Andrew "Andy" Blitz (born June 28, 1971) is an American comedian and writer best known for his sketch comedy and writing work on the late-night talk show Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where he earned 7 Emmy nominations. Blitz was born in New York City, grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey and graduated from Columbia University in 1994. He began his work on Late Night in 1999. His best known sketches on the show include Andy traveling to India to NBC's computer help center to get his computer fixed, Conan and Andy hunting for an apartment in New York and Andy's inept, chanting sports fan. Since leaving Late Night, Blitz has written and appeared in the sketch shows Human Giant and Important Things with Demetri Martin. He is currently a contributing writer and consultant producer on the Adult Swim series Eagleheart starring Chris Elliott and produced by Conan O'Brien. Blitz continues to perform stand-up comedy in New York and Los Angeles.

Blitz is the brother of filmmaker Jeffrey Blitz, who is best known for directing the 2002 documentary Spellbound and the 2007 film Rocket Science.

[edit] Late Night with Conan O'Brien characters

• Awful Ballgame Chanter, whose long-winded rambling chants are used as examples of how not to chant
• Chuck Aloo, star of the "24" parody "60", each episode of which represents one second in a minute
• Leonard Diesel, Vin Diesel's Brother
• One of the Slipnutz (also known as They Might Be Slipnutz), a comedy group of three men (Blitz, Jon Glaser, Brian Stack) who were inconveniently booked on the same show with Slipknot, (and later with They Might Be Giants). Their routine involves them slipping and sliding on nuts scattered on the floor. The Slipnutz also appeared on the program to promote their greatest-hits album, which included the songs "Old West Cowboys Slipping on Nuts" and "Viking Raiders Slipping on Nuts".
• An elections supervisor during the 2000 Florida election recount, who constantly yelled at election volunteers and told them "If you don't know who the person voted for, you put the ballot in the milk!"
• A participant on "Masturdate," a parody of dating shows.

See also[link]

• Sketches from Late Night with Conan O'Brien

External links[link]

• Andy Blitz at the Internet Movie Database

Rob Riggle
Riggle in August 2008
Born	Robert Allen Riggle, Jr.[1] (1970-04-21) April 21, 1970 (age 42) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, U.S. Marine
Years active	1998–present

Robert Allen "Rob" Riggle, Jr. (born April 21, 1970) is an American actor, comedian and United States Marine Corps Reserve officer. He is best known for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show from 2006–2008, as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 2004–2005, and for his comedic roles in films such as The Hangover, The Other Guys, The Lorax, 21 Jump Street, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and Step Brothers.

Early life[link]

Rob Riggle
Birth name	Robert Allen Riggle, Jr
Nickname	Rob
Born	(1970-04-21)April 21, 1970 Louisville, Kentucky
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps Reserve
Rank	Lieutenant colonel
Battles/wars	Kosovo War War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
Awards	Combat Action Ribbon
Other work	Actor, comedian

Riggle was born in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Overland Park, Kansas,^[2][3] where he attended Shawnee Mission South High School. He later graduated from the University of Kansas, in 1992, with a B.A. in Theater and Film, and is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.^[3] He went on to earn a Master of Public Administration degree from Webster University in 1997.

Military career[link]

Riggle is currently a Lieutenant Colonel^[4] in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and served in Liberia, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. He is currently a public affairs officer with the New York City Public Affairs unit and is a recipient of the Combat Action Ribbon.^[5] Riggle joined the Marines in 1990 after getting his pilot's license, intending to become a Naval Aviator, but left flight school in order to pursue his comedy career.^[6] He has referred to his military experiences on The Daily Show, often when acting as the show's "Military Analyst", publicly stating he could kill any other member of the show.^[7]

In August 2007, Riggle went to Iraq to report for The Daily Show as well as to entertain the troops under the purview of the USO.^[8]

Comedy career[link]

Comedy partnership with Rob Huebel[link]

He has a long-standing comedic partnership with comedian Rob Huebel with whom he frequently works with at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCBT) and in their former improvisational sketch comedy troupe Respecto Montalban. Perhaps the duo's best known creation was their long running two-man show Kung Fu Grip which they often performed at UCBT and other comedy venues for many years. The show was one of the featured acts in the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival. Around this time they began appearing together in several of Comedy Central and VH1's talking head commentary programs such as Best Week Ever and A2Z. They also appeared in Bravo network's 100 Scariest Movie Moments special in 2004. These appearances got the duo their first mainstream exposure to television viewers. The two were instant fan favorites among regular viewers of the VH1 commentary programs. Riggle, Huebel and most of their fellow castmates from Respecto Montalban also performed regularly in comedic sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The duo's growing popularity landed them an audition on Saturday Night Live in the summer of 2004. They auditioned together, though only Riggle ended up making the cut. After spending one season on SNL from 2004–2005, Riggle soon joined Huebel and many of his other Respecto Montalban castmates in Los Angeles to work on new projects. Soon after, the two landed a holding deal at NBC in early 2006 to develop a new half-hour comedy program for the network, though nothing has come of it since then.

In September 2006, Riggle joined The Daily Show as a regular correspondent. Around the same time Huebel (along with Respecto Montalban member Paul Scheer and stand-up comic Aziz Ansari) started developing Human Giant, a sketch show for MTV. Riggle would often appear in the program's various sketches, as well as in the show's 24-hour live marathon which aired on MTV in May 2007. One of Riggle's most memorable guest appearances was as hired muscle, Ham-Bone, who appeared alongside Aziz Ansari in the season one sketch "Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru". Riggle and Huebel can also be seen performing a sketch together on stage at the UCBT in Doug Benson's documentary Super High Me.

[edit] Saturday Night Live

A featured player during the 2004-2005 season, his first appearance as a cast member was on the show's thirtieth season premiere on October 2, 2004. He has portrayed Larry the Cable Guy, Howard Dean, Rick Sanchez, Mark McGwire, and Toby Keith, and had a one-shot character named Leviticus, a loud, violent street preacher who only appeared on a Weekend Update segment on the Christmas episode hosted by Robert DeNiro (another sketch featuring Leviticus was scheduled to air on the episode hosted by Hilary Swank, but that sketch was cut after dress rehearsal).

Prior to being hired as a cast member, Riggle also appeared in a non-speaking role in the previous season (season 29) in a pre-taped parody of Fear Factor. Riggle played the father of one of the child contestants during the "Breakfast in Bed" challenge in which a child must eat the maggots off a plate of Eggs Benedict or his parents will divorce.

[edit] The Daily Show

In September 2006, he joined the cast of The Daily Show to replace the departing Rob Corddry. Riggle made his debut on The Daily Show on September 20, 2006.

During the 2008 Olympics, Riggle traveled to China to tape sketches for The Daily Show, producing a four-part special feature titled "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon."^[9]

Riggle left The Daily Show on December 10, 2008, in his words "to go fight crime"; however, he appeared at Bonnaroo 2009 - along with John Oliver and Rory Albanese, one of the show's executive producers - in a show entitled An Evening (or Afternoon) with the Daily Show featuring John Oliver, Rob Riggle & Rory Albanese.

On August 3, 2010, Riggle made a surprise cameo on The Daily Show during an interview with Will Ferrell.^[10] While Ferrell and Stewart began discussing Riggle's "lack of talent" and making other disparaging remarks about him, Riggle suddenly walked onto the set to surprise them and asks if they were talking about him. Riggle's intimidating presence appears to make Ferrell and Stewart visibly afraid, continuing the running-joke that Stewart is very afraid of Riggle.

"The Navy SEAL Who Killed Osama Bin Laden"[link]

In May 2011, Riggle appeared in a 2-minute short on funnyordie.com as the U.S. Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden. Riggle plays a humble US Navy Lieutenant (though the insignia on his uniform displays three solid gold bands, indicating the O-5 rank of Commander) who, upon being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, pledges absolute discretion—only to get intoxicated at a local bar and boast unreservedly to a large crowd that he was bin Laden's assailant.

Stand-up comedy[link]

Previously, Riggle's live comedy work was mostly improvisational and sketch based, but beginning in 2006 he wanted to try something different and decided to work on creating a stand-up comedy act. After working on his act around various comedy clubs throughout New York City, he later began touring colleges and other local comedy clubs, often performing in stand-up shows with John Oliver and other writers from The Daily Show. Riggle credits John Oliver for first encouraging him to try stand-up while they shared an office together at The Daily Show.^[11]

Riggle hosted an episode of Comedy Central's stand-up series Live at Gotham on December 4, 2009. He also taped a Comedy Central Presents special that aired on March 5, 2010.

Other work[link]

Riggle played the character of Eddie Reynolds in Blackballed, a 2004 film starring Rob Corddry as the lead character, and featuring almost all of the Respecto Montalban group. Later that year Riggle was one of the "Flab Four" on the Comedy Central mini-series Straight Plan for the Gay Man, a parody of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that ran for three episodes.

In 2006, Riggle guest-starred as a boat captain named Captain Jack on the "Booze Cruise" episode of The Office, and as an anti-euthanasia activist on Arrested Development. He was also seen as a NASCAR announcer in Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell.

In late 2007, Riggle began appearing as a spokesman in a series of Budweiser commercials. The year 2008 saw Riggle sign a talent holding contract with CBS and CBS Paramount Network TV, which includes a development deal to create and star in a half-hour comedy series.^[12] In addition he gained a supporting role in Step Brothers, in which he plays a rude co-worker of Brennan (Will Ferrell). He had memorable supporting roles in the 2009 films The Hangover and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. Riggle also had supporting roles in the 2010 comedies Going the Distance, Killers, and The Other Guys.

In 2009, Riggle started a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried. Riggle played the role of Mitch, Jay Mohr's brother from the Marines.

In 2010, Riggle and comedian Paul Scheer wrote and starred together in a series of sketches called "Designated Driver" for the first season of the HBO sketch comedy program Funny or Die Presents. Riggle, Scheer and Rob Huebel wrote and starred in a new series of sketches called "Death Hunt", which appeared on the show's second season in 2011.

For the 2010-2011 NFL football season, Riggle recorded a Monday Night Football introduction and several short comedy bits for the Kansas City Chiefs to be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Riggle played the lead in 2011 CBS sitcom pilot "Home Game", executive produced by Mark Wahlberg.

Riggle is seen in stadium monitors at Qwest Field during Seahawks games encouraging fans to cheer.

Riggle currently appears with a recurring role as "The President of the Navy" in the Adult Swim comedy-action series NTSF:SD:SUV::.

In April 2012, Riggle was announced as the upcoming host of the 2012 ESPY Awards on ESPN. The show will air in July 2012.

Filmography[link]

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• Rob Riggle Official website
• Rob Riggle at Comedy Central's Daily Show
• Rob Riggle at the Internet Movie Database
• 2012 Rob Riggle interview with Jon Niccum

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.

Early life[link]

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.

Comedy career[link]

[edit] Late Night with Conan O’Brien

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.

Among the characters he's portrayed on the show:

• Kilty McBagpipes, an extremely stereotypical Scottish man who dresses in a kilt and dances to bagpipe music.
• Frankenstein, a smiling, affable version of Frankenstein's Monster, used in a number of miscellaneous sketches over the years, most notably a recurring sketch called "Frankenstein Wastes A Minute of our Time", in which the monster takes a winding journey through Studio 6A, sometimes travelling backstage, through the audience, and out into the halls, egging on the camera to follow behind him, until he reaches his destination and presents something totally mundane, such as a light switch, or a mop and bucket. This occurs even when there are more interesting things nearby, as in one installment in which he ended up in bandleader Max Weinberg's dressing room, where a dominatrix brandishing a cat o' nine tails was present, and Frankenstein simply picked up a hairbrush and grunted to the camera approvingly.^[1] Another scenario involved Frankenstein's Monster wandering through many different halls backstage. He came across Tom Hanks leaning up against a wall, yanked him aside, and revealed a light switch.
• Hannigan, a hat-wearing traveling salesman in outdated clothing who bursts into the studio, addresses Conan as “little girl,” and runs through a scripted sales pitch in an attempt to sell Conan unfunny jokes and other useless paraphernalia.
• Artie Kendall, the ghost of an old-fashioned lounge singer who worked in the studio decades ago when it was a radio studio, and whose song lyrics reflect antiquated bigoted and sexist views that offend Conan. Kendall typically sings three brief songs during his appearances, the first of which usually reflects an antiquated social view, the second of which reflects a misogynistic view, and the last of which contains lyrics denigrating to the Irish people, which Kendall sings in reaction to the "hot Irish temper" he observes in Conan when Conan is outraged by the first two songs. Kendall was killed by the League of Women Voters, who, offended at Kendall's misogyny, had him dig his own grave before beating him to death with the shovel.^[2]
• The Interrupter, a melodramatic villain clad in a black cape, a purple ruffled shirt, and wearing long black hair and a handlebar mustache, the Interrupter constantly interrupts Conan by finishing his sentences for him, always knowing exactly what Conan is going to say, even when it's denigrating to the Interrupter himself. Occasionally, if the sketch runs long enough, the roles will eventually become reversed, with the Interrupter starting sentences and Conan doing the interrupting. On rare occasions the first celebrity guest will replace O'Brien as the one interrupting.
• Fan-Tastic Guy, an enthusiastic audience member who shows his appreciation of the upcoming guests that Conan announces by inventing various words with the suffix “tastic” to describe them, only to become silent and uninterested when Conan mentions his own comedy material on the show.
• Limbus the Late Night Psychic, an over-the-top and cartoony psychic that Conan would call on for advice and insight on the future every now and then.
• A member of the Slipnutz (also known as They Might be Slipnutz), a comedy group of three men (Stack, Andy Blitz, Jon Glaser) that was inconveniently booked on the same show with Slipknot, (and later with They Might Be Giants). Their routine involves the three of them slipping and sliding on nuts scattered on the floor. The Slipnutz also appeared on the program to promote their greatest hits album, which included songs like "Old West Cowboys Slipping on Nuts" and "Viking Raiders Slipping on Nuts".
• Cheesy Local Commercial Athletes, two amateur athletes (played by Stack and Late Night sketch regular Phil McGlaston (the latter having assumed the role from Nashawn Kearse) who are best known for appearing in cheesy local advertisements. They will often stop by and tell Conan about the upcoming guests in that same local advertising fashion. Expect lots of cheesy lines, stiff acting, poor line delivery and awkward pauses whenever these guys are around.
• Clive Clemmons, British heavy metal guitar legend with his own channel filled with his favorite inappropriate responses from everyday life.
• Ira (of Jeremy & Ira), performed with Late Night writer Jon Glaser (as Jeremy), as two bizarre men from another dimension dressed in black hoods, who would visit Conan & Andy from time-to-time, always appearing in the corner of the TV screen. They never speak, and only communicate through nodding and other gestures.
• The Wave (of Dave and The Wave), performed with Late Night writer José Arroyo (as Dave), as smooth jazz loving radio DJs who often annoy Conan with their soothing voices and creepy love of Jazz music.
• Father Kelly, Fathers Kelly and DeCarlo (Late Night writer José Arroyo) would often visit Conan wondering why he hasn't been coming to Church lately. They usually resort to becoming very angry and abusive toward Conan until Jesus Christ (Late Night writer Kevin Dorff) steps in and saves the day.
• Bullet Proof Legs Assassin, a man dressed in all black who always shoots the "Bullet Proof Legs Guys" at the end of every sketch.
• Steve St. Helens, a stagehand on the show whose temper rises until he erupts. This was shown a few times when Mt. St. Helens began showing activity again in early 2005.

Stack also provided the voices of numerous celebrities parodied in the Syncro-Vox faux interviews conducted by O’Brien, including Dick Cheney, Mike Tyson, and Martha Stewart.

Among the other characters Stack has created on the show are Stacy Richter, Andy Richter's Conan-obsessed little sister, who was portrayed by Stacks’ fellow Upright Citizens Brigade alumna, Amy Poehler. Stack also created the recurring segment "Pierre Bernard’s Recliner of Rage".

[edit] Conan recurring characters

Stack continued his work on O'Brien's TBS series, Conan. Among his recurring characters:

• James Sinclair St. Wallins, Audiencey Awards Fashion Correspondent
• Brian LaFontaine, Singer on "Basic Cable Name That Tune"
• Voice of Minty the Candycane Singer, sings the theme song for "Minty the Candycane Who Briefly Fell On The Ground" (played by Brian McCann) every Christmas.

Other work[link]

• Played "Special Agent in Charge" in the 1997 movie Spaceman.^[3]
• Played "Whiskers" in Robert Smigel’s TV series, TV Funhouse in the episode "Western Day" (episode # 1.1; December 6, 2000).
• Played Howard Jorgensen on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock in the episodes "Jack Meets Dennis", "Succession" and "Larry King".
• Stack provided voices for numerous characters in the video games Deer Avenger (1998) and Deer Avenger 2: Deer in the City (1999), which were written by Stack’s fellow Late Night writer/actor Brian McCann, and which co-starred McCann, Tina Fey, Jon Glaser, and Amy Poehler.^[4][5]
• Stack is a frequent performer in the ASSSSCAT improvisational comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York and Los Angeles.
• Played Mark, an employee of the Buffalo branch who becomes angry when learning the branch is being shut down, in the Office episode "Company Picnic"
• Stack co-starred as "The World's Tallest Nebraskan" in the Comedy Central animated series Freak Show in 2006.

Awards[link]

• As a member of Late Night’s writing staff, Stack won five Writers Guild Awards for Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series for 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. He was also nominated in 1999, 2001, and 2004.
• Stack was also nominated for an Emmy Award every year since 1998 for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program as a member of the writing team, winning in 2007.^[6]

Personal life[link]

Stack is married to Miriam Tolan, a comedian/performer who often works with various improv groups, such as the Upright Citizens Brigade and The Goofaround Gang, and was a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2000-2001. In addition to frequently performing together in various sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Brian and Miriam have performed together in many improv shows as well, such as Second City and Jazz Freddy in Chicago, and continue to perform frequently in the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater's long-running hit improv show ASSSSCAT 3000 in New York City and Los Angeles. They have two daughters, Nora and Colette.

See also[link]

• Sketches from Late Night with Conan O'Brien

References[link]

External links[link]

• Brian Stack at the Internet Movie Database
• Interviewed by Josh Fulton
• Interview on The Sound of Young America podcast (April 2007)