H. Jon Benjamin
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H. Jon Benjamin (born May 23, 1966 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American comedian and actor, known mostly for his extensive voice acting.
[edit] Career overview
Benjamin's comedy career began when he was around twenty-four in Boston where he was first in a comedy duo with Sam Seder, then a member of Cross Comedy, a comedy team led by David Cross. For around the first seven years of his career, Benjamin almost exclusively worked in groups rather than independently. Afterwards his independent work remained more experimental, rejecting traditional styles of stand-up comedy in favour of playing with the medium.
Benjamin's live projects include the Midnight Pajama Jam, a show performed in New York City with Jon Glaser, and Tinkle a show combining stand-up comedy and live music co-hosted by Todd Barry and David Cross. A Midnight Pajama Jam DVD is currently in production.
He was the guest on Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode 78, King Dead. He has appeared in the television show Cheap Seats, on ESPN Classic, as "Gene Stapleton" and "Rabbi Marc Shalowitz". He co-starred in Todd Barry's short film Borrowing Saffron, and portrayed a hallucinatory talking can of vegetables with a shameful habit of autofellatio in the film Wet Hot American Summer. He also made short cameos in Not Another Teen Movie as the football trainer and on the FX Network dramedy Rescue Me as the pimp F-bomb in season two.
Benjamin has also done a lot of voice work in animated TV shows. His credits include starring roles in several Soup2Nuts cartoon shows, such as Science Court, Home Movies, O'Grady, and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. He is currently working on Freak Show, a cartoon co-starring David Cross, and Assy McGee, a new show on Adult Swim, which he is co-writing with Jon Glaser. Benjamin is also starring as the Devil in Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil. The show has been green lighted and but its first air date has yet to be announced.
Benjamin has also made guest appearances in several animated shows. He was in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episodes "Bus of the Undead" and "The Last One" as Mothmonsterman, and as Mr. Sticks in "Broodwich". He recently guest-starred in Family Guy as Carl, a convenience store clerk who wants to have sexual intercourse with Jessica Alba. Other notable recent appearances include The Venture Bros., in the episodes "Escape to the House of Mummies Part II" and "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills", in which he played Dr. Orpheus's master (who appears in the form of Cerberus and Catherine the Great's horse, respectively).
Benjamin is also the announcer for The Sam Seder Show and the now defunct The Majority Report, both on Air America Radio.
[edit] Quotes
- "I don’t know about that. I’ve turned down some sitcom work but I don’t know if it’s important enough to note." (In regards to the claim that he turns down more work than any other actor)
- "When I saw my character I was thrilled because they made him really fat and dumpy while I am this tiny balding Jewish guy." (Describing his first reaction to seeing Coach McGuirk, one of the characters he voiced in Home Movies)
- "I've never had the desire to tell jokes. I've always been more interested in not making people laugh, but people seem to laugh at that. So actual jokes have always been the antithesis of what I've wanted to do. I started doing comedy with a lot of people who were great at telling jokes so I just wanted to not do what they did." (On the nature of his live performances in an interview on The Sound of Young America)
