Richard John Colangelo (April 14, 1957 â€" March 10, 2007), better
known by his stage name Richard Jeni, was an American stand-up
comedian and actor.Jeni was raised in an Italian-American Roman
Catholic family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He graduated with honors
from Hunter College, earning a bachelor's degree in comparative
politics. After graduating, Jeni went on to do public relations work,
but was let go from five different firms in two years before doing an
open-mic night in Brooklyn and deciding to pursue standup comedy as a
career in 1982.Jeni first received recognition through a series of
Showtime stand-up specials and frequent appearances on The Tonight
Show. After making his The Tonight Show debut in 1988 with Johnny
Carson, Jeni would return often and later made appearances on The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, with more appearances than any other
stand-up comedian. In 1989, he won Comedy USA's Best Nightclub
Comedian, as voted by comedy club owners and comedians, and his first
Showtime special Richard Jeni: The Boy From New York City won a
CableACE Award.Top executives at HBO picked up his first appearance on
The HBO Comedy Hour in 1992, titled Richard Jeni: Platypus Man. The
show was well received, and Jeni returned for two more shows, going on
to receive another CableACE Award for one of his HBO specials. Jeni
starred in the short-lived 1995 UPN sitcom Platypus Man and appeared
in the Jim Carrey film The Mask. Jeni composed the theme song ("I'm A
Platypus Man") for his TV series. He appeared in The Aristocrats,
Dad's Week Off, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, and Chasing
Robert. He starred in commercial campaigns for Certs and Arby's, and
won a Clio Award for his work as a writer/performer in an advertising
campaign for the American Dairy Association.
known by his stage name Richard Jeni, was an American stand-up
comedian and actor.Jeni was raised in an Italian-American Roman
Catholic family in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He graduated with honors
from Hunter College, earning a bachelor's degree in comparative
politics. After graduating, Jeni went on to do public relations work,
but was let go from five different firms in two years before doing an
open-mic night in Brooklyn and deciding to pursue standup comedy as a
career in 1982.Jeni first received recognition through a series of
Showtime stand-up specials and frequent appearances on The Tonight
Show. After making his The Tonight Show debut in 1988 with Johnny
Carson, Jeni would return often and later made appearances on The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno, with more appearances than any other
stand-up comedian. In 1989, he won Comedy USA's Best Nightclub
Comedian, as voted by comedy club owners and comedians, and his first
Showtime special Richard Jeni: The Boy From New York City won a
CableACE Award.Top executives at HBO picked up his first appearance on
The HBO Comedy Hour in 1992, titled Richard Jeni: Platypus Man. The
show was well received, and Jeni returned for two more shows, going on
to receive another CableACE Award for one of his HBO specials. Jeni
starred in the short-lived 1995 UPN sitcom Platypus Man and appeared
in the Jim Carrey film The Mask. Jeni composed the theme song ("I'm A
Platypus Man") for his TV series. He appeared in The Aristocrats,
Dad's Week Off, An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, and Chasing
Robert. He starred in commercial campaigns for Certs and Arby's, and
won a Clio Award for his work as a writer/performer in an advertising
campaign for the American Dairy Association.
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