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.
Matthew Gregory "Matt" Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian known as one of the founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998-2000.
Besser was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas to parents Diane and Sandy Besser. His father was Jewish and his mother was Christian, and Besser is an atheist. He is also half German and French on his mothers side. Besser's grandfather's cousin was Joe Besser of The Three Stooges.
Besser is a founding member of Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), which started out as a Chicago sketch and improv comedy group in 1991, earning a cult following from the start. Original members included Ian Roberts, Ali Farahnakian, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, and Horatio Sanz. In 1996, the UCB relocated to New York City. In NYC, they made three seasons of their sketch-comedy series Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. The cast consisted of Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. It originally included a voice-over by Del Close. Nearly 10 years since its cancellation, the show continues to maintain a large following and is often hailed as one of the great cult sketch shows. Comedy Central has released the first two seasons on DVD, it is not known when the third and final season will be released.
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.
Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an Italian-born American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, television producer, television personality, and voice artist. He is best known for hosting The Soup and for his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC comedy series Community.
McHale's role as a voice actor includes Elliot in Open Season 2, filling in for Ashton Kutcher. He also appeared in Spider-Man 2 in a cameo appearance as bank manager Mr. Jacks, CSI: Miami as Greg Welsh, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World as Wilbur Wilson.
McHale, the middle of three brothers, was born in Rome, Italy on November 20, 1971. His mother, Laurie, is from Vancouver, British Columbia, and his father, Jack, is from Chicago. McHale and his brothers were born in Rome, where their father worked for an American university. He grew up in the Seattle area, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1991. He also participated at Youth Theatre Northwest.
He received a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Washington in 1995. While at the University of Washington, McHale briefly belonged to the Theta Chi Fraternity. He was recruited to be on the rowing team, but later walked onto the football team, playing tight end for two years. McHale received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington.
Marc Maron ( /ˈmærən/ MAR-ən; born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian and radio and podcast host.
He has been host of The Marc Maron Show, and co-host of both Morning Sedition, and Breakroom Live, all politically oriented shows, produced by Air America Media. He was also the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater for a year, replacing Jon Stewart. Maron has been a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and made over 44 appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, more than any other stand-up performer. He was also a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and hosted the short-lived American version of the British game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1.
In September 2009, Maron began hosting a twice-weekly podcast titled WTF with Marc Maron, in which he interviews comedians and celebrities.
Maron was born into a Jewish family in Jersey City, New Jersey, but lived in Wayne, New Jersey and Pompton Lakes, New Jersey until he was six. Maron's father then joined the US Air Force for two years, and Maron and his family lived in Alaska. When his father left the Air Force, he moved his family to Albuquerque, New Mexico and started a medical practice.