Brian Whitman

Brian Whitman

Brian David Whitman (born August 17, 1972) is an American talk radio host, voice impressionist and comedian. Whitman was born on Staten Island, New York and graduated from Wagner College in May 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science.

Whitman formerly co-hosted The Conway and Whitman Show on KLSX in Los Angeles, California with Tim Conway Jr. from 2005-2008.

Brian formerly hosted The Brian Whitman Show on WABC in New York, New York from 1997-2007 (he joined WABC at age 24, becoming the youngest talk host in the history of the legendary 77 WABC) Whitman also did a show broadcast on KABC in Los Angeles from 1998-2005.

From 1991 - 2005, Whitman served as the resident funny voice guy and comedic performer and writer on both The Rick Dees & Ryan Seacrest Morning Shows on KIIS FM in Los Angeles. He resigned both KIIS and ABC Radio to join CBS Radio's KLSX FM in June, 2005. He operated his own national radio comedy service providing celebrity impressions, original characters and comedy bits to hundreds of stations nationwide beginning in 1991. Stations included WPLJ-FM and WABC-AM in New York, WLUP-FM in Chicago, KIOI-FM in San Francisco, WEGX-FM in Philadelphia and WHYI-FM in Miami, as well as syndicated shows including The Sean Hannity Show, The Glenn Beck Program, The Mike Gallagher Show and The Stephanie Miller Show.

Whitman's uncanny celebrity impressions have fooled mainstream media and others. In the 90's he made an unforgettable phone call to Former Vice President Dan Quayle as President Clinton and a duped Quayle talked to "Clinton" for five minutes. At the end of the conversation, Whitman broke character and let Quayle know that it was Brian Whitman calling and certainly not The President. A national radio interview in 2005 where he impersonated Michael Jackson had listeners and ABC Radio management believing that Jackson was indeed on their radio. More recently, a radio skit that he did with co-host Tim Conway, Jr., where he played Don Imus (at the height of an Imus controversy) prompted the Los Angeles Times to report that the real Don Imus was on the air, even quoting Whitman's "Imus" character. When informed of the bit, the Times promptly printed a retraction. At the time, Whitman expressed utter disbelief that The LA Times would have fallen for what was an obvious comedy bit.

Media superstar Glenn Beck, a twenty-year friend of Whitman, writes about the Imus controversy sparked by Brian in his bestseller, "An Inconvenient Book."

In 2011, at the urge of his accomplice Sam Rubin, Brian Whitman called into LA's "KTLA Norning News" and, at least for a bit, fooled the news anchors, into thinking that Regis had called into the show just days after he stepped down from his dynasty, "Live with Regis & Kelly." Everyone on the KTLA Morning News had a lot of fun and were laughing so hard live on the air. Sam Rubin revealed Brian's identity on the air at the end of the bit! Everyone was very gracious and had a blast with it! Whitman's been impersonating Regis for years and a similar phone call to WPLJ NY's Scott Shannon morning radio show warranted a mention in Philbin's bestselling memoir, "I'm Only One Man."

In 2000, Whitman was the morning host for a nationally syndicated comedy radio network (that also provided an ahead-of-its-time internet audio and video stream) called Comedy World. At Los Angeles based Comedy World he kicked off a programming lineup that included comedians Craig Shoemaker and Bobby Slayton.

Whitman also hosted a weekday morning webcast on Rick Dees Entertainment's allnumber1hits.com in 2009.

Brian Whitman was a featured contributor to Glenn Beck's radio and television programs. When he appeared as Glenn Beck's very first guest on Glenn's first TV show on cable news, Brian said he was proud and honored to be asked. Beck and Whitman had been friends for fifteen years and Beck wanted Whitman to be his first guest. On the air Whitman quipped, "So, I'm guessing The Pope wasn't available tonight?" Brian also served as the regular fill-in host on Beck's nationally syndicated radio program.

Brian was the first former KLSX personality to launch a podcast which he hosted solo in 2009. He has quipped that he is "The Podcast Pioneer" and suggests, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, that he contributed greatly to the avalanche of podcasts that followed his, so many of which were influenced by the dominant era of KLSX FM Talk. He went on to do a podcast show with his former radio partner Tim Conway Jr., but Tim left to pursue conventional radio positions at KFI 640AM.

While Brian's success in media is overwhelmingly due to his comedic talents, Whitman has also talked openly on his radio programs, as well as podcasts, about deeply personal issues ranging from the untimely passing of his parents only weeks apart to struggles with depression and dependence on medication that he has dealt with in a very public way.

In a recent interview he put it this way: "I got into radio to entertain people, to make them laugh, not to save the world. I also believe that a broadcaster has a wonderful opportunity to bond with an audience when he (or she) puts himself out there, vulnerabilities and all. My listeners come to me to be entertained but I also think it's critical to bond with them in a personal way. It's okay for them to know who I am - challenges and all."

After a brief experiment beginning in May, 2012 Brian Whitman joined the Salem Radio Network/KRLA Radio in the Los Angeles, Orange County and Inland Empire region on AM 870 The Answer and AM 590 The Answer (KRLA AM 870 and KTIE AM 590) with Heidi Harris and Benjamin Shapiro from 6-9 AM. In November, 2012 Whitman took more of a lead role on "The Morning Answer with Heidi, Brian and Ben," serving as the on-air anchor while continuing to contribute his comedic impressions, often liberal political arguments and humorous observations to the dialogue.

Whitman's start in radio came in 1986, at age 13, when Radio Legend Scott Shannon, then morning host and Program Director at New York's powerhouse Z-100 took note of Whitman's abilities. According to Brian, he called into the popular "Z-100 Morning Zoo" show doing impressions of Ronald Reagan and Rodney Dangerfield. Shannon invited him to the radio station to be a co-host for the morning.

"That was it," Whitman has said. "On that morning, I decided what I wanted to do for a living. I owe it all to Scott." Scott even sent a limousine to my Mom and Dad's home on Staten Island and I was paid $100 for my performance on the air. This is why I hold up June 20, 1986 as the beginning of my career.

Brian's first radio job out of college was hosting mornings on KKBH 102.9 The Beach in San Diego at 22 years old. The station - which played "The Greatest Hits of the 70's" featured songs older than Whitman! After a year, Whitman was hired by San Diego's legendary rock station, 101 KGB FM, to host the morning show. His on-air partner and producer was his former KKBH Program Director (and his future boss at KLSX in Los Angeles) Jack Silver. "The Brian and Jack Show" wrapped up in early 1997, when Whitman accepted a job offer from WABC in New York.