Dave Attell Biography

Dave Attell's first appearance on television was in 1988 on VH1's Stand-Up Spotlight, which also featured early appearances by Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Jeff Garlin, Jay Mohr and Wanda Sykes. The show was hosted by Rosie O'Donnell.

Dave Attell's big break comes on Letterman. Attell's big break was achieved on November 23, 1993 when he made his debut on The Late Show with David Letterman. The appearance was seen by Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, who then recruited Attell to be a writer, and occasional performer, on SNL (you can see Attell behind Chris Farley during the famous "Rudy Giuliani Inauguration" sketch). Attell worked on the show for the '93-'94 season.

In 1995, Attell was featured on two HBO specials: Alongside up-and-comers Louis C.K., Anthony Clark, Eric Tunney and Dave Chappelle, he was a featured performer on the 1995 Young Comedians Special, hosted by Garry Shandling; and he was also given his own 60-minute special on the channel's "HBO Comedy Showcase". Subsequently, Attell was also given an episode of "HBO Comedy Half-Hour" in 1997.

Also in 1995, Dave Attell appeared as Squiggly Dave on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, kicking-off a long-standing relationship between Attell and Comedy Central. In 1999, the network issued Attell an installment in their ever-popular Comedy Central Presents series.

The same year, the network signed him on as a regular commentator on their satirical news show, The Daily Show. When he arrived in '99, the show was just finding its audience after the departure of brash host Craig Kilborn and the arrival of the more charmingly affable Jon Stewart, an old friend of Attell's from the New York comedy circuit.

In 2003, Dave Attell began appearing semi-regularly on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. The show featured many of the performers he works with every day at the (literally) underground comedy club the Comedy Cellar and is based on the conversations they would have off-stage at the Olive Tree Cafe, the restaurant above the club. A breath of fresh air to an industry of pre-packaged jokes, the show was completely unscripted and uninhibited. Much to the dismay of it's cult following, the show was cancelled in November of 2004 due to poor ratings and controversial subject matter.

Dave Attell played "Dave" in a couple of the early episodes of "Everybody Loves Raymond".

Dave Attell was the voice of "Frank Demore" on "Crank Yankers".

Dave Attell was "Motherboy XXX" on "Arrested Development"

Dave Attell was "Brad Campbell" on "Ed"

Dave Attell has also been on numerous talk shows, including "The Late Show with David Letterman", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "Last Call with Carson Daly".

Insomniac with Dave Attell. Described by Dave Attell as ""Wild On E!" for Ugly People", the show featured Attell walking the streets of the America's greatest (and some not-so-much) cities late at night, meeting the people in a haze of ecstatic inebriation. The show occasionally went overseas.

The American cities featured on the show were New York (4 times), San Francisco, Miami, Kansas City, New Orleans, Houston, Baltimore, Memphis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Boise, Reno, Atlanta, Phoenix, Charleston (WV), Myrtle Beach, Portland, Albuquerque, Nashville, Anchorage, Cleveland, Little Rock, Oakland, Long Island, Columbus, Honolulu, Austin (2 times), Key West, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.

The non-American cities featured on the show were Tijuiana, Montreal, Toronto, Dublin, London Amsterdam and specials that took place in Tokyo, Berlin, and Rio De Janeiro.

Dave Attell's most memorable episodes involved a visit to Chicago's world-famous Weiner Circle, where the staff routinely gets in cursing matches with their customers and a visit to a Phoenix nudist camp.

Throughout the run of the show, Attell carried around a cheap disposable camera and took pictures of random events, which would be shown in all their offbeat glory during the end-credits.

The future of the show is not known, but Dave Attell has said that he decided to more-or-less end Insomniac because the show had gotten too popular to establish a level of spontaneity.

Dave Attell's Insomniac Tour was a tour that travelled across the country. It directly followed the Comedy Central Tour that featured Attell and Lewis Black. The Insomniac Tour featured "Tough Crowd" alum Greg Giraldo and lesser-known comedian Sean Rouse as the tour regulars, while comedian Dane Cook closed select shows.

Dave can be seen touring occasionally. He is a mainstay on the New York comedy circuit and performs several times a week at the Comedy Cellar.