Wayne Federman

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Wayne Federman (born June 22, 1959 in Los Angeles, California) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is noted for his numerous stand-up comedy appearances in clubs and on television, his biography of "Pistol" Pete Maravich, and his supporting comedic acting roles in The X-Files, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Legally Blonde, and 50 First Dates.

Wayne Federman
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Wayne Federman

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[edit] Early Years: 1959-1976

Federman was one of six children. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, attended East Silver Spring Elementary and then, at age 10, moved to Plantation, Florida. He played the drums and, at age 14, began performing in a band at weddings. He also taught himself ventriloquism and performed at various school (South Plantation High School) functions as well as local churches and service organizations. He delivered his high school's sports results on Miami radio station WWOK. He made his local television debut on WABC's Youth and the Issue along with Tom Carr, Noelle Fedora, and Andy Federman (brother). In 1976, Federman worked as an extra, in John Frankenheimer's Black Sunday – shot at the Orange Bowl.

[edit] New York City: 1977-1986

In the fall of 1977, Federman was accepted into the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. There he studied with legendary acting coach, Stella Adler. He performed his own show, Comedy Tonight, at the Eisner and Lubin Auditoruium along with future Broadway star Donna Murphy.

Wayne Federman Electric Ukulele circa 1987
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Wayne Federman Electric Ukulele circa 1987

After college Federman brought his one-man show to the 13th Street Theater. There he performed in rotation with Brother Theodore. He also starred in the theater’s production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, where he played six roles.

Soon he was performing stand-up comedy at various New York Comedy Clubs, most notably The Comic Strip and Catch a Rising Star. It was during these years that he incorported music into his act. He closed his sets by playing hard rock tunes from Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, and The Rolling Stones on his electric ukulele.

Federman made his national television debut on the syndicated stand-up program Comedy Tonight in 1986. He also appeared in two home videos: New Wave Comedy and the Dodge Comedy Showcase.

[edit] Hollywood: 1987-Present

In 1987, Federman moved to Los Angeles and began working at the The Improv, IGBYs, The Laugh Factory, and the Comedy and Magic Club. He taped a series of televised stand-up performances including Evening At The Improv, George Schlatter’s Comedy Club, CBS Morning Show, 2 Drink Minimum, Star Search, Good Times Cafe, The A-List, and MTV ½ Hour Comedy Hour.

He toured extensively, performing at over 200 colleges. He co-founded the improvisational group, “No Fat Guy,” with Marc Raider, Scott LaRose, and Steve Hytner and later briefly formed a music comedy team with Jordan Brady.

Federman began booking televison commercials and appeared in dozens of national spots for clients including: Euerka Vacuums, Holiday Inn, U.S. Navy, Wendy's, Taboo, Eagle Talon (w/ Greg Kinnear), McDonalds, Glad Bags, Sprite, Total Raisin Bran, Ford, U.S. Olympic Team, Suzuki Samurai, Sizzler, Del Monte, U.S. Cellular, Coors, and 7-11. He gained some prominence as the first “not exactly” guy in the long running Hertz rental car campaign.

Federman began landing small television parts on Baywatch, Amen, Dear John, A Different World, Doogie Howser, News Radio, and recurring roles on L.A. Law (3 episodes) and Living Single (3 episodes).

Wayne Federman and Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm
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Wayne Federman and Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm

In 1992, Federman made his debut on The Tonight Show and has subsequequently appeared many times times on the program. He also appeared on Late Fridays, Comedy Showcase, and Premium Blend. In 2004, he taped his own 1/2 hour stand-up special for the series, Comedy Central Presents.

In 1998, Wayne appeared as Larry Sander's brother, Stan, and was later reunited with Garry Shandling on the X-Files episode Hollywood A.D. Written and directed by David Duchovny, the creative episode followed Wayne Federman, a Hollywood producer/writer and college friend of assistant FBI director, Walter Skinner.

Television led Wayne to film roles in Jack Frost (1998 film), Dill Scallion, Legally Blonde, 50 First Dates, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

In 2006, Federman landed the recurring role of "Johnson" on the short-lived CBS sitcom, Courting Alex.

Federman co-wrote and starred in Max and Josh, a short film that premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Volkswagen Relentless Drive Award.

Federman filmed roles in the upcoming 20th Century Fox feature Unaccompanied Minors, scheduled for release in December 2006, and Universal's Knocked Up, scheduled for release in August 2007.

[edit] Voice Over

In 1990, while shooting a television commercial campaign for McDonalds (directed by Henry Winkler), Federman recorded a series of tie-in radio commercials. This launched his voice-over career. Since then he has recorded hundreds of radio and television spots. His distinctive voice is currently heard on the Cartoon Network and Nick at Night.

Federman was the voice of the talking "ham and cheese" sandwich in the long running Florida Orange Juice campaign.

He has dabbled briefly in animiation, heard on The Wild Thornberrys and King of The Hill.

[edit] The Pete Maravich Project

MARAVICH
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MARAVICH

In 2000, Wayne began co-authoring (with Marshall Terrill) a new, authorized biography of NBA basketball legend, Pete Maravich. Working closely with the Maravich family, the book, entitled Maravich, is scheduled for release on December 1, 2006.

In 2000, Federman was interviewed for, and served as senior consultant, on the Emmy award winning CBS Sports documentary, PISTOL PETE: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich.

ESPN's SportsCentury also interviewed Federman for their installment on Pete Maravich.

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[edit] Filmography

[edit] Related links

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