Brian Dunkleman

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name = Brian Dunkleman


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birthname = Brian Dunkleman
birthdate = September 25, 1971
birthplace = Ellicottville, New York
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occupation = comedian, actor, and former co-host of American Idol
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Brian Dunkleman (born September 25 1971 in Ellicottville, New York) is a comedian and actor. He is best known for failing to re-join co-host Ryan Seacrest after the first season of "American Idol" on the Fox Network.

Career

Acting

He has appeared on "The Tonight Show", had a recurring guest role on "Two Guys and a Girl", played a stand-up comic suspected of murder in "NYPD Blue", voiced himself in an episode of "The Proud Family", in which the show parodied "American Idol", did voices for the animated "3 South", and is acting in an independent film called "Comedy Hell". He also had a small role on an episode of "Friends" as the man who buys the engagement ring Chandler wants to buy Monica.

Dunkleman recently was a co-host with Eric the Midget on "The Idol Re-cap Show" on Sirius’s Howard 101. He also did voice over for the 1st season of "American Idol Rewind".

Reality Television

Having admitted a weight problem, he appeared on the sixth season of VH1's "Celebrity Fit Club". It was on Celebrity Fit Club that he spoke about his reasons for leaving American Idol after hosting the first season. He stated his departure was due to the terrible way they treated the young contestants on the show, staging the fights between the judges and reshooting contestants with producer-provided, glycerin tears in their eyes. He went on to say that leaving the show was a mistake. However, the Doctor on the panel reminded him that acting according to one's values is never a mistake. Dunkleman lost 15 pounds on the show, and his team won the grand prize.

Comedy

Dunkleman began doing stand-up comedy in 1992, winning the title Buffalo’s Funniest New Comedian. Since then he’s also performed at HBO’s US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, NBC’s "Late Friday", and TBS’s "Very Funny at the Laugh Factory". He's also acted in pilots for ABC and 20th Century Fox and guest-starred on the late night talk show "Talk Show with Spike Feresten", "Ghost Whisperer" and "Las Vegas".

Brian can also be seen doing stand up regularly in Los Angeles at the Laugh Factory and Improv, and he makes regular appearances as the host of "Family Feud Live" in Las Vegas and Atlantic City for Fremantle Media.

He recently ventured into voice work playing Ruiga in Naruto.

Parody

A fictionalized version of Brian was featured on Comedy Central's "Drawn Together" on the November 14, 2007 series finale. He declined to voice himself; instead, his voice was impersonated by series co-creator Matt Silverstein. A person who makes a mistake that later faces ramifications for it is said to have "pulled a Dunkleman".

In an extra scene from The Simpson's Movie DVD, where the Marge, Lisa, and Homer, acting as Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell respectively, audition the actual Simon Cowell for a role. When he fails, they drop him into a pit of lions, where Bart, acting as Ryan Seacrest, says that they "haven't eaten this well since Dunkleman".

References