Denis Leary

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Denis Colin Leary (b. August 18, 1957) is an Emmy-nominated American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is known for his often angry comedic style with an extremely libertarian viewpoint.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Emerson College 2 Career 3 Accusations of plagiarism 4 Leary Firefighters Foundation 5 Personal life 6 Filmography (incomplete) 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Leary was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Irish Catholic immigrants John Leary (an auto mechanic who died in 1985^{[citation needed]}) and Nora (a maid); Leary holds both Irish and American citizenship. He graduated from Saint Peter-Marian High School in Worcester. Through marriage, Leary is a distant cousin of talk show host Conan O'Brien^[1], and has jokingly said on Late Night with Conan O'Brien that "All Irish people are related." His name is often misspelled as "Dennis", instead of "Denis."

[edit] Emerson College

Leary is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, where met his friend deadpan-comedian Steven Wright. He attended said college along with Mario Cantone and Gina Gershon. At the school he founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop, a troupe that continues to thrive on-campus to this day^[2]. After graduating with the Emerson Class of 1979, he took up a job with the school teaching comedy writing classes and maintained the job for five years^[3]. Leary was honored with an honorary doctorate and spoke briefly at his alma mater's undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 16, 2005^[4]. During a December 2005 appearance at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre he claimed that Emerson College "saved his life" by giving him direction and that throughout his career he's "never forgotten" the lessons he learned there. He also claimed that he was the reason Emerson students were no longer allowed on the roofs of the buildings at Emerson, due to an incident following Game 6 of the 1975 World Series where he and some classmates allegedly poured a large bucket of ice water down onto a Cincinnati Reds fan on the sidewalk below.

[edit] Career

Leary first became famous through an MTV sketch in which he ranted about R.E.M. Several other commercials for MTV followed, in which Leary would rant at high speeds about a variety of topics. He has released two records of his stand-up comedy: No Cure For Cancer (1993) and Lock 'N Load (1997). In late 2004 he released the EP Merry F#%$in' Christmas, which included a mix of new music, previously unreleased recordings, and some tracks from Lock 'N Load.

In 1994, his sardonic song about the American lower-middle-class male, Asshole, achieved much notoriety. It was voted #1 in a major Australian youth radio poll (the Triple J Hottest 100) as well as reaching #2 in the singles chart in that country. The video also became a staple of MTV's late-night programming. Due to its explicit and controversial content, however, it received limited airplay on mainstream American radio stations. At the 2004 Comics Come Home in Boston, Massachusetts, Denis performed a new version of the song directed at the New York Yankees, and as the song concluded, Bronson Arroyo walked on stage with the World Series trophy. The song was also used as part of the Holsten Pils series of ads in the UK which Leary was participating in, with adapted lyrics criticizing a drunk driver.

Although he says he is most at home on stage doing stand-up, Leary has appeared as an actor in over 40 movies, including The Sandlot, Monument Ave., The Match Maker, The Ref, Suicide Kings, Dawg, Wag the Dog, Demolition Man, The Thomas Crown Affair and Operation Dumbo Drop. He has also starred in two television series, The Job and Rescue Me. In addition, Leary has provided voices for characters in animated films such as the saber-toothed tiger 'Diego' in Ice Age and 'Francis' in A Bug's Life. He's produced (and still produces) numerous movies, television shows, and specials through his production company Apostle; these include Comedy Central's Shorties Watchin' Shorties, the stand-up special Denis Leary's Merry F#$%in' Christmas, and the movie Blow. As a Boston Red Sox fan, he narrated the official 2004 World Series film. In 2006, Leary and Lenny Clarke appeared on television during a Red Sox telecast and, upon realizing that Red Sox 1st baseman Kevin Youkilis is Jewish, delivered a criticism of Mel Gibson's anti-semitic comments.^[5][6]

In 2003, Comedy Central honored Denis Leary in the Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary. Friend Jeff Garlin acted as roastmaster for Denis' roast. Roasters included Mario Cantone, Dane Cook, Lenny Clarke, Gina Gershon, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Colin Quinn and Michael J. Fox.

Leary is now the star and co-creator of FX's Rescue Me. He plays Tommy Gavin, a New York City fire fighter dealing with alcoholism, family dysfunction, and other issues in post-9/11 New York City. In July 2006, Leary picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance.

[edit] Accusations of plagiarism

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For many years, Leary had been friends with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. However, when Hicks heard Leary's 1992 album No Cure For Cancer he felt Leary had stolen his act and material. The friendship ended abruptly as a result.^[7]

Comedians Joe Rogan, Susannah Bianchi and Tim McIntire have since publicly stated that they believe Leary stole not just some of Hicks' material (accusations of which are not unknown in comedy circles), but his persona and attitude, and that similar feelings were felt within the comedy industry.^{[8][9][10][7]} As a result of this, it is claimed that after Bill Hicks' death from pancreatic cancer, an industry joke began to circulate about Leary's transformation and subsequent success (roughly; "Question: Why is Denis Leary a star while Bill Hicks is unknown? Answer: Because there's no cure for cancer")^[10].

As comedian and actress Susannah Bianchi put it, "When [Bill Hicks] said, 'I hate Billy Ray Cyrus.' - he meant it. When Leary said that, it was only part of an act."^[7]

During Denis Leary's roast, comedian Lenny Clarke, a friend of Leary's, said there was a carton of cigarettes backstage from Bill Hicks with the message, "Wish I had gotten these to you sooner." This joke was cut from the final broadcast. ^[11]

The controversy surrounding plagiarism is also mentioned in American Scream: The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True:

Leary was in Montreal to host the Nasty Show at Club Soda and Colleen was coordinating the talent so she was standing backstage when she heard Leary doing material that sounded incredibly similar to old Hicks riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: ("Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut dude. The plot thickens.") When Leary came offstage, Colleen said, more stunned than angry, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks's material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and briskly left the dressing room.^[12]

When asked about Leary, Hicks told an interviewer: "I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did."^[13]

[edit] Leary Firefighters Foundation

On December 3, 1999, six firefighters from Leary's hometown of Worcester were killed in a massive warehouse fire. Among the dead were Leary's cousin, Jerry Lucey, and his close childhood friend, Lt. Tommy Spencer.^[1] In response, the comedian founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation. Since its creation in the year 2000, the foundation has distributed over $2.5 million (USD) to fire departments in the Worcester, Boston, and New York City areas for equipment, training materials, new vehicles, and new facilities.

A separate fund run by Leary's foundation, the Fund for New York's Bravest, has distributed over $2 million (USD) to the families of the 343 firemen killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as providing funding for necessities such as a new mobile command center, first responder training, and a high-rise simulator for the FDNY's training campus. This new fund was established because the families of the Worcester fire did not want to include New York families into the fund, as a result Leary created a separate fund for New York.

As the foundation's president, Leary has been active in all of the fundraising, and usually presents large checks and donated equipment personally. The close relationship he has developed with the FDNY, as well as individual firefighters across the New York/New England area, has resulted in Leary's most recent television show, Rescue Me, a Comedy-drama on FX. In the pilot episode of the show, he is seen wearing a Leary Firefighter Foundation 9-11 Memorial T-Shirt. His drive was also apparent on 9/11, when he got behind the wheel of a fire engine when the entire New York fire department was short handed responding to the collapse of the World Trade center.

Leary has close ties with 107.3 WAAF-FM, who in 2000 released the station album "Survive This!." Part of the proceeds from this album were donated to the Leary Firefighters Foundation.

[edit] Personal life

Denis Leary has been married to writer Ann Lembeck since 1982. They met when he was her instructor for an English class at Emerson College. They have two children, son John Joseph "Jack" (born 1990) and daughter Devin (born 1992). Lembeck published a novel, An Innocent, a Broad, about the premature birth of their son on an overseas visit to England.

[edit] Filmography (incomplete)

• Long Walk to Forever
• Strictly Business
• Loaded Weapon 1
• The Sandlot
• Who's the Man?
• Demolition Man
• Judgement Night
• Gunmen
• The Ref
• Natural Born Killers
• Operation Dumbo Drop
• The Neon Bible
• Favorite Deadly Sins
• Two If by Sea
• Underworld
• Love Walked In
• The Second Civil War
• Suicide Kings (1997 movie)
• The Real Blonde (1997 movie)
• The MatchMaker (1997 movie)
• Wag the Dog (1997 movie)
• Snitch (1998 movie)
• Wide Awake (1998 movie)
• Small Soldiers (1998 movie)
• A Bug's Life (1998 movie)
• True Crime (1999 movie)
• The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 movie)
• Jesus' Son (1999 movie)
• Do Not Disturb (1999 movie)
• Lake Boat (2000 movie)
• Company Man (2000 movie)
• Sand (2000 movie)
• Double Whammy (2001 movie)
• Final (2001 movie)
• Bad Boy (2002 movie)
• Ice Age (2002 movie)
• The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002 movie)
• Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006 movie)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Leary Firefighters Foundation - Official Site.
• Denis Leary at the Internet Movie Database
• Denis Leary at the Open Directory Project
• Denis Leary interview at AOL Television