DJ Hazard (born Dennis Joseph Hanard in 1953) is an American writer, actor, musician and standup comedian.

Early life

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, he grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

and

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast ...

and attended the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and mor ...

, where he studied cartooning, animation, illustration and advertising. He graduated in 1971. His family moved to

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- mo ...

the following year.

Career

In 1979, he became one of the founders of The Ding Ho Comedy Club in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, along with

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 ...

, Steven Wright,

Paula Poundstone Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, interviewer, and commentator. Beginning in the late 1980s, she performed a series of one-hour HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary durin ...

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. ...

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") and throu ...

and others. Throughout the 1980s, DJ Hazard was active in the Boston comedy scene, hosting shows at the Comedy Connection and Play It Again Sam's. He performed under the name DJ Hanard, but legally changed his name to DJ Hazard in 1984 after frequently seeing misspellings of his name. In the late 1980s, he hosted a show called "The Friday Night Comic Strip" on WZLX and in 1989, he was named Comedian of the Year in a '' Boston Herald'' reader's poll. During this time, he was known for taking time to critique and encourage new comedians. In the interview section of the documentary film '' When Stand Up Stood Out'', which explores the Boston comedy scene in the 1980s and 90s,

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released six comedy albums: '' Harmful If Swallowed''; ''Retaliation''; ''Vicious Circle''; '' Rough Around the Edges: Live from Madison Square Garde ...

cites DJ Hazard as being one of the comedians who inspired him to enter standup comedy. In a 2005 interview,

Louis CK Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...

credited Hazard for being his mentor when he first started out. After 14 years as a headliner in Boston comedy, Hazard moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 1994. He returned to Boston a year later, bought a 1985

Nissan Stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have eit ...

and set off on a three-year self-booked tour of North America before returning to Boston in 1998. He moved back to New York City in 2006. He has also performed extensively throughout Canada, including

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. In addition to his stand-up performances, DJ Hazard has released three comedy/music CDs: "Lock Up The Planet When You Leave" (1993), "El Hazardo Rides Again" (2007) and "Man Of Hazardium" (2009). He has also acted in several movies, beginning with the 2004 film '' Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story''. ''.

Personal life

In 1982, he was included in ''Boston Herald'' columnist Norma Nathan's ''Book of Boston's Most Eligible Bachelors''. On June 30, 1991, he and fellow comedian and best friend Rick Jenkins were mistaken for two of America's Most Wanted and held by Federal Agents for the better part of the day until they proved their innocence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazard, DJ American male comedians Male actors from the Bronx Male actors from Queens, New York Writers from New York City American comedy musicians 1953 births Living people High School of Art and Design alumni Comedians from the Bronx Comedians from Queens, New York