,[23] and keynote speaker at the 2009 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference (March 2009).[24]
While maintaining his FiveThirtyEight.com website, in January 2009 Silver began a monthly feature column, "The Data," in Esquire[25] as well as contributed occasional articles to other media such as The New York Times[26] and the Wall Street Journal.[27] He also tried his luck in the 2009 World Series of Poker.[28]
The success of his FiveThirtyEight.com blog and the accuracy of his detailed forecasts of the 2008 U.S. Presidential race marked the effective end of Silver's career as baseball analyst, though he continued to devote some attention to sports statistics and sports economics in his blog. In March 2009, he stepped down as Managing Partner of Baseball Prospectus and announced that he had handed over responsibility for producing future PECOTA projections to other Baseball Prospectus staff members, but that he intended to continue as a writer for BP, including for BP's partner, ESPN.com.[3][29] In April 2009, he appeared as an analyst on ESPN's Baseball Tonight. However, after March 2009, he published only two "Lies, Damned Lies" columns on BaseballProspectus.com.
While continuing to write his FiveThirtyEight.com blog, he took on some freelance statistically oriented projects. In November 2009, ESPN introduced a new Soccer Power Index (SPi),[30] developed by Nate Silver, for predicting the outcome of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[31] He published a post-mortem after the tournament, comparing his predictions to those of alternative rating systems.[32]
In April 2010, Silver took an entirely different assignment for New York Magazine, creating a quantitative index of "The Most Livable Neighborhoods in New York".[33]
In June 2010, it was announced that Silver's FiveThirtyEight.com blog would be moving to the The New York Times, a platform from which it would begin to be published online in August 2010. In addition, Silver would be contributing content to the print edition of The Times as well as to the Sunday Magazine.[5] This transition occurred on August 25, 2010, with the online publication of Silver's first FiveThirtyEight column in The Times.[34]
Baseball analysis: 2003–2008[link]
Silver uses a wide variety of research methods and statistical tools in his writings about baseball. However, he has developed three tools that are identified with his name. The best known and most enduring is his forecasting system, PECOTA, which remains a signature product of Baseball Prospectus.
PECOTA[link]
Main article: PECOTA
PECOTA (Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm) is a statistical system that projects the future performance of hitters and pitchers. It is designed primarily for two uses: fans interested in fantasy baseball, and professionals in the baseball business interested in predicting the performance and valuation of major league players. Unlike most other such projection systems, PECOTA relies on matching a given current player to a set of "comparable" players whose past performance can serve as a guide to how the given current player is likely to perform in the future. Unlike most other such systems, PECOTA also calculates a range of probable performance levels rather than a single predicted value on a given measure such as earned run average or batting average.
PECOTA projections were first published by Baseball Prospectus in the 2003 edition of its annual book as well as online by BaseballProspectus.com. The formulae have been updated steadily since then. Silver produced the annual PECOTA forecasts for each Major League Baseball season from 2003 through 2009. Beginning in Spring 2009, Baseball Prospectus took responsibility for future editions and products based on the forecasts.[3]
Other tools[link]
Because of the dependence of earned run average statistics on factors over which a pitcher may have little control, sabermetricians have developed several defense independent pitching statistics, including Defense-Independent ERA. One that Silver has created for quick calculations that do not require detailed adjustments for the park or era in which a pitcher is performing is the "QuikERA" or QERA.[35] It may be useful for early- or mid-season assessments of a pitcher's performance, since it attempts to reduce the effect of luck in summarizing a pitcher's ERA.[36] Silver explains,
I call this toy QuikERA (QERA), which estimates what a pitcher's ERA should be based solely on his strikeout rate, walk rate, and GB/FB ratio. These three components — K rate, BB rate, GB/FB — stabilize very quickly, and they have the strongest predictive relationship with a pitcher’s ERA going forward. What’s more, they are not very dependent on park effects, allowing us to make reasonable comparisons of pitchers across different teams.
The formula for QERA is as follows: QERA =(2.69 + K%*(-3.4) + BB%*3.88 + GB%*(-0.66))2.
Note that everything ends up expressed in terms of percentages: strikeouts per opponent plate appearance, walks per opponent plate appearance, and groundballs as a percentage of all balls hit into play.[37]
Silver also developed a formula, which he called the "Secret Sauce," to predict whether Major League teams are likely to be successful in the playoffs if they somehow manage to reach them.[38] This formula comes out of research that he initially conducted and published with Dayn Perry.[39] The formula claimed that, although during the regular season having an excellent offense above all else may get a team to the playoffs, once in the playoffs a team's success depends much more on strong defense, including pitching.[40] In other words, teams that prevent the ball from going into play, catch it when it does and preserve late-inning leads are likely to excel in the playoffs".[41]
Notable critics of the "secret sauce" formula included Tom Tango and Mitchel Lichtman, co-authors of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball.[42] Criticism focused on the formula ignoring logical assumptions and relying too heavily on best-fitting sample data that may not be predictive for out-of-sample data.[43]
For a few years Baseball Prospectus published Secret Sauce figures for every Major League team on its statistics page.[44] In the 2010 season, Baseball Prospectus stopped using the Secret Sauce method as an indicator of playoff success because teams that ranked higher in secret sauce than their opponents only won 54% of their playoff series since the formula was put into use.[45]
Political analysis: 2007–present[link]
Silver describes his own partisan orientation as follows in the FAQ on his website: "My state [Illinois] has non-partisan registration, so I am not registered as anything. I vote for Democratic candidates the majority of the time (though by no means always). This year, I have been a supporter of Barack Obama".[46] With respect to the impartiality of his electoral projections, Silver states, "Are [my] results biased toward [my] preferred candidates? I hope not, but that is for you to decide. I have tried to disclose as much about my methodology as possible".[46]
Silver describes his ideological orientation as one of "rational progressivism":
I regard myself as a rational progressive. I believe in intellectual progress – that we, as a species, are gradually becoming smarter. I believe that there are objectively right answers to many political and economic questions.
I believe that economic growth is both a reflection of and a contributor toward societal progress, that economic growth has facilitated a higher standard of living, and that this is empirically indisputable. I also believe, however, that our society is now so exceptionally wealthy – even in the midst of a severe recession – that it has little excuse not to provide for some basic level of dignity for all its citizens.
I believe that answers to questions like these do not always come from the establishment. But I also believe that it is just as important to question one's own assumptions as to question the assumptions of others.[47]
FiveThirtyEight[link]
Main article: FiveThirtyEight
2008 U.S. elections[link]
On November 1, 2007, Silver began publishing a diary under the pseudonym "Poblano" on the progressive political blog Daily Kos.[48] Silver set out to analyze quantitative aspects of the political game in a manner that would enlighten a broader audience. Silver reports that "he was stranded in a New Orleans airport when the idea of FiveThirtyEight.com came to him. 'I was just frustrated with the analysis.... I saw a lot of discussion about strategy that was not all that sophisticated, especially when it came to quantitative things like polls and demographics'”.[49] His forecasts of the 2008 United States presidential primary elections drew a lot of attention, including being cited by The New York Times Op-Ed columnist William Kristol.[50]
In March 2008, still using the pseudonym "Poblano," Silver established his own blog FiveThirtyEight.com, in which he developed a system for tracking polls and forecasting the outcome of the 2008 general election. At the same time, he continued making forecasts of the 2008 Democratic primary elections. That several of his forecasts based on demographic analysis proved to be substantially more accurate than those of the professional pollsters gained visibility and professional credibility for "Poblano".[51]
After the North Carolina and Indiana primaries on May 6 the popularity of FiveThirtyEight.com "really exploded. Silver recalls the scenario: 'I know the polls show it’s really tight in NC, but we think Obama is going to win by thirteen, fourteen points, and he did.... Any time you make a prediction like that people give you probably too much credit for it.... But after that [Silver's and the website's popularity] started to really take off. It’s pretty nonlinear, once you get one mention in the mainstream media, other people [quickly follow suit]'".[52]
On May 30, 2008, Poblano revealed his identity to FiveThirtyEight.com readers.[53] On June 1, 2008, Silver published a two-page Op-Ed article in the New York Post outlining the rationale underlying his focus on the statistical aspects of politics.
"My fulltime occupation has been as a writer and analyst for a sports media company called Baseball Prospectus. In baseball, statistics are meaningless without context; hitting 30 home runs in the 1930s is a lot different than hitting 30 today. There is a whole industry in baseball dedicated to the proper understanding and interpretation of statistics. In polling and politics, there is nearly as much data as there is for first basemen. In this year's Democratic primaries, there were statistics for every gender, race, age, occupation and geography – reasons why Clinton won older women, or Obama took college students. But the understanding has lagged behind. Polls are cherry-picked based on their brand name or shock value rather than their track record of accuracy. Demographic variables are misrepresented or misunderstood. (Barack Obama, for instance, is reputed to have problems with white working-class voters, when in fact these issues appear to be more dictated by geography – he has major problems among these voters in Kentucky and West Virginia, but did just fine with them in Wisconsin and Oregon)".[54]
As a CNET reporter wrote on election eve, "Even though Silver launched the site as recently as March, its straightforward approach, daring predictions, and short but impressive track record has put it on the map of political sites to follow. The Washington Post featured Silver in its 14th annual election prediction contest this year, and he'll be reporting on Tuesday night's results with Dan Rather on HDNet".[55]
Silver's final 2008 presidential election forecast accurately predicted the winner of 49 of the 50 states as well as the District of Columbia (missing only the prediction for Indiana). As his model predicted, the races in Missouri and North Carolina were particularly close. He also correctly predicted the winners of every U.S. Senate race. The accuracy of his predictions won him further acclaim, including abroad,[56] and added to his reputation as a leading political prognosticator.[57]
[edit] Transition to The New York Times
On June 3, 2010, Silver announced on FiveThirtyEight.com,
In the near future, the blog will "re-launch" under a NYTimes.com domain. It will retain its own identity (akin to other Times blogs like DealBook), but will be organized under the News:Politics section. Once this occurs, content will no longer be posted at FiveThirtyEight.com on an ongoing basis, and the blog will re-direct to the new URL. In addition, I will be contributing content to the print edition of the New York Times, and to the Sunday Magazine. The partnership agreement, which is structured as a license, has a term of three years.[5]
The transition to the new blog FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus sponsored by The New York Times took place on August 25, 2010, with the publication online of Silver's first article, "New Forecast Shows Democrats Losing 6 to 7 Senate Seats".[58] From then until the mid-term elections of 2010 in November, Silver's blog focused almost exclusively on developing forecasts of the outcomes of the 2010 U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives as well as state gubernatorial contests. Silver's Times Sunday Magazine feature first appeared on November 19, 2010, under the heading "Go Figure".[59] It was later titled "Acts of Mild Subversion".[60]
2010 U.S. elections[link]
Main article: Fivethirtyeight#2010 U.S. mid-term elections
Shortly after 538 relocated to The New York Times, Silver introduced his prediction models for the 2010 elections to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and state Governorships. Each of these models relied initially on a combination of electoral history, demographics, and polling. Silver eventually published detailed forecasts and analyses of the results for all three sets of elections.
2012 U.S. elections[link]
Main article: Fivethirtyeight#2012 U.S. presidential election
Although throughout 2011 Silver devoted a lot of attention on his blog to the 2012 Republican party primaries, his first effort to handicap the 2012 Presidential general election appeared as the cover story in The New York Times Magazine a year prior to the election: "Is Obama Toast? Handicapping the 2012 Election".[61] Accompanying the online release of this article, Silver also published "Choose Obama’s Re-Election Adventure," an interactive toy that allowed readers to predict the outcome of the election based on their assumptions about three variables: President Obama's favorability ratings, the rate of GDP growth, and how conservative the Republican opponent would be.[62] This analysis stimulated a lot of critical discussion.[63]
While publishing numerous stories on the Republican primary elections, in mid-February 2012 Silver reprised and updated his previous Magazine story with another one, "What Obama Should Do Next".[64] This story painted a more optimistic picture of President Obama's re-election chances. A companion article on his FiveThirtyEight blog, "The Fundamentals Now Favor Obama," explained how the model and the facts on the ground had changed between November and February.[65]
Mainstream media[link]
Silver's self-unmasking at the end of May 2008 brought him a lot of publicity, much of it focused on his combined skill as both baseball statistician-forecaster and political statistician-forecaster, including articles about him in the Wall Street Journal,[66] Newsweek,[67] Science News,[68] New York Magazine,[69] and his hometown Lansing State Journal.[70]
In early June he began to cross-post his daily "Today's Polls" updates on "The Plank" in The New Republic.[71] Also, Rasmussen Reports began to use the FiveThirtyEight.com poll averages for its own tracking of the 2008 state-by-state races.[72]
This added exposure provided him with opportunities to appear on CNN's American Morning and D.L. Hughley Breaks the News,[73] MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Hardball with Chris Matthews, CNBC's Fast Money,[74] Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show, HDNet's Dan Rather Reports, Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!,[75] PBS's The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, The Charlie Rose Show,[76] and The Rachel Maddow Shows on both Air America Radio and MSNBC, as well as to contribute essays and op ed columns to The New Republic,[77] the New York Post,[78] the Los Angeles Times,[79] and Newsweek.[80]
New York Magazine, on October 12, 2008, referred to Silver as "The Spreadsheet Psychic": "a number-crunching prodigy who went from correctly forecasting baseball games to correctly forecasting presidential primaries".[81] Other commentators drew a parallel between Silver's baseball prognosticatons and his election forecasting in 2008: "The Tampa Bay Rays and Barack Obama have made 2008 the year of the surprise contender, though one man predicted both successes before nearly anyone else – and he sees a general election landslide for Obama over John McCain on Tuesday".[82]
The celebrity that this attention brought to Silver sometimes took a curious form, including articles on Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip[83] and a Facebook group entitled "There's a 97.3 Percent Chance that Nate Silver Is Totally My Boyfriend".[84]
Throughout 2009 through 2012, Silver appeared several more times as a political analyst on national television, most frequently on MSNBC[85] but also on CNN[86] as well as Bloomberg Television,[87] PBS,[88] NPR,[89] "Democracy Now!",[90] The Charlie Rose Show,[91] ABC News,[92] and Current TV.[93]
Book[link]
- Nate Silver. The Signal and the Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail – But Some Don't. New York: Penguin, 2012. ISBN-13 978-1-59-420411-1. In Press (publication date: September 27, 2012).
Recognition and awards[link]
- In September 2008, FiveThirtyEight became the first blog ever selected as a Notable Narrative by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.[94]
- On the day after the first McCain-Obama Presidential Debate, Time Magazine's Joe Klein observed on the magazine's "Swampland" blog: "If there's been a rookie of the year in this year's presidential campaign coverage, it's Nate Silver—a baseball stats guy who has turned his talents to politics and produced some of the most creative slicing and dicing of polling numbers at his website fivethirtyeight.com. Today's offering is typical Silver: he takes the snap polling results and weights them according to the issues the voters considered most important—and finds that Obama won, according to the cross tabs, on the more important issues, thereby accounting for his snap poll victories".[95]
- October 7, 2008: Silver appeared as a guest on "The Colbert Report".[96]
- November 2008: Crain's Chicago Business profiled Silver as one of Chicago's "40 under 40" notable young entrepreneurs.[97]
- November 9, 2008: the New York Times called Silver "perhaps the most unlikely media star to emerge" out of "an election season of unlikely outcomes" and described FiveThirtyEight with its almost five million page views on Election Day as "one of the breakout online stars of the year".[98]
- December 2008: Newsweek.com identified Silver's November 3, 2008 article "What to Watch For – An hour-by-hour guide to election night"[99] as the 4th most viewed story on Newsweek.com in 2008.[100]
- December 2008: Silver was named by Huffington Post writer Jason Linkins as the #1 of the "Ten Things that Managed to Not Suck in 2008, Media Edition". "The uncanny, poll-wrangling, stats-freaking Nate Silver took it upon himself to demonstrate that some level of governable, rational reality could be brought to bear on the confusing world of competing tracking polls, and along the way all but cemented the geek-chic trajectory of this election season".[101]
- December 2008: named by The Daily Beast as one of the "Breakout Stars of 2008": "Breakout Swami: NATE SILVER. In 2007, Nate Silver was mainly known as a world-class seamhead,[1] a Baseball Prospectus geek who could do sexy things with ERAs. Then he started applying his statfreak principles to presidential politics under the pseudonym Poblano. When he finally outed himself in June 2008, it was clear that Silver and his website www.FiveThirtyEight.com had everyone’s number—his primary projections became gospel. In the end, though, Silver only correctly predicted how 49 of the 50 states would vote. Better luck in 2012".[102]
- February 2009: named by James Wolcott in Vanity Fair as one of the "Winners of 2008": "No shiny arrow shot swifter and loftier from obscurity to quotable authority than Nate Silver, whose FiveThirtyEight.com site became the expert sensation of the election season.... Not only did his disciplined models and microfine data mining command respect, his prognostications hit the Zen mark on Election Day.... Silver also became an instant cable-news savant, his geek-genius glasses and owlish mien worthy of a Starfleet sub-adjutant whose quadratic equations coolly foil an attack from a Romulan vessel while the senior officers are frantically poking at their touch screens".[103]
- January 2009: Silver was named by Forbes.com to its third annual "Web Celeb 25," which "track[s] the biggest and brightest stars on the Web, the people who have turned their passions into new-media empires. From stay-at-home moms to geek entrepreneurs, these are the people capturing eyes, influencing opinion and creating the new digital world".[104]
- April 2009: Silver was named as one of the "Rolling Stone 100: Agents of Change".[105]
- April 27, 2009: named "Blogger of the Year" by The Week in its 6th annual Opinion Awards. The commendation stated: "Nate Silver of Fivethirtyeight.com was arguably the most important blogger of the 2008 presidential election, translating a flood of poll numbers into a narrative that was both compelling and trustworthy. By Election Night — when Fivethirtyeight.com declared the race for Obama at 8:46 p.m., an hour and 14 minutes before the mainstream media did — Silver had already established himself as the most reliable caller of the political horse race".[106]
- April 30, 2009: Silver was named one of "The World's 100 Most Influential People" by TIME Magazine.[4]
- December 2009: Silver was recognized by The New York Times Magazine in its "Ninth Annual Year in Ideas" article for his "Forensic Polling Analysis" of the possible falsification of data by a polling firm.[107]
- 2009: named "Speaker of the Year" by the intercollegiate Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA).[108]
- November 2010: John F. Harris, Editor-in-Chief of Politico writing in Forbes Magazine listed Nate Silver as one of seven bloggers among "The Most Powerful People on Earth": "The New York Times recently began hosting Nate Silver's delightfully granular blog about the numbers that underlie politics".[109]
- May 2011: Presented the Henry Pringle Lecture at the Columbia Journalism School.[110][111][112]
- March 2012: Crain's New York Business featured Silver as one of New York City's "Forty Under Forty" notable young entrepreneurs.[113]
- May 2012: FiveThirtyEight won a Webby Award for "Best Political Blog" from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences in the 16th annual Webby Awards.[114]
Personal life[link]
Nate Silver is a grandnephew of Leon Silver, geologist.
After residing in Chicago, Illinois for twelve years, Silver moved to New York City in 2009.[115]
Silver has long been interested in fantasy baseball, especially Scoresheet Baseball. While in college he served as an expert on Scoresheet Baseball for BaseballHQ.[116] When he took up political writing, Silver abandoned his blog, The Burrito Bracket,[117] in which he ran a one-and-done competition among the taquerias in his Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago.[118]
In 2010, Out magazine included Silver among their top 100 LGBT people of the year.[119]
In his spare time, Silver uses his analytical approach at the poker table where he plays semi-professionally.[120]
Notes[link]
- ^ Nate Silver tweet
- ^ Alan Schwarz, "Numbers Suggest Mets Are Gambling on Zambrano", The New York Times, August 22, 2004; Alan Schwarz, "Predicting Futures in Baseball, and the Downside of Damon", The New York Times, November 13, 2005; Childs Walker, "Baseball Prospectus Makes Predicting Future Thing of Past," Baltimore Sun, February 21, 2006; Rich Lederer, "An Unfiltered Interview with Nate Silver", Baseball Analysts, February 12, 2007; Tim Murphy, "Timeout with Nate Silver: BP’s VP illuminates the sport’s fuzzy numbers", Chicago Maroon, May 11, 2007; Steven D. Levitt, "Freakonomics: More on Roger Clemens", The New York Times, February 18, 2008; and Michael Miner, "The Algorithm Method: Hot Type’s coveted Golden BAT award goes to a computer program", Chicago Reader, March 27, 2008.
- ^ a b c Nate Silver and Kevin Goldstein, "State of the Prospectus: Spring 2009," BaseballProspectus.com, March 24, 2009.
- ^ a b Stein, Joel. "The World's Most Influential People – The 2009 TIME 100". TIME. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1894410,00.html. Retrieved 2009-05-08. .
- ^ a b c Nate Silver, "FiveThirtyEight to Partner with New York Times," FiveThirtyEight.com, June 3, 2010.
- ^ Brian Stelter, "Times to Host Blog on Politics and Polls," The New York Times, June 3, 2010.
- ^ FiveThirtyEight: Nate Silver's Political Calculus
- ^ Wallbank, Lansing State Journal
- ^ Stephanie Clifford, "Finding Fame With a Prescient Call for Obama," The New York Times, November 9, 2008.
- ^ William Hageman, "Baseball by the Numbers," Chicago Tribune (January 4, 2006).
- ^ "East Lansing Debater Wins Scholarship," Detroit Free Press (February 29, 1996).
- ^ Nate Silver, "Random, Pretentious Observations from Europe," FiveThirtyEight.com, May 25, 2009.
- ^ Stephen J. Dubner, "FREAK-Quently Asked Questions: Nate Silver," The New York Times, March 12, 2009.
- ^ Rob Kaiser, "Players Place Bets on Poker as Career," Chicago Tribune, October 3, 2004.
- ^ Nate Silver, "We are Elo?," BaseballProspectus.com (June 28, 2006) and Nate Silver, "More on Elo," BaseballProspectus.com (July 5, 2006).
- ^ Nate Silver, "For Griffey, the Roads Not Taken," The New York Times, May 11, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "CNN Video," FiveThirtyEight.com, June 13, 2008.
- ^ Jim Caple, "In baseball, and in politics, the numbers don't lie," "Page 2", ESPN.com, November 7, 2008.
- ^ Leon Neyfakh, "Nate Silver Signs With Penguin In Two Book Deal Worth About $700,000," New York Observer, November 14, 2008.
- ^ Jeff Beckham, The Austinist, March 15, 2009.
- ^ For more about the content of the book, see Alex Cardno, "Interview with Nate Silver," Financial Times, September 18, 2009.
- ^ Numerical Order: Famed statistician Nate Silver discusses the future of his near-flawless forecasting
- ^ See TED2009 program and Shanna Carpenter, "Race and the City: An Exclusive Interview with Nate Silver," TED Blog, April 29, 2009.
- ^ Daniel Terdiman, "FiveThirtyEight.com's Nate Silver on life post-election," CNET.com, March 15, 2009 and Dan Fost, "SXSW: Statistics guru Nate Silver talks Oscars, Manny Ramirez and President Obama," Los Angeles Times, March 16, 2009. See Video of SXSW Keynote Interview, part 1 and part 2.
- ^ Silver, Nate. "The Data". Esquire. http://www.esquire.com/archive/features/data/0/10/. Retrieved 2009-05-08.
- ^ Nate Silver and Andrew Gelman, "No Country for Close Calls," The New York Times, April 18, 2009.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Crunching the Risk Numbers," Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2010.
- ^ Nate Silver, "This Post Brought to You By Poker," FiveThirtyEight.com, July 2, 2009.
- ^ Nate Silver and Kevin Goldstein, "State of the Prospectus," Baseball Prospectus.com, March 24, 2009. Retrieved 2-7-2009.
- ^ ESPN's SPi.
- ^ Nate Silver, "The Purpose of the Soccer Power Index," ESPN.com, November 11, 2009 and Nate Silver, "A Guide to ESPN's SPI Ratings," ESPN.com, November 11, 2009. For a comment see Carl Bialik, "ESPN's New Soccer Rankings," Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2009.
- ^ Nate Silver, "SPI in review: How did it do?," ESPN.com, July 19, 2010 [Retrieved July 21, 2010].
- ^ Nate Silver, "The Most Livable Neighborhoods in New York: a quantitative index of the 50 most satisfying places to live," New York Magazine, April 11, 2010.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Welcome (and Welcome Back) To FiveThirtyEight," FiveThirtyEight/NYT, August 25, 2010.
- ^ Also see the Baseball Prospectus glossary.
- ^ A reference to how it may be used by baseball teams can be found in Peter Greer, "Cheer the players? Nah. Just crunch their numbers", Christian Science Monitor, October 20, 2006.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Lies, Damned Lies: Playoff Hurlers", BaseballProspectus.com, September 27, 2006.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Lies, Damned Lies: Secret Sauce," BaseballProspectus.com, September 20, 2006 and Nate Silver, "What? The Cubs?" Sports Illustrated, July 16, 2007 (Issue 2): 59.
- ^ Nate Silver and Dayn Perry, "Why Doesn't Billy Beane's Shit Work in the Playoffs?" in Jonah Keri, Ed., Baseball Between the Numbers (New York: Basic Books, 2006): 352–368.
- ^ For another description of the Secret Sauce, just prior to the 2007 Major League playoffs, see Nate Silver, "Secret Sauce Update," BaseballProspectus.com, September 27, 2007.
- ^ Nate Silver in "What? The Cubs?", cited above.
- ^ The Book Blog
- ^ Also see Jesse-Douglas Matthewson, "Weak Sauce? Secret Sauce's Predictive Capacity Wanes in Recent Years," Rational Pastime, September 8, 2010.
- ^ Baseball Prospectus Sortable Statistics.
- ^ Colin Wyers, "BP Unfiltered: Retiring the Sauce," BaseballProspectus.com, September 26, 2010.
- ^ a b Nate Silver, "Frequently Asked Questions, Last Revised 8/7/08," FiveThirtyEight.com.
- ^ Nate Silver, "The Two Progressivisms", FiveThirtyEight.com, February 15, 2009.
- ^ The first diary was titled, "HRC [Hillary Roddam Clinton] Electability in Purple States, DailyKos, November 1, 2007.
- ^ Hannah Hayes, "What Will Nate Silver Do Next?," University of Chicago (webpage feature story), January, 2009.
- ^ William Kristol, "Obama's Path to Victory", The New York Times, February 11, 2008.
- ^ See, most notably, Mark Blumenthal, "The Poblano Model," National Journal, May 8, 2008.
- ^ Sean Redmond, "Numerical Order: Famed Statistician Nate Silver Discusses the Future of His Near-Flawless Forecasts," Chicago Weekly, January 9, 2009. On this point see also Silver's discussion in Megan Garber, "Talking Shop: Nate Silver," Columbia Journalism Review, November 11, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "No I'm Not Chuck Todd," FiveThirtyEight.com, May 30, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Margins of Error," New York Post, June 1, 2008.
- ^ Stephanie Condon, "Q & A: The Formula Behind FiveThirtyEight," CNET News, November 3, 2008.
- ^ Editorial, "In Praise of . . . Nate Silver," The Guardian, November 6, 2008.
- ^ Stephanie Clifford, "Finding Fame With a Prescient Call for Obama," The New York Times, November 10, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "New Forecast Shows Democrats Losing 6 to 7 Senate Seats," FiveThirtyEight/NYT, August 25, 2010.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Go Figure: Who's No. 1?" NY Times Magazine, November 19, 2010.
- ^ For example, Nate Silver, "How to Beat the Salad Bar," The New York Times, March 17, 2011.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Is Obama Toast? Handicapping the 2012 Election," The New York Times Magazine, November 6, 2011.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Choose Obama’s Re-Election Adventure," The New York Times, November 3, 2011.
- ^ For a partial bibliography, see Micah Cohen, "Reads and Reactions," The New York Times, November 19, 2011.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Why Obama Will Embrace the 99 Percent," The New York Times Magazine, February 15, 2012.
- ^ Nate Silver, "The Fundamentals Now Favor Obama," The New York Times, February 15, 2012.
- ^ Carl Bialik, "Baseball Analyst Draws Fans by Crunching Election Numbers," Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2008.
- ^ Andrew Romano, "Making His Pitches: Nate Silver, an all-star in the world of baseball stats, may be the political arena's next big draw," Newsweek, June 16, 2008,
- ^ Julie Rehmeyer, "Scooping the Political Pollsters," Science News, July 11, 2008,
- ^ Adam Sternbergh, "The Spreadsheet Psychic," New York Magazine, October 12, 2008
- ^ Derek Wallbank, "E.L. native's predictions pitch politics a curveball: Applying baseball stats analysis creates buzz around 30-year-old", Lansing State Journal, July 5, 2008. Also highlighting Silver's dual skills at baseball and political analysis were Alex Altman, "Q & A: Political Pollster Nate Silver," Time, October 6, 2008, Joe Lemire, "The Sports-Politics Connection: FiveThirtyEight," Sports Illustrated, October 13, 2008, James Janega, "Odds are, he knows the score – Chicago statistician Nate Silver has turned from sports to politics, with striking results," Chicago Tribune, October 27, 2008, Ben Heller, "The 2008 Sports Nerd of the Year: Nate Silver," CBSSports.com, November 7, 2008. and Childs Walker, "Projecting politics & baseball with Nate Silver," Baltimore Sun, April 8, 2009.
- ^ The first such posting was Nate Silver, "Today's Polls: The Bounce Hits the Badger State," The New Republic, June 12, 2008.
- ^ "Rasmussen Reports to Partner with FiveThirtyEight.com," RasmussenReports.com, June 13, 2008.
- ^ See D. L. Hughley transcript from November 1, 2008.
- ^ Fast Money.
- ^ Democracy Now.
- ^ "A conversation with Nate Silver". Charlie Rose. 2008-10-31. http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/9336. Retrieved 2009-05-08. .
- ^ Aside from his "Today's Polls" entries, Silver's first general essay in TNR was Nate Silver, "It's the Gas Prices, Stupid," The New Republic, August 14, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Will Young Voters Turn Out for Obama," New York Post, August 10, 2008; and "McCain's (Long) Road to Electoral Win," New York Post, October 26, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver, "Why McCain Is Still In It," Los Angeles Times, (August 4, 2008).
- ^ Nate Silver, "Debunking the Bradley Effect," Newsweek (October 28, 2008).
- ^ nymag.com, The Spreadsheet Psychic.
- ^ Andy Martino, "Baseball stats guru Nate Silver sees election landslide for Barack Obama," New York Daily News, November 1, 2008.
- ^ For example,"That FiveThirtyEight Guy on the Colbert Report," Wonkette.com, October 8, 2008; and "Judgment Day: So... Which Pollsters Live, Which Will Be Killed?," Wonkette.com, November 5, 2008.
- ^ "There's a 97.3 Percent Chance That Nate Silver Is Totally My Boyfriend". Facebook. 1997-07-26. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33534290558. Retrieved 2011-03-04. .
- ^ For example, he appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on December 28, 2011 as well as January 2, 2012.
- ^ For example, a two-part video of an interview by Howard Kurtz on Reliable Sources on September 25, 2011: Part 1Part 2, and an interview about the Florida primary on January 26, 2012.
- ^ Video of Nate Silver on Bloomberg, March 8, 2010
- ^ Need to Know: Nate Silver on Why Polls Don't Always Add Up, October 15, 2010.
- ^ What's the Impact of the Debt Debate, August 2, 2011.
- ^ Democracy Now 5-18-2010.
- ^ e.g., January 23, 2012.
- ^ ABC "Topline", 9–28, 2010.
- ^ For example, Silver appeared on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" on February 14, 2012.
- ^ "''Electoral Projections Done Right – Narrative by numbers''". Nieman.harvard.edu. 2008-09-21. http://www.niemanstoryboard.org/2008/10/03/electoral-projections-done-right/. Retrieved 2009-05-08. .
- ^ Joe Klein, "Next Day Thoughts," September 27, 2008.
- ^ Nate Silver on "Colbert Report".
- ^ Mike Colias, "Nate Silver," Chicago Business, November 3, 2008. For a video interview related to this profile, see Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight.com.
- ^ Clifford, Stephanie (November 10, 2008). "Finding Fame With a Prescient Call for Obama". nytimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10silver.html. Retrieved 2008-11-10. .
- ^ Nate Silver, "What to Watch For – An hour-by-hour guide to election night", Newsweek.com, November 3, 2008.
- ^ Year in Review: Murder, Politics And Crocs – The top 10 most viewed stories on Newsweek.com in 2008," Newsweek.com, December 23, 2008.
- ^ Jason Linkins, "2008: The Year in Media Highlights," HuffingtonPost.com, December 24, 2008.
- ^ The Daily Beast, December 21, 2008.
- ^ James Wolcott, "The Good, the Bad, and Joe Lieberman," VanityFair.com, February 2009.
- ^ "The Web Celeb 25," Forbes.com, January 29, 2009.
- ^ Rolling Stone, April 2009.
- ^ "THE WEEK Opinion Awards". The Week. http://www.theweek.com/opinionawards/winners.html. Retrieved 2009-05-08. .
- ^ New York Times Magazine "Forensic Polling Analysis".
- ^ CEDA Awards
- ^ John F. Harris, "The Most Powerful People On Earth: My Picks: Bloggers," Forbes Magazine, November 22, 2010 (retrieved online at Forbes.com).
- ^ Henry Pringle Lecture, CSJ
- ^ Jim Romenesko, "Silver’s advice to young journalists in the digital age," Poynter, 23 May 2011.
- ^ Text of Henry Pringle Lecture, 2011 (.pdf)
- ^ Crain's New York
- ^ 2012 Webby winner
- ^ Nate Silver, "FiveThirtyEight Joins East Coast Media Elite," FiveThirtyEight.com, March 30, 2009.
- ^ Zak Stambor, "Number Cruncher," University of Chicago Magazine, July–August, 2008.
- ^ BurritoBracket.com
- ^ On the role of The Burrito Bracket in Silver's engagement in blogging see Dan Cohen, "The Ivory Tower and the Open Web: Introduction: Burritos, Browsers, and Books," Dan Cohen's Digital Humanities blog, July 26, 2011. [retrieved 6 August 2011]
- ^ Out Magazine
- ^ See Hageman, cited previously; Rob Kaiser, "Players Place Bets on Poker as Career," Chicago Tribune, October 3, 2004; and Nate Silver, "This Post Brought to You by Poker," FiveThirtyEight.com, July 2, 2009.
External links[link]
.jpg){kind=small}
Blogs[link]
- Nate Silver's Baseball Prospectus article archive (2003–2009)
- Nate Silver's The Burrito Bracket (2007)
- Nate Silver's diaries as "Poblano" on Daily Kos (2007–2009)
- FiveThirtyEight.com archive from pre-NYT period (2008–2010)
- FiveThirtyEight/NYT (2010– )
Other[link]
- Nate Silver/FiveThirtyEight on Twitter
- Leigh Bureau speaker profile
- Video of Silver discussing his methodology for polling aggregation on Bloggingheads.tv (August 21, 2008)
- TED 2009 video of talk about race and the 2008 U.S. presidential election
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Silver, Nate |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American journalist |
| Date of birth | January 13, 1978 |
| Place of birth | East Lansing, Michigan |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Nate_Silver
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Nate Silver
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Silver
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Seth MacFarlane | |
|---|---|
 Seth MacFarlane |
|
| Born | Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (1973-10-26) October 26, 1973 (age 38) Kent, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Rhode Island School of Design (Bachelor of Fine Arts) |
| Occupation | Actor, voice actor, animator, writer, comedian, singer, producer, director |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Known for | Family Guy American Dad! The Cleveland Show The Winner Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy Comedy Central Roasts Ted |
| Political party | Democrat |
| Parents | Ronald Wilton MacFarlane, Ann Perry (née Sager) (deceased) |
| Family | Rachael MacFarlane (sister) |
Seth Woobury MacFarlane (born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, voice actor, animator, screenwriter, comedian, producer, director and singer. He created the animated sitcom Family Guy and co-created American Dad! and The Cleveland Show, for which he also voices many of the shows' various characters.[1]
A native of Kent, Connecticut,[2] MacFarlane is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied animation, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He was an animator and writer for Hanna-Barbera for several television shows, including Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory and I Am Weasel, before creating his own series for 20th Century Fox entitled Family Guy in 1999. MacFarlane went on to co-create American Dad! in 2005, and The Cleveland Show in 2009 for Fox. He also went on to serve as executive producer on the Fox sitcom The Winner.
As an actor, he has made guest appearances on shows such as Gilmore Girls, The War at Home and FlashForward. MacFarlane's interest in science fiction and fantasy has led to cameo and guest appearances on Star Trek: Enterprise and voicing the character of Johann Kraus in Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II: The Golden Army. In 2008, he created his own YouTube series entitled Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. As a singer, MacFarlane has performed at several venues, including Carnegie Hall and the Royal Albert Hall.
MacFarlane has won several awards for his work on Family Guy, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and an Annie Award. In 2009, he won the Webby Award for Film & Video Person of the Year. For several years, it has been the subject of criticism from television watchdog groups, such as the Parents Television Council, who regularly condemn it for its alleged indecency. Even fellow cartoonists such as The Ren & Stimpy Show's John Kricfalusi and South Park duo Trey Parker and Matt Stone have criticized MacFarlane's creation on numerous occasions. He occasionally speaks at universities and colleges throughout the United States, and is a supporter of gay rights.
On the February 10, 2011 episode of the TBS variety nighttime talk-show series Conan, MacFarlane announced he is directing his first feature-length comedy film, Ted. The film stars Mark Wahlberg as an adult who, as a child, wished his teddy bear would come to life. MacFarlane will be the voice and motion capture for the bear. It is currently in production and is scheduled for release July 13, 2012.[3][4] In September, 2011, MacFarlane released a debut album of American standards, Music Is Better Than Words. In 2011 MacFarlane began a revival of Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones for the Fox network. The first episode was due to air in the US in 2013,[5][6] but production has been indefinitely delayed due to MacFarlane's schedule.[7]
Contents |
Early life and education[link]
MacFarlane's parents, Ann Perry (née Sager) and Ronald Milton MacFarlane, were born in Newburyport, Massachusetts.[8] He is of Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh ancestry, partly by way of Canada, and his ancestors include William Brewster, who travelled to America on the Mayflower.[9][10] MacFarlane's parents met in 1970, when they both lived and worked in Boston, Massachusetts, and married later that year.[8] In 1972, the couple moved to Kent, Connecticut, where Ann Perry began working in the Admissions Office at South Kent School and later in the College Guidance and Admissions Offices at the Kent School, a selective college preparatory school where Ronald was also a teacher.[8][11] During his childhood, MacFarlane developed an interest in illustration and began drawing cartoon characters Fred Flintstone and Woody Woodpecker, as early as two years old.[12] By the age of five, MacFarlane knew that he would want to pursue a career in animation, and began by creating flip books, after his parents found a book on the subject.[13] Four years later, at nine, MacFarlane began publishing a weekly comic strip entitled "Walter Crouton" for The Kent Good Times Dispatch, the local newspaper in Kent, Connecticut, which paid him five dollars per week.[14][15] In one anecdote from the time, MacFarlane said in a 2011 interview he was "always like just weirdly fascinated by the Communion ceremony [so] I did a strip that had a guy kneeling at the altar taking Communion and saying 'Can I have fries with that?' And to my 11-year-old brain that was comedy ...." The paper printed it and he got "an angry letter from our local priest .... It created sort of a little mini-controversy in our little town." [16]
MacFarlane received his high school diploma in 1991 from the Kent School.[8][11] While there, he continued experimenting with animation, and was given an 8 mm camera by his parents.[17] MacFarlane went on to study film, video and animation at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.[14] As a student, he had originally intended to work for Disney, but changed his mind upon graduating.[18] At RISD, MacFarlane created a series of independent films, eventually meeting future Family Guy cast member Mike Henry, whose brother Patrick was MacFarlane's classmate. His senior year at RISD, MacFarlane created a thesis film entitled The Life of Larry, which would eventually become the inspiration for Family Guy.[14] MacFarlane's professor submitted his film to the animation studio Hanna-Barbera, where he was later hired.[19]
Early career[link]
After college MacFarlane was hired at Hanna-Barbera (then Hanna-Barbera Cartoons) based on the writing content of The Life of Larry, rather than on cartooning ability. He was one of few people hired to the company solely based on writing talent.[2] He worked as an animator and writer for Cartoon Network's Cartoon Cartoons series.[20] He described the atmosphere at Hanna-Barbera as resembling an "old fashioned Hollywood structure, where you move from one show to another or you jump from a writing job on one show to a storyboard job on another." MacFarlane worked on four television series during his tenure at the studio: Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, and Johnny Bravo.[21][22] Working as both a writer and storyboard artist, MacFarlane spent the most time on Johnny Bravo. He found it easier to develop his own style at Johnny Bravo through the show's process of scriptwriting, which Dexter, Cow and Chicken and I Am Weasel did not use.[2] As a part of the Johnny Bravo crew, MacFarlane met actors and voiceover artists such as Adam West and Jack Sheldon of Schoolhouse Rock! fame. Meeting these individuals later became significant to the production and success of his Family Guy series.
He also did freelance work for Walt Disney Television Animation, writing for Jungle Cubs and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Through strict observation of writing elements such as story progression, character stakes, and plot points, MacFarlane found the work for Disney was, from a writing standpoint, very valuable in preparation for his career (particularly on Ace Ventura).[2] MacFarlane also created and wrote a short titled Zoomates for Frederator Studios' Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon.[23] In 1996, MacFarlane created a sequel to The Life of Larry entitled Larry and Steve, which features a middle-aged character named Larry and an intellectual dog, Steve. The short was broadcast as one of Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons. Executives at Fox saw both Larry shorts and negotiations soon began for a prime-time animated series.[24]
Although MacFarlane enjoyed working at Hanna-Barbera, he felt his real calling was for prime-time animation, which would allow a much edgier style of humor.[2] He first pitched Family Guy to Fox during his tenure at Hanna-Barbera. A development executive for Hanna-Barbera, who was trying to get back into the prime-time business at the time, introduced MacFarlane to Leslie Collins and Mike Darnell, heads of the alternative comedy department at Fox. After the success of King of the Hill in 1997, MacFarlane called Collins once more to ask about a possible second pitch for the series. The company offered the young writer a strange deal: Fox gave him a budget of $50,000 to produce a pilot that could lead to a series (most episodes of animated prime-time productions cost at least $1 million).[2][25] Recalling the experience in an interview with The New York Times, MacFarlane stated, "I spent about six months with no sleep and no life, just drawing like crazy in my kitchen and doing this pilot".[26]
After six months, MacFarlane returned to Fox with a "very, very simply, crudely animated film – with just enough to get the tone of the show across" to present to the executives, who loved the pilot and ordered the series immediately.[2] In July 1998, the Fox Broadcast Company announced the purchase of Family Guy for a January 1999 debut.[27] Family Guy was originally intended to be a series of shorts on MADtv, much in the same way The Simpsons had begun on The Tracey Ullman Show a decade earlier. Negotiations for the show's MADtv connection fell through early on as a result of budgetary concerns.[2] At age 24, MacFarlane was television's youngest executive producer.[12]
Further career[link]
[edit] Family Guy
Main article: Family Guy
Family Guy first aired January 31, 1999.[28] MacFarlane's work in animating Family Guy has been influenced by Jackie Gleason and Hanna-Barbera along with examples from The Simpsons and All in the Family.[29] In addition to writing three episodes, "Death Has a Shadow", "Family Guy Viewer Mail 1" and "North by North Quahog", MacFarlane voices Family Guy's main characters – Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin, Brian Griffin and Glenn Quagmire as well as Tom Tucker, his son Jake and additional characters. Bolstered by high DVD sales and established fan loyalty, Family Guy developed into a $1 billion franchise.[25] On May 4, 2008, after approximately two and a half years of negotiations, MacFarlane reached a $100 million agreement with Fox to keep Family Guy and American Dad until 2012. The agreement makes him the world's highest paid television writer.[30]
MacFarlane's success with Family Guy has opened doors to other ventures relating to the show. On April 26, 2005, he and composer Walter Murphy created Family Guy: Live in Vegas. The soundtrack features a Broadway show tune theme, and MacFarlane voiced Stewie in the track "Stewie's Sexy Party".[31] A fan of Broadway musicals,[24] MacFarlane comments on using musicals as a component to Family Guy:
| “ | "I love the lush orchestration and old-fashioned melody writing ... it just gets you excited, that kind of music", he said. "It's very optimistic. And it's fun. The one thing that's missing for me from popular music today is fun. Guys like [Bing] Crosby, or [Frank] Sinatra, or Dean Martin, or Mel Tormé [...] these are guys who sounded like they were having a great time".[32] | ” |
In addition, a Family Guy video game was released in 2006.[33] Two years later, in August 2007, he closed a digital content production deal with AdSense.[34] MacFarlane takes cast members on the road to voice characters in front of live audiences. Family Guy Live provides fans with the opportunity to hear future scripts. In mid-2007 Chicago fans had the opportunity to hear the then upcoming sixth season premiere "Blue Harvest". Shows have been played in Montreal, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles.[35]
On July 22, 2007, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, MacFarlane announced that he may start working on a feature film, although "nothing's official".[36] In September 2007, Ricky Blitt gave TV.com an interview confirming that he had already started working on the script.[37] Then in TV Week on July 18, 2008, MacFarlane confirmed plans to produce a theatrically released Family Guy feature film sometime "within the next year".[38] He came up with an idea for the story, "something that you could not do on the show, which [to him] is the only reason to do a movie". He later went to say he imagines the film to be "an old-style musical with dialogue" similar to The Sound of Music, saying that he would "really be trying to capture, musically, that feel".[39]
Despite its popularity, Family Guy has not been immune to criticism.[40] The Parents Television Council frequently criticizes the show for its content, once organized a letter-writing campaign aimed at removing it from FOX's lineup,[41] and has filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission alleging that some episodes of the show contained indecent content.[42] MacFarlane has responded to the PTC's criticism by saying, among other things, "That's like getting hate mail from Hitler. They're literally terrible human beings."[43] Family Guy has been cancelled twice, although strong fan support and DVD sales have caused Fox to reconsider.[44] MacFarlane mentioned how these cancellations affected the lineup of writers each time Fox approved the show. "One of the positive aspects of 'Family Guy' constantly being pulled off [the air] is that we were always having to restaff writers".[32]
During the sixth season, episodes of Family Guy and American Dad! were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike (which MacFarlane participated in to support the writers while FOX aired three Family Guy episodes without MacFarlane's permission). On February 12, 2008, the strike ended,[45] and the series resumed airing regularly, beginning with "Back to the Woods".
[edit] American Dad!
Main article: American Dad!
Seth co-created American Dad! with Matt Weitzman and Mike Barker. American Dad! was first shown after Super Bowl XXXIX as a sneak preview on February 6, 2005. The show began airing regularly on Fox on May 1, 2005.[46][47] MacFarlane describes the show being similar to All in the Family.[32]
American Dad! received its inspiration from President George W. Bush's policies.[48] The show focuses on Stan Smith, a straight-laced CIA officer and fanatical conservative. Stan's wife (Francine) and children, (Hayley and Steve), share a typical middle class home with Roger, an extraterrestrial rescued by Stan from Area 51, and Klaus, a goldfish who hosts the transplanted brain of an East German, 1986 Olympic skier.[49][50] Seth MacFarlane provides the voices of Stan and Roger, basing Roger's voice on Paul Lynde as he played Uncle Arthur in Bewitched.[12] His sister Rachael MacFarlane provides the voice of Hayley.[51]
[edit] The Winner
Main article: The Winner (TV series)
MacFarlane was the executive producer of a live-action sitcom starring Rob Corddry called The Winner. The show premiered on Fox on March 4, 2007.[52] The plot has a man named Glen discussing the time he matured at 32 and has him pursuing his only love after she moves in next door. Glen meets her son and both become good friends.[53]
After six episodes, the show was officially cancelled on May 16, 2007.[54] However, at Family Guy Live in Montreal on July 21, 2007, Seth MacFarlane stated, "It is looking like there could be a future life for The Winner".[55] After MacFarlane's statement neither Fox nor MacFarlane has released any details of plans for the show to return. The show was mentioned in the Family Guy episode "Family Gay" where all of the horses at a racing track are named after failed Fox shows, The Winner being one of them.
[edit] The Cleveland Show
Main article: The Cleveland Show
MacFarlane developed a Family Guy spin-off called The Cleveland Show, which focuses on the character of Cleveland Brown and his family. The idea for the show originated from a suggestion by Family Guy writer and voice of Cleveland, Mike Henry. Fox ordered 22 episodes and the series first aired on September 27, 2009. The show, which was picked up to air a first season consisting of 22 episodes,[56] was picked up by Fox for a second season, consisting of 13 episodes, bringing the total number to 35 episodes. The announcement was made on May 3, 2009 before the first season even premiered.[57] Due to strong ratings, Fox picked up the back nine episodes of season 2, making a 22-episode season and bringing the total episode count of the show to 44.[58]
[edit] Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
Main article: Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy
On September 10, 2008, MacFarlane released a series of webisodes known as Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. These animated shorts were distributed by Burger King and released weekly.[59]
[edit] The Flintstones
In May 2011, it was reported that MacFarlane had signed a deal to revamp The Flintstones for airing in 2013.[60].Macfarlane also said that he will lend his voice to Barney.[61]
[edit] Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
In August 2011, Fox announced that they had ordered a 13-part updated series of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage which MacFarlane will co-produce with Ann Druyan and Steven Soter. The new series will be hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson and is expected to begin airing on the channel in 2013, with repeats airing on the National Geographic Channel on the same night.[62]
Untitled Animated Series[link]
Seth Macfarlane confirmed that he is working on what will be his fifth animated series with Alex Borstein and Gary Janetti.Currently not much is known about the series other than it will be about a family and will have a female lead role.[63].
Music career[link]
MacFarlane is a skilled pianist and singer who, in his early years, trained with Lee and Sally Sweetland, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra's vocal coaches. He signed a record deal with Universal Republic Records and released a big band/standards album in 2011. MacFarlane's debut studio album, Music Is Better Than Words, was announced in 2010[64] and released on September 27, 2011, drawing on his training in and attraction to "the great American songbook and particularly the early- to late-'50s era of orchestration". The singer, asked about his experience with the music, said he did "old Nelson Riddle, Billy May charts [with] one of my composers, Ron Jones, [who] has a group called the Influence Jazz Orchestra that he performs with throughout L.A."[16] His album has been nominated in the "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category" at the 54th Grammy Awards.
Guest appearances[link]
MacFarlane has appeared in sitcoms, comedy and news programs, independent films, and other animated shows. In 2002, MacFarlane appeared in the Gilmore Girls episode "Lorelai's Graduation Day".[19] Four years later on November 5, 2006, MacFarlane guest starred on Fox's The War at Home as "Hillary's Date", an unnamed 33-year-old man who secretly dates teenaged Hillary in the episode "I Wash My Hands of You".[18][65] MacFarlane also appeared as the engineer Ensign Rivers on Star Trek: Enterprise in the third season episode "The Forgotten" and the fourth season episode "Affliction".[66] During 2006, MacFarlane had a role in the independent film Life is Short. He portrayed Dr. Ned, a psychologist who advises a short man (played by Freaks and Geeks star Samm Levine) to have relationships with taller women.[67] He is also a frequent guest on the radio talkshow Loveline, hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky.
MacFarlane appeared on the November 11, 2006 episode of Fox's comedy show MADtv and performed a live action re-enactment of a scene from the Family Guy episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High". In the scene, Peter and Lois suspect Chris of murdering his teacher's husband. As a reaction, a terrified Meg jumps out the window. A version with MacFarlane as Peter, Nicole Parker as Kathy Griffin as Lois, Ike Barinholtz as Dane Cook as Chris, Nicole Randall Johnson as Queen Latifah as Meg, and Keegan-Michael Key as Snoop Dogg as Stewie was recorded over the original cartoon.[68] MacFarlane served as a host to the Canadian Awards for the Electronic & Animated Arts's Second Annual Elan Awards on February 15, 2008.[69]
MacFarlane has also appeared on news shows and late night television shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live![70] and Late Show with David Letterman.[71] On January 19, 2007, MacFarlane appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC to discuss Stephen Colbert's appearance on The O'Reilly Factor and Bill O'Reilly's return appearance on The Colbert Report. MacFarlane introduced the segment by saying in Stewie's voice "Oh, wait Bill. Hold still, allow me to soil myself on you. Victory is mine!"[72] Three months later on March 24, 2007, MacFarlane was interviewed on Fox's Talkshow with Spike Feresten,[73] and closed the show by singing the Frank Sinatra song "You Make Me Feel So Young".[74] He also provided Stewie's voice when he appeared as a brain tumor-induced hallucination to Seeley Booth in an episode of Bones, writing his own dialogue for the episode.[75] On May 8, 2009, MacFarlane was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher.[76]
Other than Family Guy and American Dad!, MacFarlane voices characters in other cartoon shows and movies. He voiced Wayne "The Brain" McClain in an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.[77] He has also voiced various characters on Adult Swim's Robot Chicken, including a parody of Lion-O and Emperor Palpatine as well as Peter Griffin in the Season 2 premiere – he even parodied himself in the Season 4 premiere, in which he renewed the show simply by mentioning it in a Family Guy-like cutaway after its fictitious cancellation at the end of Season 3. He also played the villain "The Manotaur" in Bob Boyle's animated kids series Yin Yang Yo!.[78] In addition, MacFarlane voiced Johann Kraus in the 2008 film Hellboy II: The Golden Army.[79] He also had a guest appearance in the animated film Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder where he sings "That Was Then (And This is Too)", the opening theme.[80] He had also starred in a commercial for Hulu in which he plays an alien presenting Hulu as an "evil plot to destroy the world", progressively as his famous Family Guy and American Dad! characters. He also lent his voice to the series finale movie of the Comedy Central series, Drawn together.
On August 1, 2009, MacFarlane performed at The BBC Proms with John Wilson and his orchestra, singing a selection of songs from MGM musicals[81] alongside Kim Criswell, Sarah Fox, Sir Thomas Allen, and Curtis Stigers.[82][83] Three songs from High Society, Singin' in the Rain, and That's Entertainment were featured. Seth also repeated the MGM musicals show on tour in the UK with the John Wilson Orchestra during November and December 2010.[84] He made another appearance with the John Wilson orchestra in a BBC Two special, Swingin' Christmas, on December 25, 2010.[85]
Seth also played in a character named Ziggy in the 2010 film, Tooth Fairy. In August 2010, MacFarlane appeared as a guest voiceover in a sci-fi themed episode of Disney's Phineas and Ferb entitled "Nerds of a Feather".[86] MacFarlane was the roastmaster of the Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff in 2010 and then of the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in 2011, as well as the Roast of Charlie Sheen, also from 2011. He is the first (and currently the only) person to serve as roastmaster for more than one occasion of the Comedy Central Roasts.
Speaking engagements[link]
MacFarlane is a frequent speaking guest on college campuses.[87] On April 16, 2006, he was invited by Stanford University's ASSU Speakers' Bureau to address an audience of over 1,000 at Memorial Auditorium.[88] MacFarlane was invited by Harvard University's class of 2006 to deliver the "class day" address on June 7, 2006. He spoke as himself, and also as Peter Griffin, Stewie Griffin and Glenn Quagmire.[89] He has also delivered speeches at George Washington University,[87] Washington University in St. Louis,[21] the University of Texas,[90] the University of Missouri,[91] University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University[92] and Loyola Marymount University.[93]
Activism[link]
Political views[link]
MacFarlane is a supporter of the United States Democratic Party.[43] He has donated over $200,000 to various Democratic congressional committees and to the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama.[94] He has stated that he supports the legalization of cannabis.[95]
Gay rights support[link]
MacFarlane came to support gay rights and gay marriage after a family member wondered aloud whether his gay cousin's homosexuality could be "cured".[43] The incident angered MacFarlane, who said in a 2008 interview in The Advocate, that such a statement "was fucking horrifying to hear from somebody that you love".[43] He credits his parents for raising him to be a logical person, in reference to his support for gay rights.[43]
MacFarlane is passionate about his support for gay rights.[43] He said it is "infuriating and idiotic" that two gay partners "have to go through this fucking dog and pony act when they stop at a hotel and the guy behind the counter says, 'You want one room or two?'". He went on to say, "I'm incredibly passionate about my support for the gay community and what they're dealing with at this current point in time".[43] MacFarlane continued, "Why is it that Johnny Spaghetti Stain in fucking Georgia can knock a woman up, legally be married to her, and then beat the shit out of her, but these two intelligent, sophisticated writers who have been together for 20 years can't get married?"[43]
MacFarlane, in recognition for "his active, passionate commitment to Humanist values, and his fearless support of equal marriage rights and other social justice issues", was named the Harvard Humanist of the Year in 2011.[96]
Despite his position on gay rights, MacFarlane was criticized for his portrayal of transsexualism in the Family Guy episode "Quagmire's Dad". Gay novelist Brent Hartinger found the episode's inclusion of transphobic remarks from Peter and Lois Griffin — as well as a scene of Brian vomiting profusely upon discovering his new girlfriend to be transgendered — to be "shockingly insensitive". Hartinger continued, "Frankly, it's literally impossible for me to reconcile last night's episode with MacFarlane's words, unless I come to the conclusion that the man is pretty much a complete idiot".[97] The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, an LGBT media watchdog organization, shared "serious concerns being voiced from members of the community" about the episode.[98] MacFarlane said he was "surprised" by the negative reaction to "Quagmire's Dad", saying that "it seemed that [gay commentators] were not picking up on the fact that it was a very sympathetic portrayal of a transsexual character". He further added, "Look, Brian happens to be a heterosexual character, as I am. If I found out that I had slept with a transsexual, I might throw up in the same way that a gay guy looks at a vagina and goes, 'Oh, my God, that's disgusting.'"[99]
2008 Writers Guild of America strike[link]
During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, MacFarlane publicly sided with the Writers Guild, and fully participated in the strike.[100] Official production of Family Guy was halted for most of December 2007 and various periods afterwards. Fox continued producing episodes without MacFarlane's final approval, and although he refused to work on the show during the strike, his contract with Fox required him to contribute to any episodes it subsequently produced.[101] Rumors of continued production on Family Guy prompted the statement from MacFarlane that "...it would just be a colossal dick move if they did that".[101] The strike ended on February 12, 2008.[45]
Personal life[link]
MacFarlane identifies himself as a Star Wars, Star Trek and science fiction fan.[66][102] He appeared at a Star Wars convention to promote his new Family Guy episode "Blue Harvest" on May 26, 2007.[103] MacFarlane's interest in science fiction and music are regularly themes for his birthday and Christmas parties in Los Angeles. In 2009, he held a Star Wars-themed Christmas party.[104] In 2010, he held a Rat Pack-themed party for his birthday with a 60-piece orchestra and performance by Frank Sinatra, Jr.[105]
In a 2004 interview with The Daily Princetonian, MacFarlane noted his similarities to Brian Griffin on Family Guy, revealing, "I have some Brian type issues from time to time – looking for the right person – but I date as much as the next guy".[106] MacFarlane has also revealed that Brian is his favorite character from Family Guy, because he feels most comfortable when playing that role.[107]
In early 2007, fellow comedian Alex Borstein reported in an interview that MacFarlane is old-fashioned in several aspects of his life, in that "his pop culture knowledge is very retro. Seth doesn't have e-mail at home, doesn't own a computer and he doesn't really watch television. He doesn't understand MySpace and despises most new music.".[108]
On July 16, 2010, MacFarlane's mother, Ann Perry MacFarlane, died after a long battle with cancer. Her death was reported by Larry King on his show, Larry King Live, who acknowledged a conversation he had with her during an interview with her son in May 2010.[8][109] A brief opening scene from the first episode of the ninth season of Family Guy ("And Then There Were Fewer") mentions her lifespan, and dedicates the episode to her.
MacFarlane is an atheist,[110] but says that he has no problem with religious people in general.
September 11, 2001 experience[link]
On the morning of September 11, 2001, MacFarlane was scheduled to return to Los Angeles on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston. Suffering from a hangover from the previous night's celebrations,[111] and with an incorrect departure time (8:15 a.m. instead of 7:45 a.m.) from his travel agent,[112] he arrived at Logan International Airport about ten minutes too late to board the flight as the gates had been closed.[112] Fifteen minutes after departure, American Airlines Flight 11 was hijacked,[113] and at 8:46 a.m. it was flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, obliterating the airplane, and killing everyone on board.[114]
In an interview with TVShowsOnDVD.com, MacFarlane said the following about his close call:
| “ | The only reason it hasn't really affected me as it maybe could have is I didn't really know that I was in any danger until after it was over, so I never had that panic moment. After the fact, it was sobering, but people have a lot of close calls; you're crossing the street and you almost get hit by a car... this one just happened to be related to something massive. I really can't let it affect me because I'm a comedy writer. I have to put that in the back of my head.[115] | ” |
Lawsuits[link]
On October 3, 2007, Bourne Co. Music Publishers filed a lawsuit accusing Family Guy of infringing its copyright on the song "When You Wish upon a Star", through a parody song entitled "I Need a Jew" appearing in the episode "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein". Bourne Co., the sole United States copyright owner of the song, alleged the parody pairs a "thinly veiled" copy of their music with antisemitic lyrics. Named in the suit were MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Fox Broadcasting Co., Cartoon Network, and Walter Murphy; the suit sought to stop the program's distribution and asked for unspecified damages.[116] Bourne argued that "I Need a Jew" uses the copyrighted melody of "When You Wish Upon a Star" without commenting on that song, and that it was therefore not a First Amendment-protected parody per the ruling in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.[117][118] On March 16, 2009, United States District Judge Deborah Batts held that Family Guy did not infringe on Bourne's copyright when it transformed the song for comical use in an episode.[119]
In December 2007, Family Guy was again accused of copyright infringement when actor Art Metrano filed a lawsuit regarding a scene in Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, in which Jesus performs Metrano's signature "magic" act involving absurd "faux" magical hand gestures while humming the distinctive tune "Fine and Dandy".[120] MacFarlane, 20th Century Fox, Steve Callaghan, and Alex Borstein were all named in the suit.[121] In July 2009 a federal district court judge rejected Fox's motion to dismiss, saying that the first three fair use factors involved—"purpose and character of the use", "nature of the infringed work", and "amount and substantiality of the taking"—counted in Metrano's favor, while the fourth—"economic impact"—had to await more fact-finding. In denying the dismissal, the court held that the reference in the scene made light of Jesus and his followers—not Metrano or his act.[122][123][124]
Filmography[link]
Films[link]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Life of Larry | Larry Cummings Steve Lois Cummings Various characters |
Voice Only Student Film |
| 2006 | Life is Short | Dr. Ned | Short Film |
| 2008 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | Johann Kraus | Voice Only |
| 2009 | Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder | Mars Vegas Singer | Voice Only Direct-to-DVD Release |
| 2010 | The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie! | I.S.R.A.E.L. (Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady) | Voice Only Direct-to-DVD Release |
| Tooth Fairy | Ziggy | ||
| 2012 | Ted | Ted | Voice Writer Director Producer Pre-production |
Television[link]
| Year | Series | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show | Rhode Island Bug | Episode 2.3: "Bugging Out!" |
| 1996 | The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve | Larry Steve Various characters |
|
| 1999–2002 2005–present | Family Guy | Peter Griffin Stewie Griffin Brian Griffin Glenn Quagmire Various characters |
Longest-running role, Creator/Executive producer/Voice artist/Writer |
| 2002–2003 | Gilmore Girls | Zach Bob Merriam (Emily Gilmore's lawyer; on the phone) |
Episode 2.21: "Lorelai's Graduation Day" Episode 3.11: "I Solemnly Swear" |
| 2003 | Aqua Teen Hunger Force | Wayne the Brain | Episode 2.10: "Super Trivia" |
| The Pitts | Radio voice | Episode 1.3: "Squarewolves" | |
| 2003–2005 | Crank Yankers | Dick Rogers Arthur Johnson |
Appeared in four episodes |
| 2004 | Complete Savages | TV Announcer | Episode 1.4: "Nick Kicks Butt" |
| 2004–2005 | Star Trek: Enterprise | Engineer | Episodes 3.20: "The Forgotten" and 4.15: "Affliction" |
| 2005–2009 | Robot Chicken | Various characters | Appeared in 15 episodes |
| 2005–present | American Dad! | Stan Smith Roger Various characters |
|
| 2006 | The War at Home | Hillary's Date | Episode 2.5: "I Wash My Hands of You" |
| 2007 | Help Me Help You | Seth | Episode 1.13: "Moving On" |
| Robot Chicken: Star Wars | Emperor Palpatine | TV film | |
| 59th Primetime Emmy Awards | Stewie Griffin Brian Griffin |
TV special | |
| 2008 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II | Emperor Palpatine Various characters |
TV film |
| 2008 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III | Emperor Palpatine Various characters |
TV film |
| 2008–2009 | Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy | Various characters | Appeared in 19 episodes |
| 2009 | Bones | Stewie Griffin | Episode 4.25: "The Critic in the Cabernet" |
| 2009–2010 | FlashForward | Agent Jake Curdy FBI Agent |
Episode 1.1: "No More Good Days" and 1.15: "Queen Sacrifice"; |
| 2009–present | The Cleveland Show | Tim the Bear Various characters |
|
| 2010 | Phineas and Ferb | Jeff McGarland | Episode 2.33: "Nerds of a Feather" |
| Comedy Central Roast of David Hasselhoff | Himself | Roastmaster of The Roast of David Hasselhoff | |
| 2010 | BBC Breakfast | Himself | Guest |
| 2010 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III | Emperor Palpatine | TV film |
| 2011 | Comedy Central Roast of Donald J. Trump | Himself | Roastmaster of The Roast of Donald Trump |
| 2011 | Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen | Himself | Roastmaster of The Roast of Charlie Sheen |
| 2011 | Night of the Hurricane | Peter Griffin Stewie Griffin Brian Griffin Tom Tucker Stan Smith Roger Various characters |
|
| 2013 | The Flintstones |
Discography[link]
Studio albums[link]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Jazz |
||||||||
| Music Is Better Than Words |
|
111 | 2 | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Awards[link]
| Year | Award | Category | Role | Series | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Primetime Emmy Award[125] | Outstanding Voice-Over Performance | Stewie Griffin | Family Guy | Won | [126] |
| 2002 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Music and Lyrics | Music and lyrics | Family Guy | Won | [126] |
| 2006 | Annie Award | Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production | Stewie Griffin | Family Guy | Won | [127] |
| 2009 | Webby Award | Film & Video Person of the Year 2009 | — | — | Won | [128] |
| Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Voice-Over Performance | Peter Griffin | Family Guy | Nominated | [129] | |
| 2010 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics | Music and lyrics | Family Guy | Nominated | [130] |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Animated Series | Creator | Family Guy | Won | [131] | |
| 2011 | Teen Choice Award | Choice TV Villain | Stewie Griffin | Family Guy | Nominated | [132] |
| Teen Choice Award | Choice Animated Series | Creator | Family Guy | Nominated |
References[link]
- ^ "The Flintstones: Profile of Seth MacFarlane". The Daily Telegraph (London). May 17, 2011. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8519372/The-Flintstones-Profile-of-Seth-MacFarlane.html.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "An Interview with Seth MacFarlane: The creator of Family Guy discusses his career". IGN. 2003-07-21. p. 1. http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429628p1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Seth MacFarlane guest stars on Conan; February 10, 2011.
- ^ "Ted Movie | Official Site for the Ted Film | In Theaters July 13, 2012". http://www.tedisreal.com. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
- ^ "BBC News - Flintstones set for yabba-dabba-do-over". BBC Online. BBC. 18 May 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13437084. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ Plunkett, John (17 May 2011). "Family Guy creator to revive Flintstones". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/may/17/family-guy-creator-flintstones. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (12 April 2012). "‘The Flintstones’ Reboot Put On Hold Due To Seth MacFarlane’s Overcrowded Schedule". Deadline.com. http://www.deadline.com/2012/04/the-flintstones-tv-series-reboot-on-hold-due-to-seth-macfarlanes-schedule/. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Obituaries - Ann Perry MacFarlane". Newburyport News. 2010-07-16. http://www.newburyportnews.com/obituaries/x2105968393/Ann-Perry-MacFarlane. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
- ^ Some other famous people descended from Brewster are Ashley Judd, Bing Crosby, Denise Crosby, Ted Danson, Julia Child and Sarah Palin
- ^ Child, Christopher. "Ancestry of Seth MacFarlane". http://www.wargs.com/other/macfarlane.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ a b "One-man campaign out for 'Family Guy'". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Associated Press. 1999-07-02. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ST&s_site=dfw&p_multi=ST&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF920E64F34493&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. Retrieved 2008-02-13. "Seth MacFarlane has been out of prep school for eight years, but the headmaster is still on his case. The top administrator of the Kent School is leading a one-man campaign to get advertisers to drop The Family Guy, an animated TV comedy created by MacFarlane, a 1991 Kent alumnus."
- ^ a b c Levin, Gary (2005-02-02). "'Dad' joins 'Guy' for yuks". USA Today (Gannett Co. Inc.). http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2005-02-02-macfarlane_x.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ MacFarlane, Seth (2009). Inside the Actors Studio (Television production). Bravo. "I was two years old when I started drawing. [...] I knew by five that I wanted to get into animation, and there was just no [...] there was no information at the time. And I think my parents found one book on animation, that they scrounged up for me, and they got it from a library, you know, two towns over."
- ^ a b c "Seth MacFarlane – Profile". E! Online. http://uk.eonline.com/uberblog/celebs/c116217_seth_macfarlane.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ MacFarlane, Seth (2009). Inside the Actors Studio (Television production). Bravo. "Walter Crouton was a comic strip that I did for our local paper, and I started when I was about nine years old, and, I would do it every week for, you know, five bucks a pop."
- ^ a b "Seth MacFarlane: TV's 'Family Guy' Makes Music, Too", Fresh Air interview transcript, NPR, October 17, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-21. Interview audio.
- ^ MacFarlane, Seth (2009). Inside the Actors Studio (Television production). Bravo. "I didn't really take a hard crack at [animation] until I was in high school. My parents got me an 8 mm movie camera."
- ^ a b "Seth MacFarlane – Biography". Yahoo!. http://tv.yahoo.com/seth-macfarlane/contributor/663655/bio;_ylt=Aon954w635FJbS9IA6nuh_2.o9EF. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ a b "Family Guy Seth MacFarlane to speak at Class Day: Creator and executive producer of 'Family Guy' will headline undergraduate celebration. Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "An Interview with Seth MacFarlane: The creator of Family Guy discusses his career". IGN. 2003-07-21. p. 3. http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429628p3.html. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ a b Broom, Caroline. "Creator of Family Guy to speak at Assembly Series". Record. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Hickman, Leo (2011-08-29). "My TV hero: Daniel Roche on Seth MacFarlane". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2011/aug/29/my-tv-hero-seth-macfarlane. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
- ^ "Rumor Confirmed". 2006-02-25. http://frederatorblogs.com/channel_frederator/2006/02/25/rumor-confirmed/. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ a b Bartlett, James (2007-03-12). "Seth MacFarlane – he's the "Family Guy"". greatreporter.com. Presswire Limited. http://greatreporter.com/mambo/content/view/1383/11/. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
- ^ a b Andreeva, Nellie (2008-05-05). "Family Guy creator seals megadeal". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0435504220080505. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (2007-07-07). "The Young Guy Of 'Family Guy'; A 30-Year-Old's Cartoon Hit Makes An Unexpected Comeback". The New York Times (The New York Times Company): p. 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/07/arts/young-guy-family-guy-30-year-old-s-cartoon-hit-makes-unexpected-comeback.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
- ^ Eric, Mink (1998-07-24). "Fox Fine-'Toons Its Midseason Lineup". Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/entertainment/1998/07/24/1998-07-24_fox_fine-_toons_its_midseaso.html. Retrieved 2011-05-27. [dead link]
- ^ "Family Guy Returns to Production with an Initial Order of 22 New Episodes to Premiere in Early 2005". Business Wire. 2004-03-26. http://www.allbusiness.com/media-telecommunications/information-services/5639961-1.html. Retrieved 2008-05-31. [dead link]
- ^ McLean, Thomas (2007-06-01). "Seth MacFarlane: Family Guy, American Dad!". Variety (Reed Business). http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117966166.html?nav=eproducer07. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
- ^ Family Guy Creator Signs Lucrative Deal with Fox. BuddyTV. May 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-14.
- ^ Spence D. Family Guy Live In Vegas: Unnecessary gutter humor and pointless profanity drain the wit right outta this CD." (April 28, 2005) IGN. Retrieved on 2008-05-30.
- ^ a b c Norton James."Seth MacFarlane's Third Act". Flak Magazine. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Adams, David (2005-05-03). "Family Guy creator seals megadeal". IGN. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/585/585012p1.html. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ "Ypulse Essentials: Urban Disney, Marketing's Child, Teen Hackers". YPulse. August 20, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- ^ Schneider, Michael. "Family Guy hits the road: MacFarlane and Co. to perform in Chicago". (August 13, 2007) Variety. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- ^ Szalai, Georg (July 23, 2007). ""Family Guy" movie possible, MacFarlane says". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN2230656720070724. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ "Family Guy feature film is in the works!". TV.com. September 26, 2007. http://www.tv.com/family-guy-blog/family-guy-feature-film-is-in-the-works!/topic/76955-855406/show_blog_entry.html?topic_id=855406&msg_id=8875173&print=1. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- ^ "TCA Video: Family Guy Spoilers; Movie Plans". TV Week. http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/07/tca_video_family_guy_spoilers.php. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- ^ Dean, Josh. "Seth MacFarlane's $2 Billion Family Guy Empire". FastCompany.com. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/family-values.html?page=0%2C0. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
- ^ Fox's "Comedic Genius" by Brent Bozell. TownHall. April 10, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ Parents Television Council E-Alert. Vol. 4, No. 26. May 5, 2000. "In the two months since the show returned, creator Seth MacFarlane has aggressively sought to push the content envelope. Worse, Fox has permitted him to do so. Although Family Guy airs during the family hour, when children are likely to be watching, recent episodes have included animated nudity, vulgar references to genitalia, and references to pornography and masturbation." (Cited episode "Fifteen Minutes of Shame" as example)
- ^ Eggerton, John (November 12, 2009). "PTC Outraged Over 'Family Guy' Episode". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/189799-PTC_Outraged_Over_Family_Guy_Episode.php. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Voss, Brandon (February–March 2008). "BGF: Seth MacFarlane". The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/printArticle.aspx?id=22202. "... They're literally terrible human beings. I've read their newsletter, I've visited their website, and they're just rotten to the core. For an organization that prides itself on Christian values—I mean, I'm an atheist, so what do I know?—they spend their entire day hating people."
- ^ McKinley, Jesse (2005-05-02). "Canceled and Resurrected, on the Air and Onstage". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/arts/television/02fami.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ a b "Strike over, Hollywood writers head back to work". CNN.com. 2008-02-13. Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20080413003541/http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/13/writers.strike/index.html. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
- ^ "American Dad: Series Overview". MSN. Microsoft. http://tv.msn.com/tv/series/american-dad/. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ Goodman, Tim (2005-02-04). "American Dad is a wannabe.". San Francisco Chronicle (Hearst Newspapers). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/02/04/DDGIFB4H5E1.DTL. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ Rogers, Troy. "Seth MacFarlane, American Dad Interview"[dead link]. Underground Online. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
- ^ Stanley, Alexandria (2005-02-04). "Dad Is a C.I.A. Operative, the Kids Have a Weird Pet". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/04/arts/04tvwk.html?_r=1&fta=y&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ Goyette, Jay (2005-02-04). "Family Guys Seth MacFarlane's Speech Rescheduled". The View (University of Vermont). http://www.uvm.edu/theview/article.php?id=1561. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ "Rachael MacFarlane Biography"[dead link]. Fox. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Matheson, Whitney. Sample The Winner[dead link]. USA TODAY Blog. Published February 19, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ Hooper, Barrett. "Winner's one big loser: Not all ex-Daily Show correspondents make great sitcom stars"[dead link]. Now Toronto. Published March 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ 2007 Canceled Shows: Fox Cancels Plenty of Series". TV Series Finale. 2007-05-16.
- ^ Szalai, Georg (2007-07-22). "Famref name="studio2">MacFarlane, Seth (2009). Inside the Actors Studio (Television production). Bravo. "Walter Crouton was a comic strip that I did for our local paper, and I started when I was about nine years old, and, I would do it every week for, you know, five bucks a pop." ref>[http://tv.msn.com/tv/series/american-dad/ "
- ^ Rice, Lynette (2008-11-10). "Fox orders full season of 'Family Guy' spin-off | Inside TV | EW.com". Hollywoodinsider.ew.com. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/11/the-family-guy.html. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ "The Cleveland Show renewed before it begins". Tvsquad.com. http://www.tvsquad.com/2009/05/04/the-cleveland-show-renewed-before-it-begins/. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ "Fox orders second full season of The Cleveland Show". http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/h/content_display/news/e3id8ce138992a53121b4b8137dc51ea285. [dead link]
- ^ Cheng, Jacqui (2008-09-10). "Family Guy creator opens Cavalcade of Comedy for business". Arstechnica.com. http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2008/09/family-guy-creator-opens-cavalcade-of-comedy-for-business.ars. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/news/ni10692328/
- ^ [[1]]
- ^ Mitchell, Gail (August,5,2011). "Fox Orders Seth MacFarlane's 'Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey'". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/fox-orders-seth-macfarlanes-cosmos-219567. Retrieved October,14,2011.
- ^ [[2]]
- ^ "Seth MacFarlane On Leno, Announces Debut Album". Freakinsweetnews.com. 2010-08-06. http://www.freakinsweetnews.com/2010/08/06/seth-macfarlane-on-leno-announces-debut-album. Retrieved 2011-01-29.
- ^ The War at Home – "I Wash My Hands of You" Synopsis[dead link]. Variety. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ^ a b "Production Report: Klingon Discrepancy Addressed in 'Affliction'". Star Trek Online. Published December 16, 2004. Retrieved December 20, 2007.
- ^ Finley, Adam (2007-06-30). "Seth MacFarlane and Samm Levine in new short film – VIDEO". TV Squad (Webblogs (in partnership with AOL)). http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/06/30/seth-macfarlane-and-samm-levine-in-new-short-film-video/. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
- ^ "MAD TV Gets More Animated on FOX". AWN Headline News. Published on November 2, 2006. Retrieved January 1, 2008.
- ^ "Seth MacFarlane Joins CAEAA Family to Host 2nd Annual Elan Awards". Market for Home Computing and Video Games (Intent Media). 2008-01-07. http://www.mcvuk.com/press-releases/34247/2008-Elans. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ ABC.com: Jimmy Kimmel Live Gallery. ABC. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ McIntee, Michael Z. "Monday, March 28, 2005: Show #2339". Late Show with David Letterman. CBS. Archived from the original on 2008-01-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20080110162643/http://www.cbs.com/latenight/lateshow/wahoo/index/php/20050328.phtml. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ ""Countdown with Keith Olbermann" for Jan. 19". MSNBC. 2007-01-19. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16753986/. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Grossberg, Josh. "TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten". FOX. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20071215030309/http://fox.com/talkshow/showinfo/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ Seth MacFarlane sings "You Make Me Feel So Young". (Video) FOX. Hosted on Spike. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael. Exclusive: 'Bones' plots 'Family Guy' crossover! Entertainment Weekly. March 19, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-08-02.
- ^ MacIntyre, April. 'Family Guy' tips the hat to Stephen King Sunday, May 10 VIDEOS. Monsters and Critics. May 9, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-08-02.
- ^ Grossberg, Josh. "'Just Bring 'em In From Space': An Interview With the Creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force". Flak Magazine. http://www.flakmag.com/features/aquateen.html. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
- ^ "American Dad and Family Guy Creator Seth MacFarlane Is Animated About Work and Play". The TV Tattler. AOL. 2007-05-11. http://television.aol.com/tv-celebrity-interviews/seth-macfarlane-2. Retrieved 2007-12-22. [dead link] p. 2.
- ^ "Hellboy 2's Psychic Entity Voiced By Family Guy". io9. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- ^ Seth MacFarlane to Voice Next Futurama Movie. Sci-Fi TV Australia. November 14, 2008. Retrieved on 2009-08-02.
- ^ O'Connor, Stuart (July 31, 2009). "Seth MacFarlane: from cartoons to showtunes". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/31/seth-macfarlane-family-guy-singing-bbc-proms. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ BBC Proms Publicity (July 21, 2009). "BBC Proms celebrates 75 years of MGM film musicals". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2009/07_july/21/mgm.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ BBC Proms Publicity (August 1, 2009). "What's On / Proms by Day". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/0108.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ "John Wilson and the John Wilson Orchestra tour dates 2010". http://www.johnwilsonorchestra.com/dates.htm.
- ^ "Swingin' Christmas". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00wyltw/Swingin_Christmas/. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707588/
- ^ a b "Seth MacFarlane coming to George Washington Univ.!"[dead link] Adult Swim. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Finley, Adam. "Seth McFarlane talks about South Park" TV Squad. Published April 20, 2006. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ^ "'Family Guy' Seth MacFarlane to speak at Class Day". The Harvard University Gazette. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
- ^ "'Family Guy' creator brings insights to UT". Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20070703204708/http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2007/04/16/TopStories/family.Guy.Creator.Brings.Insights.To.Ut-2842963.shtml. . The Daily Texan. Retrieved 2007-04-22.
- ^ Levy, Stephanie (2007-08-21). "DSA lines up fall entertainment". The Maneater. http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2007/8/21/dsa-lines-fall-entertainment/. Retrieved 2008-01-29. "MacFarlane and [Henry] Rollins were chosen because of their popularity with students and prevalence in pop culture."
- ^ Sullivan, Ryan (2008-10-06). "A 'voice' For Obama: 'Family Guy' Creator MacFarlane Speaks At Bowling Green State U.". Bowling Green News. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/27/politics/uwire/main4546983.shtml. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ Oddis, Kyle (2010-02-08). "LMU reacts to First Amendment Week keynote choice". The Los Angeles Loyolan. http://www.laloyolan.com/news/lmu-reacts-to-faw-keynote-choice-1.2142020. Retrieved 2010-02-10. [dead link]
- ^ "Seth MacFarlane's Federal Campaign Contribution Report". newsmeat.com. http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Seth_MacFarlane.php. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
- ^ Seth MacFarlane on Legalizing Marijuana. Event occurs at 0:30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avlA3d5xYgQ. Retrieved July 2, 2011. [dead link]
- ^ "Seth MacFarlane, Harvard Humanist of the Year 2011!". Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard. http://www.harvardhumanist.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166:seth-macfarlane-harvard-humanist-of-the-year-2011&catid=6:latest-news&Itemid=38. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
- ^ Hartinger, Brent (May 10, 2010). "Is Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane a Complete Idiot?". AfterElton.com. http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2010/5/seth-macfarlane-complete-idiot. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
- ^ Rosales, Jonathan (May 10, 2010). "GLAAD Shares Community Concerns About Last Night’s Family Guy". Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. http://glaadblog.org/2010/05/10/glaad-shares-community-concerns-about-last-nights-family-guy/. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
- ^ SETH MACFARLANE SOUNDS OFF, Details.com, August 2010 [Retrieved 30 June 2011]
- ^ "Pencils Down". Writers' Guild of America. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ a b Adalian, Josef (2007-11-13). "Fox to air new 'Guy' Sunday; MacFarlane hopes network changes plans". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975944.html?categoryid=2821. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
- ^ Adalian, Josef. "Family Guy meets Star Wars: Toon kicking off season with approved spoof". Variety. Published May 25, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
- ^ Larsen, Peter. "'Star Wars' convention to attract thousands". Orange County Register. Published May 24, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-30.
- ^ "Seth Macfarlane & Brent Bolthouse Star Wars Christmas Party". The Daily Truffle. December 14, 2009. http://www.thedailytruffle.com/2009/12/seth-macfarlane-brent-bolthouse-star-wars-christmas-party/. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
- ^ "Seth Macfarlane Rat Pack Bash". The Daily Truffle. October 10, 2010. http://www.thedailytruffle.com/2010/10/seth-macfarlane-birthday-party/. Retrieved 2010-12-15. [dead link]
- ^ Rusli, Evelyn (February 5, 2004). "'Family Guy': Today Princeton, tomorrow the world". The Daily Princetonian (Princeton University). Archived from the original on 2004-08-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20040821091530/http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/02/05/arts/9500.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
- ^ "Brian Griffin (notes)". Family Guy Wiki. unknown. http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Brian_Griffin#Notes.
- ^ Borstein, Alexandra (2007-01-01). Interview with Daniel Robert Epstein. SuicideGirls. http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Alex+Borstein/. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
- ^ "Seth MacFarlane's mother dies". Canoe. 2010-07-29. http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2010/07/29/14863236-wenn-story.html. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
- ^ Episode 173 of Real Time with Bill Maher on February 19, 2010.
- ^ "Full Frontal TV" Q&A: Head of the Family". Penthouse. September 2007.
- ^ a b "DVD Interview: 10 Questions with FAMILY GUY's Seth MacFarlane – Part Two". ManiaDVD. http://www.mania.com/10-questions-family-guys-seth-mcfarlane-part-two_article_39625.html. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ 9/11 Investigation (PENTTBOM)[dead link]. FBI National Press Release, September 2001. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "Flight Path Study – American Airlines Flight 11" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). http://www.ntsb.gov/info/Flight_%20Path_%20Study_AA11.pdf. Retrieved 2007-12-21. [dead link]
- ^ "Interview with Seth MacFarlane". TVShowsonDVD.com. 2003-04-23. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/articles/seth.cfm. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ^ Bourne Co., vs. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Broadcasting Company, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Inc., Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc., The Cartoon Network, Inc., Seth MacFarlane, Walter Murphy (United States District Court, Southern District of New York October 3, 2007). Text
- ^ Hilden, Julie (October 31, 2007). ""The Family Guy" Once Again Tests Parody's Limits: The Copyright Suit Challenging the Show's Use of "When You Wish Upon a Star"". FindLaw's Writ. FindLaw. http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hilden/20071031.html. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
- ^ "News Corp. Wins Suit Dismissal Over ‘Family Guy’ Song (Update1)". Bloomberg L.P.. 2009-03-16. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conewsstory&refer=conews&tkr=DJ%3AUS&sid=aQveqoR6.Pew. Retrieved May 8, 2010.
- ^ Kearney, Christine (March 16, 2009). ""Family Guy" wins court battle over song". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52F6W620090316. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
- ^ "Magician sues over cartoon Jesus". Chortle. http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2007/12/06/6128/magician_sues_over_cartoon_jesus. Retrieved September 25, 2009.
- ^ Arthur Metrano, vs. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Seth MacFarlane, Steve Callaghan and Alex Borstein (United States District Court, Central District of California December 5, 2007). Text
- ^ Metrano v. Twentieth Century Fox et al. (CV 08-6314), Memorandum & Order on Motions to Dismiss and to Strike (C.D. Cal. Jun. 16, 2009).
- ^ Dave Fagundes (July 20, 2009). "The Amazing Metrano, Family Guy, and Fair Use". PrawfsBlawg. http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2009/07/the-amazing-metrano-family-guy-and-fair-use.html. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
- ^ Andy I. Corea (December 2009). "Copyright Lessons from Family Guy Add Insult to Injury to Support Your Fair-Use Defense". Tennessee Bar Association Newsletter. Tennessee Bar Association. http://www.ssjr.com/pubdigassets/publications/lawyer_6/withcover.pdf. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
- ^ Seth Macfarlane Emmy Award Winner
- ^ a b McLean, Thomas (2007-06-01). "Seth MacFarlane: Family Guy, American Dad!". Variety. http://www.variety.com/awardcentral_article/VR1117966166.html?nav=eproducer07. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ "Annie Award Winners". Annie Awards. Archived from the original on 2007-07-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20070701085019/http://annieawards.com/33rdannieawardwinners.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
- ^ 1st Annual Wave Awards Winners Revealed By Academy Of Wireless Arts, Video And Entertainment. Academy of Wireless Arts, Video and Entertainment. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
- ^ "The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards and 2009 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Nominees are...". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2009-07-16. http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php. Retrieved 2009-07-16.
- ^ "62nd Primetime Emmy Awars nominations". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 2010-07-08. http://www.emmys.com/sites/emmys.com/files/62ndemmys_noms.pdf. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
- ^ "MTV - Teen Choice Award 2010 Winners". MTV. 2011-08-09. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1645401/2010-teen-choice-awards-winners-list.jhtml. Retrieved 2011-05-17.
- ^ "2011 Teen Choice Awards". Chiff. 2011-08-09. http://www.chiff.com/pop-culture/teen-choice-awards.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
External links[link]
Media related to Seth MacFarlane at Wikimedia Commons
- Seth MacFarlane at the Internet Movie Database
- Seth MacFarlane at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
- Seth MacFarlane's channel on YouTube
- Interview on IGN.com
- Seth MacFarlane on Twitter
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | MacFarlane, Seth |
| Alternative names | MacFarlane, Seth Woodbury |
| Short description | Television producer |
| Date of birth | October 26, 1973 |
| Place of birth | Kent, Connecticut, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
br />Steve
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| Amanda Seyfried | |
|---|---|
 Seyfried at the Chloe premiere, Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), September 13, 2009 |
|
| Born | Amanda Michelle Seyfried (1985-12-03) December 3, 1985 (age 26) Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer, model |
| Years active | 1995–present |
Amanda Michelle Seyfried (born December 3, 1985) is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She began her career as a child model when she was 11, and at 15 began her career as an actress, starting off with uncredited roles and moving on to recurring roles on As the World Turns and All My Children.
In 2004, Seyfried made her film debut in Mean Girls. Her subsequent supporting roles were in independent films, such as Nine Lives (2005) and Alpha Dog (2006). She also had a recurring role in the UPN TV show Veronica Mars (2004–2006). Between 2006 and 2011, she was on HBO's series Big Love. After that, Seyfried appeared in her breakthrough role in the 2008 musical feature film Mamma Mia!. Other appearances include leading roles in Jennifer's Body (2009), Chloe (2009), Dear John (2010), Letters to Juliet (2010), Red Riding Hood (2011), and In Time (2011). She is scheduled to play Linda Lovelace in the biopic Lovelace and Cosette in Les Misérables, both to be released in 2012.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Seyfried was born in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania on December 3, 1985.[1] Her mother, Ann (née Sander), is an occupational therapist, and her father, Jack, is a pharmacist. She has German ancestry.[1][2][3] Seyfried graduated in 2003 from Allentown's William Allen High School.[4] Seyfried has an older sister, Jennifer Seyfried, who is a musician in the Philadelphia organ-driven rock band, Love City.[1][5]
Career[link]
Early work (1995–2005)[link]
I was naturally skinny and had braces, so I wasn't a cute model. I never felt pretty but it was fun and I got a cool pay check to buy sweets with.
“
”
Seyfried on her modeling career[5]
During Seyfried's time modeling, she appeared in print ads for clothing companies including Limited Too with Leighton Meester.[1] She stopped modeling when she was seventeen.[1] Seyfried took voice lessons, studied opera, and trained with a Broadway coach while still a teen. She began acting as an uncredited extra in the daytime drama television series Guiding Light.[6] From 2000 to 2001 she portrayed the recurring character Lucy Montgomery on the television show As the World Turns.[6] From 2002 to 2003 Seyfried played the recurring role of Joni Stafford on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) broadcasted show, All My Children.[7]
In 2003 Seyfried auditioned to play the role of Regina George in Mean Girls; the role eventually went to Rachel McAdams. While she was initially considered to play the lead role of Cady Heron, played by Lindsay Lohan, the producers of the film decided that Seyfried should play Karen Smith, Regina's dim-witted "Plastic" friend and sidekick.[6][8] The film was a box-office success, earning over $129 million in its theatrical run.[9] Seyfried's performance in the film earned her, along with Lohan, Lacey Chabert, and McAdams, an MTV Movie Award in the category of "Best On-Screen Team".[10] Seyfried auditioned to play the title character on UPN's television series Veronica Mars.[6] The role eventually went to Kristen Bell, and Seyfried portrayed the title character's murdered best friend, Lilly Kane.[6] Her character was only shown in flashbacks.[6] The show's creator, Rob Thomas, felt that Seyfried's portrayal as Lilly Kane was so outstanding that he used her more times in the show than he initially planned in the first season.[11] Seyfried appeared in ten episodes from 2004–2005.[7]
In 2005 Seyfried played the lead character, Samantha, a role written by director Rodrigo García specifically for her, in one of the nine parts in the film Nine Lives, composed of nine short films with different themes and an ensemble cast.[12] For her performance in the film, Seyfried, along with the film's other female leads, won an award from the Locarno International Film Festival, for Best Actress.[13] The same year she played supporting character, Mouse, in the independent film, American Gun.[7] In 2006 Seyfried appeared in five episodes of Wildfire as Rebecca and had lead role as Chrissy in the short film titled Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, by writer-director Andrea Janakas. Seyfried also contributed a minor role as Julie Beckley in Alpha Dog. From 2004 to 2006 Seyfried made multiple guest appearances on television series, including House, M.D., Justice, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, American Dad! and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.[6]
Breakthrough (2006–2011)[link]
Seyfried's profile gained prominence due to her role in the highly acclaimed HBO drama television series, Big Love. The series centers on a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family, in which Seyfried plays Sarah Henrickson, Bill and Barb's first daughter, who struggles with her family's polygamous faith.[14] Big Love premiered in the United States on March 12, 2006. In December 2009, HBO confirmed that Seyfried would return for the show's fourth season, but that it would be her last, as Seyfried wished to focus on her film career and upcoming projects.[15]
Following Big Love Seyfried had a supporting role, as Zoe, in the 2008 horror drama film, Solstice, and she co-starred alongside Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!, a romantic comedy film adaptation of the 1999 musical of the same name.[5] Mamma Mia! was Seyfried's first leading role. The film was the fifth highest grossing film of 2008,[16] and as of March 2010 is the 49th highest grossing film of all time.[17] Her musical performance in Mamma Mia! was released on the film's soundtrack, for which she recorded five songs.[18] As part of promotion for both the film and its soundtrack, Seyfried recorded a music video of the song, entitled "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)".
In March 2008 Seyfried was cast in the comedy horror film, Jennifer's Body.[19] In the film Seyfried was cast as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki, the title character's best friend.[19] The film, which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and was released to theaters on September 18, 2009,[20] received mixed reviews from critics.[21] The same year she was cast in the comedy-drama independent film Boogie Woogie. She played Paige Oppenheimer, one of the lead roles in the ensemble movie. The movie was originally shown on June 26, 2009, at Edinburgh International Film Festival, and was officially shown in US theaters April 25, 2010.[22] On February 22, 2009, Seyfried presented an award and performed at the 2009 Annual 81st Academy Awards ceremony.[23] In early March 2009 director Zack Snyder had tapped Seyfried to portray the lead role, Baby Doll, in Sucker Punch,[24] but Seyfried had to drop out of the film due to scheduling conflicts with Big Love.[1][25]
Seyfried starred alongside Channing Tatum in Dear John, the film adaptation of the novel of the same name, that was written by Nicholas Sparks.[26][27] The film was released on February 5, 2010, and received generally negative reviews,[26][27] Seyfried wrote and recorded "Little House", a song which appears on one of the official soundtracks of Dear John.[28] Despite the reviews, Dear John became the first film to break up Avatar's box office reign at number one at the United States box office and grossed $80 million in the US theatrically and $115 million worldwide.[29][30]
Seyfried appeared as the title character in the erotic thriller Chloe, theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010.[31] Chloe originally premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2009.[32] In the film, Seyfried's character is an escort/prostitute who is hired to test a husband, because his wife feels that she cannot trust his fidelity.[32] Chloe had enjoyed commercial success and became director Atom Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.[33] Seyfried's performance in the film also received favorable reviews from critics; it also helped her to gain more industry acclaim and receive more opportunities to play more interesting roles.[34]
Later in 2010 Seyfried starred in the romantic-comedy film Letters to Juliet, based on the book by Lise and Ceil Friedman, which was released to mixed reviews and was a box office success, generated $80 million worldwide. In 2010 she was named, and received an award as, the "Showest Breakthrough Female Star of The Year".[35] She also won the "Scared-As-S**T" category for her performance in Jennifer's Body and was nominated for Best Female Performance for her movie Dear John, at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.[36][37] Also in 2010, she was included in Forbes's "The 17 Stars To Watch" list,[38][39] received 3 nominations in the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Actress Drama and Choice Movie Chemistry with her co-star Channing Tatum for their movie Dear John. Seyfried was also nominated for Choice Movie Actress Romantic Comedy for Letters to Juliet.[40]
In late January 2009 she became attached to appear in Myriad Pictures' adaptation of Oscar Wilde's comedy A Woman of No Importance.[41] The film is set to be released in 2011.[dated info][41][42] In 2010, however, reports indicated that the film might not happen due to lack of financing.[43] Although it was confirmed in 2009 that she would appear in the movie, Albert Nobbs, she ultimately dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Mia Wasikowska.[44] Seyfried plays the starring role of Valerie in Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood. It was released on March 11, 2011 to mostly negative reviews but was a moderate box office success, earning $90 million worldwide on a $42 million budget. She also played the lead role of Sylvia Weis in Andrew Niccol's In Time, released in October 2011 to mixed reviews but with great box office receipts, grossing more than $172 million dollars worldwide.
Recent roles (2012–present)[link]
Seyfried starred in the thriller Gone, released in early 2012.
Seyfried was cast in four movie roles to be released in 2012; the comedy The Big Wedding, the drama The End of Love, the role of Cosette in the film adaptation of the musical, Les Misérables,[45][46][47] and she is set to play Linda Lovelace in the biopic Lovelace, directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.[48] She was also cast as the title role in The Girl who Conned the Ivy League and a role in a movie called For Better or for Worse set to be released in 2013.
Personal life[link]
Seyfried has stated that she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks.[49][50] She has reportedly dated actors Dominic Cooper and Ryan Phillippe.[51] In 2012, it was reported that Seyfried was dating actor Josh Hartnett. [52]
In the media[link]
Seyfried was also ranked three times in the Moviefone's "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars". In 2008, she was placed No. 5, #23 in 2009 and No. 18 in 2010.[53][54][55]
In 2009, People magazine ranked Seyfried No. 4 in the Most Beautiful 2009 – Beautiful at Every Age.[56] Seyfried once again made the list of People magazine's Most Beautiful 2010 with no make-up on.[57]
In 2010, she ranked number 3 on the Saturday Night Magazine's Top 20 Rising Stars Under 30.[58] and at the No. 17 spot in the British Glamour magazine "30 Hottest and Sexiest Stars Under 30".[59] Glamour magazine's April 2010 issue dubbed Seyfried as The Most Down-To-Earth and ranked No. 3 in the "50 Most Glamorous Women of 2010".[60][61]
She also appeared twice in the cover and article of Vanity Fair. First was the VF's Young Hollywood's New Wave in the year 2008[62][63] and the recent controversial Vanity Fair cover and article VF's A New Decade, A New Hollywood.[64]
Moreover, LoveFilm ranked Seyfried at No. 5 spot on their 2010 edition of Top Ten Actresses Under 30.[65] In 2011, she ranked No. 1 on People's "25 Beauties (and Hotties) at 25" list.[66] People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age.[67]
Filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Mean Girls | Karen Smith | |
| 2005 | Nine Lives | Samantha | |
| American Gun | Mouse | ||
| 2006 | Alpha Dog | Julie Beckley | |
| Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves | Chrissy | ||
| 2008 | Solstice | Zoe | Release in 2007 |
| Mamma Mia! | Sophie Sheridan | Lead role | |
| Official Selection | Emily | Short film | |
| 2009 | Boogie Woogie | Paige Oppenheimer | |
| Jennifer's Body | Anita "Needy" Lesnicki | Lead role | |
| Chloe | Chloe Sweeney | Lead role | |
| 2010 | Dear John | Savannah Lynn Curtis | Lead role |
| Letters to Juliet | Sophie Hall | Lead role | |
| A Bag of Hammers | Amanda | ||
| 2011 | Red Riding Hood | Valerie | Lead role |
| In Time | Sylvia Weis | Lead role | |
| 2012 | Gone | Jill | Lead role |
| The Wedding | Missy O'Connor | ||
| The End of Love | Rachel | ||
| Lovelace | Linda Lovelace | Post-Production[68] | |
| Les Misérables | Cosette | Filming[45][46] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2001 | As the World Turns | Lucinda Marie "Lucy" Montgomery #2 | Recurring role (27 episodes) |
| 2002–2003 | All My Children | Joni Stafford | Recurring role (3 episodes) |
| 2004 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Tandi McCain | Episode: "Outcry" |
| 2004.1 !2004–2006 | Veronica Mars | Lilly Kane | Recurring role (11 episodes) |
| 2005 | House M.D. | Pam | Episode: "Detox" |
| 2006 | Justice | Ann Juliette Diggs | Episode: "Pretty Woman" |
| Wildfire | Rebecca | Episodes: "A Good Convict Is Hard to Find" "Dangerous Liaisons" "Family Matters" "Nothing Takes the Past Away Like the Future" "Taking Off" |
|
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Lacey Finn | Episode: "Rashomama" | |
| 2006.1 !2006–2011 | Big Love | Sarah Henrickson | Main role (43 episodes) |
| 2008 | American Dad! | Amy | Voice, episode: "Escape from Pearl Bailey" |
Discography[link]
| Year | Title | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "Honey, Honey" | Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack |
| "Our Last Summer" | ||
| "Lay All Your Love on Me" | ||
| "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" | ||
| "The Name of the Game" | ||
| "Slipping Through My Fingers" | ||
| "I Have a Dream" | ||
| "Thank You for the Music" | ||
| 2010 | "Amanda's Love Song" | PostTheLove |
| "Little House" | Dear John | |
| 2011 | "L'il Red Riding Hood" | Red Riding Hood |
Rankings[link]
| Year | Title | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Moviefone's "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars"[69] | No. 5 |
| 2009 | Moviefone's "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars"[54] | No. 23 |
| People Magazine's Most Beautiful 2009 – Beautiful at Every Age[70] | No. 4 | |
| Autograph Collectors Daily – Top 10 Celebrity Signers in 2009[71] | No. 5 | |
| 2010 | Moviefone's "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars"[72] | No. 18 |
| Saturday Night Magazine's Top 20 Rising Stars Under 30[58] | No. 3 | |
| Glamour Magazine's "30 Hottest and Sexiest Stars Under 30"[73] | No. 17 | |
| Glamour Magazine's "50 Most Glamorous Women of 2010"[74] (dubbed as The Most Down-To-Earth[75]) | No. 3 | |
| LoveFilm's Top Ten Actresses Under 30[65] | No. 5 | |
| The Internet Movie Database's Top 100 STARmeter list[76] | No. 34 | |
| Forbes's 17 Stars To Watch[77] | No. 15 | |
| People Magazine's World's Most Beautiful[78] | No. 10 | |
| 2011 | AskMen's Top 99 Women[79] | No. 92 |
References[link]
- ^ a b c d e f Judy Backrach. Wide Eyed Girl. September 2009. Allure magazine
- ^ Stated on Live with Regis and Kelly, May 14, 2010; can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LM_jawq2W0&feature=youtu.be
- ^ Longsdorf, Amy (2008-07-13). "'It's just so RIDICULOUS.' ** With a star turn in 'MAMMA MIA!' Allentown native AMANDA SEYFRIED has sung her way onto the HOLLYWOOD A-LIST. She talks about her exciting life". Morning Call. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/mcall/access/1510221461.html?dids=1510221461:1510221461&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+13%2C+2008&author=Amy+Longsdorf&pub=Morning+Call&desc='It's+just+so+RIDICULOUS.'+**+With+a+star+turn+in+'MAMMA+MIA!'+Allentown+native+AMANDA+SEYFRIED+has+sung+her+way+onto+the+HOLLYWOOD+A-LIST.+She+talks+abut+her+exciting+life.&pqatl=google. Retrieved 2010-01-29.
- ^ "Amanda Seyfried: From Soaps To Big Screen Stardom". The Morning Call. 2008-07-13. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1510221451&sid=18&Fmt=3&clientId=53705&RQT=309&VName=PQD. Retrieved 2010-01-06. (Subscription required)
- ^ a b c Lina Das (2008-06-18). "'I'm just so open about things at this point in my life – and that can get you into trouble'". Daily Mail (UK). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/you/article-1025457/Im-just-open-things-point-life--trouble.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Amanda Seyfried Profile". AskMen.com. http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/actress/amanda-seyfried/index.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ a b c "Amanda Seyfried". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1086543/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ Mean Girls at IMDb
- ^ "Mean Girls (2004)". BoxOfficeMojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=meangirls.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ "Mean Girls (2004): Awards". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/awards. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ http://www.slaverats.com/files/DVD_Commentary.mp3
- ^ Michael J. Lee (2005-06-21). "Amanda Seyfried on 'Nine Lives'". Movies. RadioFree.com. Radio Free Entertainment. http://movies.radiofree.com/interviews/ninelive_amanda_seyfried.shtml. Retrieved 2010-02-05.
- ^ "Nine Lives: Awards". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1086543/awards. Retrieved 2010-01-06.
- ^ Rebecca Dana (2006-03-12). "Raise the Red-State Lantern". New York Observer. http://www.observer.com/node/51964. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ Jennifer Godwin (2009-12-18). "This Just In: Amanda Seyfried Says Bye to Big Love". E! Online. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b158732_this_just_in_amanda_seyfried_says_bye.html. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ "Mamma Mia! (2008)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=mammamia.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ "Box Office Mojo – All Time Worldwide Box Office". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ "Mamma Mia! [Soundtrack]". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0019FOC5E. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ a b Borys Kit, Leslie Simmons (2008-02-08). "Seyfried in 'Body' cast". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i55bff7bc1a68ecefd1ee67eb5979e4fb. Retrieved 2010-01-01. [dead link]
- ^ Jennifer Kwan (2009-09-14). "Cody exorcises demons from "Jennifer's Body"". Reuters. Thomas Reuters. http://in.reuters.com/article/idINTRE58C0ZI20090914. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ "Jennifer's Body". RottenTomatoes.com. September 21, 2009. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jennifers_body/?critic=creamcrop. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ Boogie Woogie (2009) – IMDb
- ^ "81st Annual Academy Awards". IMDb. IMDB Inc. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219288/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ "'Watchmen' director goes for 'Sucker Punch'". Zap2it. 2009-03-04. http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-watchmen-director-plans-next-project,0,1805690.story. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ Nicole Sperling (2009-03-23). "Amanda Seyfried out of Zack Snyder's 'Sucker Punch'". Entertainment Weekly. http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/03/23/amanda-seyfried/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ a b Schwartz, Terri (2010-01-01). "So Long 2009! Here Are The Top 10 Movies And TV Shows We're Most Looking Forward To In 2010". Viacom. http://hollywoodcrush.mtv.com/2010/01/01/so-long-2009-here-are-the-top-10-movies-and-tv-shows-were-most-looking-forward-to-in-2010/. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ a b "Dear John". IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0989757/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ "Dear John — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". DearJohnSoundtrack.com. http://dearjohnsoundtrack.com/. Retrieved 2010-01-18.
- ^ Gray, Brandon (2010-02-08). "Weekend Report: ‘Dear John’ Delivers, ‘Avatar’ Flies High Again". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2670. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ^ "Dear John". Box Office Mojo. IMDb Inc. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=dearjohn.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ^ "Chloe". Box Office Mojo. IMDb Inc. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=chloe.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ^ a b Sharon Swart (2009-10-08). "Sony seduced by 'Chloe'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009736?refCatId=13. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ Pevere, Geoff (December 7, 2010). "The Digital Revolution: Part 1". The Star (Toronto). http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/901059--the-digital-revolution-film.
- ^ http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/03/star_market_can_amanda_seyfrie.html
- ^ "Amanda Seyfried Named Showest Breakthrough Female Star of The Year" (PDF). http://www.showest.com/filmexpo/photos/pdf/A_Amanda.pdf. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ "MTV Movie Awards 2010: Winners". Film-book.com. 2010-06-06. http://film-book.com/mtv-movie-awards-2010-winners/. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ "MTV Movie Awards 2010: Nominations". Film-book.com. 2010-05-13. http://film-book.com/mtv-movie-awards-2010-nominations/. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ Lauren-Leigh Frum, Dorothy Pomerantz and Lacey Rose (2010-06-22). "In Pictures: 17 Stars To Watch — Amanda Seyfried". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/22/justin-bieber-joel-mchale-business-entertainment-celeb-100-10-stars-to-watch_slide_16.html. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ "The Stars To Watch". Forbes. 2010-06-22. http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/22/justin-bieber-joel-mchale-business-entertainment-celeb-100-10-stars-to-watch.html. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
- ^ Teen Choice Awards 2010
- ^ a b Dave McNary (2009-01-28). "Amanda Seyfried cast as Wilde lead". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117999229?refCatId=13. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ Varety (2009-01-29). "Seyfried Is A Woman Of No Importance". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=24092. Retrieved 2010-01-02.
- ^ "Beresford on "Peace, Love and Misunderstanding," and the Seyfried "A Woman of No Importance" – Frankly My Dear – Orlando Sentinel". Blogs.orlandosentinel.com. http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_movies_blog/2010/08/beresford-on-peace-love-and-misunderstanding-and-the-seyfried-a-woman-of-no-importance.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ "Mia Wasikowska Replacing Amanda Seyfried In Albert Nobbs, More Details". Bleedingcool.com. 2010-11-14. http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/11/14/mia-wasikowska-replacing-amanda-seyfried-in-albert-nobbs-more-details/. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ a b 'Les Misérables' has an amazing cast, says Eddie Redmayne – video
- ^ a b MIZ FILM: It's official! Aaron Tveit is confirmed to join the cast...
- ^ Taylor Swift, Amanda Seyfried get 'Les Misérables' gigs over Lea Michele
- ^ "Demi Moore and Adam Brody bone up for porn star biopic 'Lovelace' starring Amanda Seyfried". HitFix. January 2, 2011. http://www.hitfix.com/articles/demi-moore-and-adam-brody-join-growing-cast-of-porn-star-biopic-lovelace. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ^ Spencer, Amy (March 1, 2010). "Amanda Seyfried: The Most Down-To-Earth Member of the Glam New Guard". glamour.com. http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2010/03/amanda-seyfried-the-most-down-to-earth-member-of-the-glam-new-guard. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ Kaufman, Amy (May 15, 2010). "Amanda Seyfried in full bloom". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/15/entertainment/la-et-seyfried-20100515. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
- ^ Eggenberger, Nicole (March 8, 2011). "Amanda Seyfried Got Her "Heart Broken" by Dominic Cooper "Pretty Hard"". Ok!. http://www.okmagazine.com/2011/03/amanda-seyfried-got-her-heart-broken-by-dominic-cooper-pretty-hard/. Retrieved October 24, 2011.
- ^ Macatee, Rebecca (March 21, 2012). "CNew Couple Alert: Amanda Seyfried and Josh Hartnett Spotted on Beach Date!". http://au.eonline.com/news/new_couple_alert_amanda_seyfried_josh/302894. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
- ^ MovieFone Staff (2008-09-24). "25 Under 25 Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars". Moviefone. http://blog.moviefone.com/2008/09/24/25-under-25-hollywoods-hottest-young-stars/. Retrieved 2010-01-01.
- ^ a b "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars (2009)". The Moviefone Blog. 2009-09-14. http://blog.moviefone.com/2009/09/14/25-under-25-hollywoods-hottest-young-stars-2009/. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars (2010)". The Moviefone Blog. 2010-10-19. http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/10/19/25-under-25-2010/. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ "Most Beautiful 2009Beautiful at Every Age". People. Time Warner Inc. http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20267544_20273903_20612573,00.html#20612253. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
- ^ "Sneak Peek: World's Most Beautiful 2010! But most recently she has hooked up with both Christian and Jose Farias who happen to be blood brothers.". People. 2010-04-28. http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20360857_20364406,00.html#20776522. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
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- ^ Peretz, Evgenia (2009-10-20). "Evgenia Peretz on Hollywood It Girls". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/features/2010/03/cover-girls-201003. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
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- ^ http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/movie-341348-movies-lovelace.html
- ^ "25 Under 25: Hollywood's Hottest Young Stars (2008)". The Moviefone Blog. 2008-09-24. http://blog.moviefone.com/2008/09/24/25-under-25-hollywoods-hottest-young-stars/. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
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- ^ "30 Hottest and Sexiest Stars Under 30, including Megan Fox, Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron". Glamourmagazine.co.uk. 2009-09-29. http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/celebrity/celebrity-galleries/2009/09/29/30-hottest-under-30#!image-number=14. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
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- ^ Spencer, Amy. "Amanda Seyfried: The Most Down-To-Earth Member of the Glam New Guard: Magazine". glamour.com. http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2010/03/amanda-seyfried-the-most-down-to-earth-member-of-the-glam-new-guard. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ IMDb | Year In Review | 2010 | STARmeter | The Top 100
- ^ Frum, Lauren-Leigh; Pomerantz, Dorothy; Rose, Lacey. "In Pictures: 17 Stars To Watch". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/22/justin-bieber-joel-mchale-business-entertainment-celeb-100-10-stars-to-watch_slide_16.html.
- ^ "World's Most Beautiful 2010! – JULIA ROBERTS – Most Beautiful, Actor Class". People. 2010-04-28. http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20360857_20364406,00.html#20776522. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
- ^ "Amanda Seyfried – Top 99 Women". AskMen. http://www.askmen.com/specials/2011_top_99/92-amanda-seyfried.html. Retrieved 2011-04-17.
External links[link]
|
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Amanda Seyfried |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Seyfried, Amanda |
| Alternative names | Seyfried, Amanda Michelle (birth name); Manda (nickname) |
| Short description | American actress and model |
| Date of birth | December 3, 1985 |
| Place of birth | Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He served as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and was a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News. After writing for several comedy shows in Los Angeles, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later of The Simpsons. He hosted Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, followed by seven months hosting The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the only person to serve as the permanent host for both NBC programs.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) to Thomas O'Brien, a physician, epidemiologist, and professor of medicine at Harvard, and Ruth O'Brien (née Reardon), an attorney and partner at the Boston firm Ropes & Gray. He is the third of six children. O'Brien's family is Irish Catholic and descends from pre-Civil War era immigrants. In a Late Night episode, O'Brien paid a visit to County Kerry, Ireland, where his ancestors originated.
