- published: 25 Mar 2009
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- author: lalarikyu
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- A. Whitney Brown
- Abe Vigoda
- Actor
- Adam Resnick
- Adam Sandler
- Aerosmith
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- Allison Silverman
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- Bart Gets Famous
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Chicago
Chicago (
i/ʃɪˈkɑːɡoʊ/ or /ʃɪˈkɔːɡoʊ/) is the largest city in the US state of Illinois and the third most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. The city has around 2.7 million residents. Its metropolitan area, sometimes called "Chicagoland", is the third largest in the United States, with an estimated 9.8 million people. Chicago is the county seat of Cook County, though a small portion also extends into DuPage County.
Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed. Today, Chicago is listed as an alpha+ global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, and ranks seventh in the world on the 2012 Global Cities Index. The city retains its status as an international hub for finance, industry, telecommunications and infrastructure, with O'Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements. In 2008[update], the city hosted 45.6 million domestic and overseas visitors. Among metropolitan areas, Chicago has the 4th largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world, ranking just behind Tokyo, New York City, and Los Angeles. Chicago is one of the most important Worldwide Centers of Commerce and trade.
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NYU
Coordinates: 40°43′48″N 73°59′42″W / 40.73°N 73.995°W / 40.73; -73.995
New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City, USA. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the largest private nonprofit institutions of American higher education.
NYU was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1950. The university counts 34 Nobel Prize winners, 3 Abel Prize winners, 10 National Medal of Science recipients, 16 Pulitzer Prize winners, 21 Academy Award winners, and Emmy,Grammy, and Tony Award winners among its faculty and alumni. NYU also has MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowship holders as well as National Academy of Sciences members among its past and present graduates and faculty.
NYU is organized into 18 schools, colleges, and institutes, located in six centers throughout Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, as well as more than a dozen other sites across the world, with plans for further expansion.
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San Diego Comic-Con
Coordinates: 32°42′22.60″N 117°09′42.63″W / 32.706278°N 117.1618417°W / 32.706278; -117.1618417
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego (as given on its website), and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con or "SDCC", was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by a group of San Diegans, which included Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger and Mike Towry. It is traditionally a four-day event (Thursday through Sunday — though a three-hour preview night on Wednesday is open to professionals, exhibitors, and some guests pre-registered for all four days) held during the summer in San Diego, California, United States, at the San Diego Convention Center. Comic-Con is both the name of the annual event and the common name of the organization.
Comic-Con International also produces two other conventions, WonderCon and the Alternative Press Expo (APE), both held in San Francisco, California. Since 1974, Comic-Con has bestowed its annual Inkpot Award to guests and persons of interest in the industries of popular arts as well as to members of Comic-Con's Board of Directors and convention committee. It is also the home of the Will Eisner Awards.
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United States
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1 trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity). Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.
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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 Sandler
Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, musician and film producer. After becoming a Saturday Night Live cast member, Sandler went on to star in several Hollywood feature films that grossed over $100 million at the box office. He is best known for his comedic roles, such as in the films Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), The Waterboy (1998), Big Daddy (1999), and Mr. Deeds (2002), though he has ventured into more dramatic territory. In 1999, Sandler founded Happy Madison, a film and television production company that has produced numerous films and developed the 2007 television series Rules of Engagement.
Adam Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents, Stanley, an electrical engineer, and Judy Sandler, a nursery school teacher. When he was five, his family moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he attended Manchester Central High School. He found he was a natural comic, and nurtured his talent while at New York University by performing regularly in clubs and on campuses. Sandler graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts in 1988.
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Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop,heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists.
They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1974 album Get Your Wings. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars. The band released two more albums, toured extensively, and charted a string of Hot 100 singles. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the "Blue Army". However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford in 1979 and 1981, respectively; they were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing a lone album, Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes.
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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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Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz (born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history. He has held the Felix Frankfurter professorship there since 1993.
Dershowitz is known for his involvement in several high-profile legal cases and as a commentator on the Arab–Israeli conflict. As a criminal appellate lawyer, he has won 13 of the 15 murder and attempted murder cases he has handled, and has represented a series of celebrity clients, including Mike Tyson, Patty Hearst, and Jim Bakker. His most notable cases include his role in 1984 in overturning the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of his wife, Sunny, and as the appellate adviser for the defense in the O.J. Simpson trial in 1995.
A political liberal, he is the author of a number of books about politics and law, including Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case (1985), the basis of the 1990 film; Chutzpah (1991); Reasonable Doubts: The Criminal Justice System and the O.J. Simpson Case (1996); the best-selling The Case for Israel (2003); Rights From Wrongs: A Secular Theory of the Origins of Rights (2004) and The Case for Peace (2005).
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Alex Kurtzman
Alex Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American film and television writer, producer and director.
Kurtzman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, where he met his high school friend and long time collaborator Roberto Orci. He attended Wesleyan University.
In 2011, Forbes magazine described Orci and Kurtzman as "Hollywood's Secret Weapons" who together "are the quiet force behind $3 billion in box office." He and Orci frequently work with J. J. Abrams and Michael Bay on projects.
Kurtzman, along with Abrams and Orci, co-created the FOX science-fiction series Fringe. He currently serves as consulting producer to the show.
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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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Bill Walton
William Theodore "Bill" Walton III (born November 5, 1952) is a retired American basketball player and television sportscaster. The "Big Red-Head", as he was called, achieved superstardom playing for John Wooden's powerhouse UCLA Bruins in the early '70s, winning three straight College Player of the Year Awards, while leading the Bruins to two Division I national titles. He then went on to have a prominent career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) where he was a league Most Valuable Player (MVP) and won two NBA championships. His professional career was significantly hampered by multiple foot injuries. Walton was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on May 10, 1993 and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame that same year. He is the father of current Cleveland Cavaliers forward Luke Walton.
Walton was born in La Mesa, California, the son of Gloria Anne (née Hickey) and William Theodore "Ted" Walton. His listed adult playing height was 6 feet 11 inches; it has been reported that Walton was actually taller (7 feet 2 inches, or more), but did not like being categorized as a seven-footer.
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Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole (born July 22, 1923) is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996. Dole was the Republican party nominee in the presidential election of 1996, but he lost to incumbent Democrat Bill Clinton. Dole is currently special counsel at the Washington, D.C. office of law firm Alston & Bird.
In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed Dole as a co-chair of the commission to investigate problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, along with Donna Shalala, a former member of the Clinton cabinet. Dole is married to former U.S. cabinet member and former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Hanford Dole of North Carolina. Bob Dole is currently a member of the advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Bob Dole was born in Russell, Kansas, the son of Bina M. (née Talbott; 1904–1983) and Doran Ray Dole (1901–1975). His father, who had moved the family to Russell while Dole was still a toddler, made a living by running a small creamery. Among his father's customers was the father of Arlen Specter who ran a junkyard in the town and used Dole's scales to weigh junk. Specter, who was six years younger than Dole and graduated Russell High School in 1947, was not a Dole contemporary although Specter's brother Morton Specter and Dole's brother Kenny Dole were friends. During the Great Depression, which hit Kansas very hard, the Dole family moved into the basement of their home and rented out the rest of the house. As a boy, he took many odd jobs around Russell, and he would later work as a soda jerk in the local drug store.
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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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Bob Ross
Robert Norman "Bob" Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter, art instructor, and television host. He is best known as the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a television program that ran on PBS in the United States.
Ross was born in Daytona Beach, Florida, and attended school until the ninth grade. Raised in Orlando, Florida, Ross enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18 and was living in Florida early in his military career when the Air Force transferred him to Eielson AFB (in Alaska), where he first saw the snow and mountains that later became recurring themes in his artwork; he developed his quick-painting technique in order to be able to create art for sale in brief daily work breaks. Having held military positions that required him to be, in his own words, "mean" and "tough," "the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work," Ross decided that if he ever moved on from the military, "it wasn't going to be that way any more," "vowing never to scream again". Ross discovered after beginning his sideline in painting that he was soon able to earn more from selling his work than from his Air Force position. After leaving the Air Force, he studied with Bill Alexander before becoming famous worldwide with his own television program, The Joy of Painting.
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Brandon Tartikoff
Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was a television executive who was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St. Elsewhere, Night Court, Hunter, Highway to Heaven, Matlock, Remington Steele, A Different World, 227 and Empty Nest.
Tartikoff also helped develop Punky Brewster, for which he named the title character after a girl he had a crush on in school. Punky Brewster's pet dog Brandon was named after Tartikoff. He was also involved in the creation of the acclaimed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Beggars and Choosers.
Born in Freeport, New York, Tartikoff was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School and Yale University, and started his career at WLS-TV in Chicago, Illinois. While attending Yale, Tartikoff worked as an account executive and sales manager of WNHC-TV in New Haven, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale, he took a series of jobs in advertising and local television. Tartikoff spent vacations in Los Angeles looking for a job in network television.
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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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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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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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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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Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself. The series follows David in his life as a semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles and later New York City. Also starring are Cheryl Hines as David's wife Cheryl, Jeff Garlin as David's manager Jeff, and Susie Essman as Jeff's wife Susie. Curb Your Enthusiasm often features guest stars, and many of these appearances are by celebrities playing versions of themselves fictionalized to varying degrees.
The plots and subplots of the episodes are established in an outline written by David and the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors themselves. Much like Seinfeld, the subject matter in Curb Your Enthusiasm often involves the minutiae of daily life, and plots often revolve around Larry David's many faux pas, and his problems with certain social conventions and expectations, as well as his annoyance with other people's behavior. The character has a hard time letting such annoyances go unexpressed, which leads him often into awkward situations.
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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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Dino Stamatopoulos
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television comedy writer, actor and producer who has worked on Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole. Stamatopoulos also played the recurring role of "Star-Burns" on the NBC comedy series Community.
While at Ridgewood High School (Illinois), Stamatopoulos wrote for his school variety show and was astounded he could get laughs with the material he had written. While attending Columbia College Chicago he performed a duo act with comedian Andy Dick, in which Stamatopoulos played a ventriloquist and Dick played a dummy under the influence of sleeping pills.
Stamatopoulos had written a spec script for a Simpsons episode, just out of love for the show, and Andy convinced him to submit it to The Ben Stiller Show, which got him hired. He met and worked with Bob Odenkirk. After Stiller's show was canceled, he moved to New York and joined the writing staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, also with Odenkirk. During the '90s he wrote for Late Show with David Letterman, The Dana Carvey Show and Mr. Show with Bob and David. In 2000 Dino and Robert Smigel pitched Comedy Central a spin-off of Smigel's TV Funhouse SNL cartoons which would be a half-hour sketch comedy show. TV Funhouse premiered on 2000 and was canceled after one season. He later joined the writing staff on Mad TV.
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Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean (born October 2, 1945, New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".
Both McLean's grandfather and father were also named Donald McLean. The Buccis, the family of McLean's mother, Elizabeth, came from Abruzzo in central Italy. They left Italy and settled in Port Chester, New York, at the end of the 19th century. He has other extended family in Los Angeles and Boston.
As a teenager, McLean became interested in folk music, particularly the Weavers' 1955 recording At Carnegie Hall. Childhood asthma meant that McLean missed long periods of school, particularly music lessons, and although he slipped back in his studies, his love of music was allowed to flourish. He often performed shows for family and friends. By age 16 he had bought his first guitar (a Harmony acoustic archtop with a sunburst finish) and begun making contacts in the music business, becoming friends with folk singer Erik Darling, a latter-day member of the Weavers. McLean recorded his first studio sessions (with singer Lisa Kindred) while still in prep school.
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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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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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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 Shalit
Gene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is a film and book critic. He has filled these roles on NBC's The Today Show since January 15, 1973. He is known for his frequent use of puns, his oversized moustache, and for wearing colorful bowties.
He has been involved in reviewing the arts since 1967 and has written for such publications as Look magazine, Ladies' Home Journal (for 12 years), Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour, McCall's, and The New York Times. From 1970–1982 he had a daily essay on NBC Radio "Man About Anything", that was carried on more stations than any other NBC network radio feature. In 1987, he published Laughing Matters—A Treasury of American Humor, a critically praised humor anthology. As of 2009, he lives in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, with his cat Fellini. Shalit's children include the artist and entrepreneur Willa Shalit.
According to his official MSNBC bio, "Shalit was born in a New York on March 25, 1926, and eight days later arrived in Newark, New Jersey, in company of his mother. In 1932 he accompanied his family when they moved to Morristown, New Jersey. In Morristown High School he wrote the school paper’s humor column (prophetically called "The Broadcaster"), and narrowly escaped expulsion."
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George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film producer, screenwriter, director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones. Lucas is one of the American film industry's most financially successful directors/producers, with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion as of 2011.
George Lucas was born in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore (née Bomberger) and George Walton Lucas, Sr. (1913–1991), who owned a stationery store.
Lucas grew up in the Central Valley town of Modesto and his early passion for cars and motor racing would eventually serve as inspiration for his USC student film 1:42.08, as well as his Oscar-nominated low-budget phenomenon, American Graffiti. Long before Lucas became obsessed with film making, he wanted to be a race-car driver, and he spent most of his high school years racing on the underground circuit at fairgrounds and hanging out at garages. However, a near-fatal accident in his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina on June 12, 1962, just days before his high school graduation, quickly changed his mind. Instead of racing, he attended Modesto Junior College and later got accepted into a junior college to study anthropology. While taking liberal arts courses, he developed a passion for cinematography and camera tricks. George Lucas graduated from USC in California.
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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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Henry Bean
Henry Bean (born 1945, Philadelphia, United States) is an American screenwriter, film director, producer, novelist, and actor.
Most famous as a screenwriter, Bean wrote the screenplays for Internal Affairs, Deep Cover, Venus Rising, The Believer (which was awarded the dramatic Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Sundance Festival), Basic Instinct 2 and Noise.
Bean acted in The Believer, and was a producer on Deep Cover and Noise. He was the director for The Believer and Noise.
Bean is also the inspiration for the main protagonist of Noise. He was so tired of constant noise around him and his home in New York that he decided to take the law into his own hands. If a car alarm was going off and the owner of the vehicle didn't rectify the situation, Bean would break into the car to disable the offending car alarm. Bean was eventually arrested and jailed. He admits to doing it a few more times since.
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Hussein of Jordan
Hussein bin Talal (Arabic: حسين بن طلال, Ḥusayn bin Ṭalāl; 14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from the abdication of his father, King Talal, in 1952, until his death. Hussein's rule extended through the Cold War and four decades of Arab-Israeli conflict. He recognized Israel in 1994, becoming the second Arab head of state to do so.
Hussein claimed to be a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his relations with the ancient Hashemite family.
Hussein was born in Amman on 14 November 1935 to Talal bin Abdullah and Princess Zein al-Sharaf bint Jamil. After completing his elementary education in Amman, he was educated at Victoria College in Alexandria. He proceeded to Harrow School in England, where he befriended his cousin Faisal II of Iraq. He pursued further study at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
On 20 July 1951, Prince Hussein traveled to Jerusalem to perform Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque with his grandfather, King Abdullah I, where an assassin opened fire on Abdullah and his grandson. Abdullah was killed, but the 15-year-old Hussein survived the assassination attempt, and according to the Jordanian government, pursued the gunman. The Jordanian government claims that the gunman turned his weapon on the young prince, who was saved when the bullet was deflected by a medal on his uniform which had been given to him by his grandfather.
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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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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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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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Jenny McCarthy
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" McCarthy (born November 1, 1972) is an American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then parlayed her Playboy fame into a successful television and film acting career. Most recently, she has written books about parenting, and has become an activist promoting the claims that vaccines cause autism and that chelation therapy helps cure it—both claims are considered false by the medical community.
McCarthy was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois to a middle-class Catholic family of Polish and Irish descent. She lived in the West Elsdon neighborhood of Chicago. She is the second of four daughters; her sisters are named Lynette, Joanne and Amy. Her cousin is Academy Award-nominated actress Melissa McCarthy of Bridesmaids and Mike and Molly. McCarthy's mother, Linda, was a housewife and courtroom custodian, and her father, Dan McCarthy, was a steel mill foreman.
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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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Joel Siegel
Joel Steven Siegel (July 7, 1943 – June 29, 2007) was an American film critic for the ABC morning news show Good Morning America for over 25 years.
The winner of multiple Emmy Awards, Siegel also worked as a radio disk jockey and an advertising copywriter.
Siegel died of complications from colon cancer on June 29, 2007, in New York.
Born to a Jewish family of Romanian descent, and raised in Los Angeles, California, he graduated cum laude from UCLA. His Romanian-born grandmother from Botoşani survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in March 1911. During college, Siegel worked to register black voters in Georgia, and he spoke frequently of having met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He also worked as a joke writer for Senator Robert F. Kennedy and was at the Ambassador Hotel the night the senator was assassinated. According to some reports, he also led student opposition to the construction of a football stadium on campus.
Siegel worked at a range of jobs throughout the 1960s, often concentrating on the civil rights movement. In the late '60s, before moving to New York, he worked as an advertising agency copywriter and producer. While working in advertising for Carson/Roberts Advertising, he invented and named ice cream flavors for Baskin-Robbins. These flavors were: German Chocolate Cake; Peaches & Cream; Pralines & Cream; Blueberry Cheesecake; Strawberry Cheesecake; Green Cheesecake; Red, White and Blueberry; and Chilly Burgers.
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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 Rogers (writer)
John Rogers is a screenwriter, comedian, film producer, and comic book writer. Although born in Worcester, Massachusetts, he attended McGill University in Montreal and is better known publicly as a Canadian writer. While at McGill, he wrote for the school's comedy magazine The Red Herring.
Rogers wrote the first draft of the script for the live-action movie Transformers, released in 2007. He wrote an early screenplay for Catwoman and created the cartoon series Jackie Chan Adventures. He also co-wrote the science fiction adventure film The Core. In 2004 Rogers wrote and executive-produced a television pilot based on the graphic novel Global Frequency. Although the pilot was never aired on network television, it achieved brief notoriety when it was leaked onto the internet and accrued an international fan base. He created and serves as executive producer for the 2008 TNT TV series, Leverage.
Apart from his work in movies and television, Rogers has also worked in the comic book industry. In March 2006, he co-created the new Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes, in the relaunch the Blue Beetle comic book for DC Comics with plotter Keith Giffen and artist Cully Hamner. He has also written comics for BOOM! Studios. Rogers' stories are included in BOOM!'s Zombie Tales, Cthulhu Tales, Pirate Tales and What Were They Thinking? anthologies. Rogers currently writes the current Dungeons & Dragons comic series for IDW Publishing.
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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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Josephine Forsberg
Josephine Forsberg (c. 1921 – 3 October 2011), ex-wife of film director Rolf Forsberg, was hired by Paul Sills and Viola Spolin to join the original Second City in 1959 as the female understudy and Spolin's teaching assistant. She became an expert in improvisational techniques for the theater, and by the mid 1960s she had taken over most of Spolin's and Sills's classes, as well as Spolin's children's theater company. From that point on most of the young performers that wanted to go onto the Second City stage studied with Forsberg for at least a year. These included Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Betty Thomas, Shelly Long, George Wendt, David Mamet, and Robert Townsend.
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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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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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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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M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Shyamalan (
/ˈʃæməlɑːn/;Maṉōj Śyāmaḷaṉ; Malayalam: മനോജ് ശ്യാമളന്; Tamil: மனோஜ் ஷியாமளன்; born 6 August 1970), known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots. He is also known for filming his movies (and staging his plots) in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was raised.
Most of Shyamalan's commercially successful films were co-produced by Disney's Touchstone Pictures film division.
In 2008, Shyamalan was awarded the Padma Shri by the government of India.
Shyamalan was born in a Hindu household in Mahé, Pondicherry, India. His father, Nelliate C. Shyamalan, is a Malayali physician from Mahé. His mother, Jayalakshmi, speaks Tamil and is an obstetrician and gynecologist by profession. In the 1960s, after medical school (at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research in Pondicherry) and the birth of their first child, Veena, his parents moved to the United States. His mother returned to India to spend the last five months of her pregnancy at her parents’ home in Chennai.
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Martin Brest
Martin Brest (born August 8, 1951) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer.
He was born in a Jewish family[citation needed] in the Bronx, New York. Brest graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1969, from New York University's School of the Arts in 1973 and from the AFI Conservatory with an M.F.A. degree in 1977.
His major studio debut was 1979's Going in Style, which starred George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg, the first of several films to mix action and comedy to great effect. Brest was then hired to direct the film WarGames, but was fired during production.
Brest got his big break in 1984 with Beverly Hills Cop, starring Eddie Murphy. The film grossed over $300 million and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Brest followed up with 1988's Midnight Run, starring Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin, a critical and commercial success. The film earned Golden Globe nominations for both De Niro and the film itself.
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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 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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Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is a media mogul, television evangelist, ex-Baptist minister and businessman who politically aligns himself with the Christian Right in the United States.
He is the founder of numerous organizations and corporations, including the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), the Christian Coalition, Flying Hospital, International Family Entertainment Inc., Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation, CBN Asia and Regent University. He is the host of The 700 Club, a Christian TV program airing on channels throughout the United States and on CBN network affiliates worldwide.
The son of U.S. Senator A. Willis Robertson, Robertson is a Southern Baptist and was active as an ordained minister with that denomination for many years, but holds to a charismatic theology not traditionally common among Southern Baptists. He unsuccessfully campaigned to become the Republican Party's nominee in the 1988 presidential election. As a result of his seeking political office, he no longer serves in an official role for any church. His media and financial resources make him a recognized, influential, and controversial public voice for conservative Christianity in the United States.
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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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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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Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).
His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.
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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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Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961.
Nixon was born in Yorba Linda, California. After completing his undergraduate work at Whittier College, he graduated from Duke University School of Law in 1937, and returned to California to practice law. He and his wife, Pat Nixon, moved to Washington to work for the federal government in 1942. He subsequently served in the United States Navy during World War II. Nixon was elected to the House of Representatives in 1946 and to the Senate in 1950. His pursuit of the Hiss Case established his reputation as a leading anti-communist, and elevated him to national prominence. He was the running mate of Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Republican Party presidential nominee in the 1952 election. Nixon served for eight years as vice president. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. In 1968, he ran again for the presidency and was elected.
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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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Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940), better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He joined the Beatles in August 1962, taking the place of Pete Best. In addition to his drumming, Starr is featured on lead vocals on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and the Beatles version of "Act Naturally"). He is credited as a co-writer of the songs "What Goes On" and "Flying", and as the writer of "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
As drummer for the Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills". Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs". In 2011, Starr was picked as the fifth-best drummer of all-time by Rolling Stone readers.
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Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. (born February 6, 1931), is an American actor of stage, screen and television.
Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated for six Emmy Awards, winning in 1996. Torn also won an American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Male in a Series, and two CableACE Awards for his work on the show, and was nominated for a Satellite Award in 1997 as well.
Torn was born Elmore Rual Torn, Jr. in Temple, Texas, the son of Thelma Mary (née Spacek) and Elmore Rual Torn, an agriculturalist and economist. Being given the name "Rip" is a family tradition of men in the Torn family for several generations. It was given to him by his father, who was also called Rip; although as a young child and teenager he was referred to as "Skippy". He was a member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets and is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
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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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Roberto Orci
Roberto Gaston Orci (born July 20, 1973) is a Mexican-American film and television writer and producer.
Orci was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother had left Cuba for Mexico after Fidel Castro came to power. He is the older brother of screenwriter-producer J. R. Orci. He was raised in Canada, Texas, and Los Angeles, where he met his longtime friend and collaborator Alex Kurtzman. He attended The University of Texas at Austin.[citation needed]
Orci's producing credits include Star Trek, The Legend of Zorro, Mission: Impossible III, Transformers, and Cowboys and Aliens. He is the co-creator, along with Alex Kurtzman and J.J. Abrams, of the FOX science-fiction series Fringe, on which he currently serves as consulting producer.[citation needed]
The Hollywood Reporter listed Orci as one of the 50 most powerful Latinos in Hollywood of 2007.
Orci was invited to be a special guest at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International.
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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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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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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 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 Koren
Steven Wayne Koren is an American screenwriter. He was one of the writers for the movies Bruce Almighty, Click, Superstar, and A Night at the Roxbury, and wrote for Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld.
Koren grew up in Queens, New York with two older sisters and attended Cardozo High School in Bayside Queens. He performed in many high school plays and musicals including Tony in West Side Story, and the following year the Elvis character in the play Bye Bye Birdie. He went to college at the Binghamton University.
After college, he began his career as an NBC page. Among his duties as a page was working for Saturday Night Live. He eventually became a writer for the series. Later, he became a writer for Seinfeld.
In the Seinfeld episode "The Van Buren Boys", one of the characters is named Steve Koren. He also wrote the famous "Serenity Now" episode.
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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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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 Green
Michael Thomas "Tom" Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian actor, rapper, writer, comedian, talk show host and media personality. Best known for his shock humour brand of comedy, Green found mainstream prominence via his MTV television show The Tom Green Show. Green was also in the public eye for his short-lived marriage to actress Drew Barrymore, and for his roles in such films as Freddy Got Fingered, Road Trip, Stealing Harvard and Charlie's Angels.
In June 2003, Green had the chance to guest-host the Late Show with David Letterman which led to him hosting his own late-night talk show on MTV entitled The New Tom Green Show. From 2006-2011, he hosted his internet talk show Tom Green's House Tonight from his living room and, as of January 2010, has started performing stand-up comedy.
Green was born in Pembroke, Ontario, the son of Mary Jane, a communications consultant, and Richard Green, a computer systems analyst and retired army captain. He grew up on a Canadian Army base near Pembroke, Ontario and later lived in Gloucester, Ontario (now part of the City of Ottawa) where he attended Colonel By Secondary School. Green studied television broadcasting at Algonquin College and graduated in 1994.
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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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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 Ginsburg
William H. Ginsburg is an American lawyer, best known for representing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky in her controversy regarding sexual activities with then-President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Ginsburg, whose Los Angeles, California-based practice had previously concentrated on medical malpractice, was a friend of the Lewinsky family. Ginsburg represented Lewinsky for four months, before being replaced with Plato Cacheris and Jake Stein in June.
Ginsburg was also involved in the case of the death of college basketball star Hank Gathers, as well as the legal dispute over the remains of entertainer Liberace and the landmark Meneeley v. National Spa & Pool Institute case over diving injuries in a sub-standard swimming pool.
In more recent times, Ginsburg's name has been connected to a slang term that is derived from a feat he accomplished on February 1, 1998. On that day, he appeared on all five of television's major Sunday-morning interview shows, the first person known to have done so. The feat is now known as the "Full Ginsburg".
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William Shatner
William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, author and film director. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS Enterprise, in the science fiction television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series from 1973 to 1974, and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films from 1979 to 1994. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of Star Trek, and has co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.
Shatner also played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker from 1982 to 1986. Afterwards, he hosted the reality-based television series, Rescue 911 from 1989 to 1996, which won a People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV Dramatic Series. He has since worked as a musician, author, producer, director and celebrity pitchman. From 2004 to 2008 he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the television dramas The Practice and its spin-off Boston Legal for which he won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
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Woody Allen
Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg, December 1, 1935) is an award-winning American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, author, and playwright, whose career spans over half a century.
He began as a comedy writer in the 1950s, penning jokes and scripts for television and also publishing several books of short humor pieces. In the early 1960s, Allen started performing as a stand-up comic, emphasizing monologues rather than traditional jokes. As a comic, he developed the persona of an insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, which he insists is quite different from his real-life personality. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Allen in fourth place on a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics, while a UK survey ranked Allen as the third greatest comedian.
By the mid-1960s Allen was writing and directing films, first specializing in slapstick comedies before moving into more dramatic material influenced by European art films during the 1970s. He is often identified as part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmakers of the mid-1960s to late '70s. Allen often stars in his own films, typically in the persona he developed as a standup. The best-known of his over 40 films include the Academy Award-winners Annie Hall (1977), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Midnight in Paris (2011); and the Golden Globe-winning The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Critic Roger Ebert has described Allen as "a treasure of the cinema."
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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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Smigel, Robert Filmography
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
- Hotel Transylvania (2012)
- This Is 40 (2012)
- Saturday Night Live Backstage (2011)
- Jack and Jill (2011)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2010)
- Saturday Night Live Presents: Sports All-Stars (2010)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2010)
- Saturday Night Live Sports Extra '09 (2009)
- Saturday Night Live Sports Extra '09 (2009)
- The Dana Carvey Show: Interview with Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel (2009)
- SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas (2009)
- Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants (2009)
- SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas (2009)
- 2009 MTV Movie Awards (2009)
- Spike's Guys Choice (2009)
- SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas (2009)
- You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
- You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
- Comedy Central's TV Funhouse (2008)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2008)
- Comedy Central's TV Funhouse (2008)
- You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2008)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Concert for Autism Education (2008)
- Match Game (2008)
- Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
- In Search of Puppy Love (2007)
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars (2007)
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars (2007)
- Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
- I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)
- Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Event for Autism Education (2006)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (2006)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (2006)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (2006)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (2006)
- Night of Too Many Stars: An Overbooked Event for Autism Education (2006)
- Counter Convention: A Free New York Special (2005)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Jon Lovitz (2005)
- Saturday Night Live in the '80s: Lost & Found (2005)
- Eminem's Making the Ass (2005)
- 101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments (2004)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (2004)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: The Best of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (2004)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special (2003)
- Comedy Central Presents: The Commies (2003)
- The 2003 Billboard Music Awards (2003)
- Heroes of Jewish Comedy (2003)
- Heroes of Jewish Comedy (2003)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special (2003)
- The Osbourne Family Christmas Special (2003)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special (2003)
- Night of Too Many Stars (2003)
- Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
- TV's Most Censored Moments (2002)
- Saturday Night Live: TV Tales (2002)
- MTV Video Music Awards 2002 (2002)
- Face Time (2002)
- It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)
- Adam Sandler Goes to Hell (2001)
- MTV Video Music Awards 2001 (2001)
- Hete Roy (2000)
- TV Funhouse (2000)
- Hete Roy (2000)
- Hete Roy (2000)
- Little Nicky (2000)
- Comedy Central Presents: The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Rob Reiner (2000)
- Saturday Night Live 25 (1999)
- Saturday Night Live 25 (1999)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Adam Sandler (1999)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 5th Anniversary Special (1998)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 5th Anniversary Special (1998)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 5th Anniversary Special (1998)
- Titey (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley (1998)
- The Wedding Singer (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Chris Farley (1998)
- Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman (1998)
- The Bad Boys of Saturday Night Live (1998)
- Titey (1998)
- Tomorrow Night (1998)
- Titey (1998)
- Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 5th Anniversary Special (1998)
- Happy Gilmore (1996)
- Billy Madison (1995)
- Wayne's World 2 (1993)
- Lookwell (1991)
- A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan (1991)
- Lookwell (1991)
- A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan (1991)
- Saturday Night Live: 15th Anniversary (1989)
- The 40th Annual Emmy Awards (1988)
- Superman 50th Anniversary (1988)
- Superman 50th Anniversary (1988)
- Saturday Night Live (1975)
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Robert Smigel interview
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 9:44
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
January 10, 2001
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel_interview
Robert Smigel & Louis CK from 1993
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:56
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Early Robert Smigel and Louis CK from 12/02/1993. (Both guys were writers on the show.) The precursor of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog?
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel_Louis_CK_from_1993
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog at SDCC 2006 rare footage, never seen on TV
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 10:16
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
My almost raw footage of Robert Smigel's panel at San Diego Comic con from years ago. You may know that Conan actually did a SDCC Triumph package that they aired on the show. This is NOT from that. This happened a year or two before the one that showed on Conan. So you can see that they recycled some of the jokes that they originally used here. At the time I did not keep my camera rolling continuously when I taped because I had limited tape and batteries so there's lots of jump cuts. This was originally shot on video tape. So far I think this is the best quality version on YouTube of this very rarely seen footage of Smigel doing Triumph at the 2006 convention.
http://wn.com/Triumph_the_Insult_Comic_Dog_at_SDCC_2006_rare_footage,_never_seen_on_TV
The Letter V" a film by Louis CK
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:28
- Updated: 25 Nov 2012
starring robert smigel
http://wn.com/The_Letter_V_a_film_by_Louis_CK
Conspiracy Theory Rock By Robert Smigel
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:27
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
A Banned Segment from Saturday Night Live The 1998 Robert Smigel animated short film "Conspiracy Theory Rock", part of a March 1998 "TV Funhouse" segment, has been removed from all subsequent airings of the Saturday Night Live episode where it originally appeared. Michaels claimed the edit was done because it "wasn't funny". The film is a scathing critique of corporate media ownership, including NBC's ownership by General Electric/Westinghouse. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Law of 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment,news reporting, teaching, scholarship,and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
http://wn.com/Conspiracy_Theory_Rock_By_Robert_Smigel
CONAN O'BRIEN, 12/19/94 - ROBERT SMIGEL'S WEDDING PICTURES
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:50
- Updated: 10 Nov 2012
Conan O'Brien, 12/19/94 - On Robert Smigel's first wedding anniversary, he shares his wedding pictures with the audience. Conan, Robert and Andy Richter.
http://wn.com/CONAN_O'BRIEN,_12_19_94_ROBERT_SMIGEL'S_WEDDING_PICTURES
Triumph on YEAR OF THE DOG
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:02
- Updated: 28 Sep 2012
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on the CONAN O'BRIEN SHOW doing a segment on the Chinese New Year Year of the Dog
http://wn.com/Triumph_on_YEAR_OF_THE_DOG
Curb Your Enthusiasm - Yari's Pre-Game Speech
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:12
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Yari, played by Robert Smigel (Triumph The Insult Comic Dog), gives his inspirational speech.
http://wn.com/Curb_Your_Enthusiasm_Yari's_Pre-Game_Speech
Triumph The Insult Comic Dog and HIs Dad Robert Smigel_Montreal 2012
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:01
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Jeffrey Gurian of Comedy Matters TV interviews both Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and his Dad/Owner Robert Smigel who both happened to be backstage at Bob Saget's TripleXXX show during the 30th anniversary of the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal!
http://wn.com/Triumph_The_Insult_Comic_Dog_and_HIs_Dad_Robert_Smigel_Montreal_2012
Robert Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos on their early years
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:39
- Updated: 28 Aug 2012
Robert Smigel discusses his early years in comedy, hiring Dino Stamatopoulos and how they got "crunk" for the first shows of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Of course, their version of crunk in 1993 is different from whatever you think it is today. This is part of an interview I conducted with Smigel and Stamatopoulos backstage after one of their shows screening their rare "Bozo" show at the Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival in June 2009. For daily comedy news and insight into all things funny, please read The Comic's Comic at www.thecomicscomic.com TWITTER http FACEBOOK www.facebook.com
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel_and_Dino_Stamatopoulos_on_their_early_years
David Feldman Radio Show #207 (Full Episode)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:30
- Updated: 16 Nov 2012
Marty Short, Andrea Martin, Robert Smigel and Dana Gould are featured in another hilarious program highlighting some of our favorite episodes from 2011. Please e-mail this episode to your friends so more people can discover what is quickly becoming the funniest sketch comedy on Public Radio. Today's broadcast was written by Ben Zelevansky, Steve Rosenfield, Ned Rice, Andrea Martin, and Ray James. Today's show featured Martin Short, Andrea Martin Robert Smigel, Mark Thompson, Dana Gould, Stef Zamorano, Troy Conrad, and Jane Edith Wilson. Our Executive Producer is Troy Conrad. We are mixed and engineered by Alex Steen. Edited by Darren Ayres. Please visit ww.DavidFeldmanComedy.com for additional material and podcasts and make sure to subscribe to our mailing list for a chance to win tickets to one of our live shows.
http://wn.com/David_Feldman_Radio_Show_207_Full_Episode
Robert Smigel: Writer of "Da Bears" SNL's Super Fans
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:56
- Updated: 14 Sep 2012
Robert Smigel wrote and appeared in the recurring SNL sketch, Bill Swerski's Super Fans, during the early 1990s. Smigel later was the first head writer for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," and is responsible for the animated "TV Funhouse" as well as Triumph The Insult Dog. Back in Chicago for the Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival, Smigel chatted with me briefly about how the idea for "Super Fans" came about, a little help from Bob Odenkirk made "Da Bears" sing, and how he never thought it would be a national TV touchstone. This is part of a longer interview with Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos, who are showcasing their rejected Bozo TV pilot at the fest at the Lakeshore Theatre in Chicago, June 17-18, 2009. For more comedy news daily, visit The Comic's Comic at www.thecomicscomic.com
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel_Writer_of_Da_Bears_SNL's_Super_Fans
Lookwell!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 22:40
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Early 90's show created by Robert Smigel and Conan. Credit goes to them and anyone involved. i wish they would re-create this show.
http://wn.com/Lookwell!
Conan the ----arian (Robert Smigel, Louis CK, Conan O'Brien)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:04
- Updated: 04 Nov 2012
September 20, 1993 episode
http://wn.com/Conan_the_----arian_Robert_Smigel,_Louis_CK,_Conan_O'Brien
Joe Mantegna and Robert Smigel reunite the SNL "Super Fans" for Just For Laughs Chicago
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:38
- Updated: 30 Oct 2012
At the 2010 TBS Just For Laughs Chicago comedy festival, Robert Smigel reunited the Saturday Night Live Super Fans for a full script reading of Da Bears Movie Dat Wasn't, which Smigel wrote with Bob Odenkirk in 1995. The live reading included Smigel, Odenkirk, Joe Mantegna, George Wendt, Dave Koechner, Horatio Sanz reading the lines for the late Chris Farley, Richard Roeper reading stage directions, and an appearance by Coach Mike Ditka himself. It was all a charity event for Have Dreams: Helping Autistic Voices Emerge and the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund.
http://wn.com/Joe_Mantegna_and_Robert_Smigel_reunite_the_SNL_Super_Fans_for_Just_For_Laughs_Chicago
Triumph The Insult Comic Dog (Robert Smigel) Bonnaroo 09'
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:00
- Updated: 24 Nov 2012
www.droompa.com David Bowie Shirts Are FUN "I'm happy, hope you're happy too!"
http://wn.com/Triumph_The_Insult_Comic_Dog_Robert_Smigel_Bonnaroo_09'
CONAN O'BRIEN, 2/21/94 - BOB DOLE (IN PERSON AND ON TELESCREEN)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:26
- Updated: 07 Nov 2012
Conan O'Brien, 2/21/94 - Bob Dole "almost" announces his Presidential run for 1996, and Conan prepares a celebration. Several days later, Bob Dole "checks in" on the telescreen to give Conan a hard time, and continues even after the screen is pulled up. Conan, Andy Richter, Bob Dole, Robert Smigel.
http://wn.com/CONAN_O'BRIEN,_2_21_94_BOB_DOLE_IN_PERSON_AND_ON_TELESCREEN
Mr. Met and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog and Greta Van Susteren at debate
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:43
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Humorist Robert Smigel tries to get Mr. Met and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on with Greta Van Susteren at presidential debate at Hofstra
http://wn.com/Mr_Met_and_Triumph_the_Insult_Comic_Dog_and_Greta_Van_Susteren_at_debate
Curb your enthusiasm Season 8 Episode 9 Yari`s autonomics softball team
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:28
- Updated: 14 Oct 2012
Yari (Robert Smigel) gives a pep talk.
http://wn.com/Curb_your_enthusiasm_Season_8_Episode_9_Yari`s_autonomics_softball_team
CONAN O'BRIEN, 12/17/96 - DOLE & DON KING ON THE TELESCREEN
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:13
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Conan O'Brien, 12/17/96 - Shortly after Clinton defeats Dole in the 1996 election, Dole appears on the telescreen to say he's moved on, and to share his thoughts on Christmas. Then Don King comes on to give his own unique Christmas greetings and to pitch his Pay Per View holiday boxing special. Andy Richter, Robert Smigel.
http://wn.com/CONAN_O'BRIEN,_12_17_96_DOLE_DON_KING_ON_THE_TELESCREEN
Robert Smigel - Wiki Article
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 8:13
- Updated: 03 Oct 2012
el (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... Robert Smigel - Wiki Article - wikiplays.org Original @ http All Information Derived from Wikipedia using Creative Commons License: en.wikipedia.org Author: Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under:Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported This work is in the public domain in the United States. Author: Unknown Image URL: en.wikipedia.org Licensed under: This work is in the public domain in the United States.
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel_Wiki_Article
Watch ZOHAN Feet Upper Cut
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 0:41
- Updated: 13 Nov 2012
Watch ZOHAN perform "the feet upper cut" for the movie YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, in theaters Friday, June 6, 2008. Visit the website www.YouDontMessWithTheZohan.com! In YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, a comedy from screenwriters Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), and Adam Sandler, Sandler stars as ZOHAN, an Israeli commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream: becoming a hairstylist in New York. Dennis Dugan directs.
http://wn.com/Watch_ZOHAN_Feet_Upper_Cut
Watch the "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" Trailer
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:16
- Updated: 26 Nov 2012
Watch the trailer for YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, in theaters June 6, 2008. For more information, visit: www.youdontmesswiththezohan.com In You Don't Mess With the Zohan, a comedy from screenwriters Judd Apatow (Knocked Up), Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog), and Adam Sandler, Sandler stars as Zohan, an Israeli commando who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream: becoming a hairstylist in New York. Dennis Dugan directs.
http://wn.com/Watch_the_You_Don't_Mess_With_the_Zohan_Trailer
photo: AP / Jerome Delay
25 Nov 2012
Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has held direct talks with the leader of the M23 rebels in Uganda, hours after a regional summit called on them to end their offensive in the east of the country. Jean-Marie Runiga Lugerero, the political leader of the eastern DR Congo rebel group, said on Sunday he had an initial meeting with Kabila after the summit in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, ended on Saturday....(size: 20.0Kb)
photo: AP / Henry Griffin
26 Nov 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling "In our opinion and from our experience," declared John Kerry in 1971, "there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. ... Kerry's statement, spoken at a time when tens of thousands of Vietnamese and U.S. ... via American conglomerates. ... The U.S. ... and Robert Kennedy, both outspoken proponents of ending the disastrous war in Vietnam....(size: 6.4Kb)
photo: AP
26 Nov 2012
This town of 19,000 nestled in an idyllic mountain pass of impossibly green pastures and golden autumn trees is on the front lines of Turkey's rapidly escalating guerrilla war. In a struggle for autonomy as well as independent language and education rights, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has waged a low-grade conflict in Turkey for decades. ... 4 just as a Turkish army tank rolled by. ... "The violence is getting worse....(size: 8.8Kb)
photo: AP / George Osodi
25 Nov 2012
Twin suicide car bombs exploded Sunday at a church inside one of Nigeria's top military bases, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 30 in an embarrassing attack showing the continued insecurity that haunts Africa's most populous nation. ... This attack in Jaji on Sunday, however, happened inside a barracks home to the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, one of the country's most important military colleges. ... Gen. ... ....(size: 4.1Kb)
The Charlotte Observer
21 Nov 2012
Directed by Jeff Orlowski. (1:14) NR. ... With Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson and Danny Huston. Written by John J. ... Directed by Robert Zemeckis. ... Written by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. ... With Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver. ... Robert Cargill. ... Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. ... Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. ... With Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner....(size: 8.1Kb)
Collider
19 Nov 2012
A new featurette for writer/director/producer Judd Apatow’s upcoming comedy This Is 40 has been released. ... Hit the jump to watch the featurette. The film also stars Albert Brooks, John Lithgow, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Megan Fox, Jason Segel, Robert Smigel, and Charlyne Yi. ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)
IMDb
19 Nov 2012
A new red band featurette for Judd Apatowâs upcoming comedy has arrived to prove it. ... The comedy also stars Megan Fox, John Lithgow, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel, Charlene Yi and Albert Brooks....(size: 0.9Kb)
AV Club
16 Nov 2012
According to the New York Times’ Dave Itzkoff, it only took The Lonely Island five days to usher in a Saturday Night Live revolution. ... Re-reading Itzkoff’s article nearly seven years later, I had a few striking realizations. ... During the reign of recurring characters like Mary Katherine Gallagher, The Roxbury Guys, and The Cheerleaders, Robert Smigel’s TV Funhouse cartoons kept the show’s satirical edge sharp. ... ....(size: 15.6Kb)
The Examiner
12 Nov 2012
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever been associated with,” said comedian Robert Smigel, who organizes and produces “Night of Too Many Stars.” “I’ve made a career of all this nonsense — and I’m very proud of it — but it all pales in comparison to what happened [at the concert].”
“They deserve to be nurtured,” says Smigel of children with autism. “They deserve to be educated. ... You can also follow me on Twitter: @ThePashaB....(size: 7.5Kb)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
12 Nov 2012
It's been a few years since Conan O'Brien left "The Tonight Show," and he still hasn't moved on. In a video bit shot for Halloween on his TBS show, "Conan," which just turned 2, he referred to a costume store's big-chinned devil mask as Jay Leno. ... That episode was no exception. Last week, Mr. ... Mr. ... Mr. ... Mr. ... With a writing staff that included Louis C.K., Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel, those raw shows played nothing straight....(size: 6.6Kb)
The New York Times
10 Nov 2012
It’s been a few years since Conan O’Brien left “The Tonight Show,” and he still hasn’t moved on. Breaking news about the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia and more. Go to Arts Beat »
A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York region, selected by Times critics. ... Mr. ... Mr. ... Mr. ... K., Bob Odenkirk and Robert Smigel, those raw shows played nothing straight. ... Mr....(size: 12.2Kb)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
09 Nov 2012
In less than two weeks we will pass from the fall movie season into the heralded holiday season. ... He is joined in the animated fantasy by the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost. It will open Nov. ... 18-22. ... As the vigilante hero, Tom Cruise stars alongside Rosamund Pike, Robert Duvall, Richard Jenkins and Werner Herzog. ... Mann, the cast features Albert Brooks, Megan Fox, Melissa McCarthy, Robert Smigel and Charlyne Yi....(size: 13.8Kb)
The Salt Lake Tribune
08 Nov 2012
... Fox, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Melissa McCarthy, Jason Segel, Robert Smigel, Charlyne Yi and Albert Brooks....(size: 0.6Kb)
Sacramento Bee
07 Nov 2012
OPENING IN HOLLYWOOD THIS WEEK "28 Hotel Rooms" - Two strangers traveling on business meet and have a one-night stand, only to run into each other again months later, sparking an ongoing affair. With Chris Messina and Marin Ireland. ... (1:22) NR. ... (1:19) R. ... Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan. ... Directed by Robert Zemeckis. ... Written by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. ... Robert Cargill. ... Written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen....(size: 9.4Kb)
Chicago Tribune
02 Nov 2012
Brooks.“I’m so excited to show you the movie," Apatow said before the film began. ... It is based on a family in West Covina that I have been following for many years. ... Melissa McCarthy, Annie Mumolo, Robert Smigel, Jason Segel, Chris O’Dowd and Lena Dunham, all of whom have worked with Apatow in one capacity or another before, take supporting turns, alongside the unexpected addition of Megan Fox....(size: 5.5Kb)
Collider
26 Oct 2012
If you haven’t seen director Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania (or were considering seeing it again), then perhaps a new animated short will give you the incentive to do so. Airing in front of the 3D animated feature will be Goodnight, Mr. Foot, a 2D short directed and animated by Tartakovsky himself. ... Screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel. ... Executive producers are Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel and Allen Covert. ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)
Lower Hudson Online
26 Oct 2012
Pataki ended up face-to-face with Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, a cigar-toting ......(size: 0.4Kb)
| Robert Smigel | |
|---|---|
 at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con |
|
| Born | (1960-02-07) February 7, 1960 (age 52) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, writer |
| Years active | 1985–present |
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.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Smigel was born to a Jewish[1] family in New York City. His father is Dr. Irwin Smigel, DDS, "The Father of Cosmetic Dentistry",[2] and the founder and president of the American Society for Dental Aesthetics. He attended and graduated from NYU.[3]
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.
Career[link]
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.[4] 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),[5] 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.
While on a writers' strike from Saturday Night Live following the 1987–88 season, Smigel wrote for an improvisational comedy revue in Chicago with fellow SNL writers Bob Odenkirk and Conan O'Brien called Happy Happy Good Show.
Smigel co-wrote Lookwell with Conan O'Brien for NBC. The pilot never went to series, but it has become a cult hit and has screened live at "The Other Network", a festival of un-aired TV pilots produced by Un-Cabaret, featuring live and taped intros by Smigel. Smigel later became the first head writer at Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he created numerous successful comedy bits, including one where Smigel performed only the lips of public figures which were superimposed on photos of the actual people. (This technique was pioneered on the Clutch Cargo cartoon series as a cost-saving measure, and was known as Syncro-Vox.)
In 1996, Smigel wrote and performed on the short-lived Dana Carvey Show, a primetime sketch comedy program on ABC. Despite its premature end, the show provided Smigel the opportunity to debut his first cartoon, The Ambiguously Gay Duo. Upon the show's cancellation, Smigel continued developing more cartoon ideas the following summer and would begin airing them on Saturday Night Live under the TV Funhouse banner. Smigel would later claim, "My whole career came out of the impulse to do cartoons on The Dana Carvey Show."[6]
Smigel's most famous creation, however, would be the foul-mouthed puppet Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog, who mercilessly mocks celebrities and others in the style of a Borscht Belt comedian. This character debuted on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in February 1997 and would continue to make appearances on the show, as well as others, for many years to come.
Smigel continued to establish himself on Saturday Night Live by producing infamous, provocative, short animated segments under the title TV Funhouse, which usually satirizes public figures and popular culture. It spawned a TV show on Comedy Central featuring a mix of puppets, animation, and short sketches, although only eight episodes were aired (during the winter of 2000 - 2001). Smigel occasionally appears in films (usually alongside SNL veterans such as Adam Sandler). According to interviews, Smigel helped punch up the scripts for Little Nicky and the Wedding Singer. Smigel acted alongside fellow SNL writer Bob Odenkirk in Wayne's World 2 as a nerd backstage at an Aerosmith concert. His contributions were uncredited.
No TV Funhouse segments were produced for the 2009-10 season of SNL, and his future with the show is unknown.
Currently Smigel is working on an animated sitcom for Fox called Animals. Fox has not made any official statement regarding the show. Additionally, Smigel played a gay mailman in the Adam Sandler film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry and Yari the Mechanic in the "Mister Softee"[7] episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm".
Smigel, along with Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow, wrote the script for the film You Don't Mess with the Zohan. In the film he played Yosi, an Israeli electronics salesman. The film was released June 6, 2008. Smigel is also one of the executive producers of the film which is a first for him despite his frequent collaborations with Sandler.
Smigel has a child with autism and is active in raising money for New Jersey-based autism services.[8]
Recurring characters on SNL[link]
- Carl Wollarski, from "Bill Swerski's Superfans"
- Hank Fielding, with "The Moron's Perspective" on Weekend Update
- One of the Hub's Gyros employees (aka the "You like-ah the Juice?" guys)
- Avi, the "Sabra's Price is Right" announcer
- Bighead, in "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" cartoons
Celebrity impressions[link]
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[edit] Recurring characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
- Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
- "Clutch Cargo" celebrity interviews (Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Don King, Bob Dole, etc.)
- One of the "Nicknames for Conan" guys (aka the "Conan the Barbarian" guys)
- One of the "Ameri-clan" guys (with Doug Dale, Louis CK and Dino Stamatopoulos)
- Voice of "The Late Night Emergency Guest" mannequin
- Gibberish Speaking Ronald Reagan on the Phone
- Ira, Conan's publicist
References[link]
- Notes
- ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/739/000050589/
- ^ New York Cosmetic Dentistry with Dr. Irwin Smigel
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5940109/robert_smigels_dog_days Rolling Stone Magazine: Robert Smigel's Dog Days
- ^ http://www.avclub.com/content/node/23075
- ^ SNL Transcripts: Anjelica Huston & Billy Martin: 05/24/86
- ^ Heisler, Steve Interview - Dana Carvey and Robert Smigel AV Club (June 15, 2009). Retrieved on 5-09-10.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1640888/
- ^ http://www.takepart.com/blog/2008/04/02/autism-awareness-day/
- Further reading
- DiGiacomo, Frank. "Triumph Sniffs a Hit". The New York Observer (October 20, 2003).
External links[link]
- Official website of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog
- Robert Smigel at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview with The AV Club
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Smigel, Robert |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Humorist, performer |
| Date of birth | February 7, 1960 |
| Place of birth | New York City, New York, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Robert_Smigel
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Robert Smigel
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smigel
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.
| Conan O'Brien | |
|---|---|
 O'Brien in 2006 |
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| 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] |
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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.[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.
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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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- ^ Interview with Kevin Nealon. Conan. December 2, 2010.
- ^ Mr. T at the Internet Movie Database
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- ^ 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.
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- ^ 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.
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- ^ O'Brien, Conan. (2004). Commentary for "Bart Gets Famous" in The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
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- ^ "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.
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- ^ "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.
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- ^ "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.
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- ^ 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.
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- ^ "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 | |
http://wn.com/Conan_O'Brien
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_O'Brien
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.
| Curb Your Enthusiasm | |
|---|---|
| 250px | |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Larry David |
| Written by | Larry David |
| Starring | Larry David Jeff Garlin Cheryl Hines Susie Essman |
| Theme music composer | Luciano Michelini |
| Opening theme | "Frolic" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 80 (plus 60-minute special) (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Larry David Jeff Garlin Robert B. Weide Alec Berg David Mandel Jeff Schaffer Larry Charles Gavin Polone Tim Gibbons Erin O'Malley |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | HBO |
| Picture format | 4:3 480i (Seasons 1–6) 16:9 1080i (Season 7–) |
| Original run | October 15, 2000 (2000-10-15) – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Seinfeld |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself. The series follows David in his life as a semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles and later New York City. Also starring are Cheryl Hines as David's wife Cheryl, Jeff Garlin as David's manager Jeff, and Susie Essman as Jeff's wife Susie. Curb Your Enthusiasm often features guest stars, and many of these appearances are by celebrities playing versions of themselves fictionalized to varying degrees.
The plots and subplots of the episodes are established in an outline written by David and the dialogue is largely improvised by the actors themselves.[1] Much like Seinfeld, the subject matter in Curb Your Enthusiasm often involves the minutiae of daily life, and plots often revolve around Larry David's many faux pas, and his problems with certain social conventions and expectations, as well as his annoyance with other people's behavior. The character has a hard time letting such annoyances go unexpressed, which leads him often into awkward situations.
The series was developed from a 1999 one-hour special titled Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. This special was shot as a mockumentary, where the characters were aware of the presence of cameras and a crew. The series itself is not a mock documentary, but it is shot in a somewhat similar cinéma vérité-like visual style.[1]
Curb Your Enthusiasm has been nominated for 34 Primetime Emmy Awards, and Robert B. Weide received an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, for the episode "Krazee Eyez Killa". The show won the 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.[2]
Contents |
Concept[link]
The series stars Larry David as an extreme fictionalized version of himself. Similar to the real-life David, the character is well known in the entertainment industry as the co-creator and main co-writer of the highly successful sitcom Seinfeld. Throughout most of the series, the Larry David character is living a married life in Los Angeles with his wife Cheryl (played by Cheryl Hines), without children. David's main confidant on the show is his manager, Jeff Greene (played by Curb executive producer Jeff Garlin), who has a temperamental wife Susie (Susie Essman). A large portion of the show's many guest stars are various celebrities and public figures, such as actors, comedians, sportspeople and politicians, who play themselves. These include David's long-time friend Richard Lewis, as well as Ted Danson and his wife Mary Steenburgen, who all have recurring roles as fictionalized versions of themselves.
The show is set and filmed in various affluent Westside communities of (and occasionally downtown) Los Angeles, as well as the adjacent incorporated cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica. David's hometown of New York City is also featured in some episodes, most prominently in the eighth season of the series.
Although David maintains an office, he leads a semi-retired life in the series, and is rarely shown working regularly, other than in season four, which centered on his being cast as the lead in the Mel Brooks play The Producers, and in season seven, writing a Seinfeld reunion show. Most of the series revolves around Larry's interactions with his friends and acquaintances, with Larry often at odds with the other characters (usually to Larry's detriment). Despite this, the characters do not seem to harbor ill feelings toward each other for any extended period and the cast has stayed stable throughout the show.
Title[link]
David has explained the meaning of the show's title in TV interviews: it reflects his perception that many people seem to live their lives projecting false enthusiasm, which he believes is used to imply that "they are better than you." This conflicts with his style, which is very droll and dry. The title also urges the audience not to expect too much from the show; at the time of the premiere, David wanted to lower expectations after the phenomenal success of Seinfeld.[3]
Characters[link]
Main cast[link]
- Larry David (Larry David) – Candid, neurotic, but generally disposed to pursue what he perceives to be the right course, Larry often finds himself in awkward situations that arise as a result of his obstinate belief in his own ethical principles and codes of conduct, which he is nevertheless prepared to bend when it suits him. He usually has good intentions but often finds himself a victim of circumstance and social convention, as many of the people around him are also self-centered and stubborn; the character's unintentional tactlessness has resulted in the term "Larry David Moment" entering the American pop culture lexicon as a slang term for an inadvertently created socially awkward situation.[4] He often centers on petty details, and stubbornly holds to his opinion to the extent of aggravating everyone around him just to prove an insignificant point. The real life Larry David has commented that although he secretly wishes to be more like his fictionalized version on the series, he could never be that way because he is a lot more cautious when it comes to social tension.[5] Larry's trademark behaviors are his probing stare when he doesn't think somebody is telling the truth, fondly saying something is "prett-ay, prett-ay, prett-ay, pretty good" and, when caught up short in a moment of poor or contrary behavior, quizzically and mock-innocently inquiring, often of his wife, Cheryl, or of a close friend, "No good?" Among Larry's characteristics are his love of playing golf and his annoyance at having to engage in small talk ("stop and chat"), especially with people he deals with in commercial sitautions, such as waiters and tradesmen.
- Jeff Greene (Jeff Garlin) – One of Larry's closest friends, Jeff is his sympathetic manager whose marital problems and adulterous misadventures entangle Larry in embarrassing situations. Jeff often helps Larry with his problems, but that usually leads to Jeff getting entangled in the mess. Jeff and his wife, Susie (Susie Essman), have a daughter named Sammi (Ashly Holloway). While they ultimately love each other, his wife constantly criticizes him on his decisions and weight, while his daughter at times is neutral about her love for her father. Jeff Garlin stated that he truly does not empathize with his character at all and described him as a "pretty evil guy" who has "no morals, no scruples".[6]
- Cheryl David (Cheryl Hines) – Cheryl is Larry's long-suffering wife and later ex-wife, who often expresses annoyance with his behavior, even in situations beyond his control. She often serves as a voice of reason for him, and helps define the social guidelines that he may have overlooked. While her adventures never led her far off from Larry, she has various activities outside day-to-day married life, including an acting stint, and, more sustainably, as an advocate of environmental issues, including being a member of and fundraiser for the NRDC. Her affection for Larry has been tested, even resulting in her leaving him for a time; upon learning that he had put together the Seinfeld reunion just to have a chance to get back with her, she sees it as a sign of their "belong[ing] together", but soon decides to file for divorce when Larry concentrates on a coffee stain incident rather than the fact that they are back together, refusing yet again to listen to her. They divorce in the season eight premiere episode (which is Cheryl Hines' final appearance on the series to date).
- Susie Greene (Susie Essman) – Jeff's wife, who has a very explosive temper and a filthy mouth. Consequently her reactions to Larry range from near violence via benign grievances to occasionally fonder repartee. She routinely berates Larry and Jeff with profanity-laced tirades after uncovering one of their hare-brained shenanigans. Susie and Jeff have an "on-again, off-again" relationship. She often uses Larry as a scapegoat for her marital problems. She is known to refer to Larry as "Larry Fucking David" and "Four-Eyed Fuck" and when he crosses her, she is known to respond "Fuck you, Larry David!", while her common expletive to her husband is "You fat piece of shit!" She often serves to enforce traditional moral standards such as the sanctity of marital vows and fealty to hearth and home, at times versus her husband, at others versus Larry and usually versus both. Susie Essman is upgraded from guest star billing to main cast billing beginning with season eight.
Recurring roles[link]
Main article: List of Curb Your Enthusiasm recurring roles
Among the show's many recurring roles, Richard Lewis and Ted Danson play versions of themselves as old friends of Larry's with whom he frequently butts heads. Shelley Berman plays Larry's father, Nat David. Bob Einstein frequently appears as Marty Funkhouser, another of Larry's oldest friends. Beginning with season six, J. B. Smoove appears as Leon Black, and in seasons six and seven, Vivica A. Fox appears as Loretta Black, members of a family of hurricane evacuees who stay in Larry's house.
Notable guest appearances[link]
Main article: List of Curb Your Enthusiasm guest stars
Celebrities, including actors, comedians, authors, musicians and athletes, often make guest appearances on the show, with a large portion of them playing themselves, or fictional versions thereof. Some of the guest stars who have appeared as themselves include Mel Brooks, Michael York, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Shaquille O'Neal, Rosie O'Donnell, Ricky Gervais, Michael J. Fox, and the main cast of Seinfeld. Notable people who filled in fictional roles include Bob Odenkirk, Bea Arthur, Dustin Hoffman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stephen Colbert, and Steve Coogan.
Plots and episodes[link]
See also: List of Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes
Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes are typically named after an event, object, or person which figures prominently in the plot, similarly to how Seinfeld episodes were named. Many episodes concern breaches of intricate aspects of social conventions, such as the various details of tipping at restaurants,[a][b][c] the obligation to "stop and chat" upon meeting an acquaintance,[d] the allowed amount of caviar one may put on a cracker at a house party,[e] whether a house guest needs the permission of the homeowner before taking a soft drink from the refrigerator.[f] Others involve more significant issues, such as if and when a white person may say the racially sensitive word "nigger".[g] And some involve the etiquette of extremely complex and unique circumstances, such as the occasion when Larry discovered at a wake that the deceased was to be buried with his favorite golf club—borrowed from Larry.[h] Another involved Larry picking up a prostitute for the sole purpose of using the carpool lane on the freeway.[i] In many episodes, Curb—like its predecessor Seinfeld—tied together apparently unrelated events woven throughout a given episode into an unforced climax that resolves the story lines simultaneously, either to Larry's advantage or detriment.
Season overview[link]
While each episode has a distinct individual plot, story arcs between episodes are also fairly common, and most seasons have a major overarching arc. These season-long story arcs are stretched across most of the season's ten episodes, and culminate in a season finale.
File:Curb-Seinfeld Reunion.png
Larry David with the cast of Seinfeld during the reunion in the seventh season
- In season one (2000), the style and the characters of the show are introduced across a series of mostly isolated episodes, as it is the only season without a major story arc.
- In season two (2001), Cheryl is tired of Larry not working, so he begins to develop a new television show, first with guest stars Jason Alexander and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (George and Elaine on Seinfeld, respectively) as themselves. However, Larry's constant social faux pas ruin all of their chances with every major television network.
- In season three (2002), Larry invests in a restaurant enterprise which finally opens despite many mishaps, most of which are Larry's fault.
- In season four (2004), Mel Brooks casts Larry as the lead in his hit musical The Producers. Cheryl also gives Larry the opportunity to have sex with another woman before their tenth anniversary as an anniversary-gift.
- In season five (2005), Larry's friend Richard Lewis gets very ill and requires a kidney transplant. Larry is a match, but he spends the season looking for other sources of a kidney for Lewis. Also in season five, Larry suspects he may be adopted and embarks on a search to find his biological parents.
- Season six (2007) is built around Cheryl persuading Larry to take in a family that is left homeless after a major Gulf Coast hurricane. Later in the season, Cheryl leaves Larry, mimicking Laurie David's real-life divorce from Larry. He spends the rest of the season either fighting for her to come back or looking for a replacement.
- Most of season seven (2009) is centered on creating a Seinfeld reunion show with the original cast, while Larry is either dating or trying to get back together with Cheryl.
- Season eight (2011) continues to follow Larry's single life after he and Cheryl get divorced. At the midpoint of the season, the main characters all travel to New York City, where the rest of the season is set.
HBO has said that it is "cautiously optimistic" that Larry David will begin work on a ninth season. The network's president of programming Michael Lombardo commented, "For the first time ever after this season Larry didn't say 'I never want to do this again'.[7]
Critical response[link]
Since its 2000 debut, the show has enjoyed wide critical acclaim and a steadily growing, dedicated audience that has helped it emerge from its early "cult" status. On Metacritic, the fifth season scored 91 out of 100 based on five reviews,[8] the seventh season scored 81 out of 100 based on 18 reviews[9] and the eighth season scored 85 out of 100 based on six reviews.[10]
Online publication Slate Magazine named the characters of Cheryl David and Susie Greene as two of the best on television and as reasons they were looking forward to the return of the show in the fall of 2007.[11] Curb Your Enthusiasm has also received praise from Galus Australis magazine for being even more unashamedly Jewish than the Seinfeld series.[12]
Curb Your Enthusiasm asserts the Jewish identity of its characters in ways that no other show has. By incorporating episodes that deal directly with Jewish identity and tradition, the show offers a commentary on what it means to be a Jew in modern American society.
On the show's depiction of Jewish characters, academic Vincent Brook stated, "Curb's commitment to Jewish identification greatly enhances its storytelling capacity, as it lends greater realism and dimension to the characters and opens the show up to episodes with meaningful Jewish themes."[13]
The character of Larry on the show is in many ways reminiscent of the schlemiel character often present in traditional Yiddish folklore. The schlemiel is usually a comic character whose actions lead to his inevitable downfall, but also stands as a form of resistance to social and cultural values and norms. David Gillota wrote: "As a true schlemiel, Larry's failure serves as a direct challenge to the status quo and encourages viewers to question the myriad unwritten rules that we follow in our everyday lives." Gillota also observed: "Whereas the schlemiel of Eastern Europe encountered problems that mostly affected Eastern European Jews (such as anti-Semitism and economic survival), Larry encounters problems that affect contemporary middle- to upper-class American Jews, namely, Jewish assimilation, secularism, intermarriage, and, as all of these suggest, the Jews' precarious ethnic identity in an increasingly multicultural environment."[14]
Awards and nominations[link]
The series has received a total of 34 Primetime Emmy Award nominations with one win, for Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series for Robert B. Weide for the episode "Krazee-Eyez Killa". The series has received six nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series. Larry David has received four nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. Cheryl Hines has received two nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The series has also received many nominations for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.[15]
It has received five Golden Globe Award nominations and won for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy in 2002, while being nominated in 2005. Larry David has been nominated for three Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series – Musical or Comedy.[16] It has been nominated for five Producers Guild of America Awards and has won twice.[17] It has been nominated for four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two for Larry David and two for the ensemble cast.[18][19] It has been nominated for four Writers Guild of America Awards and has won once.[20] It has been nominated for nine Directors Guild of America Awards and has won once for Bryan Gordon for the episode "The Special Section".[21]
Juan Catalan incident[link]
In 2003, Juan Catalan, a resident of Los Angeles, was cleared of premeditated murder charges against a material witness (a crime eligible for capital punishment) after outtake footage shot for the "Carpool Lane" episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm showed him and his daughter attending the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves baseball game some 20 miles from the crime-scene at the time of the murder, resulting in a $320,000 settlement against the City of Los Angeles.[22] Larry David joked afterwards "I like to tell people that I've now done one good thing in my life, albeit inadvertently".
Syndication[link]
On June 2, 2010, the series premiered on the TV Guide Network, making its network television debut (without the TV-MA scenes). The network also recorded a series of related discussions with high-profile guest stars, media pundits, and prominent social figures called "Curb: The Discussion" debating the moral implications depicted in each episode.[23] The show was also syndicated on local stations and WGN America,[24] but has been removed from syndication and WGN America due to low ratings.[25]
Media[link]
DVD releases[link]
Curb Your Enthusiasm seasons come in a two-disc DVD set with ten episodes, with the exception of the release of season one encoded for region two, that contains three discs.
| Season | Release dates | Bonus features | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | ||
| 1 | January 13, 2004 | May 17, 2004 | Commentary by Larry David, Jeff Garlin, Cheryl Hines and Robert B. Weide on the pilot episode; interview with Larry David; HBO TV Special – "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm" |
| 2 | June 15, 2004 | October 18, 2004 | None |
| 3 | January 18, 2005 | February 7, 2005 | 60 minutes of extras with the cast and directors at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen |
| 4 | August 30, 2005 | September 26, 2005 | None |
| 5 | August 1, 2006 | September 11, 2006 | "The History of Curb... so far" and "The History of Curb... even further" featurettes |
| 6 | January 28, 2008 | June 9, 2008 | A Conversation with Larry David and Susie Essman; On the Set: Curb Your Enthusiasm; Gag reel |
| 7 | June 8, 2010 | June 7, 2010 | Rebuilding the Seinfeld Sets; Larry David as George Costanza; Interview with Larry David and the Seinfeld cast, and more |
| 8 | June 5, 2012 | June 11, 2012 | "Leon's Guide to NYC"; Roundtable discussion with Larry & the cast |
Book[link]
A Curb Your Enthusiasm book was released October 19, 2006, published by Gotham Books. The book contains stories from Larry David's past, original interviews and commentary, episode outlines, episode guide, and over 100 full-color photographs. The contents of the book span the first five seasons of the show.[26]
Music[link]
The show is punctuated between scenes with music orchestrated by Wendell Yuponce (first season), and from a music library company called Killer Tracks (seasons two to five).[27] Frequently heard are instrumental arrangements of the whimsical "Three Little Maids From School Are We" from The Mikado, and the rhythmic Gypsy dance "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" from Carmen. The opening and closing theme song (not mentioned in the credits) is "Frolic" by Italian composer Luciano Michelini. Larry David heard the music used in a bank commercial years before the show was created and thought it had a lighthearted, joyful quality.[28] An unofficial soundtrack was released by Mellowdrama Records in 2006.[29]
Notes[link]
- ^ Episode 4, "The Bracelet" (season one)
- ^ Episode 67, "The Black Swan" (season seven)
- ^ Episode 63, "The Reunion" (season seven)
- ^ Episode 20, "The Massage" (season two)
- ^ Episode 64, "The Hot Towel" (season seven)
- ^ Episode 61, "Funkhouser's Crazy Sister" (season seven)
- ^ Episode 58, "The N Word" (season six)
- ^ Episode 35, "The 5 Wood" (season four)
- ^ Episode 36, "The Car Pool Lane" (season four)
References[link]
- ^ a b Richmond, Ray (July 2003). "Unscripted: Directing HBO's Improv Comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm". DGA Magazine. http://www.dga.org/news/v28_2/feat_unscripted.php3.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm: About the Show". HBO. http://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/about/index.html. Retrieved December 27, 2010.
- ^ Marin, Rick (July 16, 2007). "The Great And Wonderful Wizard of Odds". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/16/style/the-great-and-wonderful-wizard-of-odds.html. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
- ^ Urban Dictionary: larry david moment
- ^ "Larry David Talks Dating Post-Divorce, 'Seinfeld' and Wealth". Rolling Stone. July 20, 2011. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/larry-david-talks-dating-post-divorce-seinfeld-and-wealth-20110720. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
- ^ "Exclusive Interview: Jeff Garlin, from Curb Your Enthusiasm". BuddyTV. November 11, 2007. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/curb-your-enthusiasm/exclusive-interview-jeff-garli-10655.aspx. Retrieved February 16, 2010.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (July 28, 2011). "HBO Brass ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Ninth Season Of ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’". Deadline. http://www.deadline.com/2011/07/hbo-brass-cautiously-optimistic-about-ninth-season-of-curb-your-enthusiasm/. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 5". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-5. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 7". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-7. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 8". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/curb-your-enthusiasm/season-8. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
- ^ Lapidos, Juliet (September 21, 2007). "Oh, How We've Missed You!". Slate. http://www.slate.com/id/2174389/nav/navoa/. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
- ^ Frosh, Anthony (June 28, 2009). "Jews in Pop-culture: a Critical Examination Part". Galus Australis. http://galusaustralis.com/2009/06/347/jews_in_pop-culture/.
- ^ Brook, Vincent (2006). You should see yourself: Jewish identity in postmodern American culture ([Online-Ausg.] ed.). New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. pp. 279–284. ISBN 0-8135-3845-9.
- ^ Gillota, David (NaN undefined NaN). "Negotiating Jewishness: and the Schlemiel Tradition". Journal of Popular Film and Television 38 (4): 152–161. DOI:10.1080/01956051003725244.
- ^ "Primetime Emmy® Award Database". The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. http://www.emmys.com/award_history_search?person=&program=Curb+Your+Enthusiasm&start_year=1949&end_year=2011&network=All&web_category=All&winner=All. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Award Search". The Hollywood Foreign Press Association. http://www.goldenglobes.org/browse/film/23905. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "PGA Award Winners 1990–2010". Producers Guild of America. http://www.producersguild.org/?page=pga_award_19902010. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "The 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild. http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/12th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "The 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild. http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/16th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ Mitchell, Gregg (January 19, 2010). "Larry David to Receive 2010 TV Laurel Award". Writers Guild of America. http://www.wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3916. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Award / Winner and Nominee Search". Directors Guild of America. Search for Curb Your Enthusiasm. http://www.dga.org/Awards/Explore.aspx. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ Laura Coverson (March 8, 2007). "Man Cleared by TV Footage Gets $320,000". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2935710. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- ^ "TV Guide Network Teams-up with Legendary Show Creator Larry David to Launch "Curb Your Enthusiasm" Exclusive Extras Hosted by Series Regular Susie Essman" (Press release). TV Guide Network. March 22, 2010. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20100322005537/en. Retrieved March 22, 2010.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm". WGN America. http://www.wgnamerica.com/shows/curbyourenthusiasm/. Retrieved August 31, 2011.
- ^ "WGN America Fall 2011 Schedule; MeTV Network Celebrates Lucille Ball's 100th Birthday With 100 Episodes of Lucy Series". SitcomsOnline.com. July 26, 2011. http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2011/07/wgn-america-fall-2011-schedule-metv.html. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
- ^ ASIN B000RWEL7Y
- ^ Goldwasser, Dan (April 5, 2006). "Exclusice – Curb Your Enthusiasm – First Listen". SoundtrackNet. http://www.soundtrack.net/features/article/?id=189. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Curb Your Enthusiasm – Larry David on Theme Song (Paley Center)". Paley Center for Media. July 29, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4z0y4vTLok. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ ASIN B000FDJ31Y
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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2007) |
| Dino Stamatopoulos | |
|---|---|
 Stamatopoulos (center) at the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con for TV Funhouse |
|
| Born | (1964-12-14) December 14, 1964 (age 47) Norridge, Illinois |
| Occupation | Writer Producer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Comedy Satire Black comedy |
| Notable work(s) | Late Night with Conan O'Brien The Ben Stiller Show Mr. Show TV Funhouse Mad TV Moral Orel The Drinky Crow Show Mary Shelley's Frankenhole Community |
| Notable award(s) | Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program 1993 The Ben Stiller Show |
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television comedy writer, actor and producer who has worked on Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim programs Moral Orel and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole. Stamatopoulos also played the recurring role of "Star-Burns" on the NBC comedy series Community.
Contents |
Biography[link]
While at Ridgewood High School (Illinois), Stamatopoulos wrote for his school variety show and was astounded he could get laughs with the material he had written. While attending Columbia College Chicago he performed a duo act with comedian Andy Dick, in which Stamatopoulos played a ventriloquist and Dick played a dummy under the influence of sleeping pills.
Stamatopoulos had written a spec script for a Simpsons episode, just out of love for the show, and Andy convinced him to submit it to The Ben Stiller Show, which got him hired. He met and worked with Bob Odenkirk. After Stiller's show was canceled, he moved to New York and joined the writing staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, also with Odenkirk. During the '90s he wrote for Late Show with David Letterman, The Dana Carvey Show and Mr. Show with Bob and David. In 2000 Dino and Robert Smigel pitched Comedy Central a spin-off of Smigel's TV Funhouse SNL cartoons which would be a half-hour sketch comedy show. TV Funhouse premiered on 2000 and was canceled after one season. He later joined the writing staff on Mad TV.
Stamatopoulos worked as a creative consultant and contributing writer on the first season of Tom Goes to the Mayor, with Tim & Eric and Bob Odenkirk. He also provided the voice of Drinky Crow on The Drinky Crow Show, which aired for one season on Adult Swim.
His stop motion animated series Moral Orel premiered on Adult Swim on Christmas 2005 and aired for three seasons, airing its final episode in December 2008. Following the cancellation, the show began to gain more popularity through reruns, leading to Adult Swim eventually reviving the series. It was announced on May 17, 2012 that a special episode titled "Before Orel" will air in September 2012, with the possibility of more new episodes to follow.
In 2010, Stamatopoulos began his new stop motion series Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, the show most recently finished its second season on Adult Swim in March 2012.[1]
Stamatopoulos appeared in a recurring role as "Star-Burns" on the NBC comedy series Community from Season 1 in 2009 until his character was supposedly killed off in Season 3. His character was later discovered to be alive, although he won't be returning for Season 4. He was also a consulting producer and writer on the show. He co-wrote the stop motion animation Christmas episode which aired on December 9, 2010.
In 2012 Dino has become a regular contributor to The Steve Dahl Show podcast
Selected filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Type of show | Character |
| 2010–present | Mary Shelley's Frankenhole | Creator Writer Executive Producer |
Animated series | Death The Mummy Mother Teresa Additional voices |
| 2010 | Yappy Broads | Actor | Adult Swim Pilot | Co-host |
| 2009–2012 | Community | Recurring Role Writer Consultant |
TV Sitcom | Star-Burns |
| 2008–2009 | The Drinky Crow Show | Voice actor | Animated series | Drinky Crow Lt. Vronchy Additional voices |
| 2006 | Lucky Louie | Writer | TV Sitcom | |
| 2005–2012 | Moral Orel | Creator Writer Director Executive Producer |
Animated series | Various characters |
| 2004–2005 | Tom Goes To The Mayor | Writer Creative Consultant |
Animated series | |
| 2002–2003 | Mad TV | Writer | Sketch Comedy series | |
| 2000–2001 | TV Funhouse | Writer Actor Executive Producer |
Sketch Comedy series | Chickey Mr. Whiskers Various characters |
| 1996–2006 | Saturday Night Live | Writer (TV Funhouse) Voice Actor |
Sketch Comedy series | Michael Jackson |
| 1996–1998 | Mr. Show with Bob and David | Writer Executive Producer |
Sketch Comedy series | Various characters |
| 1996–1997 | Late Show with David Letterman | Writer | Late Night Talk Show | |
| 1996 | The Dana Carvey Show | Writer | Sketch Comedy series | |
| 1993–1999 | Late Night with Conan O' Brien | Writer Sketch Actor |
Late Night Talk Show | Tomari the Ostrich Kiss-Ass Turkey Abe Lincoln Various characters |
| 1992–1993 | The Ben Stiller Show | Writer | Sketch Comedy series |
References[link]
External links[link]
|
||||||||
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Stamatopoulos, Dino |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | December 14, 1964 |
| Place of birth | Norridge, Illinois |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Dino_Stamatopoulos
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Stamatopoulos
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.
| Joe Mantegna | |
|---|---|
 Mantegna filming Criminal Minds in 2010 |
|
| Born | Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Jr. (1947-11-13) November 13, 1947 (age 64) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Residence | North Hollywood, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | J. Sterling Morton High School East |
| Alma mater | Goodman School of Drama |
| Occupation | Actor, director, screenwriter, executive producer |
| Years active | 1969–present |
| Home town | Cicero, Illinois |
| Television | The Simpsons, Criminal Minds |
| Spouse | Arlene Vrhel (1975–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parents | Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Sr., Maryland (Novelli) Mantegna |
Joseph Anthony "Joe" Mantegna, Jr. (born November 13, 1947) is an American actor, producer, writer, director, and voice actor. He is best known for his roles in box office hits such as Three Amigos (1986), The Godfather Part III (1990), Forget Paris (1995), and Up Close & Personal (1996). He currently stars in the CBS television series Criminal Minds as FBI Special Agent David Rossi.
Mantegna has gained Emmy Award nominations for his roles in three different miniseries: The Last Don (1997), The Rat Pack (1999), and The Starter Wife (2007). He has also served as executive producer for various movies and television movies, including Corduroy (1984), Hoods (1998), and Lakeboat (2000) which he also directed.
For television, Mantegna has starred in the short lived series First Monday (2002) and Joan of Arcadia (2003–2005). Since the 1991 episode "Bart the Murderer," Mantegna has had a recurring role on the animated comedy series The Simpsons as mob boss Fat Tony, reprising the role in The Simpsons Movie (2007). Additionally, he played Robert B. Parker's fictional detective Spenser in three made-for-TV movies between 1999 and 2001.
Contents |
Early life[link]
An Italian American,[1] Mantegna was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1947 to Maryann (née Novelli), a shipping clerk, and Joseph Anthony Mantegna, Sr., who worked in insurance sales[2] and died in 1969 of tuberculosis.[3] Mantegna was raised Catholic[4] and attended J. Sterling Morton High School East in Cicero, Illinois.[3] He graduated with a degree in acting from the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University) in 1970.[5] While still a young man in Chicago, he played bass in a band called The Apocryphals[6] which later played with another local group The Missing Links, who went on to form the band Chicago. Mantegna is still very close to the original members of Chicago, and keeps in touch with his old band mates as well.[6]
Career[link]
Mantegna made his acting debut in the 1969 stage production of Hair and debuted on Broadway in Working (1978). He also helped write Bleacher Bums, an award-winning play which was first performed at Chicago's Organic Theater Company, and was a member of its original cast.
Mantegna won a Tony award for his portrayal of Richard Roma in David Mamet's play Glengarry Glen Ross. He has had a long and successful association with Mamet, appearing in a number of his works.
Mantegna made his feature film debut in Medusa Challenger (1977). He played womanizing dentist Bruce Fleckstein in Compromising Positions (1985). Other early movies include co-starring roles in The Money Pit (1986), Weeds (1987), and Suspect (1987).
He also starred in the critically acclaimed movies House of Games (1987) and Things Change (1988), both written by Mamet. He and Things Change co-star Don Ameche received the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival. In 1991 Mantegna starred in another Mamet story, the highly praised police thriller Homicide.
A highly versatile actor, Mantegna has played a wide range of roles, from the comic—as a fed up shock jock in Airheads and the hilariously inept kidnapper from Baby's Day Out—to the dramatic, in roles such as Joey Zasa, a treacherous mobster in The Godfather Part III and an Emmy-nominated performance as singer Dean Martin in HBO's 1998 film The Rat Pack.
Mantegna has a recurring role in the animated series The Simpsons as the voice of mob boss Anthony "Fat Tony" D'Amico. He insists on voicing the character every time he appears, no matter how little dialogue he has. To quote: "If Fat Tony sneezes, I want to be there." In one instance, however, Phil Hartman voiced Fat Tony in the episode "A Fish Called Selma."
Mantegna spoofed himself when he hosted Saturday Night Live for the 1990–1991 season in which he calmly began his monologue by saying he did not wish to be typecast from his gangster roles. A disappointed little boy and his father leave, as they mistakenly believed the host would be Joe Montana (football player) due to the similar names. Mantegna then began speaking in a low, controlled voice to the little boy, telling him it was best to stay in the audience and respect his performance; he warned the boy that if he (Mantegna) made a call, then Montana would not play in his next game—an implication that Mantegna's true personality equaled his gangster roles.
Mantegna received the Lifetime Achievement Award on April 26, 2004, at the Los Angeles Italian Film Festival. On August 11, 2007, Mantegna signed on to replace departing star Mandy Patinkin on the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds.[7][8]
Since 2006, he has co-narrated the National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C. with Gary Sinise.[9]
Mantegna was the keynote commencement speaker at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology in June 2008.
On April 29, 2011, Mantenga received the 2,438th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[10]
On June 6, 2011, Mantegna's hometown of Cicero, IL celebrated his body of work with an honorary street sign—Joe Mantegna Boulevard—on the northeast corner of Austin Blvd and 25th St., the location of his high school.
Personal life[link]
Mantegna has been married to Arlene Vrhel since December 3, 1975. Mantegna is a parent of a child with autism[11] and he and Arlene have two daughters, Mia and Gia. Gia, an actress, appeared alongside her father in Criminal Minds as one of the victims in the Season 3 episode "3rd Life." Arlene owns a Chicago-themed restaurant in Burbank, California named Taste Chicago.[12]
Filmography[link]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Medusa Challenger | Joe | Short film |
| 1978 | Towing | Chris | |
| 1978 | A Steady Rain | Short film | |
| 1979 | To Be Announced | ||
| 1980 | Xanadu | The Muses | Scenes deleted |
| 1983 | Second Thoughts | Orderly | |
| 1985 | Compromising Positions | Bruce Fleckstein | |
| 1986 | The Money Pit | Art Shirk | |
| 1986 | Off Beat | Pete Peterson | |
| 1986 | Three Amigos | Harry Flugleman | |
| 1987 | Critical Condition | Arthur Chambers | |
| 1987 | House of Games | Mike | |
| 1987 | Weeds | Carmine | |
| 1987 | Suspect | Charlie Stella | |
| 1988 | Things Change | Jerry | |
| 1989 | Wait Until Spring, Bandini | Bandini | |
| 1990 | The Godfather Part III | Joey Zasa | |
| 1990 | Alice | Joe | |
| 1991 | Queens Logic | Al | |
| 1991 | Homicide | Bobby Gold | |
| 1991 | Bugsy | George | |
| 1993 | Body of Evidence | Robert Garrett | |
| 1993 | Family Prayers | Martin Jacobs | |
| 1993 | Searching for Bobby Fischer | Fred Waitzkin | |
| 1994 | Baby's Day Out | Eddie | |
| 1994 | Airheads | Ian | |
| 1995 | Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys | Joey Franelli | |
| 1995 | For Better or Worse | Stone | |
| 1995 | Forget Paris | Andy | |
| 1995 | Above Suspicion | Alan Rhinehart | |
| 1996 | Eye for an Eye | Det. Sgt. Denillo | |
| 1996 | Up Close & Personal | Bucky Terranova | |
| 1996 | Underworld | Frank Gavilan / Frank Cassady / Richard Essex | |
| 1996 | Albino Alligator | A.T.F. Agent G.D. Browning | |
| 1996 | Thinner | Richie Ginelli | |
| 1996 | Persons Unknown | Jim Holland | |
| 1998 | Jerry and Tom | Tom | |
| 1998 | The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit | Gomez | |
| 1998 | For Hire | Alan Webber | |
| 1998 | Hoods | Angelo Martinelli | |
| 1998 | Celebrity | Tony Gardella | |
| 1998 | Boy Meets Girl | Il Magnifico | |
| 1999 | Airspeed | Raymond Stone | |
| 1999 | Error in Judgment | Eric | |
| 1999 | The Runner | Rocco | |
| 1999 | Liberty Heights | Nate Kurtzman | |
| 2000 | Lakeboat | Guy at Gate (uncredited) | |
| 2000 | Body and Soul | Alex Dumas | |
| 2000 | More Dogs Than Bones | Desalvo | |
| 2000 | The Last Producer | (uncredited) | |
| 2001 | Fall: The Price of Silence | Agent Jim Danaher | |
| 2001 | The Trumpet of the Swan (film) | Monty (voice) | |
| 2001 | Laguna | Nicola Pianon | |
| 2001 | Off Key | Ricardo Palacios | |
| 2002 | Mother Ghost | Jerry | |
| 2003 | Uncle Nino | Robert Micelli | |
| 2004 | First Flight | Robert Sloan | Short film |
| 2004 | Stateside | Gil Deloach | |
| 2004 | Pontormo: A Heretical Love | Pontormo | |
| 2005 | Nine Lives | Richard | |
| 2005 | Edmond | Man in Bar | |
| 2005 | Kid & I | Davis Roman | |
| 2006 | Club Soda | Mike | Short film |
| 2007 | Elvis and Anabelle | Charlie | |
| 2007 | Naked Fear | Sheriff Tom Benike | |
| 2007 | Cougar Club | Mr. Stack | |
| 2007 | Simpsons Movie | Fat Tony (voice) | |
| 2008 | Hank and Mike | Mr. Pan | |
| 2008 | West of Brooklyn | Gaetano D'Amico | |
| 2008 | Witless Protection | Dr. Rondog 'Doc' Savage | |
| 2008 | Redbelt | Jerry Weiss | |
| 2008 | Childless | Richard | |
| 2008 | Who's Wagging Who? | Rudy (voice) | Short film |
| 2009 | Lonely Street | Jerry Finkelman | |
| 2009 | Archie's Final Project | Indian Psychiatrist | |
| 2009 | The Assistants | Gary Greene | |
| 2009 | House That Jack Built | Jack Jr. | |
| 2010 | Pop Shock | Billy | Short film |
| 2010 | Valentine's Day | Angry Driver (uncredited) | |
| 2010 | Hannah Mantegna | Hannah Mantegna | Short film |
| 2011 | Cars 2 | Grem (voice) | |
| 2011 | Sacks West | Short film | |
| 2011 | Yule Tide Good Samaritan, TheThe Yule Tide Good Samaritan | Tim O'Neill | Short film |
| 2012 | Kill Me, Deadly | Bugsy Siegel | Filming |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Elvis | Joe Esposito | TV movie |
| 1979 | Bleacher Bums | Decker | TV movie |
| 1980-1981 | Soap | Juan One | 7 episodes |
| 1981 | It's a Living | Louis Allen | Episode: "Of Mace and Men" |
| 1981 | Bosom Buddies | The Shiek | Episode: "On the Road to Monte Carlo" |
| 1981 | Open All Night | Change Arab |
Episode: "Night Moves" Episode: "Centerfold" |
| 1982 | The Greatest American Hero | Juan | Episode: "Now You See It" |
| 1982 | Archie Bunker's Place | Joe Garver | Episode: "Of Mice and Bunker" |
| 1982 | Simon & Simon | Henry | Episode: "Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend" |
| 1984 | The Outlaws | Yuri | TV movie |
| 1984 | Comedy Zone | Various | 2 episodes |
| 1985 | Big Shots in America | Jovan Joey Shagula | TV movie |
| 1987 | The Twilight Zone | Harry Dobbs | Episode: "Shelter Skelter" |
| 1991-2011 | The Simpsons | Fat Tony (voice) | 25 episodes |
| 1992 | The Comrades of Summer | Sparky Smith | TV movie |
| 1992 | The Water Engine | Lawrence Oberman | TV movie |
| 1993 | Fallen Angels | Carl Streeter | Episode: "The Quiet Room" |
| 1993 | Frasier | Derek Mann (voice) | Episode: "I Hate Frasier Crane" |
| 1994 | State of Emergency | Dr. John Novelli | TV movie |
| 1995 | Favorite Deadly Sins | Frank Musso | TV movie |
| 1997 | Duckman | Rube Richter (voice) | Episode: "A Star is Abhorred" Episode: "Love! Anger! Kvetching!" |
| 1997 | The Last Don | Pippi De Lena | TV miniseries |
| 1997 | A Call to Remember | Davis Tobias | TV movie |
| 1997 | Rugrats | Diner 2/Jack Montello (voice) | Episode: "The Matress/Looking for Jack" |
| 1997 | Face Down | Bob Signorelli | TV movie |
| 1997 | Merry Christmas, George Bailey | Joseph/Nick | TV movie |
| 1998 | The Great Empire: Rome | Narrator | TV movie |
| 1998 | The Last Don II | Pippi De Lena | TV miniseries |
| 1998 | The Rat Pack | Dean Martin | TV movie |
| 1999 | Small Vices | Spenser | TV movie |
| 1999 | My Little Assassin | Fidel Castro | TV movie |
| 2000 | Thin Air | Spenser | TV movie |
| 2001 | Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal | Frank Garner | Video |
| 2001 | The Sopranos | Mercedes ad voiceover (uncredited) | Episode: "He Is Risen" |
| 2001 | Walking Shadow | Spenser | TV movie |
| 2002 | First Monday | Justice Joseph Novelli | 13 episodes |
| 2002 | Women vs. Men | Michael | TV movie |
| 2002 | And Thou Shalt Honor | Host/Narrator | TV movie |
| 2003-2005 | Joan of Arcadia | Will Girardi | 45 episodes |
| 2004 | A Very Married Christmas | Frank Griffin | TV movie |
| 2006 | Let Go | Jack Rossati | Unaired pilot for a series starring Bonnie Hunt |
| 2006 | Kim Possible | Jimmy Blamhammer (voice) | Episode: "And the Mole-Rat Will Be CGI" |
| 2007-2008 | The Starter Wife | Lou Manahan | 8 episodes |
| 2007-present | Criminal Minds | David Rossi | 99+ episodes |
| 2008 | Justice League: The New Frontier | Crooner (voice) | Video |
| 2008 | The Last Hit Man | Harry Tremayne | Video |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Working | Emilio Hernandez / Dave McCormick | |
| 1984-1985 | Glengarry Glen Ross | Richard Roma | |
| 1988 | Speed-the-Plow | Bobby Gould |
References[link]
- ^ Ryan, Maureen (October 30, 2007). "Joe Mantegna Replaces Mandy Patinkin in "Criminal Minds" 8 p.m. Wed. CBS". The Annotico Report, Chicago Tribune. http://www.annoticoreport.com/2007/10/joe-mantegna-replaces-mandy-patinkin-in.html. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ "Joe Mantegna Biography (1947–)". Filmreference. http://www.filmreference.com/film/34/Joe-Mantegna.html. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ a b "Joe Mantegna". Yahoo! Movies. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800023002/bio. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ Sanello, Frank (October 6, 1991). "Casting change With thanks to David Mamet, actor Joe Mantegna is his own man". Chicago Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24504291.html?dids=24504291:24504291&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+06%2C+1991&author=Frank+Sanello.&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Casting+change+With+thanks+to+David+Mamet%2C+actor+Joe+Mantegna+is+his+own+man&pqatl=google.
- ^ "Joe Mantegna". BuddyTV. http://www.buddytv.com/joe-mantegna.aspx. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ a b Liz (May 25, 2007). "Catching Up with Joe Mantegna". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2007/05/catching_up_with_joe_mantegna.html. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ Walton, Dawnie (August 11, 2008). "Mantegna Joins 'Criminal Minds'". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20051296,00.html. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ Mitovich, Matt Webb (August 11, 2007). "Criminal Minds Trades Inigo Montoya for Joe Mantegna". TV Guide. http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-News-Blog/Todays-News/Criminal-Minds-Trades/800020228. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/memorialdayconcert/features/families.html
- ^ "Chicago Actor Joe Mantegna Honored with a Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame". 2011. http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/chicago-thing/2011/04/chicago-actor-joe-montegna-honored-with-a-star-on-hollywoods-walk-of-fame.html.
- ^ mickeynews.com, writing "James Denton ... applauded hosts of the organization's autism awareness public service announcements, including celebrity parents of children with autism, Ed Asner, Gary Cole, Joe Mantegna, and John Schneider."
- ^ "Authentic Chicago Style Italian food in California!". Taste Chicago. http://www.tastechicago.biz/. Retrieved September 19, 2008.
External links[link]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joe Mantegna |
- Joe Mantegna Personal Page http://www.joemantegna.com
- Joe Mantegna on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/joemantegna
- Joe Mantegna on Twitter http://twitter.com/joemantegna
- Joe Mantegna on Facebook http://facebook.com/joemantegna
- Joe Mantegna at the Internet Broadway Database
- Joe Mantegna at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
- Joe Mantegna at the Internet Movie Database
- Joe Mantegna at TV Guide
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Mantegna, Joe |
| Alternative names | Mantegna, Joseph Anthony |
| Short description | Actor |
| Date of birth | November 13, 1947 |
| Place of birth | Chicago, Illinois, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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http://fr.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://nl.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://pt.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://de.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://it.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://pl.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://id.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
http://es.wn.com/Joe Mantegna
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Mantegna
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.
