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Dave Allen (actor)

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Dave Allen
Allen in November 2008
Bornc. 1958 (age 65–66)
Naperville, Illinois
Other namesGruber, Dave Gruber Allen, David Gruber Allen
EducationAugustana College
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian
Years active1991 – present

David (Gruber) Allen (born c. 1958) is an American television and film actor and comedian, who has been credited in many movies and television roles as Dave Gruber Allen and David Gruber Allen. Allen is known for his work on the 1990 TV series Higgins Boys and Gruber and playing guidance counselor Jeff Rosso on the Judd Apatow-produced comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks.[1] He also played Mr. Kwest on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and a town troubadour on Gilmore Girls. Allen had a minor role in the 2016 film Ghostbusters: Answer the Call.

Life and career

Allen plays the "Naked Trucker" - a character that first appeared as part of a sketch comedy show Two-Headed Dog. In 1998, at the invitation of Largo owner Mark Flannigan, Allen began to appear as the Naked Trucker as a solo act, opening at Largo in L.A. for Tenacious D, Jon Brion, and others. The act was an instant success and soon expanded to include David Koechner, who plays "T-Bones." Koechner and Allen starred in The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show on Comedy Central, which was picked up for 8 episodes.

Allen is a member of comedy group 2 Headed Dog with comedians Jim Turner, Mark Fite, and Craig Anton. He also made an appearance as a minor character, Mr. Woodward, one of Reese's teachers on the television show Malcolm in the Middle. In addition, Allen frequently plays the character "Todd Carlin", a hippie and fictional relative of George Carlin. This character is usually involved in comedy shows at Largo. Allen has guest starred on Gilmore Girls, where he played a town troubadour, organic farmer, and a de facto minister officiating a wedding. He has been credited in many movies and television roles as Dave Gruber Allen and David Gruber Allen.

Allen has provided multiple voiceovers, such as his voice to the animated series King of the Hill episodes, "Unfortunate Son", "Phish and Wildlife", "Raise the Steaks", and "Bill's House". Allen has also provided his voice for the TV short Moobeard the Cow Pirate, playing Dark Blade of Fire. Later on, Allen also played several different characters in NBC's Newsradio, and appeared as night school teacher "Randy" teaching basic auto repair and maintenance in the episode "Motor Skills" of the eighth season of the sitcom Frasier. He has appeared as a hippie on Mr. Show with Bob and David and a protester on Arrested Development. In 2006, Allen appeared in the Stan and Lois sketch on Norm Macdonald's comedy album Ridiculous (released by Comedy Central Records).

In November 2008, Allen appeared as "Todd"—and was credited as "Todd Carlin"—in the Cinematic Titanic episode "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" during the pre-movie sequence, introducing the movie to the crew. With Allen having a long-standing friendship with Joel Hodgson and several other CT crew members, it is expected he will reprise this role as a fixture of the series going forward. Additionally, Allen has been touring periodically at live shows with Cinematic Titanic, performing his stand-up routine. In 2010, Allen was featured as a sci-fi author in season two of Party Down and made a cameo in the film The Mother of Invention as Dr. Henry Miller. In 2011, Allen had a small role in the movie Bad Teacher. In 2012, Allen played the salesman of a futuristic elder care center in "Life Begins at Rewirement," an episode of the ITVS/PBS sci-fi series Futurestates. He also appeared in a recurring role on the CBS series Mike & Molly. As of November 2012, Allen continues to tour with Cinematic Titanic as the MC of the pre-show warm up act.

References

  1. ^ Ariano, Tara; Bunting, Sarah D. (2006). Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love to Hate (and Hate to Love) about TV. Quirk Books. p. 15. ISBN 9781594741173. Retrieved 27 September 2015.


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