The State is an American sketch comedy television series originally broadcast on MTV from 1994 to 1995. The show combined bizarre characters and scenarios to present sketches that won the favor of its target teenaged audience. The cast consisted of comedy troupe The State, who were 11 comedians who created, acted, wrote, directed and edited the show. In various combinations, the former members of The State have continued to collaborate over the years, with alumni playing major creative, directing and acting roles in a number of notable projects including Reno 911! and Wet Hot American Summer.
Larry Kenney is an American voice actor and radio personality.
Reno 911! is an American comedy television series created by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver for Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically Cops, with comic actors playing the police officers. Lennon, Garant and Kenney-Silver all starred in and are billed as creators of the series.
Carlos Jaime Alazraqui is an American actor. His extensive voice-over work includes the original voice of Spyro from Spyro the Dragon; Shameless O'Scanty, Leslie P. Lilylegs, Elliott Sampson and Tad Tucker on New Looney Tunes; the Taco Bell chihuahua in the Taco Bell commercials; Denzel Crocker, Juandissimo Magnifico, and Sheldon Dinkleberg on The Fairly OddParents; Rocko and Spunky on Rocko's Modern Life; Scooter on SpongeBob SquarePants; Lazlo, Clam, and other characters on Camp Lazlo; Rikochet in ¡Mucha Lucha!; Grandpapi Rivera in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera; Carlos Casagrande, Sergio, Vito, and other characters in the franchise of The Loud House; Mr. Weed in Family Guy; and the Disney character Panchito Pistoles since 2001. He is a weekly contributor on The Stephanie Miller Show. In live action, Alazraqui is known for playing Deputy James Garcia on Reno 911!
Cake Like was an all-female indie rock band based in New York City. Its members were bassist and lead singer Kerri Kenney, drummer Jody Seifert, and vocalist and guitarist Nina Hellman. The band came together in 1993 when Kenney and Hellman met at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing, decided to form a band, and were joined by Hellman's roommate Seifert. The members had never played music before and so developed their own unique style. Their songs often play out like poetry set to erratic guitar-rock. They soon attracted the attention of John Zorn, who signed the band to his Avant Records label, which released their first LP. Ric Ocasek, formerly of The Cars, produced their follow-up EP. Subsequently, Neil Young signed the band to his Vapor Records label, which released their second and third LPs.
Thomas Lennon is an American actor, screenwriter and comedian. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series Reno 911!, Andrei Novak on Santa Clarita Diet and Felix Unger on The Odd Couple. He is an accomplished screenwriter of several comedies released by major film studios with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. They wrote the Night at the Museum films, The Pacifier, Balls of Fury, and Baywatch.
Carol Denise Betts, known professionally as Niecy Nash, is an American actress, comedian, and television host. Her acting career began in the late 1990s, with appearances in the films Boys on the Side (1995) and Cookie's Fortune (1999). She garnered recognition for her portrayal of Deputy Raineesha Williams in the comedy series Reno 911!, along with hosting the Style Network show Clean House (2003—2010), for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award.
Mary Scheer is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter and producer, who is best known for her work throughout television. She had recurring roles as Marissa Benson on the Nickelodeon sitcom iCarly, and as Gladys on the Disney Channel series Bunk'd. She voiced Alice the Zookeeper on DreamWorks animated series The Penguins of Madagascar, was part of the original cast on the sketch comedy show Mad TV, voiced every female character on Most Extreme Elimination Challenge and appeared in GEICO commercials.
Cedric Yarbrough is an American actor and comedian. He has starred in the series Reno 911! as Deputy S. Jones and as Kenneth on the ABC sitcom Speechless, as well as voicing Gerald Fitzgerald on the Netflix comedy Paradise PD, Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface on the Netflix comedy-drama BoJack Horseman, and Tom DuBois and Colonel H. Stinkmeaner on the Adult Swim sitcom The Boondocks.
Wendi McLendon-Covey is an American actress known primarily for her work in comedic and improvisational roles. From 2013 until 2023, she played the role of family matriarch Beverly Goldberg on the ABC comedy series The Goldbergs, for which she was nominated for two Critics' Choice Television Awards for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
Andrew Daly is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series Review, and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series Eastbound & Down as Terrence Cutler. He has also made recurring appearances on television programs such as Silicon Valley, Veep, Modern Family, Black-ish, Trial & Error, the Netflix series The Who Was? Show, Reno 911!, and Comedy Bang! Bang!, as well as animated shows such as Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, Bob's Burgers, Adventure Time, and Harley Quinn.
Robert Ben Garant, credited earlier in his career as Ben Garant, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and director. He has a long professional relationship with Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver from their time on the sketch-comedy show The State, the cop show spoof Reno 911!, and numerous screenwriting collaborations.
Reno 911!: Miami is a 2007 American cop comedy film based on Comedy Central's Reno 911! series, directed by series co-creator Robert Ben Garant. The film stars Garant alongside Carlos Alazraqui, Mary Birdsong, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Niecy Nash and Cedric Yarbrough.
Jennifer Irwin is a Canadian film and television actress best known for her roles as Linda Michaels in Still Standing, Cassie Powers in Eastbound & Down, Virginia Kremp on The Goldbergs, Laurie Neustadt in the third and fourth season of NBC's Superstore and Dolly Durkins in the final season of iZombie.
Jamie Denbo is an American actress, writer, comedian and half of the comedy duo Ronna and Beverly with Jessica Chaffin. She also co-starred in the FX series Terriers and appeared in Spy, The Heat and Ghostbusters (2016).
Kyle Dunnigan is an American comedian, actor and writer, best known as a writer for Inside Amy Schumer, and for his role as Craig in Reno 911!
Joe Lo Truglio is an American actor and comedian. Best known for his role as Charles Boyle on the Fox/NBC sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, he also was a cast member on the television series The State and Reno 911!. His notable film roles include Wet Hot American Summer, I Love You, Man, Superbad, Paul, Role Models, and Wanderlust.
Nichole Sakura is a Japanese-American actress best known for her role as Cheyenne Thompson in the NBC sitcom Superstore (2015–2021).
The State is an American comedy troupe. The troupe was founded by a group of New York University students in 1988, as an offshoot of the NYU improv comedy group The Sterile Yak; it was briefly named The New Group before landing on the name The State. The troupe's members are Kevin Allison, Michael Ian Black, Robert Ben Garant, Todd Holoubek, Michael Patrick Jann, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Thomas Lennon, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Michael Showalter and David Wain. As a group, the troupe is best known for creating and starring in the 1993-1995 MTV sketch comedy series The State. However, since the show aired, members of the troupe have frequently collaborated on other television and film projects, including Viva Variety, Reno 911!, and the Wet Hot American Summer media franchise. The comedy group Stella is composed of three of The State's members, Showalter, Black and Wain, and starred in the 2005 sketch comedy series Stella, among other works. Additionally, some members of The State have achieved independent success as comic actors, writers and directors.
