| Jim Florentine | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | James Florentine |
| Born | August 18, 1964 (age 47) United States |
| Medium | Stand-up comedy, film, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 1992-present |
| Genres | Stand-up comedy |
| Website | http://www.JimFlorentine.com |
James "Jim" Florentine (born August 18, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, comedian, voice artist, and performer. He is best known for hosting the That Metal Show on Vh1 Classic as well as performing Special Ed and Bobby Fletcher on Crank Yankers.
Currently, he is touring the country performing solo and with Don Jamieson and is part of The Killers of Comedy tour.
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Florentine was born James Florentine on August 18, 1964. In 1993, he began his career in comedy clubs in New York City.[1]
In July 2001, Florentine released Terrorizing Telemarketers Volume 1. After numerous plays on the Howard Stern Radio Show, his CD ranking on Amazon.com went from 282,363 to number 2. The only artist ahead of him was the Backstreet Boys. Later that week, Florentine's CD came in at #17 on the Internet Billboard charts.
After the release of Terrorizing Telemarketers Volume 2 in late 2001, Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla took a liking to Florentine's prank calls and hired him for a show to debut in June 2002 on Comedy Central called Crank Yankers. Florentine played Special Ed, a mentally retarded teenager, and Bobby Fletcher, a despicable, alcoholic slob who is the older cousin of Ed.
After season 1, Eminem took a liking to Florentine's characters and flew him out to his Detroit studio to do prank calls together for the upcoming season of Crank Yankers. The following year in 2004, Eminem and Florentine did a bit together on the MTV Music awards show where Eminem beat up Special Ed, who kept annoying him (and tore his leg off). Crank Yankers lasted 3 seasons on Comedy Central. The show moved over to MTV2 in 2006 for one season. Florentine's Special Ed character that he created is still played at various Sporting Events at stadiums across the USA.
Florentine was featured on the series premiere of Down and Dirty with Jim Norton, a stand-up comedy series that aired on HBO on October 3, 2008. The series spotlights new and established talent, including Artie Lange, Bill Burr (Chappelle Show), Patrice O'Neal (Scary Movie 4), and Andrew Dice Clay. Lemmy, leader of the heavy metal band Motörhead, serves as the musical director.
Later that year, That Metal Show which Florentine hosts made its debut on VH1 Classic. It's described as "The Tonight Show for AC/DC fans". He is also co-hosting along with Eddie Trunk and Don Jamieson.
Florentine has been seen on The Apprentice, Comedy Central's Mother Load, HBO's Inside the NFL, Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, The Opie and Anthony Show, The Howard Stern Show, Spike TV's Video Game Awards, MTV Music Video Awards, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Last Call with Carson Daly, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central, VH1's The List, and Louie Anderson's Comedy Showcase. He also voiced the redneck radio host Bobbie Ray in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.
He has a series of prank call CDs known as Terrorizing Telemarketers Volumes 1-5.[2] The CDs feature a series of recorded telephone conversations, often with Florentine receiving calls from telemarketers, wherein he turns the tables on often aggressive salespeople by being deliberately difficult and creating awkward situations.
In 2004, he worked one season on HBO's Inside the NFL performing various comedy sketches. The show won an Emmy that season and Florentine has proudly said in various interviews that when he was single he kept it on his night stand and it would close the deal anytime he had a date over. He called it his "Mariano Rivera".
At the same time, Florentine released two hidden camera DVDs called Meet The Creeps where he and his partner Don Jamieson pull outrageous pranks on people. The DVD has got in the hands of some Comedy Central executives and they brought Meet The Creeps to their broadband channel called Motherload. After the two successful seasons, Comedy Central did a Meet The Creeps pilot for the network. The pilot was deemed too mean spirited and the show never made it on the network.
Between 2004 and 2008, he made 3 appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC. He also appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. In 2007, Florentine appeared on the last episode of The Apprentice in season 4 doing his edgy stand-up comedy at a conservative charity event. He asked Trump's partner George if he wears a diaper. He has not appeared on "The Apprentice" since.
In 2008, he dated Robin Quivers.[1]
He is an occasional guest on the late-night Fox News Channel show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld.
Later in 2010, Florentine appeared in the feature film A Little Help as Brian.
On October 25, 2011 his live comedy CD/DVD Cringe 'n' Purge was released on Metal Blade Records.[3] The album cracked the top 5 on the Billboard Current Comedy Chart. It is also available on iTunes with three additional bonus tracks and peaked at #3 on the iTunes comedy charts.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | White Chicks, Incorporated | Bill | |
| 2002 | Rock Bottom | Miller Davis | |
| 2003 | Secret War | Getty | |
| 2004 | Grace and the Storm | Gio | |
| 2005 | Eminem's Making the Ass | Special Ed / Little Em' | Voice only |
| 2006 | Beer League | Crispino | |
| 2010 | A Little Help | Brian |
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Apt. 2F | Comic | |
| 2003–2007 | Crank Yankers | Special Ed / Bobby Fletcher | |
| 2008–present | That Metal Show | Self |
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