Steven Wright

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title: "Steven Wright" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-births", "20th-century-american-comedians", "21st-century-american-comedians", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "american-humorists", "american-male-comedians", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "american-male-voice-actors", "american-people-of-italian-descent", "american-people-of-scottish-descent", "american-stand-up-comedians", "comedians-from-cambridge,-massachusetts", "directors-of-live-action-short-film-academy-award-winners", "emerson-college-alumni", "living-people", "male-actors-from-cambridge,-massachusetts", "middlesex-community-college-(massachusetts)-alumni", "people-from-burlington,-massachusetts", "warner-records-artists"] description: "American comedian (born 1955)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Wright" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American comedian (born 1955) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox comedian"]

Field	Value
name	Steven Wright
image	Steven Wright 1994.jpg
caption	Wright in 1994
birth_name	Steven Alexander Wright
birth_date
birth_place	Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
medium	{{flatlist
years_active	1978–present
genre	{{flatlist
influences	Woody Allen
website
awards	Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
The Appointments of Dennis Jennings
::

| name = Steven Wright | image = Steven Wright 1994.jpg | image_size = | caption = Wright in 1994 | pseudonym = | birth_name = Steven Alexander Wright | birth_date = | birth_place = Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | medium = {{flatlist|

• Stand-up
• film
• television | years_active = 1978–present | genre = {{flatlist|
• Anti-humor
• deadpan
• one-liners
• wit/word play
• non sequitur
• observational comedy
• musical comedy | subject = | influences = Woody Allen|George Carlin| Bob Newhart -- | spouse = | signature = | website =
  | footnotes = | current_members = | past_members = | awards = Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings --

Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and film producer. He is known for his distinctive lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes, paraprosdokians, non sequiturs, anti-humor, and one-liners with contrived situations.

Wright was ranked as the 15th Greatest Comedian by Rolling Stone in its 2017 list of the 50 Greatest Stand-up Comics. His accolades include the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film for starring in, writing, and producing the short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings (1988) and two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations as a producer of Louie (2010–2015). He had a supporting role as Leon in the Peabody Award–winning tragicomedy web series Horace and Pete.

Early life, family and education

Wright was born at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Burlington, Massachusetts, one of four children of Lucille "Dolly" (née Lomano) and Alexander K. Wright. He was raised Catholic. His mother was Italian American, and his father of Scottish descent. Wright's father worked as an electronics technician who "tested a lot of stuff" for NASA during the Apollo space program. When that program ended, he worked as a truck driver.

Wright attended Middlesex Community College in Bedford, Massachusetts, for two years to earn his associate degree, then continued his education at Emerson College. He graduated from Emerson in 1978.

Career

Wright began performing stand-up comedy in 1979 at the Comedy Connection in Boston. Wright cites stand-up comic George Carlin and director and former stand-up comic Woody Allen as comedic influences. In 1982, Peter Lassally, executive producer of NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, saw Wright performing on a bill with other local comics at the Ding Ho comedy club in Cambridge, a venue Wright described as "half Chinese restaurant and half comedy club. It was a pretty weird place." Lassally booked Wright on The Tonight Show, and Wright so impressed host Johnny Carson and the studio audience that less than a week later he was invited to appear on the show again.

Stand-up success

Wright's 1985 comedy album I Have a Pony was released on Warner Bros. Records, received critical acclaim and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. The album's success landed him an HBO special, in the On Location: series, taped at Wolfgang's in San Francisco. It was broadcast as A Steven Wright Special.

By then Wright had developed a new brand of relaxed performing and was building a cultlike following. His onstage persona was characterized by an aura of obscurity and his penchant for non sequiturs added to his mystique. The performance became one of HBO's longest-running and most requested comedy specials and propelled him to great success on the college-arena concert circuit.

Continued success beyond stand-up

In 1989, Wright and fellow producer Dean Parisot won an Academy Award for their 30-minute short film The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, directed by Parisot, written by Mike Armstrong and Wright, and starring Wright and Rowan Atkinson. Upon accepting the Oscar, Wright said, "We're really glad that we cut out the other sixty minutes." In 1992, Wright had a recurring role on the television sitcom Mad About You. He also supplied the voice of the radio DJ in writer-director Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs that year. "Dean Parisot's wife Sally Menke is Quentin Tarantino's [film] editor, so when she was editing the movie and it was getting down toward the end where they didn't have the radio DJ yet, she thought of me and told Quentin and he liked the idea," Wright explained in 2009.

In 1995, Wright provided voiceover work for TBS's Disaster Area cartoon block.

Numerous lists of jokes attributed to Wright circulate on the Internet, sometimes of dubious origin. Wright has said, "Someone showed me a site, and half of it that said I wrote it, I didn't write. Recently, I saw one, and I didn't write any of it. What's disturbing is that with a few of these jokes, I wish I had thought of them. A giant amount of them, I'm embarrassed that people think I thought of them because some are really bad."

After his 1990 comedy special Wicker Chairs and Gravity, Wright continued to do stand-up performances, but these were largely absent from television, and he only occasionally made guest spots on late-night talk shows. In 1999, he wrote and directed the 30-minute short One Soldier, saying it's "about a soldier who was in the Civil War, right after the war, with all these existentialist thoughts and wondering if there is a God and all that stuff."

In May 2000, Wright and other Ding Ho alumni, including Lenny Clarke, Barry Crimmins, Steve Sweeney, Bill Sohonage and Jimmy Tingle, appeared at a reunion benefit for comic Bob Lazarus, who was diagnosed with leukemia.

In 2006, Wright produced his first stand-up special in 16 years, Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away, originally aired on Comedy Central on October 21, 2006. On September 25, 2007, Wright released his second album, I Still Have a Pony, a CD release of the material from When The Leaves Blow Away. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

Beginning in 2008, Wright occasionally appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson as a visiting celebrity, often dropping by to help with the fan-mail segment. He joined a small cadre of Hollywood comedy celebrities who supported the show.

Awards and honors

Wright was awarded an Oscar in 1989 for Best Short Live-Action Film for The Appointments of Dennis Jennings, which he co-wrote (with Michael Armstrong) and starred in. He received two Emmy Award nominations as part of the producing team of Louie, first in 2014 and again in 2015.

On December 15, 2008, Wright became the first inductee to the Boston Comedy Hall of Fame.

In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted among the top 50 comedy acts by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. He was named No. 23 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.

Other interests

Wright is a musician and has recorded several non-comedy songs with his friend and occasional actor Mark Wuerthner. He also has an interest in painting.

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	*The Last Word *	Man in Crowd
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan	Larry Stillman D.D.S.
1986	Coffee and Cigarettes	Steven	Short film; also writer
1988	The Appointments of Dennis Jennings	Dennis Jennings	Also writer and producer
Stars and Bars	Pruitt
1990	Men of Respect	Sterling
1992	Reservoir Dogs	K-Billy DJ (voice)
1993	So I Married an Axe Murderer	Pilot
1994	The Swan Princess	Speed (voice)
Natural Born Killers	Dr. Emil Reingold
Speechless	Eddie
Mixed Nuts	Man at Pay Phone
1995	For Better or Worse	Cabbie
Canadian Bacon	Niagara Mountie
1998	Half Baked	The Guy on the Couch	Uncredited
Babe: Pig in the City	Bob (voice)
1999	Goatman
1999	One Soldier	Soldier	Short; director, writer, producer
The Muse	Stan Spielberg
2000	Loser	Panty Hose Customer
2003	Coffee and Cigarettes	Steven	Segment: "Strange to Meet You"
2005	Son of the Mask	Daniel Moss
The Aristocrats	Himself
When Stand Up Stood Out	Himself
2017	The Emoji Movie	Mel (voice)
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	WKRP in Cincinnati	Security Officer	Episode: "Fish Story"
1980	Lenny Clarke's Late Show	Various	Series regular
1985	A Steven Wright Special	Himself	Stand-up special; also writer
1987	Trying Times	Dwight Harper	Episode: "Get a Job"
1991	Wicker Chairs and Gravity	Himself	HBO stand-up special;also writer and producer
1992	Bob	Noah the Cab Driver	Episode: "Mad Dog on 34th Street"
1993	Mad About You	Warren Mermelman	5 episodes
1993–1998	The Larry Sanders Show	Himself	3 episodes
1995, 1997	Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist	Steven (voice)	2 episodes
1997	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Bogeyman (voice)	Episode: "Mother Goose"
Almost Perfect	Ray Whitestone	Episode: "Dating for Ratings"
1998	The Simpsons	Himself (voice)	Episode: "The Last Temptation of Krust"
1998–1999	Hercules	Bootes (voice)	2 episodes
1999	Becker	Boyd Crossman	Episode: "Larry Spoke"
Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Episode: "Snatch"
2001	The Downer Channel	Walter	Episode: "#1.2"
Codename: Kids Next Door	Disease Hotline (voice)	Pilot episode
2006	When the Leaves Blow Away	Himself	Comedy Central stand-up special; also writer and executive producer
2011	Aqua Teen Hunger Force	Danny (voice)	Episode: "Allen Part One"
2011–2015	Louie	Comic Strip MC / Himself	Actor: 2 episodes, story by: "The Road: Part 2", producer: 8 episodes
2015	The Flaming C	R.A.N.D.Y. (voice)	2 episodes
2016	last1=Yakas	first1=Ben	title=Louis C.K. Releases Surprise New Dramatic Web Series Horace & Pete
::

Discography

Albums

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Label	Formats	Notes
1985	I Have a Pony	Warner Bros. Records	LP/cassette, CD (2005), CD/download (2009)	Deluxe Anniversary Edition CD reissued in 2009 with A Steven Wright Special DVD
2007	I Still Have a Pony	Comedy Central Records	CD/download	Soundtrack of the When the Leaves Blow Away special
::

Specials

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Studio	Formats
1985	A Steven Wright Special	HBO/Warner Bros. Records	Broadcast, DVD (2009)
1990	Wicker Chairs and Gravity	HBO	Broadcast
2006	When the Leaves Blow Away	Comedy Central/Image Entertainment	Broadcast, DVD (2007), streaming
::

Appearances

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Label	Notes
1992	Reservoir Dogs: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	MCA Records	6 tracks of DJ dialogue
::

Books

References

References

1. (April 10). "Steven Wright Interview".
2. Lapka, Larry. (December 6). "Steven Wright". [[AllMusic]].
3. Leatherman, Benjamin. (8 May 2012). "Comedian Steven Wright on His Deadpan Style, Getting Inspired By Salvador Dali, Working With Quentin Tarantino, and More". [[Phoenix New Times]].
4. (14 February 2017). "50 Best Stand-Up Comics of All Time".
5. "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings". [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].
6. "Steven Wright". [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]].
7. Lovece, Frank. (May 28, 2009). "Comedian Steven Wright plays Westbury Sunday". [[Newsday]].
8. Waterhouse, Gail. (March 3, 2010). "A Famous Former Burlington Resident". [[The Boston Globe]].
9. (January 9, 2008). "Obituary". Sullivan Funeral Home.
10. (August 1, 1987). "Cover Story; The (sur)real Steven Wright; He laughs easily, works hard for material". [[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]].
11. (May 17, 2002). "Latest".
12. Dana, Rebecca. (June 5, 2009). "Steven Wright on Letterman, Rembrandt and Being Short". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
13. Crane, Joyce Pellino. (October 7, 2007). "Laugh Track: For more than five decades, Emerson College has been putting comics on the road to success". [[The Boston Globe]].
14. Young, Chris. (October 11, 2007). "Behind a new album, comedian Steven Wright plays Pittsburgh for the first time in five years.". [[Pittsburgh City Paper]].
15. Leader, Jody. (12 November 1989). "Comedy fans meet Mr. Wright". [[Star-News]].
16. Keepnews, Peter. (February 10, 2008). "A Strange Career Takes an Odd Turn". [[The New York Times]].
17. O'Connor, John J.. (September 16, 1985). "Steven Wright, Comic, 'On Location'". The New York Times.
18. (June 4, 2017). "TBS - Disaster Area Bumper - 1995". TBS.
19. Wright, Steven. (January 29, 2003). "Interview: Steven Wright". [[The A.V. Club]].
20. Baltrusis, Sam (April 8, 2008). [http://www.loadedgunboston.com/2008/04/steven-wright-headlines-ding-ho-reunion.html "Steven Wright headlines Ding Ho reunion benefit"] {{webarchive. link. (September 19, 2009. LoadedGunBoston.com; accessed April 5, 2022.)
21. "Steven on the Late Late Show".
22. (July 23, 2011). "The Late Late Show – Steven Wright Drops By".
23. Nathan Rabin, [http://www.avclub.com/article/steven-wright-14029 "Interview: Steven Wright,"] ''The A.V. Club'', November 9, 2006.
24. "Steven Wright".
25. Turbovsky, Rob. (December 22, 2008). "Steven Wright inducted into Hall, a city's comedy history celebrated". Punchline Magazine.
26. Miller, Jay, N. (December 15, 2008). "The Wright stuff; Boston comedian is the first inductee into the hall of fame". ''[[The Patriot Ledger]]''. ([[Quincy, Massachusetts]]), Features; pg. 23.
27. [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1532323 Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of all Time], Everything2.com
28. "Music".
29. {{IMDb name. 2990002. Mark Wuerthner
30. "Music & Paintings".
31. (December 20, 2016). "'The Emoji Movie' Trailer Literally Gets Promoted by "Meh"".
32. "Comedian Lenny Clark to return to the Pitman's stage". The Laconia Daily Sun.
33. "The History".
34. (October 18, 2012). "(I'm From) Western Mass". Dr. Westchesterson.
35. (30 January 2016). "Louis C.K. Releases Surprise New Dramatic Web Series Horace & Pete". [[Gothamist]].
36. "Steven Wright (2)".

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