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{{Other uses|Thomas Lennon (disambiguation){{!}}Thomas Lennon}}
{{Infobox person
| image = Thomas_Lennon.jpg
| caption = Lennon performing at the UCB theater in Los Angeles, CA on March 22, 2009
| name = Thomas Lennon
|birth_name=Thomas Patrick Lennon
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1970|8|9}}
| birth_place = [[Oak Park, Illinois]], U.S.
| occupation = Actor<br />Comedian<br />Writer<br />Director<br />Producer
| yearsactive = 1991 – present
| spouse = [[Jenny Robertson]]
}}
'''Thomas Patrick Lennon'''<ref>http://www.friarsclub.com/close_up/close_up.htm</ref> (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer best known as a cast member on MTV's ''[[The State (TV series)|The State]]'' and for his role as [[Characters_on_Reno_911!#Lt._Dangle|Lieutenant Jim Dangle]] on the Comedy Central series ''[[Reno 911!]]''.


==Early life==
Lennon is a native of [[Oak Park, Illinois|Oak Park]], Illinois and 1988 graduate of [[Oak Park River Forest High School]]. He is of Irish descent.<ref>http://video.about.com/movies/Thomas-Lennon-17-Again.htm</ref> He spent a whole summer at the age of 10, mastering [[Gorf]].<ref>http://www.nerdist.com/2011/10/the-indoor-kids-13-video-game-addiction-episode-with-tom-lennon/</ref> At age sixteen, Lennon met friend and future co-worker [[Kerri Kenney-Silver|Kerri Kenney]] in a [[summer camp]]. The two also attended [[New York University|NYU]],<ref name="suntimes"/> where they joined a comedy troupe called ''The New Group''.


==Career==
Thomas Lennon!!!!!
''The New Group'' later changed their name to ''The State''. After performing their material at various theaters, bars and clubs in New York City, ''The State'' started work on the MTV show ''[[You Wrote It, You Watch It]]''. This led to the self-titled series ''[[The State (TV series)|The State]]'' (1993–95), which was nominated for a [[Cable Ace Award]] for Best Comedy Series.

Following the collapse of ''The State'' after a one-night stint on [[CBS]], Lennon, along with Kenney, [[Ben Garant]], and [[Michael Ian Black]] went on to create
and star in the [[Comedy Central]] program ''[[Viva Variety]]'' (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of ''The State," called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme". ''Viva Variety'' received a Cable Ace Nomination for Best Comedy Series.

After ''Viva Variety'', Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in another TV show, ''[[Reno 911!]]'' (2003–09). Initially slated for [[Fox Television|FOX]], the program later debuted on [[Comedy Central]]. The show is currently syndicated around the world.

Lennon appeared as [[Joey Tribbiani]]'s blackjack dealing, "identical hand twin" on the ''[[Friends]]'' fifth season finale ("The One In Vegas," Pts. I and II). He has also appeared as a guest star on many television shows, and in supporting roles in dozens of films, including ''[[Drop Dead Gorgeous]]'', ''[[Memento]]'', ''[[How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days]]'' and ''[[I Love You, Man]]'', for which he and costar [[Paul Rudd]] were nominated for an [[MTV Movie Award]] for Best Kiss. He has appeared on ''[[Jimmy Kimmel Live]]'', ''[[The Tonight Show]]'', ''[[The Daily Show]]'', ''[[The Jimmy Fallon Show]]'', ''[[Talk Show with Spike Feresten]]'', and made numerous appearances on ''[[The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson]]'', both as himself and as [[Characters_on_Reno_911!#Lt._Dangle|Lt. Dangle]].

<!--[[Image:thestatecast.jpg|thumb|Lennon and The State in 1994 {{deletable image-caption}}]]-->
Lennon has done various voice work, including the show ''[[Kim Possible]]'' and ''[[Planet Sheen]]'', in which he plays the character of Pinter. In the early 2000s, he was the star of several [[Snickers]] candy bar TV commercials, many of which were associated and airing with the television show ''[[Survivor (U.S. TV series)|Survivor]]''.

Lennon has also written stories for several comic books. For ''[[The Goon]]'', he wrote a short story called "Jimmy Turtle and the Legendary Box Car of Well-Made Ladies Shoes" and another for ''Dwight T. Albatross's The Goon Noir'' #3. He also wrote "The Pigmy Elixir" for ''[[Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror]]'' #13.<ref>http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/marvelmoviesuniverse/news/?a=8557</ref> He is frequently a presenter at the [[Eisner Award]]s, given out each year at [[Comic-Con]].

In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, during which he will sometimes play guitar. He appears frequently at Comedy Death Ray in Los Angeles, and he was the photo for the month of July in the Comedy Death Ray 2010 Calendar. In 2009, he opened for [[Stella (comedy group)|Stella]] (starring ''The State'' and ''Viva Variety!'' alumni [[Michael Ian Black]], [[Michael Showalter]] and [[David Wain]]) at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Also in 2009, The State reunited for two shows at San Francisco's Sketchfest, performing all new material. The shows sold out in minutes.

Lennon and Garant created and starred in a 2010 sitcom pilot for [[NBC]] called ''The Strip''. However, in May 2010 it was announced that [[NBC]] had decided not to produce it as a series.

Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick [[Geoff Peterson]] on the [[CBS]] show [[The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson]] in November 2011.

===Screenwriting===
Lennon is a screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with partner [[Ben Garant]].<ref name="suntimes"/> Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.<ref name=NPR>http://www.npr.org/2011/07/05/137617840/you-too-can-be-a-successful-screenwriter</ref> Among his credits are the blockbuster film ''[[Night at the Museum]]'' and four of [[Independent Film Channel|IFC]]'s "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time"<ref>[http://www.nerve.com/dispatches/nerveeditors/50greatestcomedysketches/01 "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time"] Nerve/[[Independent Film Channel|IFC]]; April 7, 2008</ref>

In August 2010, John Landgraf, president of [[FX Network|FX]], announced that his network had ordered a pilot episode for a new Lennon/Garant [[sci-fi]]/comedy called ''USS Alabama'', a [[sci-fi]]/comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard a [[United Nations]] Peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama.

Lennon and [[Rob Riggle]] most recently wrote a script together called "The Boondoggle", which they will also star in. [[Steve Carr]] has signed on to direct, and filming begins in summer 2011.<ref>http://collider.com/steve-carr-the-boondoggle-rob-riggle-thomas-lennon/98103/</ref>

In 2011, Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called ''Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at The Box Office and You Can Too!''<ref name=NPR />

==Personal life==
Lennon lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress [[Jenny Robertson]],<ref name="suntimes">Pearlman, Cindy. [http://www.google.com/.article Oak Park native acts, writes way to 'Reno 911!' and beyond], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''. Published April 15, 2009.</ref> and their son Oliver. When he is not involved in other projects he performs locally in a one-man play based on the movie ''[[Clash of the Titans]]''.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}}

== Filmography ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1999
| ''[[Friends]]''
| Blackjack Dealer in Vegas (Joey's Identical Hand Twin)
|
|-
| 1999
| ''[[Drop Dead Gorgeous (film)|Drop Dead Gorgeous]]''
| Documentarian (voice)
|
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Memento (film)|Memento]]''
| Doctor
|
|-
| 2000
| ''[[Row Your Boat]]''
| Census Taker
|
|-
| 2001
| ''[[Out Cold (2001 film)|Out Cold]]''
| Eric Montclare
|
|-
| 2002
| ''[[Boat Trip (film)|Boat Trip]]''
| The Priest
|
|-
| 2003
| ''[[Le Divorce]]''
| Roger Walker
|
|-
| 2003
| ''[[How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days]]''
| Thayer
|
|-
| 2003
| ''[[A Guy Thing]]''
| Pete Morse
|
|-
| 2004
| ''[[Taxi (2004 film)|Taxi]]''
| N/A
| Writer
|-
| 2004
| ''[[Heights (film)|Heights]]''
| Marshall
|
|-
| 2005
| ''[[Conversations with Other Women]]''
| Videographer
|
|-
| 2005
| ''[[Herbie: Fully Loaded]]''
| Larry Murphy
| Writer
|-
| 2005
| ''[[The Godfather of Green Bay]]''
| D.U.G.
|
|-
| 2005
| ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]''
| [[Minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Eddie|Eddie the Shipboard Computer]]
| Voice only
|-
| 2005
| ''[[The Pacifier]]''
| N/A
| Writer
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Night at the Museum]]''
| N/A
| Writer
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Let's Go to Prison]]''
| N/A
| Writer
|-
| 2006
| ''[[Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas]]''
| Police Officer
|
|-
| 2006
| ''Eden Court''
| Shroeder Duncan
|
|-
| 2007
| ''[[Balls of Fury]]''
| Karl Wolfschtagg
| Writer, Producer
|-
| 2007
| ''[[Reno 911!: Miami]]''
| Lieutenant Jim Dangle
| Writer, Executive Producer
|-
| 2008
| ''[[Hancock (film)|Hancock]]''
| Mike
|
|-
| 2009
| ''[[Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian]]''
| [[Orville Wright]] (uncredited)
| Writer
|-
| 2009
| ''[[17 Again (film)|17 Again]]''
| Ned Gold
|
|-
| 2009
| ''[[I Love You, Man]]''
| Doug
|
|-
| 2009
| ''[[The League]]''
| Bryce
|The Usual Bet
|-
| 2010
| ''[[Archer_(TV_series)|Archer]]''
| Charles
|Honeypot
|-
| 2010
| ''[[Hot Tub Time Machine]]''
| Customer (uncredited)
|
|-
| 2010
| ''[[Planet Sheen]]''
| Pinter (voice)
|
|-
| 2011
| ''[[Cedar Rapids (film)|Cedar Rapids]]''
| Roger Lemke
|
|-
| 2011
| ''How to Survive a Robot Uprising''
| N/A
| Writer
|-
| 2011
| ''[[Bad Teacher (film)|Bad Teacher]]''
| Carl Halabi
|
|-
|2011
| ''[[Memphis Beat]]''
|Keith Grant
|Season 2 Episode 2
|-
|2011
| ''[[What's Your Number?]]''
|
|
|-
|2011
| ''[[A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas]]''
| Todd
|
|-
| 2012
| ''[[What to Expect When You're Expecting (film)|What to Expect When You're Expecting]]''
|
|
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|502073|Thomas Lennon}}

{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME =Lennon, Thomas
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION =
| DATE OF BIRTH =August 9, 1970
| PLACE OF BIRTH =[[Oak Park, Illinois|Oak Park]], Illinois, US
| DATE OF DEATH =
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Thomas}}
[[Category:1970 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American actors]]
[[Category:American comedians]]
[[Category:American film actors]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:American screenwriters]]
[[Category:American television actors]]
[[Category:American television directors]]
[[Category:American television producers]]
[[Category:American television writers]]
[[Category:New York University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Oak Park, Illinois]]

[[de:Thomas Lennon]]
[[fr:Thomas Lennon]]
[[nl:Thomas Lennon]]
[[no:Thomas Lennon]]
[[pt:Thomas Lennon]]
[[ru:Леннон, Томас]]

Revision as of 23:20, 16 February 2012

For other uses, see Thomas Lennon.
Thomas Lennon
Lennon performing at the UCB theater in Los Angeles, CA on March 22, 2009
Born
Thomas Patrick Lennon

(1970-08-09) August 9, 1970 (age 53)
Oak Park, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor
Comedian
Writer
Director
Producer
Years active1991 – present
SpouseJenny Robertson

Thomas Patrick Lennon[1] (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer best known as a cast member on MTV's The State and for his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the Comedy Central series Reno 911!.

Early life

Lennon is a native of Oak Park, Illinois and 1988 graduate of Oak Park River Forest High School. He is of Irish descent.[2] He spent a whole summer at the age of 10, mastering Gorf.[3] At age sixteen, Lennon met friend and future co-worker Kerri Kenney in a summer camp. The two also attended NYU,[4] where they joined a comedy troupe called The New Group.

Career

The New Group later changed their name to The State. After performing their material at various theaters, bars and clubs in New York City, The State started work on the MTV show You Wrote It, You Watch It. This led to the self-titled series The State (1993–95), which was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for Best Comedy Series.

Following the collapse of The State after a one-night stint on CBS, Lennon, along with Kenney, Ben Garant, and Michael Ian Black went on to create and star in the Comedy Central program Viva Variety (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of The State," called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme". Viva Variety received a Cable Ace Nomination for Best Comedy Series.

After Viva Variety, Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in another TV show, Reno 911! (2003–09). Initially slated for FOX, the program later debuted on Comedy Central. The show is currently syndicated around the world.

Lennon appeared as Joey Tribbiani's blackjack dealing, "identical hand twin" on the Friends fifth season finale ("The One In Vegas," Pts. I and II). He has also appeared as a guest star on many television shows, and in supporting roles in dozens of films, including Drop Dead Gorgeous, Memento, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days and I Love You, Man, for which he and costar Paul Rudd were nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. He has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, The Jimmy Fallon Show, Talk Show with Spike Feresten, and made numerous appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, both as himself and as Lt. Dangle.

Lennon has done various voice work, including the show Kim Possible and Planet Sheen, in which he plays the character of Pinter. In the early 2000s, he was the star of several Snickers candy bar TV commercials, many of which were associated and airing with the television show Survivor.

Lennon has also written stories for several comic books. For The Goon, he wrote a short story called "Jimmy Turtle and the Legendary Box Car of Well-Made Ladies Shoes" and another for Dwight T. Albatross's The Goon Noir #3. He also wrote "The Pigmy Elixir" for Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #13.[5] He is frequently a presenter at the Eisner Awards, given out each year at Comic-Con.

In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, during which he will sometimes play guitar. He appears frequently at Comedy Death Ray in Los Angeles, and he was the photo for the month of July in the Comedy Death Ray 2010 Calendar. In 2009, he opened for Stella (starring The State and Viva Variety! alumni Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter and David Wain) at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Also in 2009, The State reunited for two shows at San Francisco's Sketchfest, performing all new material. The shows sold out in minutes.

Lennon and Garant created and starred in a 2010 sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. However, in May 2010 it was announced that NBC had decided not to produce it as a series.

Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick Geoff Peterson on the CBS show The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson in November 2011.

Screenwriting

Lennon is a screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with partner Ben Garant.[4] Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.[6] Among his credits are the blockbuster film Night at the Museum and four of IFC's "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time"[7]

In August 2010, John Landgraf, president of FX, announced that his network had ordered a pilot episode for a new Lennon/Garant sci-fi/comedy called USS Alabama, a sci-fi/comedy set a thousand years in the future, aboard a United Nations Peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama.

Lennon and Rob Riggle most recently wrote a script together called "The Boondoggle", which they will also star in. Steve Carr has signed on to direct, and filming begins in summer 2011.[8]

In 2011, Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at The Box Office and You Can Too![6]

Personal life

Lennon lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Jenny Robertson,[4] and their son Oliver. When he is not involved in other projects he performs locally in a one-man play based on the movie Clash of the Titans.[citation needed]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1999 Friends Blackjack Dealer in Vegas (Joey's Identical Hand Twin)
1999 Drop Dead Gorgeous Documentarian (voice)
2000 Memento Doctor
2000 Row Your Boat Census Taker
2001 Out Cold Eric Montclare
2002 Boat Trip The Priest
2003 Le Divorce Roger Walker
2003 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Thayer
2003 A Guy Thing Pete Morse
2004 Taxi N/A Writer
2004 Heights Marshall
2005 Conversations with Other Women Videographer
2005 Herbie: Fully Loaded Larry Murphy Writer
2005 The Godfather of Green Bay D.U.G.
2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Eddie the Shipboard Computer Voice only
2005 The Pacifier N/A Writer
2006 Night at the Museum N/A Writer
2006 Let's Go to Prison N/A Writer
2006 Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas Police Officer
2006 Eden Court Shroeder Duncan
2007 Balls of Fury Karl Wolfschtagg Writer, Producer
2007 Reno 911!: Miami Lieutenant Jim Dangle Writer, Executive Producer
2008 Hancock Mike
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Orville Wright (uncredited) Writer
2009 17 Again Ned Gold
2009 I Love You, Man Doug
2009 The League Bryce The Usual Bet
2010 Archer Charles Honeypot
2010 Hot Tub Time Machine Customer (uncredited)
2010 Planet Sheen Pinter (voice)
2011 Cedar Rapids Roger Lemke
2011 How to Survive a Robot Uprising N/A Writer
2011 Bad Teacher Carl Halabi
2011 Memphis Beat Keith Grant Season 2 Episode 2
2011 What's Your Number?
2011 A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Todd
2012 What to Expect When You're Expecting

References

  1. ^ http://www.friarsclub.com/close_up/close_up.htm
  2. ^ http://video.about.com/movies/Thomas-Lennon-17-Again.htm
  3. ^ http://www.nerdist.com/2011/10/the-indoor-kids-13-video-game-addiction-episode-with-tom-lennon/
  4. ^ a b c Pearlman, Cindy. Oak Park native acts, writes way to 'Reno 911!' and beyond, Chicago Sun-Times. Published April 15, 2009.
  5. ^ http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/marvelmoviesuniverse/news/?a=8557
  6. ^ a b http://www.npr.org/2011/07/05/137617840/you-too-can-be-a-successful-screenwriter
  7. ^ "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time" Nerve/IFC; April 7, 2008
  8. ^ http://collider.com/steve-carr-the-boondoggle-rob-riggle-thomas-lennon/98103/

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