Jordan Carlos (born February 2, 1978) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

who played a recurring character on ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focu ...

'' and is a co-host on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

kids' show ''

Me TV Me TV (and its variations) is a branding used for the following television entities: * MeTV (Memorable Entertainment Television) a broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting * ME:TV, a former weekday programming block on Nickelodeon, ...

''. He also appeared as a panelist and reporter on '' The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore''.

Career

Early career

Jordan Carlos graduated Brown University in 2001 and began work as a

copywriter Copywriting is the act or occupation of writing text for the purpose of advertising or other forms of marketing. The product, called copy or sales copy, is written content that aims to increase brand awareness and ultimately persuade a person or ...

in a New York ad firm. At night and on weekends Carlos performed

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

. Eventually Carlos abandoned advertising altogether in favor of stand-up although he feels he had trouble finding a niche audience because he "wasn't a stereotypical black man". He learned to use that characteristic as the basis for many of his jokes.

Role on ''The Colbert Report''

On ''

'' Carlos played

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, host

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 t ...

's "black friend". Whenever Colbert discussed

racial issues A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

, he often asked that a picture of him with his African-American co-worker Alan be shown on screen. Colbert sometimes referred to him as "Alan, my black friend Alan". Alan first appeared on a Martin Luther King Day program when Colbert, complaining about having to work on the holiday, brought Alan into the argument, hoping that Alan was angry because he had to work, too. To Colbert's surprise, Alan was not.

On ''The Nightly Show''

Carlos was a writer on '' The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'' and also appeared in sketches and, often, on the panel. His characters include Carlos Jordanson (a

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States senat ...

campaign aide) and

Dennis Rodman Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the best rebounding ...

Other appearances

In 2008, Carlos did

voice work Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non- diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentat ...

for the animated comedy webseries ''Amazing the Lion'' hosted by the Independent Comedy Network. Carlos has appeared as a special guest i
"Episode 253: Chuuch"
of the Keith and the Girl podcast. He also made an appearance in

Nickelback Nickelback is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in 1995 in Hanna, Alberta. It is composed of guitarist and lead vocalist Chad Kroeger, guitarist, keyboardist and backing vocalist Ryan Peake, bassist Mike Kroeger, and drummer Daniel Adai ...

's "

Rockstar Rock Star or Rockstar may refer to: Films * ''Rock Star'' (2001 film), an American film starring Mark Wahlberg * ''Rockstar'' (2011 film), an Indian Hindi-language film by Imtiaz Ali * ''Rockstar'' (2015 film), an Indian Malayalam-language fi ...

" music video and has been a commentator on the E! Network's ''Worst Dating Show Moments''. He made a brief appearance in the buddy cop film ''

Cop Out Cop out or cop-out may refer to: Film and television * '' Cop Out (2010 film)'', a comedy film directed by Kevin Smith * ''Cop-Out'', a film by Lawrence L. Simeone, produced by Kimberley Casey * ''Cop-Out'', the US title for the 1967 UK film '' ...

''. Also, he played the math teacher in the short film
The Old Man and the Seymour
' and he was cast in a main role on the MTV series ''

I Just Want My Pants Back ''I Just Want My Pants Back'' is an American comedy-drama that premiered with a special sneak peek on August 28, 2011 on MTV, with the series airing the new episodes beginning on February 2, 2012. The series is based on David J. Rosen's 2007 novel ...

''. Carlos has also made appearances in

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

.com's original videos. Most recently, he portrayed President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

hosting a barbecue in the video entitled, "Barack Obama's BBQ". Jordan Carlos was a cast member on '' Guy Code,'' '' Guy Court'' and ''

Girl Code ''Girl Code'' is an American comedy television series on MTV that debuted on April 23, 2013 that currently airs through Snapchat Discover. It is a spin-off series to ''Guy Code''. The series features actresses, musicians, stand-up comics—plu ...

''. He also appeared on two episodes in the first season of MTV's "Joking Off". Carlos also provided the voice of Gene on the animated series Super 4, but quit after the second-season premiere to focus more on his comedy-career.

Filmography

Fim

Television

Music videos

Podcasts

References

External links

What's my shtick? Being black. (Editorial)
*
Comedy Central profile

Jordan Carlos
on MTV {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlos, Jordan African-American stand-up comedians American stand-up comedians American male comedians 21st-century American comedians Living people Brown University alumni Greenhill School alumni 21st-century African-American people 1978 births