This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view .(June 2024) |
Andrew J. Lederer is a New York-based comedian who has also starred in low-budget movies and worked in writing and production.
Growing up in New York City, Andrew appeared as a vocal soloist with the Brooklyn Borough-Wide Chorus, both in live performance and on CBS-TV. He became a comedian as a teenager and acted in movies and television, including Family Ties , The Facts of Life , and Fame plus starring roles in the movies Out of Control and Body Count (which was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award[ citation needed ]) plus an excised scene - later restored on DVD - in This is Spinal Tap .[ citation needed ] Later, he became an entertainment journalist, working as a writer and/or editor for Film Threat Magazine , Wild Cartoon Kingdom , Sci-Fi Universe , and National Enquirer . [1] (He returned to journalism in 2008 and 2009 with a series of articles for the newspaper The Scotsman. [2] [3] ) At present, he blogs regularly for The Huffington Post . [4]
Andrew wrote a substantial portion of the famous Disney/McDonald's Trivia Challenge (which was so hard it was reported on in the major newsweeklies and caused the overworked library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to suspend its information line for the duration of the contest). His original screenplay, Won't Fade Out , [5] was given its own chapter in the book The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made (St. Martin’s Press, 1999), alongside unfinished efforts by the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, and Alfred Hitchcock. [6]
With Dave Feinman, Andrew created CWA, a semi-cooperative management company that represented many of the better Los Angeles comedians for acting work during the late 1990s.
Andrew was a prominent "alternative" comedian, as that term was understood in the U.S. at the turn of the millennium. His long-running The Second Show and Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's Invite Them Up were the first comedy shows at Rififi/Cinema Classics, one of alternative or indie comedy's most important New York venues. His one-person shows, Petula Clark's Greatest Hits , Bridge-Burner, and Me and Hitler [7] were all presented as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [8] [9] In 2003, he made a high-profile return to singing as part of the Loser's Lounge Tribute to the Bee Gees , [10] which was followed by two New York-area solo shows. In 2007, Andrew was a consultant for a new Fringe venue, The Green Room. [11] His 2006-2008 blog was featured on the UK's Chortle comedy website. [12] Andrew's most famous role was as Frank, the editor of ASS Magazine in the television series The Adventures of Electra Elf (2004-2008).
Lederer's performance style has increasingly tended toward storytelling rather than a recitation of jokes or more standard comic observations. His one-time roommate, Marc Price, has called him the "father of alternative comedy" (as that term was understood in the United States) but, as Lederer points out, this could only be true if any of the major practitioners had actually been influenced by him, which they probably have not.
Lederer has often worked in the background, privately providing material for other performers and writers. He advised and contributed to animation and film histories by Jerry Beck and others. He wrote sequences performed by comedian Jackie Diamond (Michael Rosenberg) on Fox TV's Comic Strip Live , and consulted for Marc Price on CBS TV's The Midnight Hour.[ citation needed ] As a consultant to Will Ryan, he was a key player in some of the more recent attempts to popularize the animated character Elmo Aardvark. [13]
He suggested comedian Harris Peet for the role of Muddy Mudskipper on The Ren and Stimpy Show and directed his audition tape.[ citation needed ] And though Lederer generally "works clean", edgy, underground comic Rick Shapiro (who very much does not) has credited seeing Andrew with making him realize he could talk about what he wanted to on stage and not be limited by convention.
Lederer was briefly mentored by comedian Jeff Garlin at around the time Garlin was co-creating Curb Your Enthusiasm . [14] He was the only regular performer, aside from Garlin himself, on Garlin's live, weekly comedy show in the spring of 1998 and hosted when Garlin could not. Lederer consulted on the rewriting of an abortive sitcom pilot by Garlin and the two glancingly considered a writing collaboration on a possible HBO bio of Milton Berle. Later, Lederer assisted Garlin during the making of a short Jackie Gleason documentary and was one of those asked to offer opinions on the feature, I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With before the completion of its edit.
The burgeoning comedic storytelling scene in the UK was largely inspired by Lederer's Anthology series at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. [15] [16] Both Sarah Bennetto's Storytellers' Club and an earlier Amused Moose effort were started by veterans of the Anthology shows. [17] Lederer's 2007 and 2008 London Anthology presentations have been Critic's Choices in both Time Out and the Evening Standard . [18]
Andrew has been producer or co-producer (often with Parker Entertainment) of a number of live productions [19] including many of Scott Blakeman's political comedy shows and the play Lysistrata 100. [20]
He co-produced comedian Ahmed Ahmed's Richard Pryor Award-winning 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show and the Edinburgh run of Rain Pryor's Fried Chicken and Latkes in 2005.
Andrew, with Parker, also produced the musical variety series, The Savage Breast .
Lederer has at various times been a regular performer at New York's fabled Comic Strip, Improvisation, Catch a Rising Star and Caroline's comedy clubs and at Los Angeles' The Comedy Store.
Alternative venues have included New York's Surf Reality, Collective: Unconscious and the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and L.A's Creativity Bookstore.
Recent live credits include Heeb Magazine's storytelling show [21] and The Onion 's comedy series, [22] both at Joe's Pub. [23] Also The Rejection Show [24] at Mo Pitkin's, Nick Kroll and John Mulaney's Oh, Hello and Sherry Weaver's Speakeasy Stories . [25]
In the UK, he has appeared on such progressive, live stand-up and variety shows as Robin Ince's Book Club and Spank!.
Andrew has also been active in new media. In 2007, he was the last writer under City Lights Television's auspices of Heavy News [26] and his more or less daily blog has a following in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. [27]
Richard Keith Herring is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring. He is described by The British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2018 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 different shows in 322 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events.
Daniel John Kitson is an English comedian, actor, performer and writer.
Josie Isabel Long is an English comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17.
Andrew Lawrence is an English comedian who works in stand-up comedy, radio and television.
Nick Sun is an Australian stand-up comedian. He is of Nepalese extraction, but chooses to eschew obvious cultural stereotyping in his act, favouring a style that has been described as "unhinged", "offensive" "nihilistic" and "self-destructive."
The Free Fringe is an organisation that promotes free shows during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world's largest arts festival, every August.
Iain Andrew Stirling is a Scottish comedian, writer, television presenter, narrator and Twitch streamer from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Kevin Andrew Bridges is a Scottish stand-up comedian. His 2012 television series Kevin Bridges: What's the Story? was based on his stand-up routines.
Stuart Goldsmith is an English actor, stand-up comedian and former street performer. He has presented the Comedian's Comedian podcast since 2012.
Chris Martin is an English stand-up comedian and writer. He currently lives and works in America with his wife, writing on The Late Late Show.
Bob Slayer is an Edinburgh Comedy Award winning comedian, musician and promoter. He has been part of a new economic model for venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which has made the event fairer and more affordable for performers and audiences. Acts that have performed at his venues have won and been nominated for a number of prestigious awards.
John Michael David Robins is an English stand-up comedian and radio presenter.
Barry Ferns is a British stand up comedian, writer, director, and a trained physiotherapist. Barry is also one of the founding members of Angel Comedy.
David Mills is a London-based American actor, comedian and cabaret performer who won the Hackney Empire's New Act of the Year competition in 2011. He has regularly appeared as sidekick on fellow US comic Scott Capurro's live chat shows, as well as successful shows at the St. James Theatre, London and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Ivo Charles Graham is an English stand-up comedian and comedy writer.
Sophie Tinuviel Willan is an English actress, narrator, writer and comedian. She has won two BAFTAs for her television sitcom Alma's Not Normal.
Mat Ewins is an English actor, writer and stand-up comedian.
Sarah Keyworth is an English stand-up comedian who began a career in comedy in 2012, eventually going full-time in 2018 after being nominated for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Keyworth has appeared on television comedy shows such as Roast Battle, The Now Show, The Dog Ate My Homework, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats.
Marjolein Robertson is a Scottish stand-up comedian and actress from Shetland. She was Scots Speaker of the Year. She has appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe and her 2023 show "Marj" was nominated for an award.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) retrieved April 24, 2008{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty |title=
(help)[ title missing ]