Daniel O'Brien (born January 6, 1986), also known as "DOB", is an American humorist, author, writer, actor, comedian and songwriter; formerly for Cracked.com. In August 2018, O'Brien started as a staff writer on the HBO show ''

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ''Last Week Tonight with John Oliver'' (often abridged as ''Last Week Tonight'') is an American news satire late-night talk show hosted by comedian John Oliver. The half-hour-long show premiered in the end of April 2014 on HBO and currently has ...

'', and is currently a senior writer. In 2019 through 2024 he was part of the writing team that won six

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

s for Outstanding Writing on a Variety Series.

Early life

Daniel grew up in

Hazlet, New Jersey Hazlet is a township in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is located near the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region. It is located in the New York Metropolitan Area and is a bedroom community of New York C ...

, where he attended Raritan High School. He later attended

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

in New Jersey. His college job as a bartender was the inspiration for his unpublished online novel, ''Bartender''. His uncle was actor

Skip O'Brien Bernard Francis "Skip" O'Brien (August 20, 1950 – April 6, 2011) was an American actor. Although he appeared in such films as 1997's '' Liar Liar'' and 2007's '' The Hitcher'', he is perhaps best known for his recurring role as Detective R ...

''Cracked'' writer

In 2007, O'Brien started working for Cracked.com as senior writer and editor. O'Brien has written over 200 articles for the site that have been seen more than 50 million times. Starting around 2009, his articles on Cracked were published as a column called "Dan Dan Revolution". O'Brien's writing encompasses a range from politics to pop culture. O'Brien mocked himself, such as in the sketch "Mug of Pens: The Coffee Mug (For Your Pens)", which also became popular on YouTube. He presents a fictional persona as a socially awkward pop culture enthusiast who openly admits to loving fictional characters, including

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...

, far more than his real friends. O'Brien has written about Spider-Man several times, such as "Proposed Script for Spider-Man 4: The Grittiest Reboot Ever", "Why Spider-Man Is a Dick", and "3 Insane Spider-Man Movies You Won't Believe Almost Got Made". On December 4, 2017, after 10 years of working with Cracked, O'Brien tweeted, "I no longer work for Cracked.com." following the extensive staff layoffs at Cracked.

''Agents of Cracked'' and ''Cracked After Hours''

O'Brien and Michael Swaim had become the faces of Cracked, after starring in its many original web series like '' Agents of Cracked'' and '' Cracked After Hours''. ''Agents of Cracked'' premiered in November 2009, and the first 13 episodes were viewed nearly 4 million times. After its first season, the series won the Audience Choice Award at the 2010

Streamy Awards The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wr ...

. ''Agents of Cracked'' was renewed in October 2010 and ran for another 13 episodes, followed the next year by a third season of 10 episodes. To date, the series has been seen more than 20 million times. Some of the material that ends up in the ''Agents of Cracked'' is based on real events, including an incident where Dan is confronted by

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

after writing an article titled "How to Kidnap the President's Daughter." O'Brien also co-wrote, produced and acted in Cracked's series ''Cracked After Hours'', which has been seen more than 15 million times and was the host of Cracked's video series "Obsessive Pop-Culture Disorder" and, as an actor, played secondary characters in various webseries of the site.

Other work

O'Brien continues to work on other projects including home repair and plumbing leaks. In 2012, he revealed an upcoming book entitled ''How To Fight Presidents'', which was purchased by Crown Publishing Group (Random House). This followed such articles as "The 5 Most Badass presidents of All-Time" and "How to Fight Andrew Jackson: The Deadliest President Ever" The book was published March 18, 2014, full title ''How to Fight Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country'' and was illustrated by Winston Rowntree. The book, in addition to analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of every dead president through Reagan, includes a brief summary of their life and term as president and goes into some detail, much of it speculative, concerning the genitals of said presidents. O'Brien uses a conversational tone and breaks the fourth wall repeatedly by referencing himself directly and by praising himself and the book in the third person. He was also a writer and editor on Cracked's ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' bestselling book '' You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News''. He was also featured on the

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

's ''Your Bleeped Up Brain'' and in the music video for "The OCDance!" by

Rachel Bloom Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, singer, writer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015– ...

. In August 2018 O'Brien announced he was hired as a staff writer on the HBO show ''

''. In May 2019 O'Brien launched a free weekly podcast with friend and former Cracked coworker Soren Bowie, called
Quick Question With Soren And Daniel
'' during which they discuss random topics by asking each other questions. O'Brien and his fellow writers for ''

'' have won five Emmys for ' Outstanding Writing on a Variety Series'

References

External links