Greg Giraldo - Career

Career

Giraldo started doing stand-up comedy in 1992. When asked who his comedic influences were, Giraldo stated: "For me, I wasn't really influenced by the good people. I was influenced by the (crappy) people. I would watch 'Evening at the Improv' and those kind of shows, and I'd think 'Man, those guys blow so bad. I can do that.' And I went from there."

He performed regularly at the Comedy Cellar comedy club in Manhattan. He was a regular panelist on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. Additionally, he was the star of the short-lived sitcom Common Law. Giraldo also starred in several pilots, including Drive for CBS and The Greg Giraldo Show, Adult Content and Gone Hollywood for Comedy Central. In 2004, he was featured in the spoken-word Lazyboy song, "Underwear Goes Inside the Pants."

Giraldo performed more than a dozen times on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and appeared regularly on The Howard Stern Show. He also appeared as a member of the panel in the NBC show The Marriage Ref.

Giraldo acted in two Adam Dubin features: 2002's comedic short, American Dummy, in which he played a psychiatrist, and 2008's animated film, What Blows Up Must Come Down!, in which he did the voice of "Jihad Jo." He also did the voice of President Theodore Roosevelt in the audiobook version of Sarah Vowell's 2005 book, Assassination Vacation.

He appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Politically Incorrect, The View, Fox News Channel's The Full Nelson and Beyond The News, Louie Anderson's Comedy Showcase, Comedy Central's Comic Cabana, Showtime's Latino Comedy Festival and Funny is Funny, as well as on the BBC's Live at Jongleurs. Giraldo also performed at the United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as part of a USO tour in 2002.

He had two half-hour specials on Comedy Central Presents, wrote segments for Last Call with Carson Daly, and was a panelist on Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time special. In 2004 his stand up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. He appeared in both English and Spanish language commercials for "1-800-OK-Cable." Giraldo also appeared on the IFC show, Z Rock, playing an angry record producer.

Giraldo said on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 7, 2005, that he had quit drinking alcohol. His series Friday Night Stand-Up with Greg Giraldo began on Comedy Central in late 2005 and ran until 2006. His CD Good Day to Cross a River was released in 2006 by Comedy Central Records.

Giraldo appeared in Comedy Central's annual roasts, roasting Chevy Chase, Pam Anderson, William Shatner, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, Bob Saget, Joan Rivers, Larry the Cable Guy, and David Hasselhoff, as well as the TBS roast of Cheech & Chong.

Giraldo was a regular on Comedy Central's television series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil and was one of the advocates lobbying for his side to be considered the "root of all evil." He won in two of his nine appearances. Giraldo served as a judge during season seven of the NBC reality competition show Last Comic Standing.

In 2008, Giraldo appeared in venues across the United States as the headlining act of the Indecision '08 Tour, produced by Comedy Central. Midlife Vices, his only one-hour special for Comedy Central, was released in 2009. In June of 2010, Giraldo performed at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee. That same month, he hosted The Nasty Show in Chicago, and in July, The Nasty Show in Montreal.