Mary Birdsong (born April 18, 1968) is an American actress, comedian, writer, and singer.

Birdsong was born on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, one of five sisters. She played the role of "Kai Mitchell" opposite George Clooney in the Alexander Payne film "The Descendants." She may be best known for her role as Deputy Cherisha Kimball on the Comedy Central series Reno 911!. She is also known for her Judy Garland impression. She is a former correspondent on The Daily Show and Crossballs. As a voice actor, she has appeared in animated series such as Stroker and Hoop and Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, as well as the best-selling video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She is the reader of the audiobook version of the 2007 Bridie Clark book, Because She Can. She sings in the rock bands Cottonhead and 99 Cent Whore.

From July 2006 – January 2007, Birdsong performed in the Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me comedy musical, alongside Martin Short, Marc Shaiman, Nicole Parker, Brooks Ashmanskas, and Capathia Jenkins. In 2007, she won a Theater World Award for her performance. On January 29, 2008, Birdsong joined the Broadway cast of the musical, Hairspray. She played the role of Velma Von Tussle, the bigoted, pushy stage mother and television producer. Birdsong left the production on April 6, 2008. She then performed her one-woman show 3 Days in the Tub: A Mama Drama in Los Angeles at Comedy Central Stage (September 2010) & the Fake Gallery (November 2010), and in New York City at Joe's Pub (January 2011) .^{[citation needed]} before going to San Francisco to play Mona Ramsey in ACT's adaptation of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City.

Katherine Patricia "Kate" Flannery (born June 10, 1964) is an American actress best known for playing the role of Meredith Palmer on the NBC hit series The Office.

Flannery was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She attended Saint John Neumann School and Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She is one of seven children in an Irish-American family.

Flannery is one of only two cast members from The Office who is actually from Pennsylvania, where the show is set. The other is Zach Woods, who plays the character Gabe.

A former member of The Second City's National Touring Company, Flannery is an original member of Chicago's Annoyance Theater, where she created over 15 shows including "The Miss Vagina Pageant" and "The Real Live Brady Bunch".

The Lampshades, her comedy lounge act with veteran improviser Scot Robinson, has been running in Hollywood at the iO WEST stage for over four years and was seen at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. The Lampshades was New York magazine's "LA Pick" for 2006 and was declared "Best Saturday Comedy Show of the Year" by LA Weekly.^{[citation needed]}

Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and vaudevillian. Renowned for her contralto voice, she attained international stardom through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the remake of A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgment at Nuremberg. At 39 years of age, she remains the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her two older sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, she was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

Lori Alan (born July 18, 1966), sometimes credited as Lori Allen, is an American voice actress who provides the voice of news anchor Diane Simmons on Family Guy, various voices on Hey Arnold!, and SpongeBob SquarePants as Pearl.

She has also contributed voice work as "The Boss" in the videogame Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Alan acted in one episode of Friends titled The One Where Monica Sings in Season 9. In addition to voice acting, she is also a stand up comedian.