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Martin Olson
Martin Olson (born April 2, 1956) is an American comedy writer, television producer, author and composer. He is known for his unusual subject matter, and is an original member of the Boston Comedy Scene. He is the father of actress Olivia Olson. Olson has received seven Emmy nominations, five for television writing and two for song writing. Olson also received an Ace Award for television writing. Background Martin Olson is from Boston, Massachusetts. His brother, Thomas Olson, is a film and stage actor. His adopted daughter Olivia Olson is a singer-songwriter, actress, and author. Olson decided to be a comedy writer as a boy when he saw comedian Brother Theodore ranting and raving on ''The Merv Griffin Show''. Before his death in 2001, Theodore became a fan of Olson's first book, ''Encyclopaedia of Hell'' (Feral House, 2011), and wrote a quote for the book cover. Career Olson began writing for comedians before there were any comedy clubs in Boston. As a young man, he sent bat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt, ironic, laconic, or apparently unintentional. Etymology The term ''deadpan'' first emerged early in the 20th century, as a compound word (sometimes spelled as two words) combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It appeared in print as early as 1915, in an article about a former baseball player named Gene Woodburn written by his former manager Roger Bresnahan. Bresnahan described how Woodburn used his skill as a ventriloquist to make his manager and others think they were being heckled from the stands. Woodburn, wrote Bresnahan, "had a trick of what the actors call 'the dead pan.' He never cracked a smile and would be the last man you would suspect was working a trick." George M. Cohan, in a 1908 interview, had alluded t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harvard Square
Harvard Square is a triangular plaza at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street and John F. Kennedy Street near the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The term "Harvard Square" is also used to delineate the business district and Harvard University surrounding that intersection, which is the historic center of Cambridge. Adjacent to Harvard Yard, the historic heart of Harvard University, the Square (as it is sometimes called, locally) functions as a commercial center for Harvard students, as well as residents of western Cambridge, the western and northern neighborhoods and the inner suburbs of Boston. The Square is served by Harvard station, a major MBTA Red Line subway and a bus transportation hub. In an extended sense, the name "Harvard Square" can also refer to the entire neighborhood surrounding this intersection for several blocks in each direction. The nearby Cambridge Common has become a park area with a playground, baseball field, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Nealon
Kevin Nealon (; born November 18, 1953) is an American comedian and actor. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1986 to 1995, acted in several of the Happy Madison films, played Doug Wilson on the Showtime series '' Weeds'', and provided the voice of the title character, Glenn Martin, on ''Glenn Martin, DDS''. Early life and education Nealon was born on November 18, 1953, in St. Louis, Missouri, one of five children of Kathleen M. (née Kimball; 1928–2020) and Emmett F. Nealon (1925–2018), an aircraft company executive. A few months after he was born, the family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut; when he was six, they moved to Germany for four years. He is of Irish descent and was raised Catholic. He graduated from St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Connecticut, in 1971 and earned a bachelor's degree in marketing from Sacred Heart University. He then took night courses at Fairfield University, where he played quarterback on the football team. Career Nealon pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Meaney
Kevin Gerard Meaney (April 23, 1956 – October 21, 2016) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Early life Meaney graduated from Valhalla High School in Westchester County, New York, and attended State University of New York at Morrisville. Career Meaney came to Boston from upstate New York to begin his career in comedy in 1980. He appeared on the A&E Network television series An Evening at the Improv, in 1982. He did stand-up in San Francisco. Meaney had a show called the Sweeney and Meaney Hour at Stitches Comedy Club in Boston. His big break into mainstream culture may be considered to be his first HBO comedy special in 1986, followed by his debut performance on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' in 1987. After that, his act was broadcast several times by HBO, Comedy Central and several network television stations with appearances on ''The Tonight Show'', ''Late Night with David Letterman'', ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee'', ''The Oprah Winfre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Sweeney (comedian)
Steve Sweeney (born September 5, 1949) is an American comedian. Biography Sweeney was born in Charlestown, a section of Boston. His Boston accent and idiosyncratic mannerisms are featured in his stand-up act. He has headlined in several comedy clubs including Caroline's Comedy Club in New York City. A graduate of Charlestown High School, he earned a BA in Theatre Arts at the University of Massachusetts Boston (1974) and an MFA from the University of Southern California. During the early 1970s, a group of Boston comedians regularly performed at a comedy club started by Martin Olson and Barry Crimmins in a back room of Ding-Ho, a Chinese Restaurant near Inman Square in Cambridge, MA. The group included Don Gavin, Lenny Clarke, Kevin Meaney, Jay Leno, Bobcat Goldthwait, Bill Sohonage, and Steven Wright. Sweeney became known for his use of dialects and commentary on the New England political scene in his act. Sweeney had a role on ''Park Street Under'', a Boston-based sitcom whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Leary
Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole (song), Asshole") and through the stand-up specials ''No Cure for Cancer'' (1993) and ''Lock 'n Load (album), Lock 'n Load'' (1997). Leary began taking roles in film and television starting in the 1990s, including substantial roles in the films ''Judgment Night (film), Judgment Night'' (1993), ''Gunmen (1994 film), Gunmen'' (1994), ''Operation Dumbo Drop'' (1995) and ''Wag the Dog'' (1996). In the 2000s, he developed and starred in the television show ''The Job (2001 TV series), The Job'' (2001–2002) and was the star and co-creator of ''Rescue Me (American TV series), Rescue Me'' (2004–2011), for which he received two Primetime Emmy nominations, one for writing and one for acting. He has continued to take starring roles in films, including Captain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Tingle
Jimmy Tingle (born April 9, 1955) is an American comic and occasional actor. Life and career Tingle was the American correspondent for David Frost’s show for PBS and the BBC, ''The Strategic Humor Initiative''. He completed two seasons with '' 60 Minutes II'' on CBS as the humorist/commentator in the Andy Rooney spot. He worked as a contributor and satirist for MSNBC and has appeared on ''Tough Crowd'' with Colin Quinn, ''The Tonight Show'', '' Larry King's Weekend'', and ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', '' The Late Late Show'' with Tom Snyder, ''The American Comedy Awards'', as well as his own HBO comedy special. Tingle appeared as a television talk show host in Chris Rock’s film, ''Head of State''. Other film credits include the role of the neighborhood bartender in ''Next Stop Wonderland'', a priest in '' Boondock Saints'', and a restaurant owner in '' By the Sea''. Tingle also starred in the International Emmy Award-winning documentary on art censorship, ''Damned i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations. Wright was ranked as the 15th Greatest Comedian by ''Rolling Stone'' in its 2017 list of the 50 Greatest Stand-up Comics. His accolades include the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for starring in, writing, and producing the short film ''The Appointments of Dennis Jennings'' (1988) and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations as a producer of '' Louie'' (2010–15). He is known for his supporting role as Leon in the Peabody Award–winning tragicomedy web series ''Horace and Pete''. Early life and career Wright was born at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts, one of four childre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barry Crimmins
Barry Francis Crimmins (July 3, 1953 – February 28, 2018) was an American stand-up comedian, political satirist, activist, author, Air America Radio writer and correspondent, and comedy club owner. Early life Crimmins was born in Kingston, New York, to Margaret Hooe and Phillip "Phil" Crimmins, a traveling salesman. When he was six, his family moved to Skaneateles, New York. After graduating from high school in 1971, he started performing stand-up comedy at Under the Stone and later moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to pursue his comedic career. Career Comedy clubs In 1979, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Crimmins co-founded ''The Ding Ho'' Comedy Club, at a Chinese Restaurant near Inman Square. His productions there included performances by comedians Steven Wright, Paula Poundstone, Bobcat Goldthwait, Kevin Meaney, Jimmy Tingle and many others. In the 1980s, in Boston, Crimmins co-founded the comedy club, ''Stitches''. Writing and comedy Crimmins' satirical writing and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Gavin
Don Gavin is an American stand-up comedian and actor best known for such films and television series as ''Shallow Hal'' and ''Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist ''Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist'' is an American adult animated sitcom that ran on Comedy Central from May 28, 1995 to February 13, 2002. The series starred the voice talents of Jonathan Katz, H. Jon Benjamin, and Laura Silverman. The show w ...''. References External links * * American male comedians 21st-century American comedians American stand-up comedians American male film actors American male voice actors American male television actors Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-comedian-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Alaskey
Joseph Francis Alaskey III (April 17, 1952 – February 3, 2016) was an American actor, voice actor, broadcaster, impressionist and stand-up comedian. Alaskey was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his death. He alternated with Jeff Bergman, Greg Burson, Jim Cummings, Bob Bergen, Maurice LaMarche, and Billy West in voicing Warner Bros. cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Pepé Le Pew, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote and Taz, among many others. He also voiced Plucky Duck on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' from 1990 to 1995. Alaskey was the second actor to voice Grandpa Lou Pickles on the Nickelodeon cartoon ''Rugrats'' (taking over after David Doyle's death in 1997). He voiced Lou again in the ''Rugrats'' spin-off series '' All Grown Up!''. Early life Alaskey was born in Troy, New York, on April 17, 1952 to Joseph Francis Alaskey Jr. and D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
