Stand up comedians
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George Denis Patrick Carlin was born and raised in Manhattan, New York City, to Mary (Bearey), a secretary, and Patrick John Carlin, an advertising manager for The Sun; they had met while working in marketing. His father was from Donegal, Ireland, and his mother was Irish-American. His parents divorced when he was two months old, and he was raised by his mother. The long hours the mother worked left the young George by himself for long hours every day, providing him (in his own words), the time he needed to think about various subjects, listen to radio, and practice his impersonations, that where acclaimed by his mother and coworkers since an early age. Carlin started out as a conventional comedian and had achieved a fair degree of success as a Bill Cosby style raconteur in nightclubs and on TV until the late 1960s, when he radically overhauled his persona. His routines became more insightful, introducing more serious subjects. As he aged, he became more cynic and bitter, unintentionally changing his stage persona again in a radical way throughout the '90s. This new George Carlin, usually referred to as the late George Carlin, is one of the most acclaimed and enjoyed by the public and critics. Carlin's forte is Lenny Bruce-style social and political commentary, spiced with nihilistic observations about people and religion peppered with black humor. He is also noted for his masterful knowledge and use of the English language. Carlin's notorious "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine was part of a radio censorship case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978.- Writer
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Louis C.K. was born on 12 September 1967 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Louie (2010), American Hustle (2013) and Horace and Pete (2016). He was previously married to Alix Bailey.- Podcaster
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Bill Burr is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and podcaster. He is best known for playing Patrick Kuby in the crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008), and creating and starring in the Netflix animated sitcom F Is for Family (2015).
In 2008, Burr's voice was featured in the game Grand Theft Auto IV (2008) as Jason Michaels of the biker gang The Lost MC in the mission "No Love Lost." In 2009, he reprised his role in the game's expansion pack Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (2009).- Actor
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Macdonald was born Norman Gene Macdonald in Quebec City, Quebec. He began his career in stand-up comedy. Macdonald's first job was writing for The Dennis Miller Show (1992) and then Roseanne (1988). While writing for Roseanne (1988), he was noticed by Lorne Michaels, who liked Norm's stand up, and gave him his job on Saturday Night Live (1975).
Macdonald became widely popular when he became the Weekend Update anchor with his trademark line, "And now the fake news". He lasted from September 24, 1994 until December 13, 1997, when he was fired by Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC on the west coast. His last weekend update was December 13, 1997 and he officially left the show in March 1998. His movie, Dirty Work (1998), which he began working on in the summer of 1997, came out 2 months later. In March 1999, his show, called Norm (1999), came out on ABC and had a 3-season run. During that time, he also starred in the movie Screwed (2000), opposite Dave Chappelle.- Writer
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Born in Georgia but raised in Houston since the age of 7, this self-described "Prince of Darkness" was compelled to use the comedy stage as his philosophic soapbox. At 13, he would sneak out of his suburban house to hustle his way onto open-mike night rosters. In two brief decades, Hicks worked his way up the sweat-stained comedy ladder to national exposure on The Tonight Show, Late Show with David Letterman and an HBO cable special. Rolling Stone named him the "hot stand-up" of 1993. He was the hit of the 1990 and 1991 Just for Laughs comedy festivals in Montreal. Dead at 32, the enigmatic Hicks was admired, reviled and misunderstood. - The Montreal Gazette, March 28, 1994- Writer
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Doug Stanhope was born on 25 March 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Louie (2010), The Road Dog (2023) and Roseanne (1988). He has been married to Renee Morrison since 26 March 2002.- Actor
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Mitch Hedberg was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 24, 1968. He began his stand-up career in Florida, and after a period of honing his skills there he moved to Seattle and began touring. He soon appeared on MTV's "Comikaze", then a 1996 appearance on [error] brought him his big break. He won the 1997 grand prize at the Seattle Comedy Competition. The next year saw him appearing on Fox's hit series That '70s Show (1998). In 1999 he completed his own independent feature film, Los Enchiladas! (1999), which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in. He has also recorded two comedy CDs entitled "Mitch All Together" and "Strategic Grill Locations". He has appeared at the 2001 Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival. Mitch Hedberg died on March 30, 2005 of a drug overdose. He will be sadly missed by all.- Actor
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Steven Wright was born on 6 December 1955 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Natural Born Killers (1994), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) and Reservoir Dogs (1992).- Writer
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Rich Hall was born on 10 June 1954 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for Not Necessarily the News (1982), Arthur Christmas (2011) and Otis Lee Crenshaw: Live (2001). He has been married to Karen Hall since 2004. They have two children.- Actor
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Sam Kinison was a popular stand-up comedian from Yakima, Washington, mainly active in the 1980s and the early 1990s. He also had a few acting roles in film and television. His only recurring role was that of Hugh, the main character's alter ego in the short-lived sitcom "Charlie Hoover" (1991). The series only lasted 7 episodes. Kinison had previously worked as a Pentecostal preacher, and his comedy routine incorporated sudden tirades and distinctive screams in the style of charismatic preachers. Kinison was noted for a tendency to use black comedy, and to often satirize Christian evangelist scandals.
In 1953, Kinison was born in Yakima, Washington. The city's economy is mostly based on agriculture. Yakima is the primary producer of hops in the United States, a key ingredient in the production of beer. Kinison's parents were the Pentecostal preacher Samuel Earl Kinison and his wife Marie Florence Morrow. Samuel "pastored several churches " throughout the United States, never settling for long in one place and always earning a meager income.
In 1956, Kinison was accidentally hit by a truck. He survived the accident, but suffered brain damage. His childhood was otherwise uneventful until 1964, when his parents divorced. Marie gained custody over Kinison, despite the boy's protestations. Kinison decided to follow in his father's footstep's, training to become a preacher.
From 1968 to 1969, Kinison attended the "Pinecrest Bible Training Center", an unaccredited bible school located in Salisbury Center, New York. From 1970 to 1977, Kinison was employed as a preacher. He reportedly used a typical "fire and brimstone" style in his sermons, punctuated with shouting. Like his father, Kinison earned a meager income and struggled with poverty.
Deciding to change his career path and become a comedian, Kinison moved to Houston, Texas. He found work at the Houston-based comedy club "Comedy Workshop" (1978-early 1990s). He received training at the Workshop's school for improvisational comedic actors, and joined the club's team of "Texas Outlaw Comics". The team reportedly was intended to consist of comedians "who speak their minds" and "who aren't interested in selling out."
In 1980, Kinison decided to move to Los Angeles. He wanted to be hired by the West Hollywood-located comedy club "The Comedy Store" (1972-), where young comedians received press exposure and had a shot of appearing in HBO's "Young Comedians" television specials.
Kinison was initially hired as a doorman by "The Comedy Store", but eventually started performing as a comedian again. While struggling to find work, Kinnison reportedly developed addictions to both cocaine and alcohol. He hired his brother Bill as his manager.
Kinison's big break came when he was chosen as one of 8 performers in the "The 9th Annual Young Comedians Special" (1985). Most of the featured performers failed to impress the critics of the day, but Kinison won praise for voicing the frustrations of a typical married man in his routine. Kinison was next featured as a guest on the talk show "Late Night with David Letterman", and was cast in a supporting role in the comedy film "Back to School".
Kinison was at the height of his popularity by 1989. He was cast in the role of an angel in an episode of then-popular sitcom "Married... with Children" (1987-1997). In 1990, he had a role in the horror anthology series "Tales from the Crypt" (1989-1996). In 1991, he had a co-starring role in the sitcom "Charlie Hoover" (1991). The series' premise was that Charlie was a depressed, middle-aged office worker who is confronted by his own alter ego, who convinces him to turn his life around.
Having divorced twice, on April 4, 1992 Kinison married his long-time girlfriend Malika Souiri. She worked as a dancer. Following the wedding, the couple vacationed in Hawaii for 5 days. They returned to Los Angeles on April 10, as Kinison had to prepare for a performance at the Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino of Laughlin, Nevada. Later that day, Kinison's Pontiac Trans Am was "struck head-on" by a pick-up truck. The driver of the other vehicle was an inebriated 17-year-old boy.
Kinnison was found dead at the scene, with his head having smashed his car's windshield. At the time of the accident, Kinnison was not wearing his seat belt. He was 38-years-old at the the time of his death. His wife was also injured at the accident, but was able to recovered at a hospital. The driver responsible for the death pled guilty to charges of "vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence". He was sentenced to a single year of probation and 300 hours of community service.
Kinison was buried in a family grave plot at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1993, archival footage of him was used for the television special "A Tribute to Sam Kinison". Kinnison's brother Bill wrote a biography of him, called "Brother Sam: The Short, Spectacular Life of Sam Kinison". Despite a relatively short career, Kinnison has been fondly remembered. He has been cited as an influence by other comedians.- Reginald D. Hunter was born in 1969 in Albany, Georgia, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Have I Got News for You (1990), The Sandman (2020) and Tales from the Crypt (1989).
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Dave Chappelle's career started while he was in high school at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC where he studied theatre arts. At the age of 14, he began performing stand-up comedy in nightclubs. Shortly after graduation, he moved to New York City where he quickly established himself as a major young talent. At the age of 19, Chappelle made his film debut in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Chappelle then starred in the short-lived sitcom, Buddies (1996) and had a featured role in The Nutty Professor (1996).- Actor
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Andrew Dice Clay was born on 29 September 1957 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990), Blue Jasmine (2013) and A Star Is Born (2018). He has been married to Valerie Silverstein since 14 February 2010. He was previously married to Kathleen Monica and Kathleen Swanson.- Actor
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Rodney Dangerfield was born Jacob Cohen on November 22, 1921 in Deer Park, Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. He was the son of Dorothy "Dotty" (Teitelbaum) and Phillip Cohen, who performed in vaudeville under the name Phil Roy. His father was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents, and his mother was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. Rodney began writing jokes at the age of fifteen, and started performing before he was 20. He took his act to the road for ten years, his stage name was "Jack Roy". While working as a struggling comedian, Rodney Dangerfield worked as a singing waiter. His first run at comedy was to no avail.
Rodney Dangerfield married Joyce Indig, in 1949 and had two children: Brian and Melanie. During the 1950s, Rodney was an aluminum siding salesman, living in New Jersey. The comedian made another attempt at stand-up comedy, this time as Rodney Dangerfield. In 1961, Rodney divorced from his wife.
When he appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" (The Ed Sullivan Show (1948)), Rodney Dangerfield made Ed Sullivan laugh. Few people ever provoked any kind of reaction out of the legendary Ed Sullivan. Dangerfield had the image of a lovable disgruntled every-man type that became a hit all across nightclubs in the 1960s. Dangerfield also made many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) and The Dean Martin Show (1965) in the 1970s.
Rodney Dangerfield snatched a minor supporting part in the movie, The Projectionist (1970), in 1971. By the mid 1970s, he had cemented his image as a comedian constantly tugging at his red tie, always proclaiming he gets no respect. His big break came with many appearances on Saturday Night Live (1975), bringing himself to a much wider audience and proving hysterical on many occasions. In 1980, Dangerfield became a cornerstone of American comedy with the classic Caddyshack (1980).
Here, he played "Al Czervik", a rich golfer who was a basically nice guy who was extremely outspoken and very obnoxious. His character was often unhappy with the rich snobbery he was around, and he takes on the rich people that are so snobby to him.
The average guy that his character portrayed was an instant hit, and a formula that Dangerfield often stuck with. Also, in 1980, Rodney came out with a popular comedy album, "Rappin Rodney".
The album earned Dangerfield a Grammy for best comedy album. The next movie on Rodney's agenda was Easy Money (1983), a comedy that showed him as an insulting working class person who suddenly becomes a millionaire. The movie was also a big hit. Dangerfield became very sparse in his roles on TV and film about this time. The year 1986 saw the comedy, Back to School (1986), his biggest film to date. The comedy was one of the first to gross over 100 million. In 1994, Dangerfield starred in his first dramatic role in the successful Oliver Stone film, Natural Born Killers (1994).
He played an abusive father who drove one of the killers crazy. His part was critically-acclaimed. In 1995, Dangerfield entered the world of cyberspace, becoming the first entertainer to have a website on the world-wide web. In 1997, he starred in Meet Wally Sparks (1997), a political and talk show satire which was poorly received. In 2000, Dangerfield starred as "the Devil" in Little Nicky (2000). The movie was potentially a huge hit, but was a failure by most accounts. Dangerfield took a very small part, but was top-billed in the direct-to-video The Godson (1998), and starred in the direct-to-video link=tt0216930]. But it has not been all smooth sailing for this comedian. In 1997, he admitted to a lifelong bout with depression and, on his 80th birthday, had a mild heart attack. He has major fans from all kinds of people from all different backgrounds. Dangerfield had made a record 70 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), and had discovered many struggling comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Barr, Robert Townsend, Sam Kinison and Tim Allen.
The comedian owned a legendary nightclub in Manhattan called "Dangerfield's". In the 1990s, he made highly-publicized appearances on The Simpsons (1989), In Living Color (1990), Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995), Home Improvement (1991), Suddenly Susan (1996), among others.
In 1993, he married Joan Dangerfield (aka Joan Child), a woman thirty years younger than him, and a Mormon.
He died on October 5, 2004, after falling into a coma following heart surgery.- Writer
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Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider on October 13, 1925, in Mineola, Long Island, New York. His British-born father, Myron, was a shoe clerk, his mother, Sadie, was a dancer. Lenny's parents were divorced when he was a child. To support herself and her son, Sadie Schneider pursued a career in show business and sent Lenny to live with various aunts, uncles and grandparents.
Dropping out of high school, Lenny enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942, which he almost disliked. He got himself discharged after convincing a team of Navy psychologists that he was experimenting with homosexual urges. With some help from his mother, Lenny began doing impressions, one-liners and movie parodies in small nightclubs. In 1948, he obtained some booking as a result of his appearance on the TV show Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. Lenny married a red-headed stripper named Honey Harlow in 1951, but they were divorced five years later. After Honey was arrested and sent to jail for a narcotics violation, Lenny raised their daughter, Kitty, by himself.
Slowly, Lenny began working his way up from performing stand-up comedy in seedy New York City strip clubs and jazz clubs. Gradually his act evolved into something wholly different from that of other comics. Onstage, he was a dark, slender, and intense figure who prowled around like a caged animal and spoke into a hand-held microphone. His monologues were peppered with four-letter curse words and Yiddish expressions. In his act, Lenny liked to expose racist attitudes by forcing his audiences to examine their own racial prejudices. In another act bashing religions, Lenny acted out a conversation between Oral Roberts and the Pope, with both talking in the vernacular of glib show-business personalities. When jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason and San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen wrote about Lenny, be began to get the recognition he so badly wanted. Unfortunately, the seedy subculture of strip joints, clubs, and dives had introduced him to hard drugs and fast times.
Through his nightclub acts and record albums, Lenny became the hipster saint of the comedy world, crossing into the line of propriety where others feared to tread. But his foul-speaking acts began to catch up with him when he was arrested in 1961 on obscenity charges following an appearance at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco, but a jury found him not guilty. Problems with the authorities and religious groups trying to silence him began to plague him as he appeared in clubs all over the country. In 1964, he was arrested again in New York City on more obscenity charges. During his trial a police officer read notes about Lenny's profane act, which caused the desperate comic to ask the judge to let him do the act in court so the judge could understand his callous humor in context, but the judge refused. Despite support from noted writers, critics, educators and politicians, Lenny was found guilty and sentenced to several months in prison, and was paroled just a few months later. Continually harassed by the police, Lenny became depressed and paranoid. Further prosecutions for obscenity and his drug use drove him toward instability. By 1965, he was broke and in debt. He claimed that every time he got a gig, the local police, wherever he was, would threaten to arrest the club owner if Lenny went onstage.
In February 1966, Lenny traveled to Los Angeles and appeared onstage for the first time in years. He performed for a very small crowd who included a few hecklers and vice cops waiting to arrest him if he should use profanity again. Lenny by this time was bearded, overweight, and haggard, and his performance centered on his current obsessions: his constitutional right of free speech, free assembly, and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. When a friend asked him afterwards why he had turned his back on comedy he replied, "I'm not a comedian anymore. I'm Lenny Bruce." On August 3, 1966, Lenny was found dead on the bathroom floor of his Hollywood home. Whatever the details or reasons why, Lenny Bruce was found dead from a drug overdose at the age of 40.- Writer
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Stewart Lee was born on 5 April 1968 in Wellington, Shropshire, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle (2009), This Morning with Richard Not Judy (1998) and Kombat Opera Presents (2007). He has been married to Bridget Christie since 2006. They have two children.- Actor
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Russell Peters was born on 29 September 1970 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor and producer, known for Source Code (2011), New Year's Eve (2011) and Hip-Hop Evolution (2016).- Producer
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Kevin Darnell Hart is an African-American comedian and actor who is known for his roles in the Jumanji sequels including Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019), Undeclared (2001), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Think Like a Man (2012), Ride Along (2014), The Secret Life of Pets (2016), Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), Central Intelligence (2016) and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019). Hart's comedic reputation continued to grow with the release of his first stand-up album Kevin Hart: I'm a Grown Little Man (2009). He has since released four more comedy albums: Kevin Hart: Seriously Funny (2010), Kevin Hart: Laugh at My Pain (2011), Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (2013), and Kevin Hart: What Now? (2016). In 2015, Time magazine named him on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2017, he launched the Laugh Out Loud Network, a subscription video streaming service in partnership with Lionsgate. He has 4 children from two marriages.- Producer
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Christopher Julius Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He is the son of Rosalie (Tingman), a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped, and Julius Rock, a truck driver and newspaper deliveryman, whose own father was a preacher.
Rock has been in stand-up comedy for several decades. He made his big screen debut in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) and spent three years on the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975). He does commercials for 1-800 Collect and Nike and covered the presidential campaign for the show Politically Incorrect (1993). He lives in Alpine, New Jersey.- Actor
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Jim Breuer was born on 21 June 1967 in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Half Baked (1998), Titan A.E. (2000) and Zookeeper (2011). He has been married to Dee Breuer since 28 August 1993. They have three children.- Actor
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For over fifteen years, Marc Maron has been writing and performing raw, honest and thought-provoking comedy for print, stage, radio and television. A legend in the stand-up community, he has appeared on HBO, Conan, Letterman, his two Comedy Central Presents specials and almost every show that allows comics to perform. His book based on his solo show, The Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life as a Reluctant Messiah, is out of print and overpriced by vendors who think it might have some collectors value'. His three CDs, "Not Sold Out', 'Tickets Still Available' and 'Final Engagement' are comedy cult classics.
This year, Marc headlined an episode of John Oliver's NY Stand-Up Show and was ranked #7 in Comedy Central's annual Stand-Up Showdown. His podcast "WTF with Marc Maron" skyrocketed to #1 on the iTunes comedy charts and was ranked #3 Best Podcast of 2009 by iTunes Rewind. He also premiered 'Scorching the Earth,' a one-man show based on his two divorces and anger problem.- Producer
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Hofstetter, whose videos have a whopping half billion views on YouTube & Facebook, is also the host of Finding Babe Ruth on FS1. His book (Ginger Kid) is a top 5 pick on Amazon and debuted at number one in its category. Hofstetter was the host and executive producer of season one of Laughs (FOX) and he has been on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and E! True Hollywood Story, Comics Unleashed, Comedy All-Stars, Quite Frankly, White Boyz in the Hood, Countdown, and more. His third movie recently debuted, and he has had two top 20 comedy albums (including one that hit number 1 on iTunes comedy charts). He is a former columnist for Sports Illustrated and the NHL, and has also written for Maxim and the New York Times, among others.