Thomas Lennon
| Thomas Lennon | |
|---|---|
 Lennon in 2015 | |
| Born |
Thomas Patrick Lennon August 9, 1970 Oak Park, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse(s) | Jenny Robertson |
| Children | 1 |
Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer and director best known as a cast member on MTV's The State and for his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the Comedy Central series Reno 911!. He is the writing partner of Robert Ben Garant.
Early life
Lennon was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Kathleen and Timothy Lennon.[1] He is a 1988 graduate of Oak Park and River Forest High School, and is of Irish descent.[2] At age 16, Lennon met friend and future co-worker Kerri Kenney at Theatre Camp at Northwestern University. The two later attended NYU,[3] where they joined a comedy troupe called The New Group.
Career
Acting and performing
The New Group later changed their name to The State. After performing their material at various theaters and clubs in New York City, they started work on the MTV show You Wrote It, You Watch It. This led to the self-titled series The State (1993–95), which was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for Best Comedy Series.
Following the collapse of The State after one special on CBS, Lennon, along with Kenney, Robert Ben Garant and Michael Ian Black went on to create and star in the Comedy Central program Viva Variety (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of The State, called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme". Viva Variety received a Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Comedy Series. After Viva Variety, Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in Reno 911! (2003–09). Initially slated for Fox, the program later debuted on Comedy Central.
Lennon has appeared in dozens of TV shows, including The League, Childrens Hospital, Party Down, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Comedy Bang Bang, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, and appeared as Joey Tribbiani's blackjack dealing, "identical hand twin" on the Friends fifth-season finale ("The One In Vegas," Pts. I and II).
Lennon has appeared in dozens of films, including Bad Teacher, Memento, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and I Love You, Man, for which he and costar Paul Rudd were nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and at 31, has the second-most number of appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Lennon appeared as a doctor in the Christopher Nolan films Memento (2000) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).[4]
Lennon has done various voice work, including Kim Possible, Bob's Burgers, Archer and Planet Sheen, in which he played the character of Pinter. He plays Scribble in Tinkerbell and the Secret of the Wings and Tinkerbell and the Legend of the Neverbeast. He supplied the voice of Eddie the Shipboard Computer in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and plays the voice of Fearless Leader in the 2014 DreamWorks short film version of Rocky and Bullwinkle and he is the voice of Munk on Dawn of the Croods
In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, during which he will sometimes play guitar. He has appeared on The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, The Jeselnik Offensive, and The Benson Interruption. He was the guest on the first episode of The Nerdist Podcast, which was also recorded in his garage.
Lennon and Garant created and starred in a 2010 sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. In May that year it was announced that NBC had decided not to produce it as a series.
Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick Geoff Peterson on the CBS show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in November and December 2011.
Since its premiere in October 2013, Lennon has appeared 15 times on the late-night internet-based improv panel game show, @midnight (which he also produces), winning a total of five times.[5]
In 2014, Lennon was cast as Felix Unger in the reboot television series The Odd Couple opposite Matthew Perry, who plays Oscar Madison.[6] He also will star in Paramount Animation's Monster Trucks.[7]
At the 2016 People's Choice Awards ceremony, he participated in an on-stage sketch parodying the recent gaffe by Steve Harvey at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant. [8]
Screenwriting
Lennon is a screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with partner Robert Ben Garant.[3] Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.[9]
Among Garant and Lennon's credits are the Night at the Museum films.
Lennon is the author of four of IFC's "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time".[10]
In August 2010, John Landgraf, president of FX Network, announced that his network had ordered a pilot episode for a new Garant/Lennon science fiction television comedy called USS Alabama, set 1000 years in the future, aboard a United Nations peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama.[4]
Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can Too! in 2011.[9]
In 2012, Garant and Lennon wrote a film version of Baywatch. They wrote The Machine, which is set to star Vin Diesel. Garant and Lennon wrote, directed and starred in the 2013 film Hell Baby starring Rob Corddry and Leslie Bibb. The film was produced by Darko Entertainment, and shot on location in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hell Baby premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[4]
Personal life
Lennon lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Jenny Robertson,[3] and their son Oliver.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Drop Dead Gorgeous | Documentarian | Voice only |
| 2000 | Memento | Doctor | |
| 2000 | Row Your Boat | Census taker | |
| 2001 | Out Cold | Eric Montclare | |
| 2002 | Boat Trip | The priest | |
| 2003 | Le Divorce | Roger Walker | |
| 2003 | How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days | Thayer | |
| 2003 | A Guy Thing | Pete Morse | |
| 2004 | Taxi | N/A | Writer |
| 2004 | Heights | Marshall | |
| 2006 | Conversations with Other Women | Videographer | |
| 2005 | Herbie: Fully Loaded | Larry Murphy | Writer |
| 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Eddie the Shipboard Computer | Voice only |
| 2005 | The Godfather of Green Bay | D.U.G. | |
| 2005 | The Pacifier | Writer | |
| 2006 | Night at the Museum | Writer | |
| 2006 | Let's Go to Prison | Writer | |
| 2006 | Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas | Police officer | |
| 2006 | Eden Court | Shroeder Duncan | |
| 2007 | Balls of Fury | Karl Wolfschtagg | Writer, producer |
| 2007 | Reno 911!: Miami | Lieutenant Jim Dangle | Writer, executive producer |
| 2008 | Hancock | Mike | |
| 2009 | Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian | Orville Wright | Writer Uncredited cameo |
| 2009 | 17 Again | Ned Gold | |
| 2009 | I Love You, Man | Doug | |
| 2010 | Hot Tub Time Machine | Customer | Uncredited |
| 2011 | Cedar Rapids | Roger Lemke | |
| 2011 | How to Survive a Robot Uprising | Writer | |
| 2011 | Bad Teacher | Carl Halabi | |
| 2011 | What's Your Number? | Dr. Barrett 'Barry' Ingold | |
| 2011 | A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas | Todd | |
| 2012 | What to Expect When You're Expecting | Craig | |
| 2012 | The Dark Knight Rises | Doctor | |
| 2013 | Hell Baby | Pat | Writer, producer, director (with Robert Ben Garant) |
| 2013 | Rapture-Palooza | Mr. Murphy | |
| 2013 | We're the Millers | Rick Nathanson | |
| 2014 | Mr. Peabody and Sherman | Italian Peasant #2 | Voice only |
| 2014 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | Chief of Staff | |
| 2015 | Knight of Cups | Tom | |
| 2017 | Monster Trucks | Filming | |
| 2017 | A Futile and Stupid Gesture | Michael O'Donoghue | Filming |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The State | Several characters | 27 episodes |
| 1997 | Viva Variety | Host Meredith Laupin | 16 episodes |
| 1999 | Friends | Randall | Season 5, Episode 23 and 24 "The One in Vegas" |
| 1999–2000 | Jesse | Ernie | 2 episodes |
| 2002 | MDs | Chester E. Donge | 8 episodes |
| 2003–09 | Reno 911! | Lieutenant Jim Dangle | Also creator |
| 2006 | Stacked | Gary | Episode: "You're Getting Sleepy" |
| 2007 | Wainy Days | Ice Cream Man | Episode: "Dorvid Days" |
| 2009 | The League | Bryce | Episode: "The Usual Bet" |
| 2010 | Archer | Charles | Voice only; 3 episodes |
| 2010 | Party Down | Nick DiCintio | Season 2, Episode 3 - "Nick DiCintio's Orgy Night" |
| 2010–13 | Planet Sheen | Pinter/Blurg | Voice only; 15 episodes |
| 2011 | Memphis Beat | Keith Grant | Season 2, Episode 2 |
| 2011 | Childrens Hospital | Pat | Episode: "Home Is Where the Hospital Is" |
| 2012 | New Girl | Neil | Episode: "See Ya" |
| 2012–15 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Various | 4 episodes |
| 2012 | How I Met Your Mother | Klaus | 8.01, 8.02 |
| 2012 | Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 | Trey | Guest role |
| 2012–14 | Bob's Burgers | Chuck | Voice only; 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Franklin & Bash | Harley | Season 3, Episode 9 |
| 2013–14 | Newsreaders | Vincent Gates/Pritchard Batchman | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | NTSF:SD:SUV:: | Santa | Episode: "Wreck the Halls" |
| 2013 | Sean Saves the World | Max | Recurring role |
| 2013 | @midnight | Contestant (.364 Win Average)/Executive producer | Executive producer |
| 2014 | Hollywood Game Night | Himself | Episode: "Things That Go Clue-Boom in the Night" |
| 2014 | The Goldbergs | Tauntaun Todd | Episode: "A Wrestler Named Goldberg" |
| 2014 | Hot in Cleveland | Agent Gilmore | Season 5, Episode 2: "Surprise!" |
| 2014 | The Birthday Boys | Lou Skywalker | Episode: "Cerf's Folly" |
| 2015 | The Hotwives of Las Vegas | Garrett Truesdale | Episode: "You Make Me Wanna Drought" |
| 2015–present | The Odd Couple | Felix Unger | Main role |
| 2015 | Another Period | Marquis de Sainsbury | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | Drunk History | Major Jesse Marcel | Episode: "New Mexico" |
| 2016 | Animals. | Kevin | Voice only; Episode: "Rats." |
| 2016 | Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ | Serge | Episode: "Roger Me Rightly" |
References
- ↑ "That cop in the short shorts". Nl.newsbank.com. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
- ↑ "Thomas Lennon Interview". Video.about.com. 2014-03-04. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
- 1 2 3 Pearlman, Cindy. "Oak Park native acts, writes way to 'Reno 911!' and beyond", Chicago Sun-Times. Published April 15, 2009.
- 1 2 3 Thomas Lennon at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ "Tom Lennon". Retrieved March 26, 2015.
- ↑ Ausiello, Michael. "The Odd Couple Pilot Scoop: Look Who's Playing the Felix to Matthew Perry's Oscar". TVLine.com. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
- ↑ "Thomas Lennon Straps In For Paramount’s ‘Monster Trucks’". deadline.com. April 10, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
- ↑ "Jane Lynch Spoofs Steve Harvey's Miss Universe Gaffe At People's Choice Awards". Huffington Post. January 7, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2016.
- 1 2 Morning Edition (2011-07-05). "You Too Can Be A Successful Screenwriter". NPR. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
- ↑ "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time" Nerve/IFC; April 7, 2008
External links
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