Bob Odenkirk
Odenkirk holding a producer credit for The 1 Second Film in January 2005
Born	Robert Odenkirk (1962-10-22) October 22, 1962 (age 49) Berwyn, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director, producer, writer
Years active	1987–present
Spouse	Naomi Odenkirk (1997–present)

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.^[1] 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.

Early life[link]

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.^[2][3] His brother is comedy writer Bill Odenkirk. Odenkirk is of half Irish descent.^[2] His parents later divorced, and Walter eventually died from cancer and was "pretty down on his luck" towards the end of his life.^[2] His father's battle with alcoholism would later influence Bob's decision to avoid alcohol almost completely.^[2] 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."^[2]

Odenkirk has said his strongest comedic influence was Monty Python's Flying Circus, primarily due to its combination of cerebral and simple humor.^[4] His other influences included SCTV, Steve Martin's Let's Get Small, Woody Allen, The Credibility Gap, and Bob and Ray.^[4] He also visited Chicago's Second City Theater at the age of 14.

He began his foray into comedy writing as a radio DJ for WIDB, his local college station at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He worked at WIDB with newsman Greg Weindorf and traffic man Matt "The Agitator" Helser now of Dirty Laundry Podcast fame. After 3 years of college, Odenkirk decided to try writing and improv in the Chicago comedy scene. First studying with the famous improv-guru Del Close (who had mentored the likes of Bill Murray and John Belushi) Odenkirk also attended "The Players Workshop of the Second City" where he met Robert Smigel and they began a collaboration that would last for years and take Bob to Saturday Night Live.

Career[link]

Work in television[link]

[edit] Saturday Night Live: 1987-1991

Odenkirk was hired as a writer at Saturday Night Live in 1987 and worked there through 1991. Working alongside Robert Smigel and Conan O'Brien, he contributed to many sketches they created, but felt uncertain of his own writing and not very effective at the show. He acted in several small roles on the show, most visibly during a 1991 parody commercial for Bad Idea Jeans.^[5]

In Odenkirk's final year at SNL, he worked alongside Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Chris Farley, but his desire to perform caused him to leave the show. Odenkirk has credited SNL with teaching him many lessons about sketch writing, from senior writers like James Downey and Al Franken, as well as his friends Smigel and O'Brien.^[4]

When Saturday Night Live took its 1988 summer break, Odenkirk returned to Chicago to perform a stage show with Smigel and O'Brien, titled Happy Happy Good Show. The following summer he did a one-man show, Show-Acting Guy, directed by Tom Gianas. During his final summer hiatus, he wrote and acted in the Second City Mainstage show, Flag Burning Permitted in Lobby Only. In that particular show, he wrote the character "Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker", for Chris Farley, which would later be reprised on SNL.^[4]

Various writing and acting work: 1991-1994[link]

In 1991, Odenkirk was hired to write for the TV show Get a Life, which starred Late Night With David Letterman alumnus Chris Elliott.^[6] Other notable writers on the show included Adam Resnick and Charlie Kaufman. The show was short-lived, and in 1992, Odenkirk briefly wrote for The Dennis Miller Show.^[6]

Odenkirk's friendship with Ben Stiller, whom he shared an office with briefly at SNL, would lead to him being hired for the cast of The Ben Stiller Show in 1992. Working as both a writer and actor on the show, he created and starred in the memorable sketch "Manson Lassie", and helped the show win an Emmy Award for writing. However, the show had already been canceled by the time it won the award.^[1] Odenkirk also met David Cross at Ben Stiller; shortly afterward, the pair began performing live sketch shows, which eventually evolved into Mr. Show with Bob and David.

In 1993, Odenkirk began a recurring role on The Larry Sanders Show as Larry Sanders' agent, Steve Grant.^[6] He would sporadically continue the character through 1998.^[6] Also in 1993, Odenkirk had brief acting roles on Roseanne and Tom Arnold's The Jackie Thomas Show.^[6]

[edit] Mr. Show: 1995-1998

Created by Odenkirk and David Cross, Mr. Show ran on HBO for 4 seasons, over 33 episodes. The show featured a number of comedians in the early stages of their careers, including Sarah Silverman, Paul F. Tompkins, Jack Black, Tom Kenny, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Brian Posehn and Scott Aukerman.

While nominated for multiple Emmy awards in writing and generally well liked by critics, it never broke out of a "cult" audience into larger mainstream acceptance. After Mr. Show, Bob and David and the writers from the staff wrote the movie Run, Ronnie, Run. The film was an extension of a sketch from the first season of the show. However, the studio took production control away from Cross and Odenkirk during the editing stages, and the pair has disowned the final product.

Recent television work: 1999-2011[link]

Since Mr. Show, Bob has acted in numerous television shows and some films. He has written and produced many TV pilots, including The Big Wide World of Carl Laemke and David's Situation, but none have made it to air or been picked up as a series.^[7]

In 2004, Bob received an unsolicited package including the work of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. Inspired by their unique voice, he connected with them and helped them develop a semi-animated show for Adult Swim called Tom Goes to the Mayor. Bob also assisted Tim and Eric with the development of their second series, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job.

Odenkirk has had a number of small featuring roles on TV shows, including Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Seinfeld, NewsRadio, Just Shoot Me!, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, Entourage, Weeds, and How I Met Your Mother.^[6] He also appeared in Everybody Loves Raymond as Scott Preeman.^[8]

In 2009, Odenkirk joined the cast of AMC's Breaking Bad as the corrupt lawyer Saul Goodman. He appeared as a guest star in three episodes of the second season, and became a series regular in the third season.

In 2011, Odenkirk wrote and developed "Let's Do This!" for Adult Swim. Odenkirk stars as "Cal Mackenzie-Goldberg, two-bit movie mogul and head of Cal-Gold Pictures as he leads a collection of crazy, fame-hungry strivers chasing Hollywood dreams." The pilot can be seen on Adult Swim's website.^[9]

Work in film[link]

In 2003, Odenkirk directed Melvin Goes to Dinner, which won the Audience Award at the SXSW Film and Music Festival. It was later self-released in five cities, then distributed on DVD by Sundance. Odenkirk directed Let's Go to Prison in 2006, written by Tom Lennon and Ben Garant of The State and Reno 911 fame. Let's Go To Prison starred Will Arnett of Arrested Development, as well as Dax Shepard and Chi McBride. In 2007, Odenkirk directed The Brothers Solomon, written by Will Forte. The film starred Forte, Will Arnett and Lee Majors.

Personal life[link]

Odenkirk is married to Naomi Odenkirk (née Yomtov), and the couple have two children.^[10]

Filmography/television appearances[link]

Further reading[link]

• Odenkirk, Naomi. Mr. Show: What Happened?! The Complete Story and Episode Guide. Squaresville Productions, September 2002.
• Klein, Robert. Patinkin, Sheldon. The Second City: Backstage at the World's Greatest Comedy Theater. Sourcebooks, October 2000.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bob Odenkirk at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• Bob Odenkirk discusses Breaking Bad at AMCtv.com
• Interview With Bob Odenkirk at Scene Missing Magazine
• Better Call Saul! - official homepage for Odenkirk's character on Breaking Bad

Odenkirk is a surname and may refer to:

• Bill Odenkirk (born 1965), American comedy writer
• Bob Odenkirk (born 1962), American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer

This page or section lists people with the surname Odenkirk. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2011)

David Cross
Cross at the Arrested Development 2011 Reunion
Born	(1964-04-04) April 4, 1964 (age 48) Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Medium	Stand up, Television, Film, Books
Nationality	American
Years active	1992–present
Genres	Satire, Black comedy, Blue comedy, Observational comedy, Sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Recreational drug use, Drinking culture, Race relations, American culture, Self-deprecation, Human behavior, Religion, Human sexuality
Notable works and roles	Host/Various – Mr. Show Tobias Fünke – Arrested Development

David Cross (born April 4, 1964)^[1] is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr. Show and for his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox sitcom Arrested Development.

Cross starred in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, had main roles in the Comedy Central animated sitcom Freak Show and the Fox sitcom Running Wilde and currently has a recurring role in the ABC sitcom Modern Family.

Early life[link]

Cross was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Susi^[2] and a father who immigrated from Leeds, England.^[3] Six months after his birth, Cross's family moved to Florida. After additional moves to New York and Connecticut, the family settled back in Roswell, Georgia, where Cross remained for nearly a decade. His family was poor and his father left the family when Cross was ten years old, and Cross and his father have not spoken since he was 19, though they both primarily resided in New York City until Cross sold his home there in 2011.^[4] Cross and his family were evicted from their home while living in Georgia. He spent some time living in motels and at friends' homes while growing up.^[5] He has two sisters, and once bailed his youngest sibling out of jail.^[6]

Career[link]

Beginnings in comedy[link]

Cross began performing stand-up comedy at 17. The day after he graduated from high school, Cross went to New York. Lacking a plan, he drifted around, working briefly for a lawn care company on Long Island, and later enrolled at Emerson College in Boston. He would drop out after only a semester, but during his time there he discovered his new favourite things: partying and sketch comedy. Cross joined This is Pathetic, a college sketch group, where he met John Ennis. In the summer of 1985, the two aspiring actors took a road trip to Los Angeles, although this did not significantly further their acting careers. In Boston, Cross began to perform stand-up more regularly. From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Boston had a booming comedy scene, although Cross did not fit the types of acts being booked most of the time. He recalls that it was "a loud-, dumb-, pandering-, racist-, homophobic-type scene".^[7]

In 1990, a new comedy scene began to emerge at the famous comedy club chain called Catch a Rising Star (where many of the comedians of the 1970s and 1980s got their start). Cross—along with Janeane Garofalo, Louis C.K., and other comics—appeared regularly several nights a week. Cross formed the sketch comedy group "Cross Comedy" with twelve other performers, and they put on a new show every week. They were known for playing tricks on the audience, such as introducing fake comics or planting fake hecklers. Cross became increasingly focused on his comedy work.^[7] Cross performed at the alternative comedy club Un-Cabaret in Los Angeles.

[edit] Work on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show and other programs

Cross at 2007 Plug Awards

Cross began his professional television career as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show. The short-lived Fox Network series hired him toward the end of its run, and he occasionally made brief appearances in the sketches. He had a speaking role in "The Legend of T.J. O'Pootertoot", a sketch written almost entirely by Cross. It was during this period that he first met Bob Odenkirk, with whom he would later co-create the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show in 1995. Cross won an Emmy for his work on The Ben Stiller Show in 1993.^[8]

Cross later co-starred as Tobias Fünke in Arrested Development, which was originally intended to be only a minor role. He has also played smaller roles on programs such as Just Shoot Me!, The Drew Carey Show, NewsRadio, Strangers with Candy, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Since October 2005, Cross has appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report as Stephen Colbert's arch-nemesis, a fictional liberal radio talk show host from Madison, Wisconsin named "Russ Lieber". Cross also developed an animated series for Comedy Central called Freak Show, which co-starred H. Jon Benjamin, and was cancelled due to low ratings. He has appeared several times on the MTV2 series Wonder Showzen.

Cross teamed up with "Mr. Show" Producer/Director Troy Miller and Odenkirk to produce a feature film Run Ronnie Run, based on one of their Mr. Show characters. The film satirized the reality television craze, and featured cameos from many stars; however, Odenkirk got into conflict with the studio New Line Cinema, and they then released it direct-to-video. In 1994 and again in 1999, Cross was a guest voice actor on Joe Frank's radio show, featured in the episodes "The Last Run", "A Hearing", "The O.J. Chronicles", and "Jam".

Cross continues to perform stand-up, in which he blends liberal-leaning political commentary and satire.^[9] In 1999, he was given his own one-hour comedy special on HBO, entitled The Pride Is Back. He has released three recordings, Shut Up You Fucking Baby!, It's Not Funny, and Bigger and Blackerer. Cross' stand up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. In 2004, Shut Up You Fucking Baby! was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. In 2003, he released his first tour film, Let America Laugh, and was named #85 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-ups of all time. He appears on Un-Cabaret compilation albums, including Freak Weather Feels Different and The Good, the Bad and the Drugly.

In 2004, Cross provided voices for a Marine in the Xbox game Halo 2, and a store clerk named Zero in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He also was the voice of the violent, alcoholic "Happy-Time Harry" doll and Bert Banana in Aqua Teen Hunger Force (although the part was credited as Sir Willups Brightslymoore). He has also made guest appearances in the Adult Swim series Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!. He directed the music video for The Black Keys' song "10am Automatic", a spoof of public-access television.

Cross appeared in The Strokes' music video for "Juicebox" as a bad local "morning zoo" radio DJ. He also appeared in The New Pornographers' video for "Use It", in Superchunk's video for "Watery Hands" (along with Janeane Garofalo), and in Yo La Tengo's video for "Sugarcube" (along with Bob Odenkirk and John Ennis). Cross contributes to Vice magazine, writing a column titled "My America".

In 2005, he contributed to the UNICEF benefit song "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?".

In the Beastie Boys' 2006 concert film Awesome; I Fuckin' Shot That!, Cross played the character Nathaniel Hörnblowér in the fictional segment "A Day in the Life of Nathaniel Hörnblowér". In the Bob Dylan biographical film I'm Not There, Cross played the role of poet Allen Ginsberg. Both Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff of Scrubs were ambitious to have Cross cameo on the show as Tobias Fünke, but because of the series' cancellation, the plan never came to fruition.^[10][11]

Cross provided commentary on the Vicarious music video DVD for the band Tool. He has previously performed comedy as an opening act for the band, and its members appeared on Mr. Show several times. He played Ian Hawke in the 2007 movie Alvin and the Chipmunks and Crane in the 2008 movie Kung Fu Panda, a role which he has continued through most of the animated franchise.

Cross starred in a pilot for HBO called David's Situation which filmed in May 2008 and included many Mr. Show alumni at the taping. On August 6, 2008, Bob Odenkirk announced on bobanddavid.com that David's Situation would not be produced.

Cross' comedy series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which he co-wrote with writer Shaun Pye, has run on Channel 4 in the UK and the cable channel IFC in the U.S. Cross's first book, I Drink For A Reason, was published in August 2009.

In September 2009, Cross performed at his own comedy stage at the ATP New York 2009 music festival, for which he picked Eugene Mirman, Jon Benjamin & Jon Glaser and Derrick Brown & The Navy Gravy to join him. In 2009 Cross, along with Jon Benjamin, created and wrote for Paid Programming, a live action television pilot for Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim. Paid Programming was not picked up for a full series, and Benjamin referred to it as an "abject failure".^[12]

On March 29, 2010 Cross's first comedy special in six years "Bigger and Blackerer" was streamed on Epix HD. A CD with "slightly different content" was released on May 25, 2010.^[13]

Cross at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival

Personal life[link]

Cross was born Jewish; however he is an atheist and does not practice Judaism.^[14][15] Actress Amber Tamblyn confirmed on August 17, 2011 that she and Cross had become engaged.^[16]

In October 2005, Cross was sued by Nashville club owner Thomas Weber, who accused Cross of taping him without permission for Shut Up You Fucking Baby and Let America Laugh in violation of Weber's privacy rights. In April 2006 the case against Cross himself was dismissed and the case proceeded with Warner Music, Subpop Records, WEA Corporation, and the Alternative Distribution Alliance.^[17][18]

In a 2012 interview with Playboy magazine, Cross admitted that he had snorted a small amount of cocaine at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner. Cross said, "It wasn’t like I got high...It was just about being able to say that I did it, that I did cocaine in the same room as the president."^[19]

Criticism of others[link]

Larry the Cable Guy[link]

In April 2005, Cross criticized stand-up comedian Larry the Cable Guy in a Rolling Stone interview, saying, "It's a lot of anti-gay, racist humor — which people like in America — all couched in 'I'm telling it like it is.' He's in the right place at the right time for that gee-shucks, proud-to-be-a-redneck, I'm-just-a-straight-shooter-multimillionaire-in-cutoff-flannel-selling-ring-tones act. That's where we are as a nation now. We're in a state of vague American values and anti-intellectual pride." In response, Larry devoted a chapter in his book GIT-R-DONE to Cross and the "P.C. left", claiming that Cross had "screwed with my fans, it was time for me to say something". Larry claimed that Rolling Stone was baiting comedians to attack him, and they turned to Cross only after Lewis Black refused. Cross responded with An Open Letter to Larry the Cable Guy posted on his website.^[20] He continued to mock Larry in his stand-up, satirizing Blue Collar TV during a guest appearance on Wonder Showzen. In December 2005, he ended his performance on Comedy Central's Last Laugh '05 by mockingly yelling "GIT-R-DONE!" (Larry the Cable Guy's catchphrase) to the audience as he left the stage. He pokes fun at Larry's comedy in Freak Show with a character called "Danny the Plumber Guy".

James Lipton[link]

Cross has criticized Inside the Actors Studio host James Lipton on a Mr. Show sketch and in his stand-up performance The Pride Is Back, calling him "pretentious."^[21] Lipton, who thought that Cross's impression of him was not good-natured, would later appear alongside Cross in Arrested Development, in the recurring role of Prison Warden Stefan Gentles. During filming, Cross was impressed with Lipton's acting and comedic ability, and the two became good friends.^[22] On one commentary track for season four of Mr. Show, Cross discussed the encounter, complimenting Lipton for his professionalism and performance, saying that he liked Lipton personally but still "didn't care for" Inside The Actors Studio.

Alvin and the Chipmunks[link]

Responding to critics of his decision to appear in the critically panned but commercially successful Alvin and the Chipmunks, Cross noted that the film paid for a summer home,^[23] and more than "all my other projects combined: book, TV show, the two pilots, Year One, yeah."^[24] Cross reprised his Chipmunks role in the film's two sequels. In 2011, Cross said that making Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, the third film, was, "the most unpleasant experience I've ever had in my professional life."^[25]

Discography[link]

Comedy albums[link]

• Shut Up You Fucking Baby! (2002) 2CD
• It's Not Funny (2004) CD
• Bigger and Blackerer (May 2010) CD/DVD

Tour documentary[link]

• Let America Laugh (2003) DVD

Compilation appearances[link]

• Rock Against Bush, Vol. 1 (2004) CD/DVD (featured clip on bonus DVD)
• Invite Them Up (Compilation) (2005) CD/DVD
• Comedy Death-Ray (Compilation) (2007) CD

Bibliography[link]

• I Drink for a Reason (2009), Grand Central Publishing, New York (ISBN 978-0-446-57948-3)

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

Films[link]

Music videos[link]

• "Watery Hands" by Superchunk (1997) – Actor
• "Sugarcube" by Yo La Tengo (1997) – Actor
• "10 A.M. Automatic" by The Black Keys (2004) – Director
• "Juicebox" by The Strokes (2005) – Actor
• "Use It" by The New Pornographers (2005) – Actor
• "Vicarious" DVD by Tool (2006) – Commentary
• "Make Some Noise" by Beastie Boys (2011) – Actor

Video games[link]

• Halo 2 (2004) – Marine
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) – Zero
• Brütal Legend (2009) – The Screamer

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: David Cross

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: David Cross

• David Cross at the Internet Movie Database
• David Cross: An eye for a tooth and a tooth for an eye That Other Paper
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• Interview with Kittenpants.org
• Cross On Atheism
• What Ever Happened To... That Lawsuit Against David Cross?
• Scene Missing Magazine interview
• David Cross on Chortle
• I Drink For A Reason Book website

Janeane Garofalo
Garofalo in January 2008
Born	(1964-09-28) September 28, 1964 (age 47) Newton, New Jersey, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	American
Years active	1988–present
Genres	Alternative comedy
Subject(s)	American politics, celebrities, feminism, body image

Janeane Garofalo ( /dʒəˈniːn ɡəˈrɒfəloʊ/; born September 28, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, progressive political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to participate regularly in New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.

Early life[link]

Garofalo was born in Newton, New Jersey, the daughter of Joan and Carmine Garofalo. Her mother was a secretary, in the petrochemical industry, who died of cancer when Janeane was 24. Her father is a former executive at Exxon.^[1][2] Garofalo was raised as a conservative Catholic^[3] and is of Italian and Irish descent. She grew up in various places, including Ontario, California, Madison, New Jersey and Katy, Texas. Garofalo is quoted as having disliked life in Houston because of the heat and humidity and the emphasis on prettiness and sports in high school.^[1][2]

While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Her original gimmick was to read off her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances. Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the TV show Late Night With David Letterman, she became a professional standup upon graduating from college with degrees in History and American Studies.^[4] She struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston.^[5]

Garofalo has described herself thus: "I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth."^[6]

Entertainment career[link]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Garofalo began her career in stand-up comedy in the late 1980s during the pre-grunge era.^{[citation needed]} Her appearance was often in line with late 1980s style: disheveled with thick black glasses and unkempt hair.^{[citation needed]} Her comedy is often self-deprecating;^{[citation needed]} she has made fun of popular culture and the pressures on women to conform to body image ideals promoted by the media.^{[citation needed]}

Garofalo's comedy shows involve her and her notebook, which is filled with years' worth of article clippings and random observations she references for direct quotes during her act.^{[citation needed]} Garofalo has said that she does not tell jokes as much as make observations designed to get laughs.^{[citation needed]} She was part of the alternative comedy scene in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, appearing at Un-Cabaret and other venues and co-created the Eating It comedy series which ran at Luna Lounge on the Lower East Side of New York City between 1995 and 2005.^{[citation needed]} She did a one-hour stand-up special, "If You Will," at Seattle's Moore Theatre, that aired on Epix in June 2010 and was released on DVD in September 2010.^{[citation needed]}

During her filmed stand-up show in Seattle, she brought up her ten-year asexual relationship with her boyfriend, describing herself as having no interest in sex whatsoever.^[7]

Television[link]

Garofalo's big break came in 1990 after meeting Ben Stiller at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, where they were hanging out with stand-up friends. They bonded over their "love of SCTV, early Saturday Night Live and Albert Brooks."^[8]

Her television series debut was on the short-lived Ben Stiller Show on Fox in 1992, on which she was a cast member alongside longtime friends Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick, and David Cross. A chance meeting on the set of that show led her to be offered the role of Paula on The Larry Sanders Show on HBO, earning her two Emmy Award^[9] nominations in 1996 and 1997.

After The Ben Stiller Show was cancelled, Garofalo joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) for its 1994–95 season. She left SNL in March 1995 (mid-season) after only six months, saying that the experience left her "anxious and depressed" and that a sexist attitude pervaded the show and she called many of the sketches "juvenile and homophobic". According to New York Magazine, Garofalo was "largely stuck in dull, secondary wife and girlfriend roles" and her friends said that she considered the stint "the most miserable experience of [her] life."^[10]

Following SNL, Garofalo appeared in a plethora of guest star roles: the grown-up daughter of the Buchmans on the final episode of Mad About You; Jerry Seinfeld's female counterpart (and, briefly, fiancée) Jeannie Steinman on Seinfeld; a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation and a former girlfriend of Dave Foley's character on Newsradio. Two television pilots starring Garofalo, the 2003 ABC show Slice O'Life about a reporter consigned to sappy human interest stories appearing at the end of news broadcasts, and the 2005 NBC program All In, based on the life of poker star Annie Duke, were not picked up by their respective networks.

Throughout the 2005–2006 television season, Garofalo appeared on The West Wing as Louise Thornton, a controversial campaign adviser to the fictional Democratic presidential nominee. Garofalo participated in the series' first live episode, most of which was a debate televised live on the East Coast and then reshot live for the West. Garofalo's character can be seen walking backstage advising before the start of each debate. In 2006, she provided the voice for the animated character "Bearded Clam" on Comedy Central's Freak Show. In 2007, she wrote a dedication for the mini-book included in the six-DVD box-set of the 1994 cult series My So-Called Life.

In 2009, Garofalo joined the cast of 24, where she starred as Janis Gold.

Garofalo was a cast member of the Criminal Minds short-lived spinoff TV series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.^[11]

In 2010, Garofalo joined the cast of Ideal as Tilly.

Films[link]

Garofalo's breakthrough into film came in 1994's Reality Bites as Winona Ryder's Gap-managing best friend Vickie. The role helped solidify Garofalo's status as a Generation X icon. In 1996, Garofalo earned a starring role in the critically acclaimed The Truth About Cats & Dogs, a variation on Cyrano de Bergerac which featured Uma Thurman in the lead role as a beautiful but dim-witted model, while Garofalo played Abby, a highly intelligent radio host. Initially an independent film, it became a studio movie when Thurman was signed. The film was a modest hit, but Garofalo disparages it to this day, saying:^[12]

Based on the success of this film, director Cameron Crowe then offered her the leading lady role in Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise if she could lose weight; after trimming down, however, she learned that Renée Zellweger had won the part instead.^[13] Garofalo turned down the role of Gale Weathers in Wes Craven's Scream because she thought the film would be too violent: "I said I didn't want to be in a movie where a teen girl was disemboweled. I didn't know it turned out so good, and it was a funny movie."^[14] Garofalo had also been David Fincher's first choice for the role of Marla Singer in the film Fight Club, but she turned it down, uncomfortable with the film's sexual content.^[15]

Before The Truth About Cats & Dogs, she was visible from television work and supporting roles in films such as Reality Bites, Bye Bye Love and Now and Then, and a leading role in I Shot a Man in Vegas. Garofalo has had a variety of leading, supporting and cameo roles in Cop Land, Wet Hot American Summer, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Dogma, The Cable Guy, Half-Baked, Mystery Men, The Wild, and Clay Pigeons.

Garofalo played the leading role in the The MatchMaker, a 1997 film about the misadventures of a cynical American woman who reluctantly visits Ireland. In 1998 Garofalo starred in her first voice-acting job playing Ursula the Artist in Disney's English dub of Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service. In 2002, she played Catherine Connolly in The Laramie Project. A puppet version of Garofalo appeared (and was graphically killed off) in the movie Team America: World Police; while Garofalo was irritated by the parody, she was more upset by the filmmaker's lack of correspondence. "I ran into them in the street, Trey and the other guy, and I said to them, 'The least you could do is send me a puppet.' And they said OK, took my address down ... and never sent me a puppet! So while Team America bothered me, the fact they didn't send me my puppet, that bothered me even more."^[16]

Garofalo had a segment in several episodes of the 2007 season of The Henry Rollins Show. These took place in her apartment, much in the same way Rollins' take place at his house. In 2007, she provided the voice of Colette, a chef in the Pixar/Disney feature film Ratatouille. Garofalo affected a pronounced French accent in the role, highlighted by her character's soliloquy about being the only female chef in the all-male kitchen.

She made cameo appearances in The Guitar in 2008 and Labor Pains in 2009.

Political views[link]

Garofalo has been open and outspoken regarding her liberal political views. In an interview for Geek Monthly magazine, she stated that she grew up conservative in a conservative family.^[17]

She has appeared with political figures such as Ralph Nader (whom she supported in the 2000 election, but opposed in 2004^{[citation needed]}) and Jello Biafra at various events. Garofalo now describes herself as an atheist,^[18] and has participated in a radio interview by Freethought Radio, a show by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.^[19]

She became more prominent as an activist when she voiced opposition to what became the 2003 Iraq War, appearing on CNN and Fox News to discuss it. She said that she was approached by groups such as MoveOn.org and Win Without War to go on TV, because these organizations say that the networks were not allowing antiwar voices to be heard. Garofalo and the other celebrities who appeared at the time said they thought their fame could lend attention to that side of the debate. Her appearances on cable news prior to the war garnered her praise from the left and spots on the cover of Ms. and Venus Zine. Garofalo has had frequent on-air political disputes with Bill O'Reilly, Brian Kilmeade, and Jonah Goldberg.^[20]

Prior to the 2003 Iraq War, she took a position on the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. For example, in an interview with Tony Snow on a February 23, 2003 episode of Fox News Sunday,^[21] Garofalo said of the Iraqi dictator:

In March 2003, she took part in the Code Pink anti-war march in Washington, D.C. That fall, she served as emcee at several stops on the Tell Us the Truth tour, a political-themed concert series featuring Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, and others. Throughout the year, Garofalo also actively campaigned for Howard Dean.

While on Fox News' program The Pulse, O'Reilly asked Garofalo what she would do if her predictions that the Iraq war would be a disaster were to turn out wrong. Garofalo stated:

In April 2009, Garofalo drew criticism when she denounced the Tea Party protests.^[23] In response to the controversy Garofalo has continued to criticize Tea Party protesters.^[24]

Air America Radio[link]

In late March 2004, Garofalo became a co-host for Air America Radio's new show The Majority Report alongside Sam Seder.The early days of Air America Radio are chronicled in the documentary Left of the Dial, which includes a debate between Garofalo and her conservative father Carmine, who was initially a regular guest on The Majority Report.

Garofalo commented on her April 28, 2006 show supporting the Scientology-linked New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a controversial treatment for workers suffering ailments from 9/11 clean-up efforts in New York City.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Movies[link]