Craigslist is a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums.

Craig Newmark began the service in 1995 as an email distribution list of friends, featuring local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, before becoming a web-based service in 1996 and expanding into other classified categories. It started expanding to other U.S. cities in 2000, and currently covers 50 countries.

Having observed people helping one another in friendly, social, and trusting communal ways on the Internet via the WELL, MindVox and Usenet, and feeling isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local events. In early 1995, he began an email distribution list to friends. Most of the early postings were submitted by Newmark and were notices of social events of interest to software and Internet developers living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic (pronunciation: /ˈjæŋkəvɪk/; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts. Since his first-aired comedy song in 1976, he has sold more than 12 million albums (as of 2007), recorded more than 150 parody and original songs, and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. His works have earned him three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic's first top ten Billboard album (Straight Outta Lynwood) and single ("White & Nerdy") were both released in 2006, nearly three decades into his career.

Yankovic's success comes in part from his effective use of music video to further parody popular culture, the song's original artist, and the original music videos themselves, scene-for-scene in some cases. He directed later videos himself and went on to direct for other artists including Ben Folds, Hanson, Black Crowes, and The Presidents of the United States of America. In addition to recording his albums, Yankovic wrote and starred in the film, UHF, and television show, The Weird Al Show. He has also made guest appearances on many television shows, in addition to starring in Al TV specials on MTV.

James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel (born November 13, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, voice artist and television host. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money. Kimmel is also a television producer, having produced shows such as Crank Yankers, Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, and The Andy Milonakis Show.

Kimmel was born in the Mill Basin neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the eldest of three children of Joann (née Iacono), a homemaker, and James Kimmel, an IBM executive. He is Roman Catholic and, as a child, served as an altar boy. Kimmel is of German and Irish descent on his father’s side and Italian descent on his mother’s side. His uncle, Frank Potenza, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a regular from 2003 until his death in 2011.

The family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, when he was nine years old. He graduated from Ed W. Clark High School and then attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas for one year before attending Arizona State University for two years without completing a degree.

Alison Brie (born December 29, 1982) is an American actress best known for portraying Annie Edison on Community, Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, and Rebecca Walters in Scream 4.

Brie was born Alison Brie Schermerhorn in Hollywood, California. Her mother, Joanne (Brenner), works at the non-profit child care agency Para Los Niños, and her father, Charles Terry Schermerhorn, is a musician and freelance entertainment reporter. Brie began her career acting onstage at the Jewish Community Center in Southern California (her mother is Jewish). She graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a bachelor's in theater in 2005. Prior to becoming a television actress, Brie had worked as a clown at birthday parties, and performed in theater in California.

For a time, Brie studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

One of Brie's first television roles was the minor character Nina, a novice hairdresser, on Hannah Montana. She then went on to star in the web series My Alibi, and was chosen for the role of Trudy Campbell in Mad Men. She is also a main cast member on Community as Annie Edison.

Philip Haynes Markoff (February 12, 1986 – August 15, 2010) was an American medical student who was charged with the armed robbery and murder of Julissa Brisman in a Boston, Massachusetts hotel on April 14, 2009, and two other armed robberies. Markoff maintained his innocence of all charges and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. A grand jury indicted Markoff for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and other charges.

On August 15, 2010, Markoff committed suicide in Boston's Nashua Street Jail, where he was being held in custody awaiting trial.

The media have referred to the Brisman murder as a "Craigslist Killing" because the killer was alleged to have met his victims through ads they placed on Craigslist offering erotic services. The events surrounding the killings were dramatized in a made-for TV movie on the Lifetime Network, titled The Craigslist Killer, which aired January 3, 2011.

Markoff was the son of Susan Haynes and Richard Markoff, a dentist in Syracuse, New York. He had an older brother, Jon Markoff. Markoff was raised by his mother and step-father, Gary Carroll, in the Catholic faith.