Robert A. Riggle Jr. (born April 21, 1970) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and retired United States Marine officer. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, he joined the Marines in 1990 and later attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Riggle joined the Marines in 1990 after getting his pilot's license, intending to become a naval aviator, but left flight school to pursue a comedy career.[5] Riggle was a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve and often referred to his military experiences on The Daily Show, including acting as the show's "military analyst" and joking that he could kill any other member of the show.[6] In August 2007, he went to Iraq to report for The Daily Show and to entertain troops under the purview of the USO.[7]
Riggle has a long-standing comedic partnership with comedian Rob Huebel, with whom he frequently appears at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCBT) and in their former improvisational sketch comedy troupe Respecto Montalban. Perhaps the duo's best known creation was their long running two-man show Kung Fu Grip which they performed at UCBT and other comedy venues for many years, and in the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival. Around this time, they began appearing together in several of Comedy Central and VH1's "talking head" commentary programs such as Best Week Ever and A2Z. They also appeared in Bravo network's 100 Scariest Movie Moments special in 2004. These appearances got the duo their first exposure to television viewers and made them favorites among VH1 viewers. Riggle, Huebel and most of their castmates from Respecto Montalban also performed in sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien through the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The duo's growing popularity landed them an audition on Saturday Night Live in the summer of 2004. They auditioned together, though only Riggle ended up making the cut. After spending one season on Saturday Night Live from 2004 to 2005, Riggle soon joined Huebel and many of his other Respecto Montalban castmates in Los Angeles to work on new projects. Soon after, the two landed a holding deal at NBC in early 2006 to develop a half-hour comedy program, though it never reached production.
In September 2006, Riggle joined The Daily Show as a regular correspondent. Around the same time, Huebel (along with Respecto Montalban member Paul Scheer and stand-up comic Aziz Ansari) started developing Human Giant, a sketch show for MTV. Riggle often appeared in the show's sketches, and in its 24-hour live marathon which aired in May 2007. One of Riggle's most memorable appearances was as hired muscle Ham-Bone, who appeared alongside Aziz Ansari in the season one sketch "Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru". Riggle and Huebel can also be seen on stage at the UCBT in Doug Benson's documentary Super High Me.
Saturday Night Live
A featured player during the 2004–2005 season, Riggle's first appearance as a SNL cast member was on the show's 30th-season premiere on October 2, 2004.[13] He has portrayed Larry the Cable Guy, Howard Dean, Rick Sanchez, Mark McGwire, and Toby Keith. He had a one-shot character named Leviticus, a loud, violent street preacher who only appeared on a Weekend Update segment on the Christmas episode hosted by Robert De Niro (though another sketch featuring Leviticus scheduled to air on the episode hosted by Hilary Swank was cut after dress rehearsal).
Prior to becoming a cast member, Riggle appeared in a non-speaking role during season 29 in a pre-taped parody of Fear Factor, where he played the father of one of the child contestants during the "Breakfast in Bed" challenge, in which a child must eat the maggots off a plate of Eggs Benedict with the understanding that failing to do so results in the divorce of his parents.
The Daily Show
In September 2006, Riggle joined the cast of The Daily Show to replace the departing Rob Corddry, and his debut on September 20, 2006.
TV Guide cited Riggle's segment "Marines in Berkeley" where he donned hippie regalia to spoof University of California, Berkeley peace activists protesting a local Marines recruiting station.[14]
During the 2008 Olympics, Riggle traveled to China to tape sketches for The Daily Show, producing the four-part special feature "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon".[15]
Riggle left The Daily Show on December 10, 2008, in his words "to go fight crime"; however, he appeared at Bonnaroo 2009—with John Oliver and Rory Albanese, one of the show's executive producers—in a show entitled An Evening (or Afternoon) with The Daily Show featuring John Oliver, Rob Riggle & Rory Albanese.
On August 3, 2010, Riggle made a surprise cameo on The Daily Show during an interview with Will Ferrell.[16] While Ferrell and Stewart began discussing Riggle's "lack of talent" and making other disparaging remarks about him, Riggle suddenly walked onto the set to "surprise" them and asked if they were talking about him. His intimidating presence appeared to make Ferrell and Stewart visibly afraid, continuing the running joke that Stewart is afraid of Riggle.
Stand-up comedy
Riggle performing in 2014
Previously, Riggle's live comedy work was mostly improvisational and sketch-based, but beginning in 2006 he wanted to try something different and decided to create a stand-up act. After working on it in various comedy clubs in New York City, he toured colleges and other comedy clubs, often performing with John Oliver and other Daily Show writers. He credits John Oliver for encouraging him to try stand-up while they shared an office at The Daily Show.[17]
In 2006, Riggle guest-starred as a boat captain named Captain Jack on the "Booze Cruise" episode of The Office, and as an anti-euthanasia activist on Arrested Development. He was also seen as a NASCAR announcer in the comedy film Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell.
Riggle in 2008
In late 2007, Riggle began appearing as a spokesman in a series of Budweiser commercials. In 2008 he signed a talent holding contract with CBS and CBS Paramount Network TV, which included a development deal to create and star in a half-hour comedy series.[18] He also gained a supporting role in Step Brothers, where he plays a rude co-worker of Brennan's (Will Ferrell). He had memorable supporting roles in the 2009 films The Hangover and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and supporting roles in the 2010 comedies Going the Distance, Killers, and The Other Guys.
In 2009, Riggle started a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Gary Unmarried, playing Mitch, Jay Mohr's brother from the Marines.
In 2010, Riggle and comedian Paul Scheer wrote and starred in "Designated Driver", a series of sketches for the first season of the HBO comedy show Funny or Die Presents. Riggle, Scheer and Rob Huebel also wrote and starred in a series of sketches called "Death Hunt" in the show's second season in 2011.
In May 2011, Riggle appeared in a 2-minute short on funnyordie.com as the U.S. Navy SEAL who killed Osama bin Laden.[19] He plays a humble US NavyLieutenant (though the insignia on his uniform displays three solid gold bands, indicating the O-5 rank of a USN commander) who, upon being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, pledges absolute discretion, then gets intoxicated at a local bar and boasts unreservedly to a large crowd that he was bin Laden's assassin.
From 2011 to 2013, Riggle has co-starred as "The President of the Navy" in the Adult Swim comedy-action series NTSF:SD:SUV::. On July 11, 2012, he hosted the 2012 ESPY Awards.
In 2012, Riggle had a recurring role as "Kevin Jesquire" in season two of the FX comedy series Wilfred. He also began the recurring role of Gil Thorpe, the real-estate rival of Phil Dunphy (played by Ty Burrell), on the hit comedy series Modern Family, which continued through the show's 11th and final season in 2020.
In October 2013, he played Satan in the music video for Steel Panther's "Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World".
Beginning with the 19th-season premiere of the Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show on September 9, 2012, Riggle took over the comedy skit and prognosticator portions previously performed by Frank Caliendo from 2003 to 2011.[24] Riggle did not return to the Fox NFL pre-game show in 2020.
Personal life
Riggle married his wife Tiffany on April 13, 1999, and have two children. They filed for divorce in October 2020.[25]
In June 2021, Riggle publicly claimed that his ex-wife had hacked his personal Apple account, stolen money from his home, and that she was somehow spying on him. Later that month, Riggle was granted a temporary restraining order against his ex-wife after finding a hidden camera, disguised as a smoke detector, in his home with more than 10,000 videos stored in it — some of which support his claims.[26] A second hearing was scheduled for July 2021 at Riggle's request for a forensic expert to go through the footage obtained through the hidden camera.[27]
The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Adam McKay, Rick Roman, Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin. Other early members included Neil Flynn, Armando Diaz, Ali Farahnakian and Rich Fulcher.
Robert William Corddry is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film Hot Tub Time Machine. He is the creator and star of Adult Swim's Childrens Hospital and has been awarded four Primetime Emmy Awards. He previously starred in the HBO series Ballers and the CBS comedy The Unicorn.
Frank Caliendo Jr. is an American comedian, actor, and impressionist best known for his impersonations on the Fox Network television series MADtv as well as being the in-house prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday. In 2007 and 2008, he performed impersonations on his own show, Frank TV, which aired on TBS.
David Michael Koechner is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing roles such as Champ Kind in the Anchorman films and Todd Packer on The Office series.
Fox NFL Sunday is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL) game telecasts under the NFL on Fox brand. An audio simulcast of the program airs on sister radio network Fox Sports Radio, which is distributed by Premiere Radio Networks. As of 2014, the program has won four Emmy Awards.
Robert Anderson Huebel is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his sketch comedy work on the MTV series Human Giant and for his role of Dr. Owen Maestro on the Adult Swim series Childrens Hospital. He also appeared as Russell on the FX/FXX series The League and as Len Novak on the Amazon Prime Video series Transparent. In December 2022, Entertainment Weekly called Huebel "the premier d-bag character actor of his generation".
Paul Christian Scheer is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. Scheer is best known for his roles in FX/FXX's The League and Showtime's comedy series Black Monday. Scheer also co-created and starred in MTV's Human Giant and Adult Swim's series NTSF:SD:SUV::, and has had recurring roles on ABC's Fresh Off the Boat and HBO's Veep. He is also known for voicing Chip Whistler in Disney’s Big City Greens.
Danielle Caroline Schneider is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series The Hotwives and currently co-hosts the podcast Bitch Sesh.
Respecto Montalban was an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe associated with the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City from 1999 until September 2005.
Eugenio González Derbez is a Mexican actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films and television series, including The Book of Life, The Angry Birds Movie 2, and CODA.
Wesley Dening is an Australian television producer based in Los Angeles. He is the President of an international production company called WD Entertainment Group Inc. and serves as Executive Producer of Eureka Productions series Santa Monica. Dening is originally from Australia, where he first became known as a host for multiple Australian television programs including Totally Wild, Totally Wild: Antarctica, Ten's First at Five News, Kick2Kick and also as a contestant on Big Brother Australia 2004.
Joseph William Tessitore is an American sportscaster for ABC, ESPN and WWE. He leads ESPN's world championship fight broadcasts as the play-by-play broadcaster for Top Rank Boxing on ESPN, serves as a play-by-play announcer for Holey Moley on ABC alongside comedian Rob Riggle and NBA star Stephen Curry and announces college football on ESPN and ABC. In 2018 and 2019, Tessitore was also the play-by-play broadcaster of Monday Night Football, alongside former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten in 2018 and analyst Booger McFarland in 2018 and 2019.
Human Giant is a sketch comedy show starring writer/performers Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer, and directed primarily by Jason Woliner. The show ran for two seasons on MTV. In 2008, the group was offered a third season and was reportedly developing a feature film with Red Hour Productions, but these projects did not transpire due to Ansari's commitments to starring in the NBC show Parks and Recreation. In 2010, Ansari, Huebel and Scheer reunited to do a skit for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.
The thirtieth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between October 2, 2004, and May 21, 2005.
Funny or Die Presents is a half-hour sketch comedy show that spawned from the comedy website Funny or Die, created by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. It premiered on HBO on February 19, 2010.
Adam Saul Pally is an American comedian and actor. He first earned recognition for starring as Max Blum in Happy Endings, as Dr. Peter Prentice in The Mindy Project, and as Wade Whipple in Sonic the Hedgehog, its sequels, and the spin-off series Knuckles. He also starred in Making History and was an executive producer of The President Show.
Key & Peele is an American sketch comedy television series created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central. Both Key and Peele previously worked on Mad TV.
Do You Want to See a Dead Body? is an American surreal comedy streaming television series created by Owen Burke and Rob Huebel that premiered on November 17, 2017, on YouTube Red.
Holey Moley is an American sports reality competition television series created for ABC by Chris Culvenor. The series is produced by Eureka Productions and Unanimous Media, with Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Wesley Dening, Stephen Curry, Jeron Smith, Erick Peyton, Charles Wachter, and Michael O'Sullivan serving as executive producers.
Holey Moley is an Australian reality game show based on the international U.S.-based Holey Moley format. Following the premise of the original version, the series features contestants competing against each other in a series of head-to-head, sudden-death matchups on a supersized miniature golf obstacle course. Greg Norman stars as the resident golf pro, alongside expert commentators Rob Riggle and Matt Shirvington, along with host and sideline correspondent Sonia Kruger.
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