David Steinberg CM | |
---|---|
Born | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada | August 9, 1942
Medium | Stand-up, television, film, books |
Years active | 1964–present |
Genres | Observational comedy, satire |
Subject(s) | Religion, self-deprecation, everyday life |
Spouse | Judy Marcione (m. 1973;div. 1997)Robyn Todd (m. 2005) |
Website | thedavidsteinberg.com |
David Steinberg CM (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times (second only to Bob Hope in number of appearances) and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person ever to guest-host. [1] Steinberg directed several films and episodes of television situation comedies, including Seinfeld , Friends , Mad About You , Curb Your Enthusiasm , The Golden Girls , and Designing Women . Steinberg also hosted the interview program Inside Comedy on the Showtime network.
Steinberg was born on August 9, 1942, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Rabbi Yasha Steinberg (1896-1966), a strict, Romanian-born rabbi, and Ruth Steinberg (c. 1904 – 1989). He has three older siblings: two brothers, Hymie Steinberg (1925-1944) and Fishy Steinberg, and one sister, Tammy Lazer (née Steinberg). [2] [3] His elder brother Hymie served during World War II and was killed in action when he was 19. [4] David initially studied theology in Israel. [1] [5]
Later, while studying English Literature at the University of Chicago, he decided to become a comedian after seeing Lenny Bruce perform. [1] He finished school and was discovered by one of the founders of The Second City in Chicago, which he joined in 1964. There he performed with Robert Klein, Fred Willard, Peter Boyle, and Joe Flaherty. He remained with the group for six years. [1] In 1972, Steinberg was best man at the wedding of his friend, the gangster Crazy Joe Gallo. [6]
One of Steinberg's most notorious performances was in October 1968 on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour , where he gave satirical sermons. The sketch caused CBS to receive a record number of complaints, and, as a result, the network instituted a policy of providing local stations with a closed-circuit telecast of each episode ahead of time so they could choose whether or not to air it. [7] The Smothers Brothers were told by the network that they could have Steinberg on the show again on the condition that he would not repeat the sermons. [8] Nevertheless, Tommy Smothers asked Steinberg to do it again, and he gave a sermon in which he said "The Old Testament scholars say that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The Gentiles, the New Testament scholars say, 'Hold it, Jews, no.' They literally grabbed the Jews by the Old Testament." This incident contributed to the cancellation of the show. The Jonah sketch was never aired by CBS. [9]
Steinberg appeared in two Broadway flops, Little Murders and Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights , which both closed within one week in 1967 and 1968, respectively.
Steinberg was the most frequent host of the pop and rock music ABC television show, The Music Scene, 1969–1970. The show featured performances by Joe Cocker and CSN&Y. In 1972, Steinberg wrote and starred in The David Steinberg Show in the United States as a five-week summer replacement sketch comedy show. [10] Around the same time, TV Guide labelled Steinberg "offbeat, racy, outrageous, and establishment-baiting – all of which makes him a particular favorite among the young and disenchanted." [1]
In 1975 Steinberg hosted Noonday, a short-lived half-hour midday talk show on NBC.
In 1976, Steinberg returned to Canada to produce a second show called The David Steinberg Show . This series was a hybrid sitcom/variety show, modelled loosely on The Jack Benny Program in that the plots centred on the star (Steinberg) and his cast trying to put together another instalment of their variety show. Amongst the regular cast were future SCTV stars Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Dave Thomas, and Martin Short. SCTV's Andrea Martin also appeared on the show, but not as a regular. SCTV premiered the same week as The David Steinberg Show, and ran for six seasons; The David Steinberg Show lasted only one season.
Steinberg performed some notable stand-up comedy during the 1960s and '70s. He released four comedy LPs, including The Incredible Shrinking God (LP MCA 73013, 1968), which contains ten of his comedic sermons and mini-sermons recorded live during his stand-up routine at Second City. He also hosted the 1977 Juno Awards show. [11] He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2003. [12]
More recently (2005–2007), Steinberg hosted Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg , an informal, interview-style show in which he talks with famous comedians and comic actors, for two seasons on TV Land in the U.S. [13] The first season featured Mike Myers, Larry David, Jon Lovitz, Martin Short, Bob Newhart, and George Lopez. The second season featured Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Roseanne Barr, Jon Stewart, Garry Shandling and Ray Romano. The program was filmed before an audience at UCLA. [14]
His first book, The Book of David ( ISBN 0743272323), was published in June 2007 by Simon & Schuster.
In 2010, he directed and produced the Canadian cable comedy series Living in Your Car . [15]
Steinberg has been married twice. He married Judy Marcione in 1973 and they had two daughters. They divorced in 1997 after 24 years of marriage. [16] Steinberg married Robyn Todd in 2005. [17]
Steinberg has received five Emmy Award nominations, winning two as one of the writers of Academy Awards programs in 1991 and 1992. He received a CableACE Award in 1992 for his stand-up comedy Cats, Cops and Stuff. He has been nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award (for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series) twice: first in 1991 for the Seinfeld episode, The Tape , and again in 1996 for the Mad About You episode, The Finale: Parts II and III, and has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award (2000) and a Gemini (2001), as well. [18] His parody of the novel Ragtime won him a Playboy Humor Award. [1] In 2003, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
In December 2016, Steinberg was named a Member of the Order of Canada. [19]
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1967 | Fearless Frank | Yes | The Rat | ||||
1969 | The Lost Man | Yes | Photographer | ||||
1978 | The End | Yes | Marty Lieberman | ||||
1979 | Something Short of Paradise | Yes | Harris Sloane | ||||
1980 | Nothing Personal | Yes | Talk Show Host | ||||
1981 | Paternity | Yes | |||||
1983 | Going Berserk | Yes | Yes | ||||
1996 | Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy | Yes | |||||
1997 | The Wrong Guy | Yes | Yes | Outpatient in Neck Brace | |||
1999 | Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story | Yes | |||||
2000 | The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave | Yes | Yes | ||||
2003 | This Thing of Ours | Yes | |||||
2005 | The Greatest Game Ever Played | Yes | |||||
2013 | When Jews Were Funny | Himself | Documentary | ||||
2015 | Being Canadian | Himself | Documentary |
Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968–1969 | The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour | Yes | Yes | Himself | |||
1968–1992 | The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson | Himself / Guest host | |||||
1969 | NBC Experiment in Television | Yes | Episode: "This Is Sholom Aleichem" | ||||
1969–1970 | The Music Scene | Yes | Host | 14 episodes | |||
1970 | The Return of the Smothers Brothers | Yes | Yes | Himself | Television special | ||
1971 | The Odd Couple | Yes | Himself | Episode: "The Odd Couple Meet Their Host" | |||
1972,1976–1977 | The David Steinberg Show | Yes | Host | 26 episodes | |||
1973 | ABC's Wide World of Entertainment | Yes | Paul | Episode: "Night Train to Terror" | |||
1975 | The Smothers Brothers Show | Yes | Himself | Episode: "A Boarding House Is Not A Home" | |||
1985 | The Twilight Zone | Yes | Segment: "The Uncle Devil Show" | ||||
1986 | The Young Comedians All-Star Reunion | Yes | Television special | ||||
1986 | Robin Williams: Live at the Met | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
1986 | Tall Tales & Legends | Yes | Episode: "Casey at the Bat" | ||||
1986 | Billy Crystal: Don't Get Me Started | Yes | Television special | ||||
1986 | The Ellen Burstyn Show | Yes | Episode: "Reading Between the Lines" | ||||
1986 | The Golden Girls | Yes | Episode: "Big Daddy's Little Lady" | ||||
1986–1987 | One Big Family | Yes | 5 episodes | ||||
1986–1990 | Newhart | Yes | 15 episodes | ||||
1987 | The Popcorn Kid | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
1987 | Duet | Yes | 3 episodes | ||||
1987–1991 | Designing Women | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
1988 | Eisenhower and Lutz | Yes | Episode: "Bud Junior, Junior: Part 1" | ||||
1988 | Family Man | Yes | 5 episodes | ||||
1988 | CBS Summer Playhouse | Yes | Episode: "Baby on Board" | ||||
1989 | Billy Crystal: Midnight Train To Moscow | Yes | Television special | ||||
1989 | I, Martin Short, Goes Home | Yes | Television special | ||||
1988 | Annie McGuire | Yes | 6 episodes | ||||
1989 | It's Garry Shandling's Show | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
1990 | The Earth Day Special | Yes | Television special | ||||
1990 | The Fanelli Boys | Yes | Episode: "Pursued" | ||||
1990 | Get a Life | Yes | Episode: "The Sitting" | ||||
1990–1991 | Good Grief | Yes | 13 episodes | ||||
1990–1991 | Evening Shade | Yes | Yes | 8 episodes | |||
1991 | 63rd Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
1991–1998 | Seinfeld | Yes | 3 episodes | ||||
1992 | 64th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
1993 | Rick Reynolds: Only the Truth Is Funny | Yes | Television special | ||||
1993 | 65th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
1993 | It Had to Be You | Yes | Yes | 4 episodes | |||
1993 | Daddy Dearest | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
1994–1999 | Mad About You | Yes | Yes | Director / Bad Eulogizer | 50 episodes | ||
1995–1996 | The Parent 'Hood | Yes | 5 episodes | ||||
1996 | Carver's Gate | Yes | Television film | ||||
1997 | Lost on Earth | Yes | 6 episodes | ||||
1997 | 69th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
1997 | Ink | Yes | Episode: "Logan's Run" | ||||
1998 | Friends | Yes | Episode: "The One with Phoebe's Uterus" | ||||
1998 | 70th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
1998 | Living in Captivity | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
1999 | The Wonderful World of Disney | Yes | Episode: "Switching Goals" | ||||
2000 | 72nd Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
2000–2001 | Big Sound | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Gabe Moss | Also creator |
2000–2001 | Even Stevens | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
2000–2017 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Yes | 8 episodes | ||||
2002 | Robin Williams: Live on Broadway | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
2004 | Good Girls Don't | Yes | Episode: "The Big O" | ||||
2004 | 76th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
2005 | Wild Card | Yes | Episode: "A Whisper from Zoe's Sister" | ||||
2005 | The Comeback | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
2005–2007 | Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg | Yes | Yes | Host | Also creator | ||
2006 | Carlos Mencia: No Strings Attached | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
2006 | Campus Ladies | Yes | 3 episodes | ||||
2006 | Sons & Daughters | Yes | 2 episodes | ||||
2006 | Help Me Help You | Yes | Episode: "Perseverance" | ||||
2007 | Jim Norton: Monster Rain | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
2008 | Weeds | Yes | Episode: "The Whole Blah Damn Thing" | ||||
2008 | Down and Dirty with Jim Norton | Yes | 4 episodes | ||||
2008 | Little Britain USA | Yes | 6 episodes | ||||
2009 | Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
2010 | Living in Your Car | Yes | Yes | 4 episodes | |||
2011 | Norm Macdonald: Me Doing Stand-Up | Yes | Stand-up special | ||||
2011 | Single White Spenny | Yes | Episode: "Circumcision" | ||||
2012 | 84th Academy Awards | Yes | Television special | ||||
2013 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Yes | Party Guest | Episode: "Wonderland Story" | |||
2012–2015 | Inside Comedy | Yes | Yes | Host | 36 episodes | ||
2015 | The Comedians | Yes | Billy's Agent (voice) | Episode: "Go for Gad" | |||
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian who is best known for his work in Hollywood films. Candy first rose to national prominence in the 1970s as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its SCTV sketch comedy series. He rose to international fame in the 1980s with his roles in comedic films such as Stripes (1981), Splash (1984), Brewster's Millions (1985), Armed and Dangerous (1986), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), The Great Outdoors (1988), Uncle Buck (1989), and Cool Runnings (1993). He also appeared in supporting roles in The Blues Brothers (1980), National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Home Alone (1990) and Nothing but Trouble (1991).
Stephen Glenn Martin is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for his work in comedy films, television, and recording, he has received many accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and an Honorary Academy Award, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards. He also received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2005, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2015. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.
The Smothers Brothers were a duo of American folk singers, musicians, and comedians consisting of siblings Tom and Dick Smothers. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs, which usually led to arguments between them. Tommy's signature line was "Mom always liked you best!" Tommy acted "slow" and Dick, the straight man, acted "superior".
Thomas Bolyn Smothers III was an American comedian, actor, composer, and musician, widely known as half of the musical comedy duo the Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. In the 1960s they were known for their network comedy and variety shows, The Smothers Brothers Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.
Jerome Allen Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. As a stand-up comedian, Seinfeld specializes in observational comedy. Seinfeld has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for four Grammy Awards. In 2004, Comedy Central named him the 12th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time. In 2017, Rolling Stone named him the 7th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time.
Michael Anthony Richards is an American actor and former stand-up comedian. He achieved global recognition for starring as Cosmo Kramer on the NBC television sitcom Seinfeld from 1989 to 1998. He began his career as a stand-up comedian, first entering the national spotlight when he was featured on Billy Crystal's first cable TV special, and went on to become a series regular on ABC's Fridays.
Lawrence Gene David is an American comedian, writer, actor, and television producer. He and Jerry Seinfeld created the NBC television sitcom Seinfeld, of which David was head writer and executive producer for the first seven seasons. He gained further recognition for creating and writing the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which he also stars as a fictionalized version of himself. David's work on Seinfeld won him two Primetime Emmy Awards in 1993, for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Comedy Series; he was nominated 17 other times.
Second City Television, commonly shortened to SCTV and later known as SCTV Network and SCTV Channel, is a Canadian television sketch comedy show that ran intermittently between 1976 and 1984. It was created as an offshoot from Toronto's Second City troupe. It is a rare example of a Canadian show that moved successfully to American television, where it aired on NBC from 1981 to 1983.
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is an American comedy and variety show television series hosted by the Smothers Brothers and initially airing on CBS from 1967 to 1969.
Gerald Isaac Stiller was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015. Stiller saw a late-career resurgence starting in 1993, playing Frank Costanza on the sitcom Seinfeld, a part which earned him an Emmy nomination. In 1998, Stiller began his role as Arthur Spooner on the CBS comedy series The King of Queens, another role that garnered widespread acclaim.
Martin Hayter Short is a Canadian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television shows. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. Short was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019.
David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
Mason Douglas Williams is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental "Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and Saturday Night Live.
Stewart Robert Einstein, known professionally as Bob Einstein and often credited simply as his character Super Dave Osborne, was an American actor, comedy writer, and producer. In addition to creating and performing the satirical stuntman character Super Dave, Einstein was also known for his roles as Marty Funkhouser in Curb Your Enthusiasm and Larry Middleman on Arrested Development.
John Paul Pinette was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and Broadway performer. He toured the comedy club circuit beginning in the 1980s and appeared in cinema and on television. Besides stand-up, Pinette did impressions of Michael Jackson, The Chipmunks, Elvis Presley, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, Hervé Villechaize, an Ewok, actor Marlon Brando, as well as various ethnic accents. He occasionally sang in his stand-up routines; for example "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz, "Will You Be There" from Free Willy, and "Don't Cry for Me Argentina".
Juul Haalmeyer is a costume designer, best known for doing costume design on several iterations of SCTV. Haalmeyer also worked as a costume designer for many movies, television shows, theatre productions, concerts wardrobes for various artists and specials like Bridge to Silence, All My Sons, Long Day's Journey into Night, Noddy, the Shining Time Station Family Specials, Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales, Diamonds, Andrea Martin: Together Again, and Ghostwriter.
Carol Leifer is an American comedian, writer and producer whose career as a stand-up comedian started in the 1970s when she was in college. She has written many television scripts including The Larry Sanders Show, Saturday Night Live and Seinfeld. She has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld, the 82nd Academy Awards and the 84th Academy Awards. Leifer's inner-monologue driven, observational style is often autobiographical, encompassing subjects about her Jewish ancestry and upbringing, coming out, same-sex marriage, relationships and parenting.
Allan Havey is an American stand-up comic and actor. He started his career as a comedian in New York City in 1981.
Inside Comedy is an American television interview program on Showtime hosted and directed by David Steinberg. During each episode, Steinberg interviews popular comedians from the worlds of stand-up, television, and film, showing clips from their careers. The show's first season ran from January 26 to March 29, 2012. Its second season premiered on February 11, 2013, and ended on April 15, 2013. The third season aired from February 3 to April 7, 2014. The first three seasons each consisted of 10 episodes. The fourth season had six episodes, premiering May 5, 2015, and ending June 9.
The David Steinberg Show is the title of two separate shows which featured stand-up comedian David Steinberg.