Friday, November 20th, 2009 ::: Wilshire Ebell Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Entertainers
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla

www.adamcarolla.com

Adam Carolla has become one of the most versatile men in Hollywood, having conquered the world of podcasting; danced with the stars; and written, co-produced and starred in the independent feature film The Hammer.

Read Adam’s full bio

Currently, Carolla hosts “The Adam Carolla Podcast” a weekday show that turned podcasting on its head by debuting at #1 on iTunes and generating one million downloads in its first week of existence, without the benefit of traditional marketing or promotion. Building on its success, Carolla added “CarCast” shortly thereafter as a weekly show targeting the gear-head/car aficianado audience.

Carolla also recently wrapped production on the pilot Top Gear for the BBC in which he co-hosts alongside stunt driver/champion racer Tanner Foust and HGTV host Eric Stromer. Like the original UK series, Top Gear centers on the three hosts as they review the latest sports cars, test their performance, and participate in other car-related challenges while interspersing comedy and entertainment.

Prior to the podcast and pilot, Adam served as host of the self titled Adam Carolla Show broadcast on CBS radio stations in Los Angeles, Portland and Las Vegas. The four-hour weekday morning program was syndicated in several major markets, including Seattle, Sacramento and Fresno, among others.

Carolla also starred in, co-wrote and co-produced the independent feature film The Hammer, a comic tale about an aging amateur boxer who finds himself chasing a dream 20-years after having given up on it. The Hammer made its world premiere at the 2007 Tribecca Film Festival in New York. Carolla was also seen as a contestant on ABC’s hit reality series Dancing with the Stars in season 6. Additionally, Carolla has hosted Comedy Central’s Too Late with Adam Carolla and starred in TLC’s The Adam Carolla Project, which chronicled the renovation and subsequent sale of his boyhood home.

Following brief stints as a carpenter and boxing trainer, he began his career in radio after answering an ad seeking a boxing instructor to train then radio personality Jimmy Kimmel of KROQ’s Kevin and Bean Show in Los Angeles. He eventually joined the show’s repertoire as Mr. Birchum, a woodshop teacher. Carolla’s success on KROQ led to a hosting job on the nationally syndicated radio program Loveline, with Dr. Drew Pinsky. MTV developed a television version of the show, which was co-hosted by Carolla and Pinsky for five seasons (1996-2000). The duo also authored The Dr. Drew and Adam Book: A Survival Guide to Life and Love.

With their partner Daniel Kellison, Carolla and Kimmel are the heads of Jackhole Industries and have created and starred in two hit Comedy Central shows, The Man Show (1999-2003) and Crank Yankers (2002-present). Jackhole Industries also executive produced Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust, a comedy travel show which aired on Comedy Central, and a reality-based feature film, Windy City Heat, which won The Comedia Award for Best Film at the 2004 Montreal Just For Laughs comedy festival.

A native of Southern California, Carolla currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Lynette, and their two children.

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Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel

http://abc.go.com/shows/jimmy-kimmel-live

As host and executive producer of the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live for the ABC Television Network, Jimmy Kimmel is a busy man. Like most talk shows, Jimmy Kimmel Live features celebrity guests, comedy bits and live music. Unlike most talk shows, it also features Jimmy’s family—including his cousin Sal, Uncle Frank, his parents and Aunt Chippy. His childhood best friend, Cleto Escobedo, serves as bandleader, alongside his dad, Cleto Escobedo, Sr., on saxophone.

Read Jimmy’s full bio

Kimmel has hosted the American Music Awards on ABC five times. He also was the host of the ESPY Awards in July 2007. He co-created and executive-produced the hit MTV2 series The Andy Milonakis Show and Crank Yankers. In addition, Kimmel co-hosted Comedy Central’s The Man Show, served for four seasons as on-air prognosticator for Fox NFL Sunday, and co-hosted Comedy Central’s long-running and popular game show, Win Ben Stein’s Money, for which he received two Emmy nominations and one win for Best Game Show Host in 1999. Kimmel has also served as roastmaster for Comedy Central’s roasts of both Hugh Hefner and Pamela Anderson.

Kimmel’s company, “Jackhole Industries,” formed with partners Daniel Kellison and Adam Carolla, is (but will not be held) responsible for Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Man Show, Crank Yankers, The Andy Milonakis Show, Gerhard Reinke’s Wanderlust, Too Late with Adam Carolla, The Adam Carolla Project and the made-for-Comedy Central feature film, Windy City Heat, which won the 2005 Comedia Award for best film at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. Kimmel also served as a creative consultant to Adam Carolla’s syndicated morning radio show.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, and raised in Las Vegas, NV, Kimmel began his career in morning radio. Fired from stations in Phoenix, Seattle, Tampa and Tucson, Kimmel’s luck finally changed as Jimmy the Sports Guy on KROQ-FM Los Angeles’ Kevin and Bean Show, where his popular comedy sportscasts never even got him fired once.

Kimmel currently resides in Los Angeles with his daughter and son.

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www.drdrew.com

The most listened to doctor in America, Dr. Drew Pinsky is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show Loveline where he has been taking calls from listeners since 1983. Many people do not know that Dr. Drew is an internist who is board certified in addiction medicine, sill runs a private practice, on staff at Huntington Memorial Hospital and is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Keck USC School of Medicine.

Read Dr. Drew’s full bio

Dr. Drew and Vh1 teamed up for the first reality TV series to depict the process of overcoming addiction. Now in its third season, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew was critically acclaimed by the addiction community for pulling back the veil of secrecy about what goes on in rehabilitation programs. Sober House, which chronicles the sober living process, began airing in January 2009 and is now in it’s second season. Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew will look at the struggles and treatment of those dealing with serious sex addictions.

Dr. Drew’s groundbreaking series on MTV, Sex…with Mom and Dad helps teens and their parents, get to the root of their problems when it comes to the taboo topic of sex. Sex…with Mom and Dad proves that if you can talk to your parents about sex, you can talk to them about anything.

Using the media to deliver information, Dr. Drew often appears on national and international television and radio to talk about sex, relationships, and addiction. He frequently guest hosts on CNN’s Larry King Live and is a regular contributor on the Today Show. Dr. Drew has stopped in to visit Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Conan O’Brien, and Chelsea Lately to name a few. He has been profiled in Rolling Stone, Playboy, and Muscle & Fitness and was named one of the ‘top 10 Real Sexiest Men’ by O Magazine, and one of the ‘top 10 Silver Foxes’ by OK Magazine.

Dr. Drew is the author of the New York Times best seller The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America (Harper-Collins) and Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again (Harper-Collins). Dr. Drew co-authored the first academic study on celebrities and narcissism. The study was published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Elsevier) and received worldwide press coverage.

After receiving his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his M.D. from the University of Southern California, School of Medicine, Dr. Drew continued with USC for his residency. He then became chief resident at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena. Dr. Drew’s professional activities in the medical field are numerous. His membership and activities in professional societies include the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the California Medical Association and the American Society of Internal Medicine.

When he’s not traveling the country speaking at college campuses, Dr. Drew enjoys playing sports, working out and spending time at home with his wife Susan and their teenage triplets.

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Greg Fitzsimmons
Greg Fitzsimmons

www.gregfitzsimmons.com

Greg is a familiar face after four years on VH1’s Best Week Ever and his many appearances on Letterman, Conan and Kimmel. He has two specials on Comedy Central and last spring starred in an episode of C.S.I.

Read Greg’s full bio

FOX is developing a sitcom for Greg called Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons and Simon & Schuster recently made a deal with Greg for his first book due out in the Fall 2010. He’s also made over 60 appearances on “The Howard Stern Show” and hosts his own show on Howard’s Sirius/XM network.

Greg is currently a writer/performer on The Wanda Sykes Show (Nov. 2009) and his podcast is in the top 10 most downloaded on iTunes.

Greg earned 4 Daytime Emmy Awards writing/producing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Other writing credits: HBO’s Lucky Louie, Cedric the Entertainer, Politically Incorrect w/Bill Maher, Chelsea Handler Show and The Man Show.

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Dana Gould
Dana Gould

www.danagould.com

Dana was born and raised in the ironically-named town of Hopedale, Mass. He started performing stand-up comedy at the tender age of 17. He moved to Los Angeles in the halcyon days of The Comedy Boom, performed in several HBO specials, had numerous appearances on Conan O’Brien and David Letterman, recorded the CD Funhouse, which was called “a comedy CD” by Billboard magazine, and as an actor, appeared on Seinfeld, The Ben Stiller Show and the series Working (which wasn’t, and was soon cancelled).

Read Dana’s full bio

After writing the pilot World On A String (with Jay Kogen), he co-created MTV’s late, lamented, Super Adventure Team (with Rob Cohen). He then joined the staff of The Simpsons, where he squatted for seven years. Since leaving The Simpsons, his focus has shifted to screenwriting. He also spent a lot more time screwing around on eBay. One pays better than the other, believe Dana.

Stand up remains a big part of Dana’s career, and he continues to perform regularly. He appeared in the film The Aristocrats, and his new stand-up special, “Let Me Put My Thoughts In You,” premiered earlier this year on Showtime. The CD and DVD release continue to outsell milk and bread in most markets.

Dana lives in Los Angeles with his wife and a bunch of kids and dogs, several of them theirs.

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Larry Miller
Larry Miller

www.larrymillerhumor.com

As one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces, Larry Miller has appeared in over 50 films and numerous television shows. He began his career with a memorable cameo as the brown-nosing store manager in Pretty Woman, and has since gone on to delight audiences in some of the most unforgettable roles in such films as Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman, The Princess Diaries I & II and The Nutty Professor I & II.

Read Larry’s full bio

This summer, Miller reprises his role as the over-protective father in the ABC Family television series 10 Things I Hate About You, which is based on the hit film he co-starred in with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. His other credits include Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie, Keeping Up With The Steins, starring opposite Jeremy Piven, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, with Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer, and the critically-acclaimed Sundance documentary The Aristocrats, featuring 100 of the world’s most well-known comedians telling the dirtiest joke ever heard.

His numerous television credits include the hit shows Medium, Desperate Housewives, Burn Notice, Law & Order, and Seinfeld, along with recurring roles on Boston Legal, 8 Simple Rules, and Mad About You. Miller has also made regular appearances on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Late Show With David Letterman and Real Time With Bill Maher as well as starring in several of his own HBO comedy specials and on Broadway in Neil Simon’s play The Dinner Party.

After a decade long hiatus, Miller returned to stand-up and is currently on tour throughout the country. He also wrote the best-selling book Spoiled Rotten America, and is a contributing humorist to The Huffington Post and Weekly Standard.

divider Joel McHale

www.joelmchaleonline.com

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The Dan Band
The Dan Band

www.thedanband.com

It all started with a drunken rendition of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman” one late night in a Toronto karaoke bar.

For Dan Finnerty, leader of The Dan Band, it’s a journey that has taken him from being one of the only guys in the rural town of Bath, NY brave enough to admit a fondness for female-driven power pop all the way to Hollywood, where he’s been seen belting (and cursing) his way through Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart” in Old School, crooning Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Making Love” to a 13 year old girl at her bat mitzvah in Starsky and Hutch, and serving up 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” in this 2009’s runaway smash, The Hangover. “I guess I’ve turned myself into the “inappropriate song” boy now,” he says.

Read The Dan Band’s full bio

This year, Dan Finnerty is poised to break away from his usual repertoire of covers and bring his very own brand of naughty and nice to the holidays with the upcoming Razor & Tie Christmas album, HO: A DAN BAND XMAS. HO is full of Finnerty originals destined to become humorous holiday classics, tunes like the lustful “I Wanna Rock U Hard This Xmas,” “Ho Ho Ho”–an R&B send up about Santa’s encounter with a lady of the night and the PC-minded “Christmakwanzakah.” The hilarious video for “Please Don’t Bomb Nobody This Holiday,” features many celebrity cameos, including Sheryl Crow, Christina Applegate, Nicole Scherzinger from The Pussycat Dolls, Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, Neil Patrick Harris, Meg Ryan, Macy Gray, Christopher Guest, among others. Not one to completely forget his sensitive lady ballad roots, Finnerty also provides “Mrs. Claus,” an inspirational number that urges Santa’s overlooked mate to stand up for herself and be counted. The band will tour their holiday music and classic covers with a live show that Entertainment Weekly calls “one of the hottest tickets in town”.

The success of the band is still amusing to Dan, who says “I only started this as a joke and to maybe help promote my lame acting career.” Indeed, Finnerty was a working actor long before he was the frontman for The Dan Band, but mainly as a stage actor in New York City. His story begins as a youngster growing up in upstate New York on a steady diet of ’80s pop and MTV. “It was the kind of town, if you walked 10 minutes in any direction, you’d hit a cow,” he says. “I blame my musical taste on my sister, who’s four years older than me. All of my friends had older brothers who were turning them on to classic rock like Zeppelin and Rush. My sister had me rocking out to Toni Basil and Laura Branigan. I’m all grown up and singing girl songs for a living. Nice.” Thanks to that obliterated collision with the karaoke world, Dan Finnerty and The Dan Band have come to specialize in cover songs from the ’80s to now, with their show-stopping renditions of classic diva hits from Bonnie Tyler to Beyonce.

After attending Emerson College in Boston, Finnerty toured for a year as cast member in the European Tour of HAIR, directed by its author. He then moved to New York, where he joined the cast of the popular Stomp and headed out on a national tour. He settled in Los Angeles and he met his future wife, actress Kathy Najimy with whom he has a daughter. The Dan Band began to take shape in LA, when Finnerty finally got serious about the idea of performing music. The word-of-mouth buzz spread among the general public to a large celebrity following resulting in sold out gigs at Club Largo and Avalon Hollywood, press accolades and various television appearances. Soon after seeing a live show, Steven Spielberg signed on to executive produce a one hour TV concert special, directed by McG, entitled “The Dan Band: I Am Woman” and director Todd Phillips began casting Dan in cameo scene-stealing moments in his films. As a result, The Dan Band’s audience expanded beyond the initial cult following.

“I always had a nice little hip LA crowd who got the humor and kept growing by word-of-mouth,” explains Dan. “But since the national exposure, the demographic has completely changed. Now the audience is peppered with all these frat guys who normally would’ve wanted to kick my ass for singing these songs. Now they stand in the front row, mouthing the words to “Whatta Man” and “You Oughta Know”. It’s pretty funny.”

The Dan Band released a live album in 2005, “THE DAN BAND LIVE,” featuring an array of hit cover songs. They have made numerous appearances on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Late Late Show and Last Call with Carson Daly, as well as serving as the house band on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Spike TV’s Spike Guys’ Choice Awards and now Dan can currently be seen as a featured correspondent performing musical segments on NBC’s The Jay Leno Show.

“I still can’t believe this all started because I got drunk at a karaoke bar,” he laughs. “At least something good came out of karaoke.”

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Eric Stromer
Eric Stromer

www.ericstromer.com

What do you get when you mix construction, comedy and music? Chicago native Eric Stromer, host of the hit HGTV show Over Your Head, author of Do-It-Yourself Family, and one of People magazine’s ‘Sexiest Men Alive.’

Read Eric’s full bio

Eric’s entertaining DIY advice and infectious personality have won the hearts of millions of viewers nationwide! He is a spokesman for SEARS/Craftsman Tools and was frequently heard regularly dishing out home improvement advice to listeners of Adam Carolla’s nationally syndicated radio show. Prior to joining the HGTV family, Eric starred on TLC’s Clean Sweep, NBC's Three Wishes and as a special correspondent for the syndicated entertainment newsmagazine The Insider. In 2008, Eric completed recording his first full-length country music album in Nashville (release date TBD).

As the host of Over Your Head, one of HGTV’s top series, Eric comes to the rescue of homeowners who have tackled a home improvement project that failed miserably! Saving rooms, homes and potentially marriages, Eric and his team guide the homeowners’ projects to completion every week. You never know when one of Eric’s alter egos (such as knitting guru Granny Stromer) will show up to join in on the fun!

Eric partnered with AOL and GMC to create “Home Improvement with Eric Stromer,” a series of web videos and interactive features that help viewers conquer their fears and tackle home repair projects themselves. The series of videos feature a wide range of projects such as hanging wallpaper and eco-friendly landscaping, and they are available for free on AOL’s Living channel (http://living.aol.com). The first season aired in 2007, and Eric continues to provide great DIY videos for AOL’s Living channel today.

Eric is also an accomplished author. His book, Do-It-Yourself Family, is a helpful guide for busy parents, with suggestions for home projects that will not only bring the family together but also buy some quality time for mom and dad. Published by Random House/Bantam Dell, it is available in stores nationwide! Eric also pens a monthly column, “Superhandy Dad,” for LA Parent magazine.

Born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, Eric grew up enjoying both sports and drama. He excelled in track and football and participated in local talent shows. His passion for the arts and an early break in commercials led him to enroll in the University of Colorado’s theater department where he lasted only one week. After realizing a structured curriculum in drama was not satisfying, he desperately tried to return home, but soon found himself on the next plane back. In order to financially survive, Eric found a niche in construction. Eric’s four years of painting and putting crown molding in just about every house in Colorado laid the foundation for his future career.

Upon graduation, Eric moved to Los Angeles and began remodeling houses. His eye for design, attention to detail, and great craftsmanship captured the attention of many A-list celebrities. In 1993, Eric started his own company, Big House Construction, which quickly flourished into a lucrative business. Eric has remodeled homes for celebrities including Dylan McDermott, Elijah Wood and Jasmine Guy.

Although his business is thriving, Eric has not given up his first love of entertaining. And it didn’t take long for Hollywood to come knocking on his door. He was even honored with the Best Comedy Short award at the Houston Film Festival for producing, scoring and starring in “The Acting Thing”, a comedy film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Eric is also an accomplished singer/songwriter who has written and performed music for “The Drew Carey Showtime Special”, “The Wild Side” starring Christopher Walken, and numerous television shows.

A father to three, television host, construction extraordinaire and product spokesman keep this blonde hunk busy, but just ask Eric; there is nothing else he would rather do!

Be sure to tune in to watch Eric on Over Your Head on HGTV! See him save the day for American families that have undertaken home renovations that have turned into nightmares.

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