Dannah Phirman (born Dannah Feinglass) is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known for co-starring as Narge Hemingway in the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

series ''

Newsreaders ''Newsreaders'' is an American television comedy that aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. ''Newsreaders'' is a spin-off of ''Childrens Hospital'', presented as the fictional television news magazine program ''Ne ...

''. She is also the co-creator and co-star of the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

reality TV parody series ''

The Hotwives ''The Hotwives'' is an American sitcom that premiered on July 15, 2014, on the video streaming website Hulu. Developed by Paramount Digital Entertainment as a parody of ''The Real Housewives'' reality television franchise broadcast on Bravo, th ...

''. She was a member of the long-running sketch comedy troupe Respecto Montalban, one of the original improv groups at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

Biography

Phirman majored in theater at

SUNY Geneseo The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo State College or, colloquially, "Geneseo") is a public liberal arts college in Geneseo, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. The colle ...

and graduated in 1997. After moving to

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 ...

in 1998 she became involved with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater where she was a part of the improv sketch group Respecto Montalban. Phirman teaches sketch comedy writing and improv, and has performed in two-person shows like ''Eye Candy'' (with

Danielle Schneider Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series ''The Hotwives'' and current ...

), which went to the 2002

U.S. Comedy Arts Festival The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component call ...

in Aspen, and ''Special Delivery'' (with

Paul Scheer Paul Christian Scheer (born January 31, 1976) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster. Scheer is a SAG award-winning actor known for his roles in Showtime's comedy series '' Black Monday'' and FX/ FXX's ''The ...

), a parody of a British children's show in which postal workers rummage through people's mail in search of heartwarming lessons and edibles. She and Scheer won a 2004 Nightlife Award for ''Automatic Vaudeville'', called "the best

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a co ...

" by '' Time Out New York''. She has since collaborated with creative partner

on other sketch shows such as ''Let's Get Awkward'' and ''Dead Heiresses'' at the

Los Angeles 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 ...

UCB, as well as a five-woman improv show ''Mother F#$@er''. ''Dead Heiresses'' was also developed as a pilot for Comedy Central in 2007.

Acting

Dannah Phirman was a cast member on Fox’s MADtv from 2000-2001, where she notably portrayed

Angelina Jolie Angelina Jolie (; born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress, filmmaker, humanitarian and former Special Envoy to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award ...

, Debi Mazar,

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

and

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

. Phirman is also a voice actress, providing the voice of the title character as well as her alter ego, Becky Botsford, in the

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Inste ...

animated series, '' WordGirl'',Penny, the side-kick to

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...

's Bessie Higgenbottom in

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

's ''

The Mighty B! ''The Mighty B!'' (stylized in all caps) is an American animated television series created by Amy Poehler, Cynthia True, and Erik Wiese for Nickelodeon. The series centers on Bessie Higgenbottom, an ambitious Honeybee girl scout who believes ...

'',Zaria on the Nickelodeon original series, ''

Tak and the Power of Juju ''Tak and the Power of Juju'' is an action-adventure platforming video game developed by Avalanche Software and published by THQ for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The game was released in North America on October 15, 2003 and ...

'', was a contributing voice to

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smal ...

's '' SuperNews!'' show and has recently provided voices for the video game ''

Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...

'' as well as '' White Knight Chronicles: International Edition''.

Writing

Phirman has written episodes of '' WordGirl'' and ''

'', and the direct-to-video sequel to ''

Beverly Hills Chihuahua ''Beverly Hills Chihuahua'' is a 2008 American comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the first in the ''Beverly Hills Chihuahua'' series. It is directed by Raja Gosnell and was released on October 3, 2008. The films stars Piper Perabo, Ja ...

'' with her writing partner

. Phirman and Schneider are currently working on scripts for the upcoming movies ''Catfight'' for

New Line Cinema New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...

and ''

Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks at Them "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them!" is a slogan on a T-shirt by Florida clothing company David and Goliath which in 2003 became the subject of a campaign by radio-host and men's rights activist Glenn Sacks on the grounds of misandry and the ...

'' for

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

. Phirman and Schneider created the

reality TV parody series ''

'' and were writers on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcoms '' Marry Me'' and ''

Telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

''. In 2017, Phirman and Schneider worked as writers and producers on ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Char ...

'' as well as on the

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that ...

sitcom '' I'm Sorry''.

Personal life

Dannah (pronounced "Donna") is married to musical comedian Mike Phirman (the "Phirm" half of the comedy duo

Hard 'n Phirm Hard 'n Phirm was a comedy/parody musical duo based in Los Angeles. The members are Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman. They began performing at UCLA in 1994, but broke up in 1997, to reform 7 years later. After the success of their song "Rode ...

). Their son Milo Phirman was born on September 4, 2009.

Filmography

*''

The Fairly OddParents ''The Fairly OddParents'' is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of Timmy Turner, a 10-year-old boy with two fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda who grant him ...

'' - Missy *'' Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' - Xiao Niao *''

'' - Penny *'' My Gym Partner's A Monkey'' - Possum Girl *''

Phineas and Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as ...

'' - Teenage Milly ("Act Your Age") *''

'' - Zaria *''

'' - Avina *'' WordGirl'' - WordGirl/Becky Botsford, Claire McCallister, Chuck the Evil Sandwich Making Guy's Mother, Edith Von Hoosinghaus, Pretty Princess (season 1-8), Female Police Officers *''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reuni ...

'' - various characters (credited as Dannah Feinglass) *''

White Knight Chronicles ''White Knight Chronicles'' is a fantasy role-playing video game developed by Level-5 and Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is Level-5's first project for the system. As of August 8, 2009 it has s ...

'' - Yulie *''

White Knight Chronicles II ''White Knight Chronicles II'' is a video game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan and Europe and by D3 Publisher in North America for the PlayStation 3. The game is a direct sequel to ''White Knight Chronicl ...

'' - Yulie *'' Talking Tom and Friends'' - Ben's Mom, Mother, Moon *'' Childrens Hospital'' (TV series) - Appalled Mom *'' Pencilmation'' - Pencilmiss Brett (2012-2020) *''The Northside Show'' - Pencilmiss Brett (primarily season 9) *''My Life'' - Additional Voices

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phirman, Dannah Living people Actresses from New York (state) American infotainers American sketch comedians American television actresses American television personalities American television writers American voice actresses Place of birth missing (living people) American women comedians American women screenwriters American women television personalities American women television writers Comedians from New York (state) Jewish American actresses Jewish American comedians Jewish American female comedians Jewish American writers People from Long Island State University of New York at Geneseo alumni Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American screenwriters Year of birth missing (living people)