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List Of New York Improv Comedians
This is a partial list of New York Improv comedians and singers. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s they performed regularly at the Improvisation Comedy Club. The Improv was founded by Budd Friedman and his then wife Silver Saundors Friedman in 1963, and was located at 358 West 44th Street, New York City, in an area known as Hell's Kitchen. *Shelley Ackerman * Bobby Alto * Richard Belzer * Elayne Boosler * David Brenner *Jimmy Brogan * Ron Carey * Billy Crystal *Rodney Dangerfield * Larry David * John DeBellis * Al Franken * Gilbert Gottfried * Allan Havey * Gabe Kaplan * Andy Kaufman * Michael Patrick King *Robert Klein *Steve Landesberg *Jay Leno *Richard Lewis *Lynne Lipton *Bruce Mahler * Ken Ober * Rick Overton *Joe Piscopo *Freddie Prinze * Richard Pryor * Rita Rudner *Lenny Schultz * Ronnie Shakes *Tim Thomerson *Liz Torres *Jimmie Walker *Robert Wuhl *Alan Zweibel Alan Zweibel (born May 20, 1950) is an American television writer, author, playwright, and screenwriter w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Improv
The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s. History Originally, it was a single venue founded in 1963 by Budd Friedman and his future wife, Silver Saundors, and located in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City on West 44th near the southeast corner of 9th Ave. The Improvisation was originally an after hours coffee house where Broadway theatre, Broadway performers could unwind after shows with an open mic inviting impromptu musical performances. Gradually comedians would use it as a venue to try out new material and talent scouts from ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' and other New York-based television shows began frequenting the venue looking for new acts to book. After several years of alternating acts between singers and comics, by the 1970s it was a stand up c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabe Kaplan
Gabriel Weston Kaplan (born March 31, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, and professional poker player. He played the eponymous teacher in the 1970s sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter''. He later became a professional poker player and a commentator for the series ''High Stakes Poker'' on PokerGO. Early life Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to a Jewish family. He was a student at New Utrecht High School but did not graduate. Acting career As a child, Kaplan had aspirations of being a Major League Baseball player. However, he was unable to make the roster of a minor league team and decided to pursue other interests. He began working as a bellman at a hotel in Lakewood, New Jersey. Touring comedians sometimes performed at the hotel, and Kaplan began to work toward his own career as a stand-up comedian. Gabe honed his standup routine in 1964 in places such as the Cafe Tel Aviv at 250 West 72nd Street, New York City. Kaplan's comedy was successful, and he toured the cou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Pryor
Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential stand-up comedians of all time. Pryor won a Primetime Emmy Award and five Grammy Awards. He received the first Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1998. He won the Writers Guild of America Award in 1974. He was listed at number one on Comedy Central's list of all-time greatest stand-up comedians. In 2017, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked him first on its list of the 50 best stand-up comics of all time.The 50 Best Stand-up Comics of All Time . Rollingstone.com, retrieved February 15, 2017. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddie Prinze
Frederick James Prinze Sr. (born Frederick Karl Pruetzel; June 22, 1954 – January 29, 1977) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Prinze was the star of the NBC-TV sitcom ''Chico and the Man'' from 1974 until his suicide in 1977. Prinze is the father of actor Freddie Prinze Jr. Early life Prinze was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel (German spelling: Prützel) at Saint Clare's Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Edward Karl Pruetzel and Maria de Gracia Pruetzel (née Graniela y Ramirez). His mother was a Puerto Rican Catholic and his father was a German Lutheran immigrant who had arrived in the U.S. as a youth in 1934. Prinze was raised in a mixed neighborhood in Washington Heights, New York City. When Prinze was a small child, his mother enrolled him in ballet classes to deal with a weight problem. Without telling his parents, Prinze successfully auditioned for the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, where he was introduced to drama and continued balle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Piscopo
Joseph Charles John Piscopo ( ; born June 17, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and conservative radio talk show host. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1980 to 1984, where he played a variety of recurring characters. His film roles include Danny Vermin in ''Johnny Dangerously'' (1984), Moe Dickstein in '' Wise Guys'' (1986), Doug Bigelow in ''Dead Heat'' (1988), and Kelly Stone in '' Sidekicks'' (1992). Early life Piscopo was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and grew up in North Caldwell. He attended West Essex High School and was a member of the drama club "The Masquers." He developed a reputation for never playing a part the way it was written. After graduating in 1969, Piscopo attended Jones College in Jacksonville, Florida, where he received a degree in broadcast management. ''Saturday Night Live'' In the summer of 1980, Piscopo was hired as a contract player for ''Saturday Night Live''. The show had gone through a major upheaval when all the writers, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Overton
Richard Overton (born August 10, 1954) is an American screenwriter, actor and comedian. His writing credits include ''Dennis Miller Live'', and his acting credits include ''Beverly Hills Cop'', ''Groundhog Day'' and ''Mrs. Doubtfire''. Life and career Overton was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, the son of Nancy Overton (née Swain), a singer, and Hall Overton, a teacher and music arranger. He grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, where he attended Dwight Morrow High School. Overton made his first onscreen appearance in the 1982 film ''Young Doctors in Love'', followed by a small role in '' Airplane II: The Sequel'' later that year. In 1987, he wrote an episode of '' The New Adventures of Beans Baxter'' while also appearing in various films and television shows including ''Willow'', ''Amazing Stories'' and '' Million Dollar Mystery''. In 1992, he landed a role in the FOX Network sketch comedy show ''The Edge''. The show ended in 1993. Later that year, Overton appeared in tw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ken Ober
Ken Ober (July 3, 1957 – November 15, 2009) was an American game show host, comedian, and actor. Early life and career Born Kenneth Oberding in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was raised in a suburb of Hartford, Connecticut, where his first job was as a bagger at a local Jewish supermarket. Ober hosted four game shows over the course of his career. He received his break after appearing as a contestant on ''Star Search'' in 1984. He was most widely known for his role on the MTV game show ''Remote Control'', which he hosted for three seasons. That show also helped launch the careers of Adam Sandler, Denis Leary, Kari Wuhrer, and Colin Quinn. Ober was known among 1990s and 2000s audiences for his hosting jobs on ''Make Me Laugh'', ''Smush'', and the ESPN game show '' Perfect Match''. Ober was the frequent color analyst alongside veteran play by play announcer Steve Albert for the "MTV Rock N' Jock" celebrity sports specials during the 1990s. In 1995, Ober hosted a Los Angel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Mahler
Bruce Mahler (born September 12, 1950) is an American actor, producer, and writer. He is known for his role as Sgt. Fackler in the comedy films ''Police Academy'', and as Rabbi Glickman on the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. Biography Mahler was born on September 12, 1950 in Manhattan, New York City. In 1977, he appeared on two episodes of the TV series ''Fernwood 2 Night''. In 1980, he appeared on '' Fridays'', an early 1980s ABC sketch show modeled after NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'', where most of his appearances showcased his musical talent and radio DJ-style voice, most notably in the recurring sketches "The Latin DJ" and the one-off sketches "KPLO" (about Palestine Liberation Organization terrorists hosting a radio show in their bunker) and "A Classical Get-Down" (about a classical pianist who hosts his radio show like a Top 40 station). Two years after ''Fridays'' was cancelled, Mahler portrayed Sgt. Douglas Fackler in the 1984 film ''Police Academy''. His other film work has incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynne Lipton
Lynne Lipton is an American film, stage, television and voice actress. She provided the voices of all female characters on the popular 1980s animated series '' ThunderCats'', until the second season, when Gerrianne Raphael joined the cast voicing Pumyra. Among the many roles Lipton performed in the show, she voiced Luna of the Lunatacs; Willa, Queen of the Warrior Maidens; the Female Unicorn Guardian; Wilykit; Mandora; and, most importantly, Cheetara (a role she later reprised for an episode of ''Family Guy''). She was in the Second City company in Chicago in the 1969–70, and The Committee in Los Angeles and San Francisco. She made her Broadway debut standing by for Bernadette Peters in the ill-fated musical of the classic ''La Strada'', choreographed by Alvin Ailey and directed by Alan Schneider. It lasted one performance. Her Broadway credits include the original production of David Rabe's ''Boom Boom Room'' at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont, performing the matinees for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Lewis (comedian)
Richard Philip Lewis (born June 29, 1947) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He came to prominence as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s and became known for his dark, neurotic and self-deprecating humor. As an actor he is known for co-starring with Jamie Lee Curtis in the sitcom ''Anything but Love'', for playing the role of Prince John in the film '' Robin Hood: Men in Tights'' and for his recurring role as a semi-fictionalized version of himself in HBO's ''Curb Your Enthusiasm''. Early life Lewis was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Englewood, New Jersey. His family is Jewish, but not especially religious. His father, Bill (d. 1971), was co-owner of Ambassador Caterers in nearby Teaneck, New Jersey, and his mother, Blanche, was an actress in community theatre. Lewis is the youngest of three siblings – his brother was older than him by 6 years, and his sister by 9. Lewis's father's catering business kept his father very busy, and his siblings had both left h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir Leno (; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, writer, and actor. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show'' from 1992 to 2009. Beginning in September 2009, he started a primetime talk show, ''The Jay Leno Show'', which aired weeknights at 10:00p.m. ET, also on NBC. Prior to the premiere of Leno's prime time show, O'Brien's ratings as the new ''Tonight Show'' host had already suffered a decline, however. When O'Brien turned down NBC's offer to have Leno host a half hour monologue show before ''The Tonight Show'' to boost ratings amid reported viewership diminishing, Leno returned to hosting the show on March 1, 2010. He hosted his last episode of this second tenure on February 6, 2014. That year, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Since 2014, he has hosted ''Jay Leno's Garage,'' and the 2021 revival of ''You Bet Your Life''. Leno writes a regular column in ''Popular Mechani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Landesberg
Stephen Landesberg (November 23, 1936December 20, 2010) was an American actor and comedian known for his role as the erudite, unflappable police detective Arthur P. Dietrich on the ABC sitcom ''Barney Miller'', for which he was nominated for three Emmy Awards. Life and career Landesberg was born on November 23, 1936, in the Bronx, New York, to Ann Landesberg, a milliner, and Abraham Landesberg, a grocery store owner. He was part of improv group New York Stickball Team, which performed several shows that aired on cable television shortly after ''Barney Miller'' went off the air. Landesberg was a member of the cast of the 1974 CBS situation comedy ''Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers''. He made guest appearances on ''The Tonight Show'', ''The Rockford Files'', ''Law & Order'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''The Golden Girls'', ''Ghost Whisperer'', ''That '70s Show'' and ''Everybody Hates Chris''. He starred in Starz's original show ''Head Case'' as Dr. Myron Finkelstein. He appeared in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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