Robert Ben Garant (born September 14, 1970), credited earlier in his career as Ben Garant, is an American screenwriter, producer, director, actor and comedian. He has a long professional relationship with

Thomas Lennon Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!'' Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major st ...

and

Kerri Kenney-Silver Kerri Kenney-Silver (born January 20, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and musician. She is best known for starring as Trudy Wiegel on the mockumentary series ''Reno 911!'' and previously for her sketch comedy work on MTV ...

from their time on the sketch-comedy show ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

'', the cop show spoof ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American comedy television series airing on Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic actors playing the police officers. Thomas Lennon, Rober ...

'', and numerous screenwriting collaborations.

Early life

Garant was born in

Cookeville, Tennessee Cookeville is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was reported to be 34,842. It is recognized as one of the country's micropolitan areas, or smaller ...

, and grew up in

Farragut, Tennessee Farragut is a suburban town located in Knox and Loudon counties in the State of Tennessee, United States. The town's population was 23,506 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Knoxville Metropolitan Area. The town is named in honor of Hispa ...

. He lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for several years and attended the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. While at NYU he was a member of

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

troupe

Career

Garant was a cast member on the 1993-1995

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

sketch comedy series ''

''. In 2003, Garant,

and

, all members of The State, created the

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

show ''

'', which aired 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 ...

; Garant appeared on the show as Deputy Travis Junior. Garant and Lennon are frequent writing partners, and have written several successful screenplays together, including the ''

Night at the Museum ''Night at the Museum'' is a 2006 fantasy comedy film directed by Shawn Levy and written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. It is based on the 1993 children's book of the same name by Croatian illustrator Milan Trenc. The film had an ensem ...

'' films. Their films have earned over $1.4 billion in box office revenue alone. Garant and Lennon created and starred in a 2010 sitcom pilot for

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 ...

called ''The Strip''. However, it was not ordered as a series. Later in 2010, Garant and Lennon created a pilot for FX called ''USS Alabama'', a

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

/comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama. This pilot was not picked up either. In 2011, Garant and Lennon released a book about their careers called ''Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at The Box Office and You Can Too!'' In 2020, Garant reprised his role as Deputy Travis Junior in the seventh season of ''Reno 911!'' which aired on

Quibi Quibi ( ) was a short-lived American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman, its CEO. The servic ...

. He also appeared in the 2021

Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

movie, ''Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon''. The eighth season of the series, now titled ''Reno 911! Defunded'', premiered on

The Roku Channel The Roku Channel is an American over-the-top video streaming service owned and operated by Roku, Inc., which launched in September 2017. History In September 2017, Roku, Inc. launched a free, ad-supported streaming channel for its digital media ...

in February 2022.

Personal life

Garant currently resides in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. He is married to actress Cathy Shim, and they have two children.

Filmography

* ''

'' (TV) (1993–1995) – co-creator, actor * ''

Viva Variety ''Viva Variety'' is an American sketch comedy series that aired on Comedy Central from April 1997 to December 1999. The series satirizes European variety shows. Overview The show stars Thomas Lennon as Meredith Laupin, Kerri Kenney as the form ...

'' (TV) (1997–1999) – co-creator, actor * ''

'' (TV) (2003–2009, 2020-present) – co-creator, actor, director * ''

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

'' (2004) – writer * ''

The Pacifier ''The Pacifier'' is a 2005 American family action comedy film directed by Adam Shankman, written by Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant and stars Vin Diesel. After a failed rescue mission, Navy SEAL Shane Wolfe is assigned as babysitter to the ...

'' (2005) – writer * '' Herbie: Fully Loaded'' (2005) – writer * ''

Let's Go to Prison ''Let's Go to Prison'' is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk and starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride. The film was loosely based on the non-fiction book, '' You Are Going to Prison'' by Jim Hogshire. It was releas ...

'' (2006) – writer * ''

Balls of Fury ''Balls of Fury'' is a 2007 American sports comedy A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete ( ...

'' (2007) – director, writer * '' Reno 911!: Miami'' (2007) – director, writer, actor * '' Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian'' (2009) – writer, actor * ''

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

'' (TV) (2010) – guest voice actor * ''

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who r ...

'' (TV) (2011) – guest voice actor * ''

Hell Baby ''Hell Baby'' is a 2013 American horror-comedy film written and directed by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. The film stars Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Keegan-Michael Key, Riki Lindhome, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer. Writer-directors Garant and ...

'' (2013) – director, writer, actor * ''

The Aquabats! Super Show! ''The Aquabats! Super Show!'' is an American action-comedy musical television series which aired from March 3, 2012 to January 8, 2014 on The Hub Network and resumed as an independent YouTube web series in September 2019. The series was created ...

'' (2014) - guest voice actor * ''

Jessabelle ''Jessabelle'' is a 2014 American supernatural horror film directed by Kevin Greutert and written by Ben Garant. The film stars Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, Joelle Carter, David Andrews, Amber Stevens, and Ana de la Reguera. The film was release ...

'' (2014) – writer * ''

Rocky and Bullwinkle ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC tele ...

'' - narrator (also writer) * '' Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb'' (2014) – writer * ''

Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ ''Bajillion Dollar Propertie$'' is an American comedy series on the Seeso comedy subscription streaming service. The series, created by Kulap Vilaysack, is a semi-scripted parody of the reality television franchise ''Million Dollar Listing''. ''B ...

'' (2016) – director, actor * '' The Veil'' (2016) – writer * ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bonann, ...

'' (2017) – story writer * ''

Raising Buchanan ''Raising Buchanan'' is a 2019 American comedy film produced by Amanda Melby, Joe Gruberman, Chadwick Struck and Cathy Shim, written and directed by Bruce Dellis. The film stars René Auberjonois in the role of the title character, James Buchana ...

'' (2019) – actor * '' Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank'' (2022) – special thanks * ''Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon'' – actor, director, writer

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garant, Robert Ben 1970 births Living people People from Cookeville, Tennessee Male actors from Tennessee American sketch comedians American male comedians 21st-century American comedians American male film actors American male screenwriters American male television actors American television writers American television directors Tisch School of the Arts alumni Film directors from Tennessee Showrunners American male television writers People from Farragut, Tennessee Comedy film directors Farragut High School alumni Television producers from Tennessee