Frederick Delano "Fred" Newman (June 17, 1935 – July 3, 2011) was an American philosopher, psychotherapist, playwright and political activist, and creator of a therapeutic modality called Social Therapy.

Early life

Born in 1935 in New York City's Bronx County, Newman grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He served in the Army, including a stint in Korea. Later he attended the City College of New York under the G.I. Bill. He earned a Ph.D. in analytic philosophy and foundations of mathematics from Stanford University in 1962. Following his graduate work at Stanford, Newman taught at several colleges and universities in the 1960s, including the City College of New York, Knox College, Case Western Reserve University, and Antioch College.

Marxism, influences, and views

Newman considered himself a Marxist, a philosophy which he incorporated into his therapeutic approach in an attempt to address the alienating effects of societal institutions on human development. In his earliest statement of his attempt to develop a Marxist approach to emotional problems, Newman wrote in 1974:

Proletarian or revolutionary psychotherapy is a journey which begins with the rejection of our inadequacy and ends in the acceptance of our smallness; it is the overthrow of the rulers of the mind.

In more recent years, Newman (along with his primary collaborator, Lois Holzman) incorporated other influences, including the 20th century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, Aleksey Leontyev's and Sergei Rubinshtein's activity theory, and the work of early Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky.

Newman and Holzman challenged what they describe as the "hoax/myth of psychology", the various components of which are "destructive pieces of pseudoscience."

Politics

Political roots

Newman founded the collective Centers for Change (CFC) in the late 1960s after the student strikes at Columbia University. CFC was dedicated to 60s-style, radical community organizing and the practice of Newman's evolving form of psychotherapy which he would term (circa 1974) "proletarian therapy", later "Social Therapy". CFC briefly merged with Lyndon LaRouche's National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) in 1974. Within a few months, however, the alliance fell apart, an event which Newman attributed to LaRouche's increasingly "paranoid", "authoritarian" direction and the NCLC's "capacity to produce psychosis and to opportunistically manipulate it in the name of socialist politics."

In August 1974, the CFC went on to found the International Workers Party (IWP), an explicitly Marxist-Leninist revolutionary party. In the wake of another factional fight in 1976, the IWP publicly disbanded. In 2005, Newman told ''The New York Times'' that the IWP had transformed into a "core collective" that continues to function. This claim appears to be consistent with critics who had alleged several years earlier that the organization had never actually disbanded and remained secretly active.

Throughout the late 1970s, Newman and his core of organizers founded, or assumed control of, a number of small grassroots organizations, including a local branch of the People's Party known as the New York Working People's Party; the New York City Unemployed and Welfare Council; and the Labor Community Alliance for Change.

Electoral politics

In 1979, Newman became one of the founders of the New Alliance Party (NAP), most notable for getting African American psychologist and activist Lenora Fulani on the ballot in all 50 states during her 1988 presidential campaign (making her the first African American and first woman to do so). Newman served primarily as the party's tactician and campaign manager. In 1985, Newman ran for Mayor of New York. He also ran for United States Senator in 1985 and for New York State Attorney General in 1990.

Independence Party of New York

After the New Alliance Party was dissolved in 1994, a number of its members and supporters, including Newman and Fulani, joined the Independence Party of New York (IPNY). It was founded by activists in Rochester, New York in 1991, but became more important in other parts of the state after the rise of Ross Perot's Reform Party. In 2005, the Executive Committee voted Fulani off and, some months later, attempted to disenroll Fulani, Newman and more than 140 other IPNY members from New York City. (See "Controversy", below)

Playwriting, theater and social therapy

Newman was co-founder (1983), Artistic Director (1989–2005), and Playwright-in-Residence of the Castillo Theatre in New York. The theater – named for the Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo – has served as the primary venue for the production of the 30 plays Newman has written since the 1980s, four of which were written for and performed at annual conventions of the American Psychological Association beginning in 1996. Newman has described the Castillo Theatre as a "sister" organization to his social therapy clinics and institutes where he also employs Vygotsky's methodological approach. Writing in 2000 in ''New Therapist,'' Newman and Holzman discussed the Vygotskian thread that linked these sister organizations:

The entire enterprise - human life and its study - is a search for method. Performance social therapeutics, the name we use to describe our Marxian-based, dialectical practice, originated in our group therapy but is also the basis for a continuously emergent development community. We coined the term tool-and-result methodology for Vygotsky's (and our) practice of method in order to distinguish it from the instrumental tool for result methodology that characterizes the natural and social sciences (Newman and Holzman, 1993). Our community building and the projects that comprise it - the East Side Institute for Short Term Psychotherapy, the East Side Center for Social Therapy and affiliated centers in other cities, the Castillo Theatre, the All Stars Talent Show Network, the Development School for Youth, etc. - are practices of this methodology."

Some of Newman's plays have been cited as examples of alleged anti-Semitism by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which Newman has described as ''"politically motivated"''. In his play ''No Room for Zion'' (1989), Newman recounts the transition in his own Bronx Jewish community from primarily working class to increasingly middle-class and upwardly mobile, rapidly losing its identity as an immigrant community tied to traditional ideals (represented by the Rabbi Zion of the play's title). In the play, Newman goes on to present his view of the post-war shifts in Jewish political alignments, both domestically and internationally:

"From the West Bank to the West Side of Manhattan, international Jewry was being forced to face its written-in-blood deal with the capitalist devil. In exchange for an unstable assimilation, Jews under the leadership of Zionism would "do-unto-others-what-others-had-done-unto-them." The others to be done unto? People of color. The doing? Ghettoization and genocide. The Jew, the dirty Jew, once the ultimate victim of capitalism's soul, fascism, would become a victimizer on behalf of capitalism, a self-righteous dehumanizer and murderer of people of color, a racist bigot whom in the language of Zionism changed the meaning of "Never Again" from "Never Again for anyone" to "Never again for us – and let the devil take everyone else."

The ADL also criticized the Newman's 2004 play, ''Crown Heights'', which was based on the 1991 riots sparked by the accidental death of a black child struck and killed by the motorcade of a prominent local rabbi. The ADL claimed the production ''"distorts history and refuels hatred"''. One reviewer considered the production one which "seeks to unite the city's diverse youth and heal some of the wounds of past racial violence."

The Castillo and its parent charity, the All Stars Project, Inc., support Newman's therapeutic endeavors. These include a number of supplementary education programs for youth, including the Joseph A. Forgione Development School for Youth.

On December 6, 2005, Newman announced his retirement as the Castillo's Artistic Director in the wake of controversy over a six-part series the previous month on NY1 News (a cable TV news channel). In a letter to the All Stars Project's Board of Directors, Newman explained that he did not "want any of the controversy associated with my views and opinions to create unnecessary difficulties for the All Stars Project." The cable program contained segments of an interview in which Newman discussed his long-standing opposition to having his therapeutic approach be governed by the American Psychological Association's ethical guidelines, notably those prohibiting sexual relations with patients.

Controversy & Newman's Response to the Critics

"Therapy Cult" allegations

In 1977, Dennis King, writing for ''Heights and Valley News'', penned an article which alleged Newman was the leader of a "therapy cult." The ''Public Eye'' magazine also carried an article in late 1977 making this claim, though it was primarily directed at Lyndon LaRouche's NCLC (with which Newman was no longer affiliated). At the time, Newman responded that "it is of the greatest importance that the entire community of social scientists insist that there be open and critical discussion and dialogue towards the advancement and development of the human sciences; that as scientists and as professionals we do not quiver and shake under the socio-pathological and essentially anti-communist rampages of a Dennis King or others like him." Cult allegations arose again a few years later in the ''Village Voice''.

When political researcher Chip Berlet became editor of ''The Public Eye'' magazine in 1984, he first announced that the magazine no longer held to that characterization:

As you will learn from a forthcoming article on Fred Newman and the IWP, the ''Public Eye'' no longer feels it is accurate to call Newman's political network a cult. We do feel that at one point in its development it was fair to characterize the group as a cult, and we still have strong criticisms of the group's organizing style and the relationship between Newman's Therapy Institute and his political organizing. (Editor's Note, ''Public Eye'', 1984; Vol. 4, Nos. 3-4)

In 1988, a special issue of ''Radical America'' carried a series of articles and essays alleging manipulation, political deceit, and cult-like practices within the NAP. While Berlet, who had contributed to the issue, noted that Fulani “deserves tremendous credit for apparently gaining ballot status in a majority of states,”the editors concluded that there were "dangerous...implications" in failing to confront Newman and his groups: "Painful and unpleasant as it is, the time has come to expose the NAP before it discredits the Left – especially among blacks, gays and those exploring progressive politics for the first time."

A former NAP campaign worker, Loren Redwood, gave a much more critical account of her experiences with the New Alliance Party in a 1989 letter to the editor of ''Coming Up!'', a lesbian and gay newspaper published in San Francisco. In the letter, Redwood describes having fallen in love with a NAP campaign worker and the difficulties she encountered after joining her lover on the road campaigning for Fulani:

NAP claims to be a multi-racial, black led, woman led, pro gay, political party, an organization which recognizes and fights against racism, sexism, classism and homophobia – but NAP is a lie. NAP is always using the slogan: "the personal is political" and emphasizing the importance of enacting one's politics into daily life. But this vision and the way their politics are enacted within the organization and life of those working for them is very much in conflict. As a working class lesbian, I thought I had finally found a political movement which included me. What I found instead was an oppressive, disempowering, misogynistic machine. All my decisions were made for me by someone else. I was told where to go, and who to go with.

I worked seven days a week – 16 to 20 hours a day (I had two days off in 2.5 months). There was an incredible urgency which overrode any personal needs or considerations, an urgency that meant complete self-sacrifice. I realize now how sexist that is. As a woman, I have always been taught that self-sacrifice is good and that I must be willing to give up everything for the greater good for all. Traditionally, this has come in the form of a husband and children; NAP is simply a substitute. I felt totally powerless over my life, forced into a very submissive role where all control of my life belonged to someone else.

In 1989, Newman told ''The New York Times'' that his critics were "being sectarian and refusing to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments" of Fulani and the NAP leadership.

Interviewed in the ''Times'' in 1991, Newman described the criticisms as “absurd” and the product of jealousies on the left, claiming that the majority of social therapy clients don't involve themselves in his political activities. In the ''Boston Globe'' in 1992, Fulani claimed "the entire thing is a lie", and cited what she described as Political Research Associates ties to the Democratic Party.

Therapeutic Professionals Respond to "Therapy Cult" Allegations

Some of the cult criticisms have been disputed by some of Newman's peers in the therapeutic milieu. According to British psychologist Ian Parker, "Even those [Newman and Holzman] who have been marked by the FBI as a 'cult' may still be a source of useful radical theory and practice. Like a weed, a cult is something that is growing in the wrong place. We would want to ask 'wrong' for who, and whether it might sometimes be right for us. We have no desire to line up with the psychological establishment to rule out of the debate those who offer something valuable to anti-racist, feminist or working-class practice."

Fred Newman and Lois Holzman Respond to "Therapy Cult" Allegations

Newman (along with Holzman) responded to this ongoing controversy in a 2003 interview with John Söderlund, editor of ''New Therapist'', in a special issue devoted to mind control. In her introduction to the responses, Holzman claimed that the editor's questions "have that 'When did you stop beating your wife?' quality":

These kinds of attacks are ludicrous in the way that the charge of being a witch was in centuries past. A cult is a made-up thing for which (like the made-up witch) there is no falsifiability. An entire mythology can thus be created, complete with attributes and activities that cannot be proven or disproven. Indeed, that's the virtue of such made-up things. They paint a picture that holds you captive.

Söderlund asked about the recent focus of the American Psychological Association on the “potential dangers of mind control”. Newman replied that he didn't quite know what was meant by the term, noting that "The closest association I have to it is what happens between parents and their young children. When children are very young, parents create a very controlled environment where there's a great level of dependency on the parents. Gradually, as children come to experience other kinds of institutions (day care, school, etc.) their lived environment becomes less controlled and their dependency lessens." He explained that he didn’t think this sort of “totally controlled environment” can be imposed on an adult relationship, “outside of the extraordinary circumstances of say, the Manchurian candidate. I don’t see how mind control has any applicability to therapy—therapy of any kind—as it’s a relationship where the clients have control ... They pay, they can not show up, etc.” Newman acknowledged that he believed there were authoritarian and coercive therapists who were likely doing bad therapy, but did not consider this to be mind control.

Söderlund asked Newman to respond to an anonymous former social therapist’s statement that the practice has “the criteria of groups which are considered cults: an authoritarian, charismatic leader, black-and-white thinking, repression of individuality, constant drive for fundraising, control of information, lack of tolerance for opposition within the group, etc.” Newman claimed he didn’t know what a cult was, or even if there was such a thing, and that the use of the cult charge is “hostile, mean-spirited, and destructive.” He denied being “authoritarian,” acknowledged the perception that he was “charismatic,” and considered the claim of “black-and-white thinking” to be “antithetical to everything we do”, citing social therapy’s interactions “with practitioners and theorists across a very wide spectrum of traditions and worldviews.” Newman countered the charge by insisting “We don’t repress individuality; we critique it. There is a difference!” Newman commented as well on charges that he “held in contempt” ethical guidelines of professional associations such as the APA: “We don’t look to the APA, CPA or any other institution for ethical standards, he replied. “We're critical (not contemptuous) of them for being hypocritical and think that depending on them for an ethical standard is ethically unsound.”

Newman, et al. vs the FBI

FBI documents obtained in 1992 through the Freedom of Information Act showed that, during Fulani's 1988 campaign for president, the Bureau had begun a file which classified her party as a ”political cult” which “should be considered armed and dangerous.” As described by investigative reporter Kelvyn Anderson in the ''Washington City Paper'' in 1992, “The 101-page FBI file, freed by an FOIA request, also contains media coverage of Fulani’s 1988 campaign, memos between FBI field offices on the subject of NAP, a letter from an Army Counterintelligence official about NAP, and a copy of ''Clouds Blur the Rainbow'', a report issued in late 1987 by Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates (PRA). PRA, which studies fringe political groups and intelligence agency abuses, is a prominent critic of the NAP, and its research is frequently used to discredit NAP as a psycho-political cult with totalitarian overtones.”

Newman, Fulani and the New Alliance Party challenged the FBI in a 1993 lawsuit asserting the FBI "political cult" labeling had violated their constitutional rights. The plaintiffs asserted that the Bureau was gathering information from private, third-party organizations to evade federal guidelines prohibiting investigations of political organizations in the absence of evidence of criminal activity. In their suit, Newman et al. argued that

"Political intelligence reports like [the ADL's 1990 report] ''The New Alliance Party'' and [PRA's] ''Clouds Blur the Rainbow'', could not constitutionally be funded by the FBI directly. Organizations like the ADL and PRA engage in political intelligence gathering and political attacks on plaintiffs which the defendants are barred from carrying out directly by the Guidelines. The FBI then distributes the results of those “private” studies to its agents, and gives credibility to the “private” findings by incorporating the reports into files that are then obtained through FOIA by journalists and others

In her ruling on the case, Federal judge Constance Baker Motley ruled that the "political cult" charge "could not be directly traced to the 1988 FBI investigation," and that "any stigmatization which NAP suffers could be traced to a myriad of statements and publications made by private individuals and organizations, many of which preceded the FBI investigation.

Berlet, while upholding the charge of cultism, was critical of the FBI, noting that FBI's investigation was “not a protection of civil liberties but a smear of a group.”

Independence Party seeks to disenroll Newman, Fulani

In September 2005, the New York State Executive Committee of the Independence Party – under the leadership of IPNY State Chairman Frank MacKay – voted to remove Fulani and several other members. In a letter proposing the matter for vote, MacKay stated Fulani et al. had created the perception that the IPNY leadership tolerated "bigotry and hatred", having "continually re-affirmed their disturbing social commentary in the state and national press".

A later petition by MacKay to have Fulani and Newman, among others, disenrolled from the party entirely was dismissed by the New York Supreme Court in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Manhattan Justice Emily Jane Goodman wrote ''[T]he statements attributed to Fulani and Newman which many would consider odious and offensive were made by them in 1989 and 1985, respectively, and not in their capacity as Independence Party members or officers in the Party which did not even exist at the time.'' Goodman noted the timing of the petition appeared "more political than philosophical". More to the point, however, the petitioned grounds for disenrollment were ruled invalid because, "there are no enunciated standards or requirements for persons registering in the Party".

Further controversies and evaluations

The cult charges appeared again in the 2004 Presidential election, and have extended beyond Newman and Fulani to include other independent political challengers, most recently, 2004 independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. ''The Nation'' magazine, a leading liberal weekly which had supported Nader in 2000, asked, citing Berlet's report, "what in the world is Ralph Nader doing in bed with the ultrasectarian cult-racket formerly known as the New Alliance Party?"

In its introduction to an article later that year by political writer Christopher Hitchens, the magazine ''Vanity Fair'' noted, "Democrats are furious that Ralph Nader, whose last presidential bid helped put George W. Bush in office, is running again. Equally dismaying, the author finds, is Nader's backing from a crackpot group with ties to Pat Buchanan, Lyndon LaRouche, and Louis Farrakhan." Echoing Berlet (who had attacked Nader in 2000 for working with figures like conservative industrialist Roger Milliken), Hitchens charged that "[t]he Newman-Fulani group is a fascistic zombie cult outfit." Nader came under fire from the ADL that year for his own Middle East views.

These criticisms of Newman's organizations contrast with other evaluations of the Newman-founded All Stars Project. In 2003, the Institute for Minority Education of Columbia University's Teachers College undertook an evaluation of All Stars programs that was coordinated and funded by All Stars Project staff and supporters. The 124-page report was based on extensive on-site observation of two of the All Stars programs, which were described as "as an exemplary effort in a field that is bursting with creative activity" The evaluations authors noted that they had "not had access to data referable to the impact of these interventions on the short or long term behavioral development of learner participants. The report made only one brief reference (on page 9) to controversies regarding All Stars staff and volunteers being "involved in various political movements, most centrally Independent [sic] Party politics ... [w]hile sometimes used as a point of attack by unfriendly media, the political networking has given the All Stars Project access to some halls of power that would have otherwise been closed." The Columbia researchers noted on page 14 of their report that the political character of the All Stars program: "Although political activism is not an explicit part of the All Stars and the DSY curriculum, it is an outcome of the programs. Young people who are empowered to get what they want are also likely to fight for what they think is right ... [T]he participants and staff of the ASTSN/DSY (All Stars Talent Show Network/Development School for Youth) have developed policy approaches to working with youth that are practical, efficient, and successful. That they have also worked to develop some influence in the halls of power is a tremendous asset to the development of the programs—as well as to the political process, which needs all the direction it can get in developing and implementing policy."

In 2006, the New York City Industrial Development Agency performed a review of the All Stars pursuant to an All Stars application for a bond. Several Democratic Party officials expressed strong opposition. Critics of the IDA bond, including New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, charged that the All Stars were connected to "leaders who have taken positions that are misogynistic and Anti-Semitic", and questioned whether Newman and Fulani still ran All Stars, despite their having stepped down from official positions.

Despite public criticisms, the IDA board voted 6 to 4 in favor of approving the bond, with all those in favor being mayoral appointees or representatives of ex officio members who were mayoral appointees, while those opposed were representatives of the offices of the Borough Presidents of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens, as well as the office of then-New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. After the vote, IDA chairman Joshua J. Sirefman told reporters that, based on the IDA's review of the All Stars Project, "[w]e have determined that the organization is in good standing, we found no evidence of misconduct of any kind by the organization, and we established that the project would benefit New York City... We are aware that allegations of wrongdoing by individuals associated with the organization existed a number of years ago."

In subsequent news coverage, Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the Agency's vote to approve the bonds, noting "I don't think I heard one argument made that there was something wrong with the All Stars Project and that's what we look at.”

Publications

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (in press). All Power to the Developing. To appear in the ''Annual Review of Critical Psychology''.

Holzman, L. and Newman, F. (2004). Power, authority and pointless activity (The developmental discourse of social therapy.) In T. Strong and D. Paré (Eds.), ''Furthering talk: Advances in the discursive therapies'' . Kluwer Academic/Plenum, pp. 73–86.

Newman, F. (2003). Undecidable emotions (What is social therapy? And how is it revolutionary?). ''Journal of Constructivist Psychology'', 16: 215-232.

Power, authority and pointless activity (The developmental discourse of social therapy).*Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2001). La relevancia de Marx en la Terapeutica del siglo XXI. ''Revista Venezolana de Psicologia Clinica Comunitaria'', No. 2, 47-55.

Newman, F. (2001). Therapists of the world, unite. ''New Therapist''. No. 16.

Newman, F. (2001). Rehaciendo el pasado: Unas cuantas historias exitosas en materia de Terapia Social y sus moralejas. ''Revista Venezolana de Psicologia Clinica Comunitaria'', No. 2, 57-70.

Newman, F. (2000) Does a story need a theory? (understanding the methodology of narrative therapy). In D. Fee (Ed.) ''Pathology and the postmodern: mental illness as discourse and experience''. London: Sage.

Newman F. and Holzman, L. (2000). Against Against-ism. ''Theory & Psychology'', 10(2), 265-270.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2000). Engaging the alienation. ''New Therapist'', 10(4).

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (2000). The relevance of Marx to therapeutics in the 21st century. ''New Therapist'', 5, 24-27.

Newman, F. (1999). One dogma of dialectical materialism. ''Annual Review of Critical Psychology'', 1. 83-99.

Newman, F. and L. Holzman. (1999). Beyond narrative to performed conversation (in the beginning comes much later). ''Journal of Constructivist Psychology'', 12, 1, 23-40.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1997). ''The end of knowing: A new developmental way of learning.'' London: Routledge.

Newman, F. (1996). ''Performance of a lifetime: A practical-philosophical guide to the joyous life''. New York: Castillo.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1996). ''Unscientific psychology: A cultural-performatory approach to understanding human life''. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Newman, F. (1994). ''Let's develop! A guide to continuous personal growth.'' New York: Castillo International.

Newman, F. and Holzman, L. (1993). ''Lev Vygotsky: Revolutionary scientist''. London: Routledge.

Newman, F. (1992). Surely Castillo is left but is it right or wrong? Nobody knows. ''The Drama Review''. Fall (T135), pp. 24– 27.

Newman, F. (1991). ''The myth of psychology''. New York: Castillo International.

Holzman, L. and Newman, F. (1979). ''The practice of method: An introduction to the foundations of social therapy.'' New York: New York Institute for Social Therapy and Research.

Newman, F. (1977). ''Practical-critical activities''. New York: Institute for Social Therapy.

Newman, F. (1974). ''Power and authority: The inside view of the class struggle''. New York: Centers for Change.

Newman, F. (1968). ''Explanation by description: An essay on historical methodology''. The Hague: Mouton.

Newman, F. (1982). ''Games the New Alliance Party Won't Play''

Endnotes

External links

Newman-related websites

Eastside Institute for Group and Short-term Psychotherapy

The Social Therapy Group

West Coast Center for Social Therapy

Atlanta Center for Social Therapy

DC Center for Social Therapy

Castillo Theatre

All Stars Project

Committee for a Unified Independent Party

Performing the World

Official Fred Newman website

Social Construction Therapies Network

Newman's critics

Studies on Newman from Political Research Associates; PRA claims to "expose movements, institutions, and ideologies that undermine human rights". Contains only anti-Newman reports.

Response to critics

Fred Newman and his Critics from official website.

Category:1935 births Category:2011 deaths Category:20th-century philosophers Category:American dramatists and playwrights Category:American Marxists Category:American philosophy academics Category:Jewish anti-Zionism Category:Marxist theorists Category:People from the Bronx Category:Psychotherapists Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Date of birth missing

Coordinates	56°50′″N60°35′″N
name	Garrison Keillor
birth name	Gary Edward Keillor
birth date	August 07, 1942
birth place	Anoka, Minnesota
medium	Radio, Print
nationality	American
active	1969–present
genre	Observational comedy, Satire
subject	American culture (esp. the Midwest); American politics
spouse	Mary Guntzel (1965–1976) Ulla Skaerved (1985–1990) Jenny Lind Nilsson (1995–present)
notable work	Himself, Guy Noir, Lefty, Bob Burger, and Lake Wobegon narrator in ''A Prairie Home Companion''
footnotes	}}

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (also known as ''Garrison Keillor's Radio Show'' on United Kingdom's BBC Radio 4 Extra, as well as on RTÉ in Ireland, Australia's ABC, and Radio New Zealand National in New Zealand).

Personal life

Keillor was born in Anoka, Minnesota, the son of Grace Ruth (née Denham) and John Philip Keillor, who was a carpenter and postal worker. The family belonged to the Plymouth Brethren, a fundamentalist Christian denomination Keillor has since left. He is six feet, three inches (1.9 m) tall and has Scots and Norwegian ancestry. Keillor is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. In 2006 he told ''Christianity Today'' that he was attending the Episcopal church in Saint Paul, after previously attending a Lutheran church in New York. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in English in 1966. While there, he began his broadcasting career on the student-operated radio station known today as Radio K.

Keillor has been married three times:

To Mary Guntzel, from 1965 to 1976. The couple has one son, Jason, born in 1969.

To Ulla Skaerved (a former exchange student from Denmark at Keillor's high school whom he famously re-encountered at a class reunion), from 1985 to 1990.

To violinist Jenny Lind Nilsson (b. 1957), who is from his hometown of Anoka, since 1995. They have one daughter, Maia Grace Keillor, born December 29, 1997.

Between his first and second marriages he was also romantically involved with Margaret Moos, who worked as a producer of ''A Prairie Home Companion''.

The Keillors maintain homes on the Upper West Side of New York City and in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

One of his brothers, the historian Steven Keillor, is also an author.

On September 7, 2009, Keillor was briefly hospitalized after suffering a minor stroke.

Ancestors

In his book ''Homegrown Democrat'' (2004), Keillor mentions some of his noteworthy ancestors, including Joseph Crandall, who was an associate of Roger Williams (who founded the first American Baptist church as well as Rhode Island), and Prudence Crandall, who founded the first African-American women's school in America.

Career

Radio

Garrison Keillor started his professional radio career in November 1969 with Minnesota Educational Radio (MER), now Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and distributing programs under the American Public Media (APM) brand. He hosted ''The Morning Program'' in the weekday drive time slot of 6 to 9 a.m. on KSJR 90.1 FM at St. John's University in Collegeville, which the station called "A Prairie Home Entertainment." The show's eclectic music was a major divergence from the station's usual classical fare. During this time he also began submitting fiction to ''The New Yorker,'' where his first story, "Local Family Keeps Son Happy," appeared on September 19, 1970.

Keillor resigned from ''The Morning Program'' in February 1971 to protest what he considered an attempt to interfere with his musical programming. The show became ''A Prairie Home Companion'' when he returned in October.

Keillor has attributed the idea for the live Saturday night radio program to his 1973 assignment to write about the Grand Ole Opry for ''The New Yorker'', but he had already begun showcasing local musicians on the morning show, despite limited studio space for them, and in August 1973 ''The Minneapolis Tribune'' reported MER's plans for a Saturday night version of ''A Prairie Home Companion'' with live musicians.

''A Prairie Home Companion'' debuted as an old-style variety show before a live audience on July 6, 1974, featuring guest musicians and a cadre cast doing musical numbers and comic skits replete with elaborate live sound effects. The show was punctuated by spoof commercial spots from such fictitious sponsors as Jack's Auto Repair ("All tracks lead to Jack's where the bright shining lights show you the way to complete satisfaction") and Powdermilk Biscuits, which "give shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done." Later imaginary sponsors have included Ralph's Pretty Good Grocery ("If you can't find it at Ralph's, you can probably get along without it"), Bertha's Kitty Boutique, the Ketchup Advisory Board (which touted "the natural mellowing agents of ketchup"), the American Duct Tape Council, and Bebop-A-Reebop Rhubarb Pie ("sweetening the sour taste of failure through the generations"). The show also contains parodic serial melodramas, such as ''The Adventures of Guy Noir, Private Eye'' and ''The Lives of the Cowboys.'' After the show's intermission, Keillor reads clever and often humorous greetings to friends and family at home submitted by members of the theater audience in exchange for an honorarium.

Also in the second half of the show, the broadcasts showcase a weekly monologue by Keillor entitled ''The News from Lake Wobegon.'' The town is based in part on Keillor's own hometown of Anoka, Minnesota, and in part on Freeport and other towns in Stearns County, where he lived in the early 1970s. Lake Wobegon is a quintessential but fictional Minnesotan small town "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." ''A Prairie Home Companion'' ran until 1987, when Keillor decided to end it; he worked on other projects, including another live radio program, "The American Radio Company of the Air"—which had almost the same format as ''A Prairie Home Companion'''s—for several years. In 1993 he began producing ''A Prairie Home Companion'' again, in a format nearly identical to the original's, and has done so since. On ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' Keillor receives no billing or credit (except "written by Sarah Bellum," a joking reference to his own brain); his name is not mentioned unless a guest addresses him by his first name or the initials "G. K.," though some sketches feature Keillor as his alter ego, Carson Wyler.

''A Prairie Home Companion'' regularly goes on the road and is broadcast live from popular venues around the United States, often featuring local celebrities and skits incorporating local color. Keillor also sometimes gives broadcast performances of a similar nature that do not carry the "Prairie Home Companion" brand, as in his 2008 appearance at the Oregon Bach Festival. In March 2011, Keillor announced that he would be retiring from "A Prairie Home Companion" in 2013.

Keillor is also the host of ''The Writer's Almanac'' which, like ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' is produced and distributed by American Public Media. ''The Writer's Almanac'' is also available online and via daily e-mail installments by subscription.

Writing

Keillor has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles and more than a dozen books for adults as well as children. In addition to writing for ''The New Yorker,'' he has written for ''The Atlantic Monthly'' and ''Salon.com.''

He also authored an advice column at ''Salon.com'' under the name "Mr. Blue." Following a heart operation, he resigned on September 4, 2001, his last column being titled "Every dog has his day":

Illness offers the chance to think long thoughts about the future (praying that we yet have one, dear God), and so I have, and so this is the last column of Mr. Blue, under my authorship, for Salon. Over the years, Mr. Blue's strongest advice has come down on the side of freedom in our personal lives, freedom from crushing obligation and overwork and family expectations and the freedom to walk our own walk and be who we are. And some of the best letters have been addressed to younger readers trapped in jobs like steel suits, advising them to bust loose and go off and have an adventure. Some of the advisees have written back to inform Mr. Blue that the advice was taken and that the adventure changed their lives. This was gratifying.

So now I am simply taking my own advice. Cut back on obligations: Promote a certain elegant looseness in life. Simple as that. Winter and spring, I almost capsized from work, and in the summer I had a week in St. Mary's Hospital to sit and think, and that's the result. Every dog has his day and I've had mine and given whatever advice was mine to give (and a little more). It was exhilarating to get the chance to be useful, which is always an issue for a writer (What good does fiction do?), and Mr. Blue was a way to be useful. Nothing human is beneath a writer's attention; the basic questions about how to attract a lover and what to do with one once you get one and how to deal with disappointment in marriage are the stuff that fiction is made from, so why not try to speak directly? And so I did. And now it's time to move on.

In 2004 Keillor published a collection of political essays, ''Homegrown Democrat,'' and in June 2005 he began a column called "The Old Scout", which ran at Salon.com and in syndicated newspapers. The column went on hiatus in April 2010 "so that he [could] finish a screenplay and start writing a novel".

Keillor wrote the screenplay for the 2006 movie ''A Prairie Home Companion,'' directed by Robert Altman. (Keillor also appears in the movie.)

Bookselling

On November 1, 2006, Keillor opened an independent bookstore in the historic Cathedral Hill area of Saint Paul, Minnesota. "Common Good Books, G. Keillor, Prop." is located at the southwest corner of Selby and N. Western Avenues (in the Blair Arcade Building, Suite 14, in the basement, below Nina's Coffee Cafe). Cathedral Hill is in the Summit-University neighborhood. The bookstore's opening was covered by the ''St. Paul Pioneer Press''.

Awards and other recognition

Keillor received a Medal for Spoken Language from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1990. In 1994, Keillor was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame. He received a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1999. "Welcome to Minnesota" markers in interstate rest areas near the state's borders include statements such as "Like its neighbors, the thirty-second state grew as a collection of small farm communities, many settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany. Two of the nation's favorite fictional small towns -- Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie and Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon -- reflect that heritage." In 2007, The Moth, a NYC-based not-for-profit storytelling organization, awarded Garrison Keillor the first ''The Moth Award - Honoring the Art of the Raconteur'' at the annual Moth Ball. In September 2007, Keillor was awarded the 2007 John Steinbeck Award, given to artists who capture "the spirit of Steinbeck's empathy, commitment to democratic values, and belief in the dignity of the common man." Keillor received a Grammy Award in 1988 for his recording of ''Lake Wobegon Days''. He has also received two CableACE Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award.

Controversies

In 2005, Keillor's attorneys sent a cease-and-desist letter to MNSPeak.com regarding their production of a T-shirt bearing the inscription "A Prairie Ho Companion."

In 2006, after a visit to a United Methodist Church in Highland Park, Texas, Keillor created a local controversy with his remarks about the event, including the rhetorical suggestion of a connection between event participants and supporters of torture and a statement creating an impression of political intimidation: "I walked in, was met by two burly security men ... and within 10 minutes was told by three people that this was the Bushes' church and that it would be better if I didn't talk about politics." The security detail is purportedly routine for the venue, and according to participants, Keillor did not interact with any audience members between his arrival and his lecture. Supposedly, before Keillor's remarks, participants in the event had considered the visit to have been cordial and warm.

In 2007, Keillor wrote a column that in part criticized "stereotypical" gay parents, who he said were "sardonic fellows with fussy hair who live in over-decorated apartments with a striped sofa and a small weird dog and who worship campy performers." In response to the strong reactions of many readers, Keillor said

I live in a small world -- the world of entertainment, musicians, writers -- in which gayness is as common as having brown eyes .... And in that small world, we talk openly and we kid each other a lot. But in the larger world, gayness is controversial ... and so gay people feel besieged to some degree and rightly so .... My column spoke as we would speak in my small world, and it was read by people in the larger world and thus the misunderstanding. And for that, I am sorry. Gay people who set out to be parents can be just as good parents as anybody else, and they know that, and so do I.

In 2008, Keillor created a controversy in St. Paul when he filed a lawsuit against his neighbors' plans to build an addition on their home, citing his need for "light and air" and a view of "open space and beyond". Keillor's home is significantly larger than others in his neighborhood and would still be significantly larger than his neighbors' with its planned addition. Keillor came to an undisclosed settlement with his neighbors shortly after the story became public.

Voiceover work

Due to his distinctive North Central accent, Keillor is often used as a voiceover actor. Some notable appearances include: Voiceover artist for Honda UK's "the Power of Dreams" campaign. The campaign's most memorable advertisement is the 2003 Honda Accord commercial ''Cog'', which features a Heath Robinson contraption (Rube Goldberg Machine for those in the USA) made entirely of car parts. The commercial ends with Keillor asking, "Isn't it nice when things just work?" Since then, Keillor has voiced the tagline for most if not all Honda UK advertisements, and even sang the voiceover in the 2004 Honda Diesel commercial "Grrr". His most recent ad was a reworking of an existing commercial with digitally added England flags to tie in with the World Cup. Keillor's tagline was "Come on, England, keep the dream alive."

Voice of the Norse god Odin in an episode of the Disney animated series ''Hercules''.

Voice of Walt Whitman and other historical figures in Ken Burns's documentary series ''The Civil War and Baseball.''

Cultural references

His style, particularly his speaking voice, is often the subject of parody. ''The Simpsons'' parodied Keillor in an episode in which Homer is shown watching a Keillor-like monologist on television; Homer hit the set exclaiming "Stupid TV! Be more funny!".

One Boston radio critic likens Keillor and his "down comforter voice" to "a hypnotist intoning, 'You are getting sleepy now'," while noting that Keillor does play to listeners' intelligence. Keillor rarely reads his monologue from a script.

One of the audio bumpers which begins each hour of Dennis Miller's radio talk show features a short clip of Keillor introducing a broadcast of ''APHC'', followed immediately by snoring.

In the bonus DVD material for the album ''Venue Songs'' by band They Might Be Giants, John Hodgman delivers a fictitious newscast in which he explains that "The Artist Formerly Known as Public Radio Host Garrison Keillor" and his "legacy of Midwestern pledge-drive funk" inspired the band's first "venue song."

Pennsylvanian singer-songwriter Tom Flannery wrote a song in 2003 entitled "I Want a Job Like Garrison Keillor's."

Bibliography

Keillor's work in print includes:

Lake Wobegon

''Lake Wobegon Days'' (1985), ISBN 0-14-013161-2; a recorded version of this won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album in 1988

''Leaving Home'' (1987; collection of Lake Wobegon stories), ISBN 0-670-81976-X

''We Are Still Married'' (1989; collection including some Lake Wobegon stories), ISBN 0-670-82647-2

''Wobegon Boy'' (1997), ISBN 0-670-87807-3

''Lake Wobegon Summer 1956'' (2001), ISBN 0-571-21014-7

''In Search of Lake Wobegon'' (Photographs by Richard Olsenius, 2001), ISBN 0-670-03057-6

''Pontoon: A Novel of Lake Wobegon '' (2007), ISBN 0-670-06356-8

''Liberty: A Novel of Lake Wobegon '' (2008), ISBN 0-670-01991-7

''Life among the Lutherans'' (2009), ISBN 978-0-8066-7061-4

''Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance'' (2009), ISBN 978-0-670-02109-3

Other

''Happy to Be Here'' (1981), ISBN 0-06-811201-7

''WLT: A Radio Romance'', (1991), ISBN 0-670-81857-7

''A Visit to Mark Twain's House audio (1992), ISBN 0-942110-82-X

''The Book of Guys'' (1993), ISBN 0-670-84943-X

''The Sandy Bottom Orchestra'' (with Jenny Lind Nilsson, 1996), ISBN 0-7868-1250-8

''Me, by Jimmy "Big Boy" Valente'' (1999), ISBN 0-670-88796-X

''Good Poems'' (2002), ISBN 0-670-03126-7

''Love Me'' (2003), ISBN 0-670-03246-8

''Homegrown Democrat'' (2004), ISBN 0-670-03365-0

''Good Poems for Hard Times'' (2005), ISBN 0-670-03436-3

''77 Love Sonnets'' (2009), ISBN 0-14-311527-8

''A Christmas Blizzard'' (2009), ISBN 978-0-670-02136-9

''Good Poems, American Places'' (2011), ISBN 0-670-02254-3

Contributions to ''The New Yorker''

! Title	! Department	! Volume/Part	! Date	! Page(s)	! Subject(s)
Notes and Comment	The Talk of the Town	60/47	7 January 1985	17-18	A friend's visit to San Francisco and Stinson Beach, California.

See also

A Prairie Home Companion

References

Keillor, Garrison. In search of Lake Wobegon. ''National Geographic.'' December 2000.

Lee, Judith Yaross. ''Garrison Keillor: A Voice of America.'' Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991. ISBN 978-0-87805-457-2.

"Lights! Camera! Retake!". ''Telegraph'' (2003). Retrieved 2005-06-07.

External links

A Prairie Home Companion radio website Garrison Keillor's public radio show

A Prairie Home Companion movie website The movie written by Garrison Keillor and directed by Robert Altman

Minnesota Zen Master - a detailed profile of Garrison Keillor, published in ''The Guardian'', March 6, 2004.

Kingdom of the Frown - A feature article from The Reykjavík Grapevine on Garrison Keillor

At Home With Garrison Keillor: Where All the Rooms Are Above Average New York Times June 1, 2006

Garrison Keillor ''Charlie Rose'' interviews

Garrison Keillor at City Arts & Lecture on Fora.tv

An interview with Garrison Keillor (www.everydayyeah.com)

Garrison Keillor - The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes PBS ''American Masters''

Speech by Keillor at Concordia University February 15, 2011

Category:American advice columnists Category:American Episcopalians Category:American humorists Category:American Public Media Category:American public radio personalities Category:American radio actors Category:American radio personalities Category:American satirists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:National Radio Hall of Fame inductees Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:Minnesota Public Radio Category:The New Yorker people Category:The New Yorker staff writers Category:Writers from Minnesota Category:People from Ramsey County, Minnesota Category:People from Saint Paul, Minnesota Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:National Humanities Medal recipients

de:Garrison Keillor fr:Garrison Keillor he:גאריסון קיילור no:Garrison Keillor fi:Garrison Keillor

Coordinates	56°50′″N60°35′″N
name	Jane Pauley
birthname	Margaret Jane Pauley
birth date	October 31, 1950
birth place	Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
occupation	JournalistNews reporterNews anchorTelevision host
years active	1972–present
spouse	Garry Trudeau (1980-present)
children	Ross and Rachel (twins; born 1983)Thomas (born 1986)
nationality	American
awards	}}

Margaret Jane Pauley (born October 31, 1950; Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American television journalist, and has been involved in news reporting since 1975. She is most known for her 13-year tenure on NBC's ''Today'' program and later 12 years of ''Dateline NBC'', and has acknowledged publicly her struggle with mental health and bipolar disorder.

Biography

Pauley competed in debate and public speaking tournaments through the Indiana High School Forensic Association while enrolled at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. Pauley graduated from Warren Central High School in 1968. She subsequently earned a scholarship to Indiana University, where she was involved in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. After college, she worked from 1972 to 1975 at WISH in Indianapolis and from 1975 to 1976 at WMAQ in Chicago; from there she joined network television.

From 1976 to 1989 Pauley was the co-host, with Tom Brokaw and later Bryant Gumbel, of NBC's ''The Today Show''. Following in the footsteps, both in career and in style, of the first female anchor of the show, Barbara Walters, she became a symbol for professional women, more specifically female journalists, in the 1980s (In her autobiography, "And So It Goes", Pauley's colleague Linda Ellerbee wrote, "She (Pauley) is what I want to be when I grow up"). NBC briefly experimented with a trio of anchors, Pauley, Gumbel, and Chris Wallace, before returning to a co-anchor format with Gumbel and with Pauley serving in a deferential co-host capacity.

In 1989, following months of conjecture about Pauley's publicly reported dislike of the grueling morning assignment and ambition to work in prime-time television, she announced her resignation from ''Today.'' Speculation in the media seemed to imply that NBC executives had eased her out to advance younger NBC newscaster Deborah Norville, who had begun to play a larger role in the two-hour morning program.

After leaving ''The Today Show'', Pauley hosted ''Real Life with Jane Pauley'' and served as deputy anchor for ''NBC Nightly News''.

From 1992 to 2003, Pauley co-hosted NBC's ''Dateline NBC''. In 2004, she returned to television as host of ''The Jane Pauley Show'', a syndicated daytime talk show lasted for one season. On the show, she discussed her bipolar disorder at length.

Much like her earlier attempt at solo hosting following her ''Today'' tenure, ''The Jane Pauley Show'' never gained traction in the ratings, and was canceled after one season. Since her talk show's cancellation, Pauley has made few appearances on television programs. She led a half-hour discussion on PBS' ''Depression: Out of the Shadows'', which aired in May 2008. She also campaigned publicly for President Obama in her home state of Indiana and participates in the Smart Talk Lecture Series.

In September 2009, Pauley lent her name to the Jane Pauley Community Health Center, a facility in collaboration between the Community Health Network and the Metropolitan School District of Warren Township, Indiana. The center serves the local community, including students and their families, regardless of insurance or income, with an emphasis on integrating medical, dental and behaviorial health. Pauley, who was diagonosed with bipolar disorder in 2001, insisted that the center address all aspects of wellness.

In 2009, Pauley joined the Board of Directors of The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based non-profit organization that supports education innovation and reform. She is also AARP's Ambassador of "Your Life Calling." In this role Pauley reports on how people age 50+ are reinventing the way they live and work. Your Life Calling Episodes are featured each month on the ''Today'' show.

Pauley is also affiliated with the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, where she serves on the institute’s leadership board. She spoke publicly about her experience with bipolar disorder at the institute’s opening ceremony in 2005, and she also appears in a 2009 video about the research mission of the institute.

Pauley is known for revealing very little, if anything, of her private life, which made the disclosure of her bipolar disorder all the more unexpected. The timing of her announcement coincided with the release of her autobiography, ''Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue'', (2004) and the launch of her daytime talk show.

In October 2006, Pauley and her lawyers filed a lawsuit against ''The New York Times'' for allegedly duping her into lending her name and likeness to an advertising supplement popular with drug companies. Pauley maintains she believed she was being interviewed by a ''Times'' reporter.

Pauley is married to ''Doonesbury'' cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and they have three children: twins Ross and Rachel, born in 1983, and Thomas, born in 1986.

References

External links

Ubben Lecture at DePauw University on April 17, 2009

Lawsuit filed against the ''New York Times'' and DeWitt Publishing

Jane Pauley Named 2007 Winner of Cronkite Award

Video about McGovern Institute for Brain Research, featuring appearance by Jane Pauley

Your Life Calling with Jane Pauley, from AARP on YouTube

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:People from Indianapolis, Indiana Category:American television news anchors Category:Chicago, Illinois television anchors Category:Indianapolis, Indiana television anchors Category:Indiana University alumni Category:American television talk show hosts Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:NBC News Category:American people of Norwegian descent Category:American television reporters and correspondents

simple:Jane Pauley

Coordinates	56°50′″N60°35′″N
Birth name	David Alan Coulier
Birth date	September 21, 1959
Birth place	St. Clair Shores, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, comedian, impressionist, voice actor
Years active	1979–present
Website	http://www.davecoulier.tv/
Spouse	Jayne Modean (1990-1992) (divorced) }}

David Alan "Dave" Coulier (born September 21, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'', which ran from 1987 to 1995.

Early life

Coulier was born in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. He got his start in stand up comedy in high school by impersonating his principal (Conrad Vachon) and other staff over his high school's PA system. He graduated in 1977 from Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan, where he was a member of the varsity hockey team. He played defense alongside future NHL player John Blum.

Career

Coulier has done extensive voice work for shows including ''Extreme Ghostbusters'', ''The Real Ghostbusters'' and ''Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters'' (taking over the character of Peter Venkman after Lorenzo Music's departure from the role), ''Muppet Babies ''after Howie Mandel left (Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Bean Bunny and Uncle Statler and Waldorf, even a pre-teen Janice for one episode), ''Scooby and Scrappy-Doo'', ''The Jetsons'', ''Rude Dog and the Dweebs'', ''Detention'' and ''Teen Titans''.. From 1984 to 1986, he was also the host of a comedy series on Nickelodeon known as ''Out of Control''.

Coulier is best known for the role of Joey Gladstone on the ABC's sitcom ''Full House''. He stayed on the show from 1987 until its cancellation in 1995. He was famous for doing voices and impersonations. In addition to ''Full House'', Coulier appeared on ''George and Leo'' and ''Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher''. He has also hosted ''America's Funniest People'' with Arleen Sorkin and later with Tawny Kitaen and ''Opportunity Knocks''. Additionally, he was also a voice actor in ''Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose,'' and has voiced Felix the Cat on a few occasions. He also put out a solo album called ''Cut It Out'', a self proclaimed tribute to "tank tops and short shorts."

In addition to his voice work, Coulier has also taken a few acting parts appearing in the Disney Channel Original Movie's ''The Thirteenth Year'' and ''The Even Stevens Movie'' (where he had a cameo as a reality show host), as well as the Nickelodeon original movie ''Shredderman Rules'' and he wrote and starred in an unaired pilot for FX called ''Whispers and Balls''.

He also founded his own children's entertainment company F3 Entertainment, in 2000. In 2003, Coulier appeared on the 3rd season of ''The Surreal Life''. Then in 2006, he appeared on the TV reality show ''Skating with Celebrities'' on FOX, where he was paired with Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan. They were eliminated on the fourth episode.

Currently he is a member of ''Duck's Breath Mystery Theater'' touring comedy troupe (which he claims is clean comedy but 'not quite as creepy' as ''Full House'') as well as host of the series ''Animal Kidding''. He was also a Kids Choice Awards host and starred as Mr. Byrd in the TV movie ''Shredderman Rules'', in 2007.

On June 2, 2008, Chikara, professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, announced that Coulier was elected by the Chikara Board of Directors as the new commissioner of the company, a position that he will hold for the following two years until the next election (taking place on May 25, 2010). Coulier is the successor to former Commissioner and fellow ''Full House'' cast member Bob Saget.

In 2009, Coulier provided the voice for Bob McKenzie on the Canadian animated series ''Bob & Doug'', based on the SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie. Coulier became the first person other than Rick Moranis to portray the character, as Moranis (who serves as executive producer) was not interested in resuming the part. Coulier says he understands that longtime fans might be skeptical of his take on the role, but he couldn't help jumping at the chance to portray one of his favorite comic characters. "It's huge shoes to fill, stepping into Rick Moranis' shoes. It's such an established, great character and I guess the only thing I have going for me is that it kind of sounds alike and that half of my family is from Canada." His mother's family is from Bathurst, New Brunswick.

After the cancellation of ''Full House'' in 1995, Coulier struggled to find prominent roles in television and film. After a brief stint in reality TV with ''The Surreal Life'' and ''Skating with Celebrities'', Coulier continued to make regular television appearances as the host of shows like ''America's Funniest People'', ''Animal Kidding'' and ''America's Most Talented Kid''. He continues to tour the US and Canada as a stand-up comedian, and recently Coulier launched a youth-oriented comedy website, ''cleanguys.TV''.

Comedic style

Coulier's stand-up routine is centered on his ability to mimic celebrities and cartoon characters, a talent that has given him a second career in voice acting. Many of Coulier's bits involve putting well-known characters into unexpected situations. Coulier's material is largely family-friendly, a position he has extended to his youth-oriented comedy website, ''cleanguys.TV''.

As of April 5, 2008, Coulier is presently on tour with the Clean Guys of Comedy Tour, a family-friendly comedy group. The tour includes Ryan Hamilton from ''Last Comic Standing'' and Kivi Rogers.

Personal life

Coulier was married for two years to Jayne Modean and has one son named Luc. Having divorced, he started dating Alanis Morissette, but they broke up shortly before she recorded her album, ''Jagged Little Pill''. In a 2008 interview with the Calgary Sun, Coulier admitted to being the ex-boyfriend portrayed in the song "You Oughta Know".

Coulier is an ice hockey fan, and participates in charity events with the Detroit Red Wings.

Filmography

''(re-syndicated (1985) version of) The Jetsons'' (1962) (voice)

''Scooby and Scrappy-Doo'' (1979) (TV series) (voice)

''Things Are Tough All Over'' (1982) credited as Dave Couwlier

''Out of Control'' (1984) (TV series)

''Muppet Babies'' (1986–1991) (TV series) (voice)

''The Real Ghostbusters'' (1986) (TV series) (Peter Venkman) (1987 – 1991) (Originally Lorenzo Music)

''Full House'' (1987–1995) (TV series)

''It's Garry Shandling's Show'' (1990) (TV series)

''America's Funniest People'' (1990) (TV series)

''The Thirteenth Year'' (1999) (TV)

''To Tell the Truth'' (2000) (TV series)

''The Even Stevens Movie'' (2003) (TV)

''America's Most Talented Kid'' (2003) (TV series)

''The Surreal Life'' (2003) (TV series) (2004)

''Skating With Celebrities'' (2006) (TV Series)

''Robot Chicken'' (2006) (TV series) (voice actor/voice)

''Shredderman Rules!'' (2007) (TV)

''The GradeSchool Game'' (2007) (host)

''The Family Holiday'' (2007) (direct to DVD movie)

''Farce of the Penguins'' (2007) (direct to DVD movie) (voice)

''Bob & Doug'' (2009) (TV series) (voice of Bob McKenzie)

References

External links

cleanguys.TV

Category:1959 births Category:American people of French-Canadian descent Category:Actors from Michigan Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American voice actors Category:Living people Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:People from Macomb County, Michigan Category:The Surreal Life participants

de:Dave Coulier es:Dave Coulier fr:Dave Coulier nl:Dave Coulier ja:デイブ・クーリエ pt:Dave Coulier sv:Dave Coulier