Background and Early Work
Portnoy was born in Washington, D.C. and studied comparative literature and creative writing at Vassar College and theater at the National Theater Institute. After moving to New York City, he formed several short lived experimental theater groups and then began concentrating on solo performance. His early performance works, such as Gymnastics and Schizophrenia, and 5teen3sy: Kicking Games of Lip, were antic and unpredictable, and characterized by dense language play, song and movement fragments and rapid transformations of character. In the mid '90s, Portnoy performed in venues such as Luna Lounge associated with the new "Alternative Comedy" scene. His wild and abstract theatrical performances, which occasionally interrupted and challenged other comedians on stage, prompted Time Out NY to describe him as "the bad boy of comedy", and The New York Post to dub him "the next Andy Kaufman". At the same time, Portnoy started working as a dancer for New York choreographer Koosil-Ja Hwang, and as an actor. He also sang and performed his own operatic, electro-progressive-rock music as XAR, and with the band The Liquid Tapedeck.
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