Feature documentary about humor and the Holocaust, examining whether it is ever acceptable to use humor in connection with a tragedy of that scale, and the implications for other seemingly off-limits topics in a society that prizes free speech.
04-18-2016
1h 29m
THIS
HELLA
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Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Ferne Pearlstein
Writers:
Robert Edwards, Ferne Pearlstein
Production:
Tangerine Entertainment
Key Crew
Producer:
Anne Hubbell
Editor:
Ferne Pearlstein
Supervising Sound Editor:
Steve Giammaria
Cinematography:
Ferne Pearlstein
Producer:
Amy Hobby
Locations and Languages
Country:
US
Filming:
US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Her comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics, including racism, sexism, homophobia, politics, and religion, sometimes having her comic character endorse them in a satirical or deadpan fashion. She has won two Primetime Emmy Awards for her work on television.
Silverman was a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live, and she starred in and produced The Sarah Silverman Program, which ran from 2007 to 2010 on Comedy Central, for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She released an autobiography The Bedwetter in 2010. She also appeared in other television programs, such as Mr. Show and V.I.P. and starred in films, including Who's the Caboose? (1997), School of Rock (2003), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) and Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). In 2015, she starred in the drama I Smile Back, for which she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
During the 2016 election, she became increasingly politically active; she initially campaigned for Bernie Sanders but later spoke in support of Hillary Clinton at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. She hosted the Hulu streaming television late-night talk show I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman from 2017 until late 2018.
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Melvin Brooks (né Kaminsky, born June 28, 1926) is an American filmmaker, comedian, actor and composer. He is known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. Brooks began his career as a comic and a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows. He became well known as part of the comedy duo with Carl Reiner in the comedy skit The 2000 Year Old Man. He also created, with Buck Henry, the hit television comedy series Get Smart, which ran from 1965 to 1970.
In middle age, Brooks became one of the most successful film directors of the 1970s, with many of his films being among the top 10 moneymakers of the year they were released. His best-known films include The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. A musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers, ran on Broadway from 2001 to 2007.
In 2001, having previously won an Emmy, a Grammy and an Oscar, he joined a small list of EGOT winners with his Tony award for The Producers. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010, the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award in June 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in March 2015, a National Medal of Arts in September 2016, and a BAFTA Fellowship in February 2017. Three of his films ranked in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 comedy films of the past 100 years (1900–2000), all of which ranked in the top 15 of the list: Blazing Saddles at number 6, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13.
Brooks was married to Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft from 1964 until her death in 2005.
Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom All in the Family (1971–1979), a performance that earned him two Primetime Emmy Awards.
As a director, Reiner was recognized by the Directors Guild of America Awards with nominations for the coming of age drama Stand by Me (1986), the romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally... (1989), and the military courtroom drama A Few Good Men (1992), the last of which also earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He has also received four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director.
Reiner's other major directorial film credits include the heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984), the romantic comedy fantasy adventure The Princess Bride (1987), the psychological horror-thriller Misery (1990), the romantic comedy-drama The American President (1995), the buddy comedy-drama The Bucket List (2007), and the biographical political drama LBJ (2016).
Reiner also appeared in a number of his films and various others, including Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Bullets Over Broadway (1994), The First Wives Club (1996), Primary Colors (1998), EDtv (1999), and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).
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David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American actor, writer and stand-up comedian perhaps best known for his work on HBO's sketch comedy series Mr. Show and for his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox sitcom Arrested Development.
Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, stand-up comedian, director, screenwriter, and author. During the early years of television comedy from 1950 to 1957, he acted on and contributed sketch material for Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, starring Sid Caesar, writing alongside Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen. Reiner teamed up with Brooks and together they released several iconic comedy albums beginning with 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1960). Reiner was best known as the creator and producer of, and a writer and actor on, The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1965).
Reiner formed a comedy duo with Brooks in "The 2000 Year Old Man" and acted in such films as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966), and the Ocean's film series (2001–2007). He co-wrote and directed some of Steve Martin's first and most successful films, including The Jerk (1979), and also directed such comedies as Where's Poppa? (1970), Oh, God! (1977), and All of Me (1984). Reiner appeared in dozens of television specials from 1967 to 2000, and was a guest star on television series from the 1950s until his death. He also voiced characters in animated films and television series, including the TV series Father of the Pride (2004–2005), in which he voiced Sarmoti, and was a reader for books on tape. He wrote more than two dozen books, mostly in his later years.
He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Emmy Awards, one Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Etgar Keret (born August 20, 1967) is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television.
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Susan "Susie" Essman (born May 31, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, television producer, and voice artist. She is best known for her roles as Susie Greene on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Bobbi Wexler on Broad City, and as the voice of Mittens in Bolt.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Larry Charles (born February 20, 1956) is an American writer, director, and producer. He is best known as a staff writer for the American sitcom Seinfeld for its first 5 seasons, contributing some of the show's darkest and most absurd storylines. He has also directed the films Borat, Religulous, Brüno, and The Dictator.
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Harry Julius Shearer (born December 23, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer, voice artist, musician, author, radio host and director. He is known for his long-running role on The Simpsons, his work on Saturday Night Live, the comedy band Spinal Tap and his radio program Le Show. Born in Los Angeles, California, Shearer began his career as a child actor, appearing in The Jack Benny Program, as well as the 1953 films Abbott and Costello Go to Mars and The Robe. In 1957, Shearer played the precursor to the Eddie Haskell character in the pilot episode for the television series Leave It to Beaver, but his parents decided not to let him continue in the role so that he could have a normal childhood. From 1969 to 1976, Shearer was a member of The Credibility Gap, a radio comedy group. Following the break up of the group, Shearer co-wrote the film Real Life with Albert Brooks and started writing for Martin Mull's television series Fernwood 2 Night. In August 1979, Shearer was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live. Shearer describes his experience on the show as a "living hell" and he did not get along well with the other writers and cast members. He left the show in 1980. Shearer co-created, co-wrote and co-starred in the 1984 film This Is Spinal Tap, a satirical rockumentary about a band called Spinal Tap. Shearer portrayed Derek Smalls, the bassist, and Michael McKean and Christopher Guest played the other two members. The film became a cult hit and the band has since released several albums and played several concerts. While promoting the film, Shearer was offered the chance to return to Saturday Night Live. He accepted, but left the show for good in January 1985 after just three months into the season. Since 1983, Shearer has been the host of the public radio comedy/music program Le Show on Santa Monica's NPR-affiliated radio station, KCRW. The program, a hodgepodge of satirical news commentary, music, and sketch comedy, is carried on many public radio stations throughout the United States. In 1989, Shearer became a part of the cast of The Simpsons. He was initially reluctant because he thought the recording sessions would be too much trouble. He felt voice acting was "not a lot of fun" because traditionally, voice actors record their parts separately. He provides voices for numerous characters, including Mr. Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Reverend Timothy Lovejoy, Kent Brockman, Dr. Hibbert, Lenny Leonard, Principal Skinner, Otto Mann and Rainier Wolfcastle. Shearer has been vocal about what he perceives as the show's declining quality. In 2004, he said "I rate the last three seasons as among the worst." Shearer also directed the 2002 film Teddy Bears' Picnic and appeared in several films, including A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration and Godzilla. Shearer has written three books, Man Bites Town, It's the Stupidity, Stupid, and Not Enough Indians. He has been married to singer-songwriter Judith Owen since 1993. He has received several Primetime Emmy Award and Grammy Award nominations and in 2008 it was announced that Shearer would receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the radio category.
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Lisa Lampanelli, often referred to as Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean, is an American stand-up comedian and insult comic. She is noted for her racy and raunchy style of comedy, which frequently includes taboo subjects such as race and homosexuality.
Jay Scott Greenspan, better known by his professional name of Jason Alexander, is an American actor, writer, comedian, television director and producer, and singer. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on the television series Seinfeld, appearing in the sitcom from 1989 to 1998. He also has had an active career on the stage, appearing in several Broadway musicals including Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, for which he won the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical. He appeared in the Los Angeles production of The Producers with Martin Short. He is the Artistic Director of "Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles," where he has directed several musicals. Alexander is also an avid poker player.
Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, comedian, writer, musician, and playwright. Allen's distinctive films, which run the gamut from dramas to screwball sex comedies, have made him a notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of work. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest. Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a celebrated jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper, and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man Blues.
John Banner (Height: 6 feet 1 inch [1.85 meters]), born Johann Banner on January 28, 1910, was an Austrian-American actor who achieved lasting fame for his portrayal of the bumbling German Sergeant Hans Schultz in the beloved sitcom Hogan's Heroes (1965-1971).
Banner was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine). He studied acting at the prestigious Reinhardt Seminar and began his career on the Viennese stage. In 1938, with the rise of the Nazis, Banner, a Jew, fled Austria for the United States.
After arriving in America, Banner struggled to find work in his chosen profession. He took on odd jobs to make ends meet while continuing to pursue his passion for acting. Eventually, he began landing small roles in Hollywood films, often playing stereotypical Germans.
In 1965, Banner landed the role of Sergeant Schultz in the CBS sitcom Hogan's Heroes. The show was set in a German prisoner-of-war camp during World War II and followed the exploits of a group of American officers led by Colonel Robert Hogan (Bob Crane). Banner's portrayal of Schultz, the guard who was always "seeing nothing" and "hearing nothing" while the prisoners tunneled out of the camp or conducted other escapades, was a comedic highlight of the show.
Banner's comedic timing and delivery of the catchphrases "I see nothing!" and "I know nothing!" endeared him to audiences around the world. He remained with the show for its entire six-season run, becoming synonymous with the role of Sergeant Schultz.
After Hogan's Heroes ended in 1971, Banner continued to act, appearing in guest roles on various television shows. He also returned to the stage, performing in a number of productions.
In 1973, Banner died of a heart attack while visiting Vienna. He was 63 years old.
Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Aladeen. He adopts a variety of accents and guises for his characters and interacts with unsuspecting subjects who do not realise they have been set up. At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award and accepted the award in-character as Ali G. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. In 2018, The Times named him among the 30 best living comedians.
Baron Cohen has produced and/or performed in comedic films such as Ali G Indahouse (2002), Borat (2006) and its sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Brüno (2009), and The Dictator (2012). He has also appeared in dramatic films including Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Martin Scorsese's Hugo (2011), Tom Hooper's Les Misérables (2012), and Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He made a cameo as a BBC News anchor in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013). In 2016, he appeared in the comedy film Grimsby and co-starred in the fantasy sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. His voice acting roles include King Julien XIII in the Madagascar film series (2005–2012) and Uncle Ugo in Luca (2021).
Beginning his career in television, Baron Cohen was named Best Newcomer at the 1999 British Comedy Awards for The 11 O'Clock Show. He created and starred in Da Ali G Show (2000–2004), receiving two BAFTA Awards. His next television project, Who Is America? (2018) for Showtime, saw him nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy. In 2019, he portrayed Eli Cohen in the limited series The Spy for OCS and Netflix, for which he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film.
Baron Cohen has two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, three Golden Globe Award nominations, resulting in two wins for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his work in the feature film Borat and its sequel. In 2021, he received Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for his performance as Abbot "Abbie" Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the Actors Branch since 2008. After the release of Borat, Baron Cohen said he would retire Borat and Ali G because the public had become too familiar with the characters. After the release of Brüno, he said he would retire that character. However, the character of Borat was brought back for the 2020 sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.
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Roberto Benigni, (born October 27, 1952, Misericordia, Arezzo, Italy), Italian actor and director known for his comedic work, most notably La vita è bella (1997; Life Is Beautiful), for which he won an Academy Award for best actor.
Benigni was the son of a poor tenant farmer who had worked in a German forced-labour camp during World War II. The elder Benigni used humour in retelling his experiences, which helped shape his son’s comedic skill. Benigni briefly attended a Jesuit seminary in Florence, and, after a stint as a magician’s assistant, he joined an underground theatre group in the late 1960s.
Jack Benny (February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film. Widely recognized as one of the leading American entertainers of the 20th century, Benny played the role of the comic penny-pinching miser, insisting on remaining 39 years old on stage despite his actual age, and often playing the violin badly.
Benny was known for his comic timing and his ability to get laughs with either a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated "Well!" His radio and television programs, tremendously popular from the 1930s to the 1960s, were a foundational influence on the situation comedy genre. Dean Martin, on the celebrity roast for Johnny Carson in November 1973, introduced Benny as "the Satchel Paige of the world of comedy."
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Leonard Alfred Schneider, better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-style and critical form of comedy which integrated satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. Branded a "sick comic", Bruce was essentially blacklisted from television, and when he did appear these performances was facilitated by fans like Hugh Hefner and Steve Allen. In 1951, Bruce met Honey Harlow, a stripper from Manila, Arkansas. They were married that same year, and Bruce was determined she would end her work as a stripper. Throughout the final decade of his life, Bruce was beset by severe drug addiction.
Louis Székely, known professionally as Louis C. K., is an American stand-up comedian, Emmy-winning television and film writer, actor, producer, and director from Boston, Massachusetts.
George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums. Carlin was noted for his black humor as well as his thoughts on politics, the English language, psychology, religion, and various taboo subjects. Carlin and his "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine were central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a narrow 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves.
The first of his fourteen stand-up comedy specials for HBO was filmed in 1977. In the 1990s and 2000s, Carlin's routines focused on socio-cultural criticism of modern American society. He often commented on contemporary political issues in the United States and satirized the excesses of American culture. His final HBO special, It's Bad for Ya, was filmed less than four months before his death.
In 2004, Carlin placed second on the Comedy Central list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians of all time, ahead of Lenny Bruce and behind Richard Pryor. He was a frequent performer and guest host on The Tonight Show during the three-decade Johnny Carson era, and hosted the first episode of Saturday Night Live. In 2008, he was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
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David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle was born on August 24, 1973 in Washington, D.C. He is a comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer and actor. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His first lead role in a film was in Half Baked in 1998. In 2003, he became widely known for his popular sketch comedy television series, Chappelle's Show, which ran until 2006. Comedy Central ranked him forty-third in its list of the 100 greatest stand-up comedians
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an Academy Award-winning actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age 21. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the epic historical film Gladiator (2000), for which he won an Academy Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, Empire Award, and London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actor, along with 10 other nominations in the same category.
His other award-winning performances include tobacco firm whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand in the drama film The Insider (1999) and mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. in the biopic A Beautiful Mind (2001). He has also starred in films such as the drama Romper Stomper (1992), the mystery-detective thriller L.A. Confidential (1997), the epic war film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), the biographical boxing drama Cinderella Man (2005), the western 3:10 to Yuma (2007), the crime drama American Gangster (2007), the thriller-drama State of Play (2009), and Robin Hood (2010).
He later starred as Javert in the musical drama Les Misérables (2012), Jor-El in the superhero epic Man of Steel (2013), Noah in the biblical fantasy drama Noah (2014), Jackson Healy in the action comedy The Nice Guys (2016), Jekyll / Hyde in The Mummy (2017), Marshall Eamons in Boy Erased (2018), the psychotic Man in Unhinged (2018), Jake Foley in Poker Face (2022), Zeus Panhellenios in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and Nikolai Kravinoff in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Kraven the Hunter (2023).
In 2014, he made his directorial debut with the drama The Water Diviner, in which he also starred. He has earned various accolades, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two Golden Globe Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and an Academy Award out of three consecutive nominations (1999, 2000, and 2001). He has been the co-owner of the National Rugby League (NRL) team South Sydney Rabbitohs since 2006.
Producer, writer, actor. Born July 2, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York. David attended the University of Maryland and started doing stand-up comedy in New York night clubs in 1974. In 1979, he was hired to write and perform for the comedy variety show Fridays, which was modelled after Saturday Night Live. He stayed with the show until 1982 when he was hired as a writer for Saturday Night Live, where he worked for a year.
In 1989, David received a call from fellow New York comedian Jerry Seinfeld who was working with NBC to develop a comedy pilot. Together, they developed the legendary "show about nothing" starring Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. Though not initially successful, Seinfeld would become one of the most successful and influential shows in television history. With a talented cast and daring story lines, the show won legions of loyal fans. According to David, the character of George Costanza was modelled after himself, a cheap, neurotic and ultimately selfish bald man.
David wrote and produced Seinfeld until 1996, when he left the show to pursue feature screenwriting. He returned for the season finale in 1998 and made frequent guest appearances throughout the show's run. David also acted in bit roles in Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987) and New York Stories (1989). In 1998, David wrote and directed the feature film Sour Grapes, an irreverent look at the pitfalls of wealth and greed.
The following year, David proved his Midas touch once again when he created the hugely successful semi-scripted series Curb Your Enthusiasm for HBO. Originally airing as a special, the show featured David playing himself as a nervous stand-up comic returning to do a television special after a long absence from the stage. The popularity of the special resulted in a weekly HBO series. Partially improvised, the show proved to be another groundbreaking television experiment winning a Golden Globe in 2003 for Best Comedy Series.
David married Laurie Lennard in 1993. The couple has two daughters.
Warwick Ashley Davis is an English actor, television presenter, writer, director, comedian, and producer. He played the title characters in Willow and the Leprechaun film series, the Ewok Wicket in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook in the Harry Potter films. Wikipedia
James Thomas Fallon, Jr. (born September 18, 1974) is an American actor, television host, “comedian”, singer, and musician. He currently hosts NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show. Prior to that, he was best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998–2004, as well as appearing in several films.
Ricky Dene Gervais (born June 25, 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, musician and writer.
Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, Gervais also played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. Gervais has also starred in a number of Hollywood films, assuming leading roles in Ghost Town and The Invention of Lying. He has performed on four sell-out stand-up comedy tours, written the best-selling Flanimals book series and starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the most downloaded podcast in the world as of March 2009, The Ricky Gervais Show.
He has won a multitude of awards and honours, including seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and the 2006 Rose d'Or, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2007 he was voted the 11th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 3rd greatest stand-up comic. In 2010 he was named on the TIME 100 list of the world's most influential people. Gervais hosted both the 2010 and 2011 Golden Globe Awards.
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani (born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989.
Giuliani led the 1980s federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. After a failed campaign for Mayor of New York City in the 1989 election, he succeeded in 1993, and was reelected in 1997, campaigning on a "tough on crime" platform. He led New York's controversial "civic cleanup" from 1994 to 2001. Mayor Giuliani appointed an outsider, William Bratton, as New York City's new police commissioner. In an effort to reform the police department's administration and policing practices, they applied the broken windows theory. The theory states that social disorder, like disrepair and vandalism, attracts loitering addicts, panhandlers, prostitutes, and criminals. Accordingly, Giuliani removed panhandlers and sex clubs from Times Square. As crime rates fell steeply, well ahead of the national average pace, Giuliani was widely credited, though later critics cite other contributing factors. In 2000, he ran against First Lady Hillary Clinton for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, but left the race once diagnosed with prostate cancer. For his mayoral leadership after the September 11 attacks in 2001, he was called "America's mayor" and was named Time magazine's Person of the Year for 2001.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barry Gordon (born December 21, 1948) is an American film, television and voice actor and political talk show host and producer. He was the longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild, having served from 1988 to 1995.
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David Michael Hasselhoff (born July 17, 1952), nicknamed "The Hoff," is an American actor, singer, producer and businessman. He is best-known for his lead roles as Michael Knight in the popular 1980s US series Knight Rider and as L.A. County Lifeguard Mitch Buchannon in the series Baywatch. Hasselhoff also produced Baywatch for a number of seasons in the 1990s up until 2001, when the series ended with Baywatch Hawaii. Hasselhoff also crossed over to a music career during the end of the 1980s and the early 1990s. He was noted for his performance at the Berlin Wall at New Year's Eve 1989; he enjoyed a short lived success as a singer primarily in German-speaking Europe. More recently, Hasselhoff has been involved with talent shows such as NBC's America's Got Talent from 2006–2009. Hasselhoff was the first celebrity eliminated from the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars, on September 21, 2010. Hasselhoff left the America's Got Talent judging panel after the 2009 season, but later joined the Britain's Got Talent judging panel, alongside Amanda Holden and Michael McIntyre in 2011. He appeared as himself in the live action/CGI-animated film "Hop" in 2011.
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Cheryl Hines is an American actress and television director, best known for her role as Larry David's wife Cheryl on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2009 she made her directorial debut at the Tribeca Film Festival with Serious Moonlight.
Jerome Lester "Jerry" Horwitz, better known by his stage name Curly Howard, was an American comedian and vaudevillian. He is best known as a member of the American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges, along with his older brothers Moe Howard and Shemp Howard, and actor Larry Fine. Curly is generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges. He is well known for his high-pitched voice, vocal expressions ("nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!","woo-woo-woo!", and barking like a dog), as well as his inventive physical comedy, improvisations, and athleticism.
Moses Harry Horwitz, known professionally as Moe Howard, was an American comedian best known as the leader of The Three Stooges, the farce comedy team who starred in motion pictures and television for four decades. His distinctive hairstyle came about when he was a boy and cut off his curls with a pair of scissors, producing a ragged shape approximating a helmet or bowl.
Jay Johnston (born October 22, 1968) is an American actor and comedian best known for his work as a writer and cast member on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show and for playing the role of Officer Jay McPherson on The Sarah Silverman Program.
On October 28, 2024, Johnston, who was arrested in 2023 for his participation in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, pled guilty to a felony offense of obstructing officers during a civil disorder in July. As a result, Johnston has been sentenced to 12 months and a day in federal prison.
Colin Jost was born on June 29, 1982 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA as Colin Kelly Jost. He is a writer and actor, known for Saturday Night Live (1975), How to Be Single (2016) and ID Theft.
Werner Klemperer was an American actor. He was known for playing Colonel Wilhelm Klink on the CBS television sitcom Hogan's Heroes, for which he twice won the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards in 1968 and 1969
Jerry Lewis (March 16, 1926 - August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, film producer, writer, film director and singer. He is best-known for his slapstick humor in stage, radio, screen, recording and television. Lewis is also known for his charity fund-raising telethons and position as national chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Lewis won several awards for lifetime achievements from The American Comedy Awards, The Golden Camera, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and The Venice Film Festival, and he has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kenneth Mars (April 4, 1935 – February 12, 2011) was an American actor. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in The Producers (1967) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in Young Frankenstein (1974). He also appeared in Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up Doc? (1972), and Woody Allen's Radio Days (1987), and Shadows and Fog (1991).
Mars appeared in two seasons of Malcolm in the Middle as Otto Mannkusser, Francis's well-meaning but dimwitted boss and a German immigrant who owns a dude ranch. He voiced King Triton, Ariel's father, in the 1989 Disney animated film The Little Mermaid and its sequel, as well as its companion television series, and the Kingdom Hearts series. He also did several other animated voice-over film roles such as Littlefoot's grandfather in the Land Before Time series (up to 2008) and that of Professor Screweyes in We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), and King Colbert (Prince Cornelius's father) in Thumbelina (1994).
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Barney Martin (March 3, 1923 – March 21, 2005) was an American actor. He is best-known for playing Morty Seinfeld, father of Jerry, on the famous sitcom Seinfeld.
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Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers.He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigars, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows.
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Stephen Merchant is a British writer, director, radio presenter, stand-up comedian, and actor, best known for his work on The Office, Extras, and The Ricky Gervais Show.
Lorne Michaels CC (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the Late Night series (since 1993), The Kids in the Hall (from 1989 to 1995) and The Tonight Show (since 2014).
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He was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and educated at Saint Patrick's College, Ballymena Technical College and Queen's University Belfast. He moved to Dublin after university to further his acting career, joining the renowned Abbey Theatre. In the early 1990s, he moved again to the United States, where the wide acclaim for his performance in Schindler's List led to more high-profile work. He is widowed and lives in New York with his two sons.
An Irish actor who has been nominated for an Oscar, a BAFTA and three Golden Globe Awards. He has starred in a number of notable roles including Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List, Michael Collins in Michael Collins, Peyton Westlake in Darkman, Jean Valjean in Les Misérables, Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Alfred Kinsey in Kinsey, Ras Al Ghul in Batman Begins and the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. He has also starred in several other notable films, from major Hollywood studio releases (ie. Excalibur, The Dead Pool, Nell, Rob Roy, The Haunting, Love Actually, Kingdom of Heaven, Taken, Clash of the Titans, The A-Team, Unknown) to smaller arthouse films (ie. Deception, Breakfast on Pluto, Chloe).
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Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. He is known for being the host of the late night shows: Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993-2009), The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien (2009-2010) and Conan (2010-2021), he is currently the host of the podcast Conan O'Brien needs a friend.
O'Brien was born in Brookline, Massachusetts and raised in an Irish Catholic family. He landed his first comedy job as a writer for the sketch comedy series Not Necessarily the News, after first serving as president of the Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles, where he wrote for several comedy shows, and later moved to New York City to work on the writing staff of Saturday Night Live, and later for The Simpsons. O'Brien went on to serve as host of Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to 2009, before going on to host the short-lived The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien for seven months. He is the only personality to ever serve as host for both the NBC Late Night and Tonight Show franchises.
In 2010, it was announced that O'Brien would begin hosting a new late-night talk show on TBS called Conan, which ran from 2018 to 2021. During the time this show was in hiatus, he started the podcast Conan O'Brien needs a friend, which he hosts with his producer Matt Gourley and his assistant Sona Movsesian. Besides this, Conan also starred in Conan O'Brien Must Go, a series on Max in which he visits countries from around the world and meets up fans whom he talked to on the podcast.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. John Carroll O'Connor (August 2, 1924 – June 21, 2001) best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades. Known at first for playing the role of Major General Colt in the 1970 movie, Kelly's Heroes, he later found fame as the bigoted working man Archie Bunker, the main character in the 1970s CBS television sitcoms All in the Family (1971 to 1979) and Archie Bunker's Place (1979 to 1983). O'Connor later starred in the NBC television crime drama In the Heat of the Night from 1988 to 1995, where he played the role of southern Police Chief William (Bill) Gillespie. At the end of his career in the late 1990s, he played the father of Jamie Stemple Buchman (Helen Hunt) on Mad About You.
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Mary Lynn Rajskub (born June 22, 1971) is an American actress and comedian, best known for her roles as Chloe O'Brian on the Fox action-thriller 24, Norah in The Tomorrow War, Theresa in Night School, Erin Roberts on the Starz series The Girlfriend Experience, Captain Davis in The Kings of Summer, Bridget Bay in Safety Not Guaranteed, Sarah in Julie & Julia, Lynn in Sunshine Cleaning, Janet Stone in Firewall, Reena Giuliani in Legally Blonde 2, Elizabeth Egan in Punch-Drunk Love, Dorothea in Sweet Home Alabama, and Zelmina in Dude, Where's My Car?.
She has also had recurring roles as Lorraine Fuisz on the Hulu series The Dropout, Genevieve Mirren-Carter on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Goldie on Californication, and Gail the Snail on the FX series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Allan Rich (born Benjamin Norman Schultz; (February 8, 1926 – August 22, 2020) was an American character actor, author and activist.
Allan Rich was one of the many alleged communist sympathizers blacklisted in the 1950s Hollywood blacklist. He mentored Rene Russo in the world of acting and also played a judge in Hill Street Blues.
Rich was the co-founder of non-profit organization We Care About Kids, which produces educational short films for middle and high school youths.
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Joan Alexandra Molinsky, known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and television host. She was noted for her often controversial comedic persona—heavily self-deprecating and sharply acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians.
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the UK as the 9th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the 8th greatest stand-up comic.
He is known for his roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, as a writer and director (and starring actor) of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife.
In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.
Following the release of his first documentary, 2009's Good Hair, Rock is working on a documentary about debt called Credit is the Devil. In 2010 he starred alongside Adam Sandler in Grown-ups and with fellow comedian/actor Martin Lawrence in the remake of the British film Death at a Funeral.
Amy Schumer was born in Manhattan and grew up on Long Island, New York. She attended South Side High School and was voted both "Class Clown" and "Teacher's Worst Nightmare" upon graduation in 1999. Schumer graduated from Towson University in 2003 with a degree in theater. She moved to New York City after college, where she studied at the William Esper Studio for two years and worked as a bartender and a waitress. Through her father, she is the niece of Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senator from New York.
Amy Schumer portrayed a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer in the off-Broadway black comedy Keeping Abreast. She started doing stand-up comedy on June 1, 2004, when she first performed at Gotham Comedy Club. She recorded a special for Comedy Central before appearing on Last Comic Standing; she said in August 2012 that she thought of the special as her "big break".
After not passing an audition for an earlier season, she advanced to the finals of the fifth season of the NBC reality television talent show Last Comic Standing and placed fourth. Schumer said in April 2011, "Last Comic was totally fun. I had a great time because there was no pressure on me; I had been doing stand-up around two years. I wasn't supposed to do well. So every time I advanced it was a happy surprise. I kept it honest on the show and it served me well." (Wikipedia)
Jerome "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.
In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld was more recently directing Colin Quinn in the Broadway show Long Story Short at the Helen Hayes Theater in New York which ran until January 8, 2011.
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Elizabeth Ann Sheridan (April 10, 1929 – April 15, 2022) was an American actress. While best known for her roles as the nosy neighbor, Mrs. Ochmonek, on the sitcom ALF (1986–1990), and Jerry's mother, Helen, in Seinfeld (1990–1998), her decades-long career was extensive and included work on the stage and on large and small screens.
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Laura Jane Silverman (born June 10, 1966, in Bedford, New Hampshire) is an American actress/voice actress, and the elder sister of actress/comedienne Sarah Silverman. She is best known for portraying a fictionalized version of herself alongside her sister in Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic and The Sarah Silverman Program.
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Jean Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in Manhattan, New York City, to Marie A. (Stapleton), an opera singer, and Joseph Edward Murray, a billboard advertising salesman. Her paternal grandparents were Irish. She was a cousin of actress Betty Jane Watson. Other relatives in show business were her uncle, Joseph E. Deming, a vaudevillian; and her brother Jack Stapleton, a stage actor. She graduated from Wadleigh High School, NYC, in 1939, and attended Hunter College. She worked as a secretary before becoming an actress. Stapleton made her stage debut at the Greenwood Playhouse, Peaks Island, Maine, in the summer of 1941, and her New York stage debut in "The Corn Is Green" (1948). She appeared on Broadway in the musicals "Damn Yankees" (1955) and "Bells Are Ringing" (1956), and later repeated her roles in the movie versions (Damn Yankees (1958) and Bells Are Ringing (1960)). Her other Broadway roles included the original companies of "Rhinoceros" (1961) and "Funny Girl" (1964). Stapleton also played Abby Brewster in the 1986-87 revival of "Arsenic and Old Lace".
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of The Daily Show, a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.
Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called You Wrote It, You Watch It. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, which led to his first Emmy Award in 2001.
Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, The Daily Show has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race released in 2010.
Cute as a button and with a petite, porcelain prettiness and vulnerability that endeared her to the American public, Sally Struthers nabbed a series role in the early 1970s and became a solid part of TV history as a member of a dysfunctional family quartet in the milestone sitcom, "All in the Family" (1971). She was born Sally Ann Struthers on July 28, 1948, in Portland, Oregon and raised there, pursuing an acting career following high school. Relocating to Los Angeles, she trained at the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts and earned a scholarship as its "most promising student". She performed briefly in regional stock plays until finding her break as both a commercial actress and dancer on TV. She appeared as a regular on such variety shows as "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" (1967) and "The Tim Conway Comedy Hour" (1970) and showed starlet promise in films, as well as offering ditsy support in the Jack Nicholson starrer, Five Easy Pieces (1970), and the chase film, The Getaway (1972), top-lining Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw. And, then came "All in the Family" (1971). Also starring Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton and Rob Reiner, Struthers went on to win two supporting Emmy Awards as Kewpie-doll "Gloria Bunker Stivic". She and Rob Reiner left the show after seven seasons, both eager to grow. While Rob Reiner became a noted director, Sally made her Broadway debut in "Wally's Cafe" in 1981, and returned, four years later, with a gender-bending version of "The Odd Couple" as neat-freak "Florence" opposite Rita Moreno's slovenly "Olive". In addition, she found work in topical mini-series drama with Aloha Means Goodbye (1974) (TV), Hey, I'm Alive (1975) (TV), My Husband Is Missing (1978) (TV), ...And Your Name Is Jonah (1979) (TV), A Gun in the House (1981) (TV), to name a few. But without a hit show as collateral, offers started drying up. Sally returned to the TV series fold in the early 1980s spinning off her "Gloria" character with the self-titled sitcom, "Gloria" (1982), but the ensemble formula that worked so well for her before was missing here and the show died in its freshman year. To compensate, however, Sally's baby-doll voice worked extremely well for her in cartoons. She remained active off-camera, providing little girl voices for Saturday morning entertainment, notably her teenage "Pebbles Flintstone" character. Other voice-over work included "TaleSpin" (1990), as "Rebecca 'Becky' Cunningham", and puppeteer Jim Henson's creative prehistoric sitcom, "Dinosaurs" (1991), playing dino-daughter "Charlene Sinclair". IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]
Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brooks, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the TV sitcom The Ropers (1979–1980), as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998), George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and Maura Pfefferman on Transparent (2014–2017). For his role in the latter, Tambor earned two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series out of three nominations. In 2015, he was also awarded a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Pfefferman.
His film roles include Jay Porter in ...And Justice for All (1979), Jinx Latham in Mr. Mom (1983), Sully in There's Something About Mary (1998), Mayor Augustus Maywho in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Tom Manning in Hellboy (2004) and its sequel Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), Sid Garner in The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013), Francis Silverberg in The Accountant (2016), and Georgy Malenkov in The Death of Stalin (2017).
Tambor has done voice acting for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), Tangled (2010), and Trolls (2016). For his voice role in The Lionhearts (1998), he was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. From 2002 to 2003, he was an announcer for Hollywood Squares.
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Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman; June 11, 1933 – August 29, 2016) was an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, singer-songwriter, and author.
He began his career on stage, and made his screen debut in an episode of the TV series The Play of the Week in 1961. Although his first film role was portraying a hostage in the 1967 motion picture Bonnie and Clyde, Wilder's first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1967 film The Producers for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. This was the first in a series of collaborations with writer/director Mel Brooks, including 1974's Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, which Wilder co-wrote, garnering the pair an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
He is known for his iconic portrayal of Willy Wonka in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) and for his four films with Richard Pryor: Silver Streak (1976), Stir Crazy (1980), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), and Another You (1991), as well as starring in Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972). He directed and wrote several of his own films, including The Woman in Red (1984).
With his third wife, Gilda Radner, he starred in three films, the last two of which he also directed. Her 1989 death from ovarian cancer led to his active involvement in promoting cancer awareness and treatment, helping found the Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Detection Center in Los Angeles and co-founding Gilda's Club.
After his last acting performance in 2003 – a guest role on Will & Grace for which he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – he turned his attention to writing. He produced a memoir in 2005, Kiss Me Like a Stranger: My Search for Love and Art; a collection of stories, What Is This Thing Called Love? (2010); and the novels My French Whore (2007), The Woman Who Wouldn't (2008), and Something to Remember You By (2013).
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