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Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone or cantankerous voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor. This delivery is also called dry wit^[1] when the intent, but not the presentation, is humorous, blunt, oblique, sarcastic or apparently unintentional.

Look up deadpan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Etymology[link]

The term "deadpan" first emerged as an adjective or adverb in the 1920s, as a compound word combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). The oldest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary comes from the New York Times (1928), which defines the term as "playing a rôle with expressionless face".^[2] A good example of this usage is in a scene from the 1934 film "The Gay Bride" in which a gangster tells a man on the other end of a phone conversation to "Give it a dead pan," (with the emphasis on "pan") so that the man doesn't inadvertently alert anyone else in the room as to the importance of what the gangster is about to say. The usage of deadpan as a verb ('to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan') is recorded at least as far back as 1942.^[2]

Many popular American sitcoms also use deadpan expressions, most notably Arrested Development, The Office and Seinfeld. Dry humour is often confused with highbrow or egghead humour. Although these forms of humour are often dry, the term dry humour actually only refers to the method of delivery, not necessarily the content.

Deadpan violence[link]

"Deadpan violence" involves someone threatening or reacting to violence in an unemotional, detached way that comes across as jaded and blasé. This may be done to create a comic effect, by being out of place and in an unrealistic context.

One example of deadpan violence as humour occurs in one of the variations on Monty Python's skit "Cheese Shop". After a long and civil discussion on the quantity of cheese available in the cheese shop, Mr. Mousebender tells the cheese merchant "I'm going to ask you that question ['Do you have any cheese?'] once more, and if you say 'no' I'm going to shoot you through the head. Now, do you have any cheese at all?" The merchant responds with a casual "no" and, true to his word, Mousebender shoots him.

Another example is in the 1993 film Falling Down, in which the main character William Foster (played by Michael Douglas) is insulted by a man who has been waiting to use the phone booth previously occupied by Foster. He voices his irritation at Foster's prolonged use of the booth by saying "People have been waiting to use the phone." Foster responds to this by saying, "Well, you know what?", and using a submachine gun to destroy the phone, adds, "I think it's out of order."

Usage examples[link]

This section has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It may contain original research. Tagged since April 2011. It is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. Tagged since April 2011. It may be slanted towards recent events. Please try to keep recent events in historical perspective. Tagged since April 2011.

• John Cale's mordant narration of The Velvet Underground short story "The Gift" (1968)
• Johnny Carson known for his low-key monologue with the hard-to-resist deadpan delivery that became an American tradition
• Steve Carell is known for his deadpan humor in movies and in the TV show "The Office".
• Nick Offerman as "Ron Swanson" in the US TV series "Parks and Recreation".
• Aki Kaurismäki is known for his deadpan humor in his movies
• Graham Chapman as "the colonel", and in several other roles as "stiff upper lip" authority figures, on Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Stephen Colbert delivers humorous political commentary in a mock-serious deadpan manner
• Jane Curtin, best known for her work on Saturday Night Live, is commonly referred to as the "Queen of the Deadpan"^{[citation needed]}
• John Derbyshire, former National Review writer, is known for his deadpan delivery when making political points.^[3]
• David Duchovny as Hank Moody on the Showtime hit series Californication
• Eugenio, a Spanish comedian who delivered jokes in a such a manner
• Stewart Francis uses a deadpan style in his stand up routine consisting entirely of cleverly worded one-liners.
• Miss Kittin is known for her deadpan lyrics and vocals in songs such as "Frank Sinatra"^[3]
• Bill Murray's characters are typically flippant and deadpan in their casual sarcasm, insincerity and devil-may-care attitude
• Leslie Nielsen was widely recognized as a master of deadpan comedy in Airplane! and The Naked Gun series
• Virginia O'Brien referred to as 'The Diva of Deadpan', was noted for her beauty albeit expressionless face and humorous singing style.
• William Shatner is known for his deadpan style while delivering humorously bizarre or disturbing dialogue (see Boston Legal)
• Charlie Sheen affects a laconic, overintense manner when delivering silly dialogue in the Hot Shots! movies, as well as in some other comedic performances
• Quentin Tarantino's makes frequent use of black comedy and deadpan violence in his films;^[4] deadpan violence is similarly a staple in many of Robert Rodriguez's films
• Mark Twain was famous for never cracking a smile while making jokes
• Christopher Walken is known for his intense deadpan manner while delivering humorously bizarre or disturbing dialogue
• Steven Wright, stand-up comedian and actor for whom the deadpan joke delivery is a trademark
• Zooey Deschanel, actress known for her deadpan comedic delivery.
• Heather Morris, actress/dancer who portrays a deadpan character in the hit show, Glee.
• Aubrey Plaza, actress/comedienne known for her portrayal of deadpan characters, such as April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation.
• GLaDOS, a character in Portal and Portal 2 often uses deadpan humor.
• Jack Benny was known to rescue failed jokes by simply staring patiently at the audience until they laughed.
• Barack Obama is known for his deadpan humor during political speeches and events
• Daria Morgendorffer was known for her dry wit and sarcastic delivery of social commentary on the MTV show Daria.
• Carter Veldhuizen
• Todd Barry, American comedian, is known for his deadpan style and delivery.
• Eric Forman, a fictional character in the television series That 70's Show, uses deadpan humor.
• Buster Keaton, American silent-film comedian also known as the "great stone face" and the 20th century's first important mass popularizer of the deadpan delivery
• David Letterman on The Late Show With David Letterman
• John Gielgud makes a remarkable performance as a personal valet with a dry wit in Arthur (1981 film)
• Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim in their 11-minute TV show Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job! maintain deadpan expressions throughout their most absurd and ridiculous humor.

See also[link]

Comedy portal

• Blank expression
• Dark humor
• Minimisation (psychology)
• Unintentional humour

References[link]

Steven Wright
Wright at Tufts University, 1994
Birth name	Steven Alexander Wright
Born	(1955-12-06) December 6, 1955 (age 56) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Medium	stand-up, film, television
Nationality	American
Years active	1979–present
Genres	surreal humor, one-liners, deadpan, wit/word play, observational comedy, Musical comedy
Influences	Woody Allen, George Carlin,[1] Bob Newhart[2]
Influenced	Mitch Hedberg, Demetri Martin, Milton Jones, Jimmy Carr, Anthony Jeselnik, Zach Galifianakis, Matt Kopache, Billy Connolly
Notable works and roles	I Have a Pony K-Billy DJ in Reservoir Dogs Speed in The Swan Princess Guy on the Couch in Half Baked I Still Have a Pony
Website	StevenWright.com
Academy Awards
Best Short Film, Live Action 1988 The Appointments of Dennis Jennings

Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, and one-liners with contrived situations.

Early life and career[link]

Wright was born in Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts,^[3][4] one of four children of Lucille “Dolly” (née Lomano) and Alexander K. Wright.^[3][5][6] He was raised Catholic.^[7] His mother was Italian American and his father was of Scottish descent.^[8] Wright's father, an electronics technician who "tested a lot of stuff for the Apollo space program," became a truck driver after that program ended.^[3]

Wright spent two years obtaining an associate's degree from Middlesex Community College in Bedford, Massachusetts, before enrolling at Emerson College.^[9] He graduated from the latter in 1978^[9] and began performing stand-up comedy in 1979^[3][10] at the Boston comedy club the Comedy Connection.^[3][9] He cites George Carlin and Woody Allen among his influences.^[11]

In 1982 Peter Lassally, executive producer of The Tonight Show, noticed Wright performing on a bill with other local comics at the comedy club Ding Ho,^[12] in Cambridge's Inman Square,^[13] a venue Wright described as "half Chinese restaurant and half comedy club. It was a pretty weird place".^[3] Lassally booked Wright on The Tonight Show, where the comic so impressed host Johnny Carson and the studio audience that Wright was brought back less than a week later.^[11] In May 2000, Wright and other Ding Ho alumni, including Lenny Clarke, Barry Crimmins, Steve Sweeney, Bill Sohonage, and Jimmy Tingle, appeared at a reunion benefit for comic Bob Lazarus, suffering from leukemia.^[13]

Stand-up success[link]

Wright's 1985 comedy album was entitled I Have a Pony. It was released on Warner Bros. Records, received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. The success of this album landed him a much coveted HBO special which he recorded as a live college concert performance, A Steven Wright Special. By now Wright had firmly developed a new brand of obscure, laid-back performing and was rapidly building a cult-like mystique and eclectic following of "hip", savvy fans. His opening act for the HBO concert was fellow "Ding Ho" comedy alumni Bill Sohonage who recounts that Steven's ultra-casual, nearly catatonic demeanor was no act. "He walked into my dressing room, minutes before I was to take the stage, and asked if he could borrow a shirt, as his had a giant pizza stain. You would think it might be normal to be a little nervous going on a college stage in front of 23,000, let alone having HBO out there filming but as I passed by his room while walking on-stage I saw him sound asleep and loudly snoring". The performance would become one of HBO's longest running and most requested comedy specials and propel him to huge success on the college arena concert circuits.

In 1989 he and fellow producer Dean Parisot won an Academy Award for their 30-minute short film "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings", directed by Parisot, written by Mike Armstrong and Wright, and starring Wright and Rowan Atkinson. Upon accepting the Oscar, Wright said, "Now I'm sorry I cut out that last hour-and-a-half." In 1992 Wright had a recurring role on the television sitcom Mad About You. He supplied the voice of the radio DJ in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs that year. "Dean Parisot's wife Sally Menke is Quentin Tarantino's [film] editor, so when she was editing the movie and it was getting down toward the end where they didn't have the radio DJ yet, she thought of me and told Quentin and he liked the idea", Wright explained in 2009.^[3]

Numerous lists of jokes attributed to Wright circulate on the Internet, sometimes of dubious origin. Wright has stated, "Someone showed me a site, and half of it that said I wrote it, I didn't write. Recently, I saw one, and I didn't write any of it. What's disturbing is that with a few of these jokes, I wish I had thought of them. A giant amount of them, I'm embarrassed that people think I thought of them, because some are really bad".^[14]

After his 1990 comedy special Wicker Chairs and Gravity, Wright continued to do stand-up performances, but he was largely absent from television, only doing occasional guest spots on late-night talk shows. In 1999 he wrote and directed the 30-minute short "One Soldier", "about a soldier who was in the Civil War, right after the war, with all these existentialist thoughts and wondering if there is a God and all that stuff".^[3]

In 2006 Wright produced his first stand-up special in 16 years, Steven Wright: When The Leaves Blow Away, originally airing on Comedy Central on October 21, 2006. Its DVD was released April 23, 2007.^{[citation needed]} On September 25, 2007 Wright released his second album, I Still Have a Pony, a CD release of the material from When The Leaves Blow Away. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album but it lost to The Distant Future by Flight of the Conchords.

Awards and honors[link]

Steven Wright was awarded an Oscar in 1989 for Best Short Live-Action Film for The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, which he co-wrote (with Michael Armstrong) and starred in.^[15]

On December 15, 2008, Wright became the first inductee to the Boston Comedy Hall of Fame.^[12][16]

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was named #23 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.^[17]

Other interests[link]

While not well known for works outside of the comedy realm, Steven Wright has also recorded several non-comedy songs with his friend and occasional actor Mark Wuethner.^[18][19] Wright also has an apparent interest in painting.^[20]

Beginning in 2009, Steven Wright sporadically appears as himself on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a visiting celebrity, ostensibly dropping by the show to help out with the fan mail segment. He joins a small cadre of Hollywood celebrities who lend their support to the show in this way.^[21][22]

Filmography[link]

• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) as Larry Stillman D.D.S.
• The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988) (short film) (Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film)
• Stars and Bars (1988) as Pruitt
• Reservoir Dogs (1992) (voice only) as K-Billy DJ
• So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) as Pilot
• Speechless (1994) as Eddie
• Mad About You as Paul Buckman's film assistant.
• Natural Born Killers (1994) as Dr. Emil Reingold
• The Swan Princess (1994) as Speed (voice)
• Mixed Nuts (1994) as Suicidal man at pay phone
• The Larry Sanders Show (1994) as himself
• Canadian Bacon (1995) as Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer
• Half Baked (1998) as The Guy on the Couch (uncredited)
• Babe: Pig in the City (1998) as Bob (voice)
• One Soldier (1999) (short film)
• The Muse (1999)
• Loser (2000) as Sleazy Man in Bar
• Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) as Steven
• The Aristocrats (2005) as himself
• When Stand Up Stood Out (2005) as himself
• Son of the Mask (2005) as The Boss

Discography[link]

• I Have a Pony, Warner Bros. Records CD (1985)
• A Steven Wright Special, HBO DVD (1985)
• The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, DVD (1989)
• One Soldier, DVD (1999)
• When the Leaves Blow Away, DVD (2006)
• I Still Have a Pony, Comedy Central Records CD (2007)

Videography[link]

• Wicker Chairs and Gravity, HBO Stand-up Special (1991)^[23]

References[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Steven Wright

External links[link]

• Official website
• Steven Wright at the Internet Movie Database
• Wright-House.com: Jokes attributed to Steven Wright, with actual authors identified
• Dead-Frog.com: Video of Steven Wright from When the Leaves Blow Away
• Interview: Steven Wright Riverfront Times. October 2008.

Steve Carell
Carell at the Sydney Crazy, Stupid, Love. premiere in July 2011
Born	Steven John Carell (1962-08-16) August 16, 1962 (age 49) Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Denison University
Occupation	Actor, comedian, voice artist, producer, writer, director
Years active	1989–present
Notable work(s)	The Daily Show The Office Despicable Me Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Spouse	Nancy Carell (m. 1995)
Children	Annie Carell (b. 2001) John Carell (b. 2004)
Awards	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series 2006 The Office

Steven John "Steve" Carell ( /kəˈrɛl/; born August 16, 1962)^[1] is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office. He has also starred in lead roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Evan Almighty, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart, Date Night, Dinner for Schmucks, and Crazy, Stupid, Love.; and voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge, Horton Hears a Who!, and Despicable Me. Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine, and received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Comedy Series for playing the lead role of Michael Scott for The Office in 2006.

Early life[link]

Carell, the youngest of four brothers, was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, and was raised in nearby Acton by his parents, Harriet T. (née Koch), a psychiatric nurse, and Edwin A. Carell, an electrical engineer.^[2][3] His maternal uncle, Stanley Koch, worked with Allen B. DuMont to create cathode ray tubes.^[4] Carell's paternal grandfather was Italian;^[2] his father was born with the surname "Caroselli", later shortening it to "Carell".^[3] Carell was raised Roman Catholic,^[5] and was educated at The Fenn School and Middlesex School. Carell also played ice hockey as a teenager for his high school.^{[citation needed]} He played the fife, performing with other members of his family, and later joined a reenacting group portraying the 10th (North Lincoln) Regiment of Foot. Carell attributed his interest in history to this,^[6] in which he earned his degree from Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 1984.^[7][8] While at Denison, Carell was a member of Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company, a student-run improvisational comedy troupe.^[9]

Career[link]

Carell states that he worked as a mail carrier in Littleton, Massachusetts. He later recounted that he quit after a few months because his boss told him he was not very good as a mail carrier; he needed to be more efficient.^[10] Early in his performing career, Carell acted on the stage in a touring children's theater company and later in the comedy musical, Knat Scatt Private Eye. He also acted in a television commercial for Brown's Chicken in 1989.^[11] After that, Carell performed with Chicago troupe The Second City in 1991, where Stephen Colbert was his understudy for a time. That same year, he obtained his first film work in a minor role as Tesio in Curly Sue.

During the spring of 1996, he was a cast member of The Dana Carvey Show, a primetime sketch comedy program on ABC. Along with fellow cast member Stephen Colbert, Carell provided the voice of Gary, half of The Ambiguously Gay Duo, the Robert Smigel–produced animated short which continued on Saturday Night Live later that year. While the program lasted only seven episodes, The Dana Carvey Show has since been credited with forging Carell's career.^[12] During this time, he also played a supporting character for several series including Come to Papa and the short-lived 1997 Tim Curry situation comedy Over the Top. He has made numerous guest appearances, including on an episode of Just Shoot Me! titled "Funny Girl." Carell's other early screen credits includes Julia Louis-Dreyfus's short-lived situation comedy Watching Ellie (2002–2003) and Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda. He has also made fun of himself for auditioning for Saturday Night Live but losing the job to Will Ferrell. Carell was a correspondent for The Daily Show from 1999 until 2005, with a number of regular segments including "Even Stevphen" with Stephen Colbert and "Produce Pete."

[edit] The Office

During 2005, Carell signed a deal with NBC to star in The Office, a "mockumentary" about life at a mid-sized paper supply company, which was a remake of a successful British TV series. He plays Michael Scott, the idiosyncratic regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Inc, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Although the first season of the adaptation suffered mediocre ratings, NBC renewed it for another season due to the anticipated success of Carell's movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin,^[13] and the series subsequently became a ratings success. Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association award during 2006 for his Office role. He has also received five Emmy Award nominations^[14] for his work in the series (2006–2010). His last episode for the show, "Goodbye, Michael" aired on April 28, 2011.

Carell earned approximately US$175,000 per episode of the third season of The Office, twice his salary for the previous two seasons. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, he commented on his salary, saying "You don't want people to think you're a pampered jerk. Salaries can be ridiculous. On the other hand, a lot of people are making a lot of money off of these shows."^[15] Carell was allowed "flex time" during filming to work on theatrical films. Carell worked on Evan Almighty during a production hiatus during the second season of The Office.^[16] Production ended during the middle of the fourth season of The Office because of Carell's and others' refusal to cross the picket line of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike. Carell, a WGA member,^[17] has written two episodes of The Office: "Casino Night" and "Survivor Man". Both episodes were praised, and Carell won a Writers Guild of America Award for "Casino Night".^{[citation needed]}

On April 29, 2010, Carell stated he would be leaving the show when his contract expired at the conclusion of the 2010–2011 season.^[18]

His last episode, "Goodbye, Michael", aired April 28, 2011 with his final shot showing Carell walking to a Colorado-bound plane to join his fiancée, Holly Flax.

Film career[link]

Carell at the Academy Awards in 2007

Carell's first starring role was in the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which he developed and co-wrote. The film made $109 million in domestic box office^[19] and established Carell as a leading man. It also earned Carell an MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance and a WGA Award nomination, along with co-writer Judd Apatow, for Best Original Screenplay.

Carell acted as "Uncle Arthur", imitating the camp mannerisms of Paul Lynde's original character for the 2005 remake of Bewitched with Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell. He also voiced a starring role for the 2006 computer-animated film Over the Hedge as Hammy the Squirrel. He also voiced for the 2008 animated film Horton Hears a Who! as the mayor of Whoville, Ned McDodd. He starred in Little Miss Sunshine during 2006, as Uncle Frank. His work in the films Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, and Bewitched established Carell as a member of Hollywood's so-called "Frat Pack" group. (This set of actors includes Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Luke Wilson).

Carell acted as the title character of Evan Almighty, a sequel to Bruce Almighty, reprising his role as Evan Baxter, now a U.S. Congressman. Although, ostensibly, God tasks Baxter with building an ark, Baxter also learns that life can generate positive returns with people offering Acts of Random Kindness. During October 2006, Carell began acting for the film Dan in Real Life, co-starring Dane Cook and Juliette Binoche. Filming ended December 22, 2006, and the film was released on October 26, 2007.

Carell played Maxwell Smart for a movie remake of Get Smart, which began filming February 3, 2007 and was filmed in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Moscow, Russia. The movie was successful, grossing over $200 million worldwide.^[20] During 2007, Carell was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.^[21][22]

Carell filmed a movie during late 2008 opposite Tina Fey, titled Date Night. It was released on April 9, 2010 in the U.S. He voiced Gru who is the main character in the Universal CGI movie Despicable Me along with Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Miranda Cosgrove, and Julie Andrews, which was very successful (he will likely be reprising the role for the upcoming sequel). He has several other projects in the works, including a remake of the 1967 Peter Sellers film The Bobo. He is currently doing voiceover work in commercials for Wrigley's Extra gum.

Carell has launched a television division of his Carousel Prods., which has contracted a three-year overall deal with Universal Media Studios, the studio behind his NBC comedy series. Thom Hinkle and Campbell Smith of North South Prods., former producers on Carell's alma mater, Comedy Central's The Daily Show, have been hired to manage Carousel's TV operations.^[23]

Carell with wife Nancy at the 2010 Academy Awards in March 2010

Personal life[link]

Carell is married to Saturday Night Live alumna Nancy Carell, whom he met when she was a student in an improvisation class he was teaching at Second City.^[24] They have two children, Elisabeth Anne "Annie" (born May 26, 2001) and John "Johnny" (born June 2004). In addition to working with him as a fellow correspondent on The Daily Show, Nancy also acted with him on The Office as his realtor and short-lived girlfriend Carol Stills, and also cameoed as a sex therapist in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Filmography[link]

Film[link]

Television[link]

Other awards[link]

Carell won the Spike TV 2008 "Guys Choice", Funniest M.F. Award.^[37]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Carell

• Steve Carell at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Carell on Charlie Rose
• Works by or about Steve Carell in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Dateline NBC's interview with Carell
• Carell's antique country store in Marshfield, Massachusetts
• USA Today article on real-life CEO lessons
• Steve Carell at Emmys.com

Jane Curtin
at the 41st Emmy Awards, September 1989
Born	Jane Therese Curtin (1947-09-06) September 6, 1947 (age 64) Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Occupation	Actress/Comedienne
Years active	1968–present
Spouse	Patrick Lynch (1975–present; 1 child)

Jane Therese Curtin (born September 6, 1947) is an American actress and comedienne. She is sometimes referred to as "Queen of the Deadpan".

First coming to prominence as an original cast member on the hit TV comedy series Saturday Night Live in 1975, she went on to win back-to-back Emmy Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series on the 1980s sitcom Kate & Allie portraying the role of Allison "Allie" Lowell. Curtin later starred in the hit series 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001), playing the role of Dr. Mary Albright.

Curtin has also appeared in many movie roles, including Charlene in the The Librarian series of movies (2004–2008). She also reprised one of her Saturday Night Live characters, Prymaat (Clorhone) Conehead, in the 1993 film The Coneheads.

Early life[link]

Curtin was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the daughter of Mary Constance (née Farrell) and John Joseph Curtin, who owned an insurance agency.^[1] She was raised Roman Catholic.^[2] Curtin is a cousin of actress and writer Valerie Curtin.

Career[link]

Curtin holds an associate degree from Elizabeth Seton Junior College in New York City. Curtin lives in Connecticut with her husband, Patrick Francis Lynch, the television producer. The couple have one daughter, Tess Curtin Lynch. She has served as a U.S. Committee National Ambassador for UNICEF. In 1968, Curtin decided to pursue comedy as a career and dropped out of college. She joined a comedy group, "The Proposition", and performed with them until 1972. She starred in Pretzels, an off-Broadway play written by Curtin and Fred Grandy, in 1974.

One of the original "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" for NBC's Saturday Night Live (1975), Curtin remained on the show through the 1979–1980 season. As she was a practicing Catholic at the time and married, she rarely participated in SNL's notorious backstage party scene.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

Curtin is famous as one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live (SNL). On this show, and mirroring her own low-key real life, she frequently played straight-woman characters, often as a foil to John Belushi and Gilda Radner.

Curtin anchored SNL's "Weekend Update" segment in 1976–77, and was paired with Dan Aykroyd in 1977–78 and Bill Murray in 1978–80.

As a TV anchorwoman, Curtin played as a foil to John Belushi, who often gave a rambling and out-of-control "commentary" on events of the day. During these sketches, she timidly tried to get Belushi to come to the point, which would only make him angrier. In the most well-known sketch, Belushi gave a rambling account of his Irish friend's troubles to demonstrate there was no such thing as "the luck of the Irish".

Curtin's newscaster also introduced baseball expert Chico Escuela (Garrett Morris), a heavily-accented Dominican, who started his sketches by saying, "Thank you, Hane", before repeating his famous catchphrase, "Baseball been bery, bery good to me!"

In a parody of the "Point-Counterpoint" segment of the news program 60 Minutes, Curtin portrayed a controlled liberal viewpoint (referencing Shana Alexander) vs. Dan Aykroyd, who (referencing James J. Kilpatrick) prototyped the right-wing view, albeit with an over-the-top "attack" journalist slant. Curtin presented the liberal "Point" portion first. Then Aykroyd presented the "Counterpoint" portion, sometimes beginning with the statement, "Jane, you ignorant slut," to which she replied, "Dan, you pompous ass."

Curtin is also well known for her role in the Conehead sketches as "Prymaat Conehead" (mother of the Conehead family), and as "Enid Loopner" (in sketches with Gilda Radner and Bill Murray).

Later television work[link]

Unlike many of her fellow SNL cast members who ventured successfully into film, Curtin chose to stay in television. Her film appearances have been sporadic. To date, she has starred in two long-running television sitcoms. First, in Kate & Allie (1984–89), with Susan Saint James, she played a single mother named "Allie Lowell" and twice won the Emmy Award for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

In 1994, Curtin narrated the documentary television series Understanding.

She later joined the cast of 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001) playing a human, Dr. Mary Albright, opposite the alien family, composed of John Lithgow, Kristen Johnston, French Stewart, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. As with SNL, her mostly strait-laced character was often confounded by the zany and whimsical antics of the Solomon family.

Curtin also starred with Fred Savage in the ABC sitcom Crumbs, which debuted in January 2006 and was canceled in May of that year. She also guest-starred on Gary Unmarried as Connie, Allison's mother.^[3] In 2012, she joined Unforgettable as Dr. Joanne Webster, a gifted but crusty medical examiner.

Film[link]

In 1993, Curtin and Dan Aykroyd were reunited in Coneheads, a full-length motion picture based on their popular SNL characters. They also appeared together as the voices of a pair of wasps in the film Antz. In 2009, she played Paul Rudd and Andy Samberg's mother in I Love You, Man.

Other work[link]

Curtin has also performed on Broadway on occasion. She first appeared on the Great White Way as Miss Prosperine Garrett in the play Candida in 1981. She later went on to be a replacement actress in two other plays: Love Letters and Noises Off, and was in the 2002 revival of Our Town, which received huge press attention as Paul Newman returned to the Broadway stage after several decades away.

She also has narrated several audio books, including Carl Hiaasen's novel Nature Girl.

On May 7, 2010, Curtin placed second in the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Celebrity Invitational, winning $250,000 for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Michael McKean won the tournament, while Cheech Marin came in third.

Filmography[link]

References[link]