Steven Wright
Academy Award Winner Steven Wright is a prototype comedian that many others continually try to follow. One of four children, Wright was raised in Burlington, MA.
Upon graduating from Emerson College and holding a bevy of odd jobs, Steven attended an open mike audition and became a regular performer at Ding Ho's Comedy Club and Chinese Restaurant in Cambridge, MA. It was during this time, in August of 1982, that Steven got his big break and was booked for his first Tonight Show appearance. The king of late night enjoyed the performance so much he invited Steven to appear again within a week, a rarity on The Tonight Show. His back-to-back appearances helped put his fledgling career into high gear.
Wright expanded his comedy career to include comedy albums, film and television appearances. His 1986 debut album, I Have A Pony, earned him a Grammy nomination.
Steven Wright continues touring the U.S., Canada and overseas.
Every so often, I like to stick my head out the window, look up, and smile for a satellite picture.
-Steven Wright
Jonathan Winters
The real Jonathan Winters was born in Dayton, Ohio on November 11, 1925. After attending public school in Springfield, he joined the Marine Corps at the age of seventeen. After serving two-and-a-half years in the South Pacific, he returned to Ohio and attended Kenyon College.
His interest in art led him to Dayton Art Institute where he studied for over two years and met the girl who would become his wife, Eileen. Eileen encouraged Jonathan to enter a local talent contest in Dayton, which he did, and he won a wrist watch, but the performance led him to a job as an early morning disc-jockey on radio station WING in Dayton (1946). This job led him to WBNS-TV in Columbus where he worked for three years.
In 1953, Jonathan headed for New York. As a performer at Manhattan's Blue Angel nightclub, his reputation as a comic began to grow. Gary Moore, who was substituting for Arthur Godfrey on the TV Show "Talent Scouts", presented Jonathan on the show.
Then came the Jack Paar Show, The Steve Allen Show, and The Tonight Show, where Jonathan was able to demonstrate his comic genius and he became a top name in American Comedy.
Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.
-Jonathan Winters
Don Rickles
Don Rickles is one of the 20th Century's most famous funny men. He is regarded among the world's top entertainers. However, he paid his dues before reaching the top.
A small step forward in Rickles' career occurred in 1957, at Slate Brothers, a small Hollywood nightclub. Frank Sinatra wandered in one night. Rickles, still unknown, eyed Sinatra and said, "Make yourself at home, Frank. Hit somebody." Sinatra doubled up laughing and became one of Rickles' biggest boosters among Hollywood celebrities.
Rickles soon became the "in" comic among the big name Hollywood stars, who flocked to his nightclub engagements to become the targets of his insults.
Rickles is still going strong as an octagerian.
If I were to insult people and mean it, that wouldn't be funny.
-Don Rickles