David Allen, known professionally as Dave (Gruber) Allen is an American television and film actor and comedian, best known for his work on the 1990 TV series ''The Higgins Boys and Gruber'' and playing guidance counselor Jeff Rosso on the

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films '' ...

-produced comedy-drama ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. The show is set in a suburban high school near Detr ...

''. He also played Mr. Kwest on ''

Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' (sometimes shortened to ''Ned's Declassified'') is an American live action sitcom on Nickelodeon that debuted on the Nickelodeon Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series ...

'' and a town troubadour on ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagshi ...

''. Allen had a minor role as an "Electrocuted Ghost" known as "Sparky" in the 2016 film ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and ...

''.

Personal life

Allen was born and raised in

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is in the Chicago metro area, west of the city. Naperville was founded in 1831 by Joseph Naper. The city was ...

. He graduated from

Naperville Central High School Naperville Central High School (Naperville Central or NCHS) is a four-year public high school located in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. The school, which enrolls students in grades nine through twelve, is a part of the Naper ...

, where a classmate gave him the nickname "Groover" which over time changed to "Gruber" and inspired his professional name. His preferred way to be identified professionally is "Dave (Gruber) Allen", with "Gruber" in parentheses.

Career

Allen plays the "Naked Trucker," a character that first appeared as part of a sketch comedy show 2 Headed Dog. In 1998, at the invitation of Largo owner Mark Flannigan, Allen began to appear as the Naked Trucker as a solo act, opening at Largo in L.A. for

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "tenacio ...

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

, and others. The act was an instant success and soon expanded to include

David Koechner David Michael Koechner ( ; born August 24, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing roles such as Champ Kind in the ''Anchorman'' films and Todd Packer on NBC's ''The Office''. Koechner first became involved in perf ...

, who plays "T-Bones." Koechner and Allen starred in ''

The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show ''The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show'' is a live musical comedy act. The pair has performed at the Largo nightclub, an alternative comedy hotspot in Los Angeles. The two "frontmen" of the band, The Naked Trucker and Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons are ...

'' on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

, which was picked up for eight episodes. Allen is a member of comedy group 2 Headed Dog with comedians Jim Turner,

Mark Fite Mark Elliott Fite is an American actor and comedian. Career Fite is a founding member of the comedy group 2 Headed Dog with comedians Jim Turner, Dave Allen, and Craig Anton. He is known for creating roles and performing in comedy shows in ...

, and

Craig Anton Craig Ward Anton (born August 28, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Pettus in ''Lizzie McGuire'' and Lloyd Diffy in ''Phil of the Future''. Early life Anton was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, t ...

. He also made an appearance as a minor character, Mr. Woodward, one of Reese's teachers on the television show ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

''. Allen frequently plays the character "Todd Carlin", a fictional hippie relative of

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American comedian, actor, author, and social critic. Regarded as one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercul ...

. Allen has guest starred on ''

'', where he played a town troubadour, organic farmer, and a de facto minister officiating a wedding. He has been credited in many movies and television roles as Dave (Gruber) Allen and David Gruber Allen. Allen has provided multiple voice performances, such as on animated series ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

'' episodes "Unfortunate Son", "Phish and Wildlife", "Raise the Steaks", and "Bill's House". Allen has also provided his voice in ''

Random! Cartoons ''Random! Cartoons'' is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nicktoons. Much like ''Oh Yeah! Cartoons'', it was created by Fred Seibert and produced by Frederator Incorporated and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on Decemb ...

'' clips. Later on, Allen also played several different characters in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Newsradio ''NewsRadio'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC from March 21, 1995 to May 4, 1999, focusing on the work lives of the staff of a New York City AM news radio station. It had an ensemble cast featuring Dave Foley, Stephen ...

'', and appeared as night school teacher "Randy", teaching basic auto repair and maintenance in the episode "Motor Skills" of the eighth season of the sitcom ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons. It premiered on September 16, 1993, and ended on May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Case ...

''. He has appeared as a hippie on ''

Mr. Show with Bob and David ''Mr. Show with Bob and David'', also known as ''Mr. Show'', is an American sketch comedy series starring and hosted by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. It aired on HBO from November 3, 1995, to December 28, 1998. Cross and Odenkirk introduced m ...

'' and a protester on ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. In 2006, Allen appeared in the Stan and Lois sketch on

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

's comedy album ''Ridiculous'' (released by

Comedy Central Records Comedy Central Records is a record label based in New York and owned by Paramount Global. The label specializes in stand-up comedy albums and is distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. The label has r ...

). In November 2008, Allen appeared as "Todd"—and was credited as "Todd Carlin"—in the

Cinematic Titanic Cinematic Titanic was a project by ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') creator and original host, Joel Hodgson. The project involved "riffing" B-movies, in a manner similar to that of ''MST3K''. Joining Hodgson were some of the original '' ...

episode "

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' is a 1964 American science fiction comedy film directed by Nicholas Webster, produced and written by Paul L. Jacobson, based on a story by Glenville Mareth, that stars John Call as Santa Claus. It also feat ...

" during the pre-movie sequence, introducing the movie to the crew. Additionally, Allen has been touring periodically at live shows with Cinematic Titanic, performing his stand-up routine. In 2010, Allen was featured as a sci-fi author in season two of ''

Party Down ''Party Down'' is an American sitcom created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas (writer), Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge and Paul Rudd that aired on the Starz network in the United States in 2009 and 2010. The series follows a group of c ...

'' and made a cameo in the film ''

The Mother of Invention ''The Mother of Invention'' is a 2009 American mockumentary-style comedy film directed by Joseph M. Petrick and Andrew Bowser, with screenplay by Petrick. The film stars Jimmi Simpson, Kevin Corrigan, Mark Boone Junior, Dee Wallace, Craig Anton, Ru ...

'' as Dr. Henry Miller. In 2011, Allen had a small role in the movie ''

Bad Teacher ''Bad Teacher'' is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Jake Kasdan from a screenplay by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins and Jason Segel, the film tells the ...

''. In 2012, Allen played the salesman of a futuristic elder care center in "Life Begins at Rewirement," an episode of the

ITVS ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly seri ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

sci-fi series ''Futurestates''. He also appeared in a recurring role on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

series ''

Mike & Molly ''Mike & Molly'' is an American television sitcom created by Mark Roberts on CBS. It premiered on September 20, 2010, and aired 127 episodes over six seasons. The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the eponymous Mike and Molly, ...

''. Allen also provided the voice of Frostferatu, among several other characters, in

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

's ''

Mighty Magiswords Mighty may refer to: * ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album) * ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album) * ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film *''The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film * ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title *Th ...

'' episodes "Share and Share Dislike", "Hideous Hound", "Transylbabies", "Collection Infection", and "King of Zombeez", created by ''MooBeard the Cow Pirate'' creator, Kyle A. Carrozza. In 2017, Allen appeared as the recurring character Dave the Taxidermist in

's '' Trial & Error''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Interview with Allen & partner David Koechner
on public radio program

The Sound of Young America ''Bullseye with Jesse Thorn'' (formerly ''The Sound of Young America'') is a public radio program and podcast based in Los Angeles, California, and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). The weekly show is currently heard on over 50 public r ...

Dave Allen
at live Cinematic Titanic shows, performing standup and discussing his preferred method of writing his name (using parenthesis rather than quotation marks).
Dave Allen
in Life Begins at Rewirement * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dave American male comedians American comedy musicians American male film actors American male television actors American television writers American male television writers Living people 1958 births Writers from Naperville, Illinois Screenwriters from Illinois Comedians from Illinois