Michael Ian Black

Michael Ian Black (born Michael Schwartz on August 12, 1971 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is a Jewish-American actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was born in Chicago, but grew up in Hillsborough, New Jersey. He began his career as a member of the comedy group The State and was featured on the television show by the same name on MTV. He continued working with members of that group on the show Viva Variety in the role of "Johnny Bluejeans", and in the film Wet Hot American Summer. He was also the voice actor behind the Pets.com sock puppet, hosted the first season of NBC's hidden-camera show Spy TV, and had a supporting role on the NBC dramedy Ed.

Related Topics:
August 12 - 1971 - Chicago, Illinois - USA - Jewish - Actor - Comedian - Writer - Hillsborough, New Jersey - The State - MTV - Viva Variety - Wet Hot American Summer - Voice actor - Pets.com - NBC - Spy TV - Dramedy - Ed

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His dry, sarcastically irreverent commentary on pop cultural artifacts on VH1's "I Love the 70s/80s/90s" series have added to his and the shows' popularity.

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Sarcastically - Commentary - Pop cultural - VH1 - I Love the 70s - 80s - 90s

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In the latter part of 2004 he acted as guest host of CBS's The Late Late Show while auditioning for the permanent hosting role. He was a finalist for the position, but the job eventually went to Craig Ferguson.

Related Topics:
The Late Late Show - Craig Ferguson

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He is also an occasional contributer to the online edition of McSweeney's, where he writes a column entitled Michael Ian Black Is A Very Famous Celebrity.

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Black, along with fellow State-rs Michael Showalter and David Wain, currently co-stars in and co-writes the Comedy Central series Stella, a live-action adaptation of their popular stage show. The ten-episode first season debuted in June of 2005.

Related Topics:
Michael Showalter - David Wain - Comedy Central - Stella

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