Dave Sirus is an American writer and stand-up comedian. He produces and writes sketch comedy, is known for interviewing members of the Westboro Baptist Church, [1] [2] and appeared as a guest and recurring comedic correspondent on RT's The Alyona Show and HuffPost Live. [3] [4] He has been a writer for Saturday Night Live since 2015.
Sirus's most well-known character is faux reporter Brick Stone, who became famous for his interviews with members of the Westboro Baptist Church where he ambushes and harasses them with absurd or explicit questions. He interviewed the Westboro Baptist Church in-character as they were protesting the Golden Globes January 12, 2014. [5] A number of former Westboro Baptist Church members who first encountered Stone while he was counter-protesting them would later reach out to Sirus to discuss the church, including Zach Phelps-Roper. [6] He has produced other interview videos as his Brick Stone character with Occupy Wall Street residents, conspiracy theorists, street preachers, gay pride marchers, and the general public. [7]
Sirus ceased performing the Brick Stone character in 2015 largely due to his schedule: he hoped to bring the character back to cover election cycles, but found the material was too similar to his work on Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He seriously considered reprising Stone for the 2020 United States presidential election but due to the COVID-19 pandemic decided that it was too risky for him to interview Trump supporters. [8]
Sirus is a featured comedian in an episode of nuvoTV's Stand Up and Deliver. In an appearance on the Opie & Anthony show discussing the WBC, Sirus also mentioned his upcoming mockumentary Archie Black: The Worst starring O&A's Jim Norton, Jay Mohr, Artie Lange, Dee Snider, Otto & George, and Rick Overton. The film is premiering at the LA Comedy Fest. [9]
On September 21, 2015, he was hired as a writer for the forty-first season of Saturday Night Live for which he was nominated for an Emmy for Writing in a Variety Series, and won a WGA award for writing in a comedy/variety series. [10] [11] He is also a writer for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog [12] and was a writer and co-producer of The King of Staten Island . [13]
Sirus is a long-time friend of comedian Pete Davidson, with whom he worked with on Saturday Night Live. Sirus and Davidson co-wrote the film The King of Staten Island with Judd Apatow. Sirus has occasionally made social media posts on Davidson's behalf, such as in response to the death of Bob Saget, and Kanye West's antagonization over his dating Kim Kardashian. [14]
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2014 | Archie Black: The Worst | Documentary |
2015-2022 | Saturday Night Live | 30 episodes |
2016 | Triumph's Election Watch 2016 | 5 episodes |
2020 | The King of Staten Island | Co-writer; also co-producer |
2020-2021 | Let's Be Real | 5 episodes |
2023 | Bupkis | 8 episodes |
Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. was an American minister and disbarred lawyer who served as the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church, worked as a civil rights attorney, and ran for statewide election in Kansas. A divisive and controversial figure, he gained national attention for his homophobic views and protests near the funerals of gay people, AIDS victims, military veterans, and disaster victims who he believed were killed as a result of God punishing the U.S. for having "bankrupt values" and tolerating homosexuality. Phelps founded the Westboro Baptist Church, a Topeka, Kansas-based independent Primitive Baptist congregation, in 1955. It has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America". Its signature slogan, "God Hates Fags", remains the name of the group's principal website.
David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in and co-created the satirical comedy sketch series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006) before quitting in the middle of production during the third season. After a hiatus, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the U.S. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time".
The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American, unaffiliated Primitive Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas, that was founded in 1955 by pastor Fred Phelps. It is widely considered a hate group, and is known for its public protests against gay people and for its usage of the phrases "God hates fags" and "Thank God for dead soldiers". It also engages in hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, transgender people, and other Christian denominations. The WBC's theology and practices are widely condemned by other Christian churches, including the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, and by politicians and public figures, including former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Robert Smigel is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, producer, and puppeteer, known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. He also co-wrote the first two Hotel Transylvania films, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, and Leo, all starring Adam Sandler.
Seth Adam Meyers is an American comedian, television host, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. He currently hosts Late Night with Seth Meyers, a late-night talk show on NBC. Prior to Late Night, Meyers was a cast member on NBC's sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2014, and served as the show's head writer and anchor of their news parody segment, Weekend Update, from 2006 until his departure in 2014.
Aziz Ismail Ansari is an American actor, filmmaker and stand-up comedian. He is known for his role as Tom Haverford on the NBC series Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) and as creator and star of the Netflix series Master of None (2015–2021) for which he won several acting and writing awards, including two Emmys and a Golden Globe, which was the first award received by an Asian American actor for acting on television.
Charles Henry Danger Burgmann Firth is an Australian comedian, best known as a founding member of The Chaser.
Chelsea Peretti is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for portraying Gina Linetti in the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She wrote for various TV series, including Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live and Kroll Show.
Shirley Lynn Phelps-Roper is an American lawyer and political activist. She was the lead spokesperson of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, an organization that protests against homosexuality conducted under the slogan "God Hates Fags" until a power struggle within the organization reduced her status.
John Edmund Mulaney is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Mulaney first rose to prominence for his work as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2008 to 2013, where he contributed to numerous sketches and characters, including Stefon, a recurring character that he and Bill Hader co-created. Since his departure from SNL, Mulaney has hosted it several times, becoming a member of the SNL Five Timers Club in 2022.
Colin Kelly Jost is an American comedian, writer, and actor. Jost has been a staff writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2005, and co-anchor of Weekend Update since 2014. He also served as one of the show's co-head writers from 2012 to 2015 and later came back as one of the show's head writers in 2017 until 2022, alongside Michael Che.
Jared Antonio Farrow, better known by his stage name Jay Pharoah, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2010 to 2016. In 2015, he was ranked the 55th greatest Saturday Night Live cast member by Rolling Stone magazine.
Jesse Joyce is an American stand-up comedian, Emmy Nominated and WGA Award winning writer. Joyce has made many television appearances, including Jimmy Kimmel Live, Comedy Central's @midnight with Chris Hardwick, Comedy Underground with Dave Attell, Live At Gotham, The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Last Call with Carson Daly, AXS's Gotham Comedy Live, Comedy.TV, AMC's Date Night, Comedy Central's Roast Battle, Seeso's The Guest List and was a regular guest on History Channel's I Love The 1880s and VH1’s Big Morning Buzz Live with Carrie Keagan. He was a recurring guest on Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld and was a semi-finalist on the 2010 season of Last Comic Standing. In addition he has written for numerous television specials and award shows, most notably the 85th Academy Awards, 90th Academy Awards, and 95th Academy Awards, the 72nd Emmy Awards, the 71st Tony Awards and the Comedy Central Roasts.
David Lawrence McCary is an American comedian, writer, producer, and director. From 2013 to 2018, he served as a segment director and writer for Saturday Night Live. He is married to actress Emma Stone, with whom he co-founded the production company Fruit Tree.
Michael Che Campbell is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Che is best known for his work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he has served as co-anchor on Weekend Update alongside Colin Jost, and the two were co-head writers from 2017 until 2022. Che and Jost co-hosted the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018.
Peter Michael Davidson is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Friends of the People, Guy Code, and Wild 'n Out before being hired as cast member on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live which he starred on for eight seasons from 2014 to 2022.
The forty-first season of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2015, during the 2015–2016 television season. The season premiered on October 3, 2015, with host & musical guest Miley Cyrus and concluded on May 21, 2016 with host Fred Armisen and musical guest Courtney Barnett.
Megan Phelps-Roper is an American political activist who is formerly a member of, and spokesperson for, the Westboro Baptist Church, a Hyper-Calvinist Christian sect, widely regarded as a hate group. Her mother is Shirley Phelps-Roper, and her grandfather is the church's founder, Fred Phelps. She grew up in Topeka, Kansas, in a compound with other members of the church. As a child, she was taught the Westboro Baptist Church doctrine and participated in the church's pickets against homosexuality, the American response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the funerals of soldiers who died in the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. In 2009, she became active on Twitter to preach the church's doctrine. Phelps-Roper began to doubt her beliefs when Twitter users pointed out contradictions in the Westboro Baptist Church's doctrine, and when elders changed the church's decision-making process.
The King of Staten Island is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Judd Apatow, from a screenplay by Apatow, Pete Davidson, and Dave Sirus. It stars Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, and Steve Buscemi, and follows a young man who must get his life together after his mother starts dating a new man who, like his deceased father, is a firefighter.
Westboro Baptist Church carries out daily picketing in Topeka, Kansas, and travels nationally to picket the funerals of gay victims of murder or gay-bashing, as well as those of people who have died from complications related to AIDS. It also pickets other events related or peripherally related to homosexuality. It is the protesting of military funerals that led to the organization receiving much attention for its small size. Protests done by Westboro Baptist Church are characterized by defacement of the American flag, hate speech said by members to onlookers, and members holding signs with predominantly homophobic and anti-American statements.