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Tony Sam
American stand-up comedian and author From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tony Sam (also credited as A.W. Sam)[1] is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor, and Emmy-winning television producer from Chicago, now living in Los Angeles. In 2015, LA Weekly named him one of 12
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Comedy Acts To Watch.[2]
His debut comedy album, Scaredy Cat, was released on Stand Up! Records in 2014.
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Early life
Sam was born and raised in Chicago.[3] He has a degree in molecular and marine biology from Florida Atlantic University.[4][5] He worked for several years as a scientist at various jobs, including studying cranio-facial defects in developing zebrafish embryos at Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital.[3][6] In 2006, he co-authored a paper in the prestigious medical journal, Nature Medicine.[7]
Career
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Comedy and television
Sam began performing stand-up around 2003 in Chicago,[8] and studied improv and sketch at iO Theater and The Second City Training Center.[9] He became known as an alternative-comedy scenemaker, co-founding (with Brooke Van Poppelen) Chicago Underground Comedy in 2005, a weekly rotating showcase of alternative comics designed to forefront stand-up as opposed to sketch comedy and improv.[10][11][12] Kumail Nanjiani was one of the original cast members.[13] Chicago's NewCity called Sam one of the city's most interesting comics in 2009, and praised ChUC as a "mainstay of alternative comedy"[14] and "one of the two best places to perform in Chicago".[15]
Several critics have praised the comic range of Sam's voice; Jake Kroeger of website The Comedy Bureau wrote that it "is so unique, drastically wandering up and down in frequency, that he makes [his] characters exceptionally hilarious and absolutely unforgettable".[16]
Sam's television credits include co-executive producer for Cooking Channel's Food: Fact or Fiction? with Michael McKean and a producer for Josh Gates Tonight, Expedition Unknown, Jay Leno's Garage, Girl Meets Farm, Storage Wars: Barry Strikes Back, Brandi & Jarrod: Married to the Job, MTV's Ridiculousness[17] and the Netflix hit home-renovation show, Instant Dream Home,[17] which in 2023 was nominated and won the Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Instructional and How-To Program".[18]
Sam has also written for Smosh [9] and MTV News.[19] McKean praised Sam's work on Food: Fact or Fiction? in an interview on Andy Richter's podcast, Three Questions with Andy Richter, calling Sam "a very funny writer".[20]
As an actor, Sam has appeared on truTV's Hack My Life, Conan,[17] G4's Attack of the Show!, Food: Fact or Fiction?, and Josh Gates Tonight.[21][22]
Sam has performed frequently at the Hollywood Improv,[9] and at festivals including the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival,[23] Bridgetown Comedy Festival,[24][25] San Francisco Comedy & Burrito Festival,[26] Bumbershoot, SF Sketchfest, Chicago Sketch Fest, New York International Fringe Festival, and New York Underground Comedy Festival.[9]
Podcasts
Sam has hosted several podcasts, including Tony Sam's Word of the Day, a podcast about language begun in 2014.[27][28] In 2017, he began co-hosting the podcast Legally Insane with Matt Ritter, a lawyer turned comedian.[29][30]
He has also guested on many other podcasts, including Jackie Kashian's The Dork Forest,[3] Josh Adam Meyers' The 500,[31] Probably Science,[32] Dumb People Town and Sklarboro County with the Sklar Brothers,[33] and The Space Cave with David Huntsberger.[4][5]
Albums
Sam's debut album, Scaredy Cat, was recorded May 24, 2014 at Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis and released later that year on Stand Up! Records.[34] It received generally positive reviews and praise from several high-profile comics including Kyle Kinane, Michelle Buteau, The Sklar Brothers, Beth Stelling, Jason Nash, former SNL cast member, Brooks Wheelan, Brody Stevens and Eddie Pepitone.[35] Jake Krueger of the Los Angeles based review site, The Comedy Bureau, called the album one of the best of 2014,[36] saying it "strikes a great balance between a genuine silliness and unfiltered candor".[37] Ed Placencia of the website Comedy Reviews said "Sam gleefully adds a touch of fun and whimsy to each of his bits. ... Scaredy Cat wonderfully displays that he has decided to embrace the simple tactic of just having a good time."[38] Richard Lanoie of The Serious Comedy Site called it "smart".[39] Huffington Post reviewer Tony Bartolone called the album "refreshingly silly".[40] Chris Spector of Midwest Record wrote that "Sam does a fine job of being that normal guy that lives next door that suddenly, unexpectedly goes nuts."[41]
Four segments from the CD were turned into cartoons by animator Alex Clark.[42][43][44][45]
Author
In 2021, under the name A.W. Sam, he published a book of poetry, Waste[LA]nd: Poems For L.A., about Los Angeles.[1] In 2022, Sam released his second collection of poetry, Toil. The book was praised by actors Jonah Ray and James Urbaniak.[46]
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Discography
- Tony Sam, Scaredy Cat (Stand Up! Records, 2014)
Books
References
External links
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