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Denis Leary extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Denis Leary
September 2008
Birth name	Denis Colin Leary
Born	August 18, 1957 (1957-08-18) (age 51) Worcester, Massachusetts U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, Music, Television, Film
Years active	1980s-present
Genres	Rant, Musical comedy, Satire, Observational comedy, Black comedy
Subject(s)	American culture, Current events, Libertarianism, Recreational drug use, Drinking culture
Influences	Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor
Influenced	Dane Cook
Spouse	Ann Lembeck (1989-present) 2 children1
Notable works and roles	No Cure for Cancer Lock 'n Load Gus in The Ref Michael McCann in The Thomas Crown Affair Diego in Ice Age Tommy Gavin in Rescue Me

Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is a Golden Globe- and Emmy Award-nominated American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is known for his often angry comedic style, and his chain smoking. As of 2009, Leary is the star and co-creator of the television show Rescue Me now in its 5th season.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Emerson College 1.3 Career 1.4 Personal life 1.5 Leary Firefighters Foundation 1.6 Autism-remarks controversy 1.7 Accusations of plagiarism 2 Awards 3 Filmography 3.1 Films 3.2 Gross (films) 3.3 TV shows 3.4 TV Commercials 4 Discography 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

Biography

Early life

Leary was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Irish Catholic immigrants. His mother, Nora, was a maid. His father, John Leary (deceased), was an auto mechanic.² Since both of his parents are from Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, 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'Brien³ 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 the correct "Denis."

Emerson College

Leary is a graduate of Emerson College, in Boston, where he was classmates with fellow comic Mario Cantone, who remains his close friend. Comedian Steven Wright and actress Gina Gershon also attended Emerson at the same time as Leary. At the school, he and Jodi Haffner Wallace co-founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop, a troupe that continues on-campus as of at least 2009.⁴ After graduating with the Emerson Class of 1979, he took a job at the school teaching comedy writing classes and maintained the job for five years.⁵ Leary was honored with an honorary doctorate and spoke briefly at his alma mater's undergraduate commencement ceremony on May 16, 2005⁶ and is credited as "Dr. Denis Leary" on the cover of his 2008 book, Why We Suck.

Career

Leary started his career as a comedian in the Boston comedy scene of the 1980s, where he hosted his own show at the underground club "Play It Again Sam's". He also wrote and appeared on a local comedy series, Lenny Clarke's Late Show, hosted by his friend Lenny Clarke and written by Boston comedy writer Martin Olson. Leary and Clarke both spoke about their early affiliations and influences in the Boston comedy scene in the documentary film When Standup Stood Out (2006). It was during this time that he developed his stage persona. He also appeared in skits on the MTV game show Remote Control, playing such characters as Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, the "brother" of co-host Colin Quinn, and artist Andy Warhol.

Leary first earned fame when he ranted about R.E.M. in an MTV sketch. 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 1993, his sardonic song about the stereotypical American male, "Asshole", achieved much notoriety. It was voted #1 in an Australian youth radio poll (the Triple J Hottest 100)^{citation needed} as well as reaching #2 in the singles chart in that country.^{citation needed} 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 event in Boston, Massachusetts, Leary performed a new version of the song directed at the New York Yankees baseball team, 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, in which Leary was participating, 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 Matchmaker, The Ref, Suicide Kings, Dawg, Wag the Dog, Demolition Man, The Thomas Crown Affair and Operation Dumbo Drop. He has had the lead role in two television series, The Job and Rescue Me. In addition, Leary has provided voices for characters in animated films, such as a medium fire-breathing dragon named Flame in the The Agents series, a prehistoric, saber-toothed cat named Diego in the Ice Age film trilogy, and Francis in A Bug's Life. He has produced 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 first baseman Kevin Youkilis is Jewish, delivered a criticism of Mel Gibson's antisemitic comments.⁷⁸ As an ice hockey fan, Leary also hosted the National Hockey League video NHL's Greatest Goals.

In 2003, Comedy Central honored Leary with the Comedy Central Roast of Denis Leary. Friend Jeff Garlin acted as roastmaster. Roasters included Mario Cantone, Adam Ferrara, Dane Cook, Jim Breuer, Nick DiPaolo, Don Gavin, Christopher Walken, Lenny Clarke, Gina Gershon, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Gilbert Gottfried, Colin Quinn, and Michael J. Fox.

As of 2004, Leary is the star and co-creator of the FX cable-network series Rescue Me. He plays Tommy Gavin, a New York City firefighter dealing with alcoholism, family dysfunction, and other issues in post-9/11 New York City. Leary received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance. For this TV series, he turned down roles in two films: The Departed (Mark Wahlberg got the role after Leary turned down the role) and Bobby, which his close friend Emilio Estevez directed.

In the mid-2000s, Leary did the TV voiceover for MLB 2K8 ads, where he used his trademark rant style in baseball terms, and ads for the 2009 Ford F-150 pickup truck. He was also a producer of the Fox Broadcasting series Canterbury's Law and wrote and directed its pilot episode. Canterbury's Law aired in the spring of 2008 and was canceled after eight episodes.

On September 9, 2008, Leary hosted the sixth annual Fashion Rocks event, which aired on CBS. During one part of the show, Leary came onstage dressed in a long gold halter dress and wearing diamond earrings and a bracelet; he carried a purse and a pair of high heels. In another segment, he let out a controversial rant about Britney Spears, the birth of Ricky Martin's twins, and David Duchovny going to rehab for sex addiction.

In December 2008, Leary appeared in a video on funnyordie.com critiquing a list of some of his "best" films, titled "Denis Leary Remembers Denis Leary Movies".⁹

In 2008, Leary was a guest star on The Simpsons. In this episode titled "Lost Verizon", the second episode of season 20, Leary was exaggerated as a "very epic" superstar.

On March 21, 2009 Leary began the "Rescue Me Comedy Tour" in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The 11-date tour, featuring Rescue Me co-stars Lenny Clarke and Adam Ferrara, will be Leary's first stand-up comedy tour in 12 years.

Personal life

Denis Leary has been married to writer Ann Lembeck Leary since 1989.¹⁰ 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). Ann Leary published a memoir, An Innocent, a Broad, about the premature birth of their son on an overseas visit to England. She has also written a novel, Outtakes From a Marriage, which was published in 2008.

Leary is an ice hockey fan and has his own backyard hockey rink at his home in New York with piping installed under the ice surface to help the ice stay frozen. His favorite National Hockey League team is the Boston Bruins.¹¹ He is also a diehard Boston Red Sox fan, as well as a fan of the Green Bay Packers.

Leary is a liberal Democrat.¹² He has said, "I'm more interested in my issues than I am in the guy" and "I was a life-long Democrat, but now at my age, I`ve come to realize that the Democrats suck, and the Republicans suck, and basically the entire system sucks. But you have to go within the system to find what you want."¹² Leary supported Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.¹³

Leary defines his religious beliefs as "I'm a lapsed Catholic in the best sense of the word. You know, I was raised with Irish parents, Irish immigrant parents. My parents, you know, prayed all the time, took us to mass. And my father would sometimes swear in Gaelic. It doesn`t get more religious than that. But, no, after a while, they taught us wrong. I didn`t raise my kids with the fear of God. I raised my kids with the sense of, you know, to me, Jesus was this great guy...".¹²

Despite jokes he's made, Leary watches The Oprah Winfrey Show frequently and loves the program.¹³

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.³ 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. Leary won $125,000 for the foundation on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Leary has close ties with 107.3 WAAF-FM, which in 2000 released the station album "Survive This!" Part of the proceeds from this album were donated to the Leary Firefighters Foundation.

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 in addition to 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, usually presenting large checks and donated equipment personally. The close relationship he has developed with the FDNY as well as with 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.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Leary donated over a dozen boats to the New Orleans fire department to aid in rescue efforts in future disasters. The foundation also rebuilt entire NOLA firehouses.

Autism-remarks controversy

In his 2008 book Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid, Leary made a statement about autism that has angered many people.

“

There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can't compete academically, so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks... to get back diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I don't (care) what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you — your kid is not autistic. He's just stupid. Or lazy. Or both.

”

In response to the controversy, Leary stated that the quote was taken out of context and that in that paragraph he had been talking about the trend of overdiagnosis of autism, which he attributed to American parents seeking an excuse for behavioral problems and underperformance. Later, he apologized to parents with autistic children whom he had offended.¹⁴¹⁵

Accusations of plagiarism

For many years, Leary had been friends with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. However, when Hicks heard Leary's No Cure for Cancer, he felt Leary had stolen his act and material. Hicks famously told an interviewer: "I have a scoop for you. I stole his (Leary's) act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did".¹⁶

The friendship ended abruptly as a result.¹⁷ At least three stand-up comedians have gone on the record stating they believe Leary stole not just some of Hicks' material but also his persona and attitude.^17181920 One similar routine was about the band Judas Priest, during which Hicks specifically says "I don’t think we lost a cancer cure."

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."²⁰)

During a 2003 roast of Denis Leary, 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.²¹

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, more stunned than angry, said, "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks' material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary stood there, stared at her without saying a word and briskly left the dressing room.²²

Reportedly, upon hearing a tape of Leary's album No Cure for Cancer, "Bill was furious. All these years, aside from the occasional jibe, he had pretty much shrugged off Leary's lifting. Comedians borrowed, stole stuff and even bought bits from one another. Milton Berle and Robin Williams were famous for it. This was different. Leary had, practically line for line, taken huge chunks of Bill's act and recorded it."²²

In the August 2006 Playboy, an interviewer told Leary, "Much has been written about you and comedian Bill Hicks.... People have accused you of appropriating his persona and material." Leary replied:

“

That's a great story that people like to latch onto.... Very quickly we got New York club owners saying, 'You guys are too alike' while I was saying, 'What are they fucking talking about?' It's the same approach to the subject maybe, but it's not the same act.... But as I've said many times, a fable is sometimes better than the truth.23

”

On September 9, 2008, Louis CK appeared on Opie and Anthony and related a story from when he was much younger alleging Leary had plagiarized a bit from him. At the time, CK's closing bit was one about how great it would be to "just be an asshole". During a show when both CK and Leary performed, CK says Leary continued the bit, with due credit. However, after that, he said he saw Leary perform his entire bit without credit, and it has been suggested that this bit evolved into the song "Asshole". Despite this, CK, who also has been cited as the victim of plagiarism by Dane Cook, said he prefers to just write new material and move on rather than harbor a grudge. To this Leary stated: "If Louis CK wants to copyright the word 'asshole', he should make it his middle name."^{citation needed}

Awards

Year	Result	Award	Category	Film/Show
2009	Nominated	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television	Recount (2008)
2008	Nominated	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Recount (2008)
2007	Nominated	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Rescue Me
2007	Nominated	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Drama	Rescue Me
2007	Nominated	Prism Awards	Performance in a Drama Series, Multi-Episode Storyline	Rescue Me
2006	Nominated	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series	Rescue Me
2006	Nominated	Satellite Awards	Best Television Series, Drama	Rescue Me
2006	Nominated	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Drama	Rescue Me
2006	Nominated	Prism Awards	Performance in a Drama Series, Multi-Episode Storyline	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Emmy Awards	Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Golden Globe Awards	Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Satellite Awards	Best Actor in a Series, Drama	Rescue Me
2005	Won	Satellite Awards	Best Ensemble - Television	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Satellite Awards	Best Television Series, Drama	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Drama	Rescue Me
2005	Nominated	Television Critics Association Awards	Outstanding New Program of the Year	Rescue Me
2003	Nominated	Kids' Choice Awards	Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie	Ice Age
2003	Nominated	DVD Exclusive Awards	Best Actor	Double Whammy (2001)
2002	Nominated	Television Critics Association Awards	Individual Achievement in Comedy	The Job
2002	Nominated	Television Critics Association Awards	Best New Show	The Job
2000	Won	Blockbuster Entertainment Awards	Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama/Romance	The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)
1996	Won	CableACE Awards	Best Directing: Comedy	National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins (1995)
1992	Won	Edinburgh International Arts Festival	Critic's Award	No Cure for Cancer (1992)
1992	Won	BBC Festival	Recommendation Award	No Cure for Cancer (1992)

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Long Walk to Forever	Newt	short film
1991	Strictly Business	Jake	cameo
1993	The Sandlot	Bill
	Who's the Man?	Sergeant Cooper
	Demolition Man	Edgar Friendly
	National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1	Mike McCracken	cameo, performing You Really Got Me
	Judgment Night	Fallon
1994	The Ref	Gus
	Gunmen	Armor O'Malley
	Natural Born Killers	Prison Inmate	director's cut, cameo
1995	National Lampoon's Favorite Deadly Sins	Jake	TV-movie, also directed segment "Lust"
	Operation Dumbo Drop	CW3 David Poole
	The Neon Bible	Frank
1996	Underworld	Johnny Crown/Johnny Alt
	Two If by Sea	Francis "Frank" O'Brien	also writer
1997	The Second Civil War	Vinnie Franko	TV-movie
	Love Walked In	Jack Hanaway	also producer
	Subway Stories	Guy in wheel chair	TV movie, segment "The Red Shoes"
	Wag the Dog	Fad King
	Suicide Kings	Lono Veccio
	The Real Blonde	Doug
	The MatchMaker	Nick
1998	Monument Ave.	Bobby O'Grady	a.k.a Snitch, also uncredited writer
	Wide Awake	Mr. Beal
	Small Soldiers	Gil Mars
	A Bug's Life	Francis	voice
1999	True Crime	Bob Findley
	Jesus' Son	Wayne
	Do Not Disturb	Simon
	The Thomas Crown Affair	Det. Michael McCann
2000	Sand	Teddy
	Lakeboat	The Fireman
	Company Man	Officer Fry
2001	Double Whammy	Det. Raymond Pluto	also uncredited producer
	Final	Bill	performing Little Sister
2002	Dawg	Douglas "Dawg" Munford	a.k.a Bad Boy
	Ice Age	Diego	voice
	The Secret Lives of Dentists	Slater
2003	When Stand Up Stood Out	Himself	documentary
	The Curse of the Bambino	Himself	documentary
	Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino	Himself	documentary (sequel)
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Diego	voice
2008	Recount	Michael Whouley	TV-movie
2009	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Diego	voice

Gross (films)

Year	Title	US Gross
1993	The Sandlot	US$32.1 million
	Demolition Man	US$134.0 million
	Judgment Night	US$12.1 million
1994	Gunmen	US$3.4 million
	Natural Born Killers	US$11.1 million
1995	The Neon Bible	US$780,072
1997	The MatchMaker	US$3.3 million
1998	Wide Awake	US$58,212
	Small Soldiers	US$71.7 million
	A Bug's Life	US$162.7 million
1999	The Thomas Crown Affair	US$69.3 million
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	US$195.3 million

TV shows

Year	Title	Role	Note(s)
1987	Remote Control	Various roles	All episodes
1990	Afterdrive	Himself	Talk show
1992	Tonight with Jonathan Ross		2 episode
1998	The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder	Himself	Episode dated 24 April 1998
1998	Fantasy World Cup	Himself	Episode #1.15
1998	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Episode: Waiting For Edward
2001-2002	The Rosie O'Donnell Show	Himself	Guest at two episodes
2001-2002	The Job	Mike McNeil	Also writer and producer All episodes
2002	Contest Searchlight	Fictionalized version of himself	All episodes
2002	Crank Yankers	Joe Smith (voice)	Episode: 1.2
2004	Rescue Me	Tommy Gavin	nominated for Golden Globe and Emmy also creator,producer and writer
2005	The Charlie Rose Show	Himself	one episode
	Last Call with Carson Daly	Himself	two episodes (2004-2005)
	The Tony Danza Show	Himself	episode dated 13 July 2005
	The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch	Himself	one episode
2006	Rachael Ray	Himself	1 episode
	Late Show with David Letterman	Himself	5 episode (2003, -4, -5, -6, -7)
	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Himself	6 episode (1997-2007)
	The Daily Show	Himself	5 episode (2002, -3, -6, -7, -8)
	Live with Regis and Kathie Lee	Himself	2 episode
	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	Himself	6 episode (1997-2007)
2007	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Himself	Episode dated 12 September 2007
	The Ellen DeGeneres Show	Himself	Episode dated 2 October 2007
	The View	Himself	4 episodes (2005-2007)
2008	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	Himself	3 episodes (two of them in last seasons)
	The Simpsons	Himself	1 episode - Lost Verizon
	Family Guy	Himself	1 episode
	The Daily Show	Himself	1 episode
	The Bonnie Hunt Show	Himself	Episode dated 3 December 2008
	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Himself	Episode dated 3 December 2008

TV Commercials

• Quaker State Motor Oil
• 2009 Ford F-150 (voice only)
• Hulu 2009

Discography

• 1993: No Cure for Cancer
• 1997: Lock 'n Load
• 2004: Merry F#%$in' Christmas

Bibliography

• 2008: Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid, Viking ISBN 978-0-670-03160-3

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Denis Leary

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Denis Leary

• DenisLeary.com - Official Site.
• Leary Firefighters Foundation
• Denis Leary at the Internet Movie Database
• Denis Leary at the Open Directory Project
• Denis Leary interview at AOL Television
• Denis Leary at Allmusic
• Dennis Leary Interview in Complex Magazine
• Dennis Leary on The Daily Show
• CNN NOLA Firehouses Rebuilt by Leary Fire Fighters Foundation
• http://www.annleary.com
• Review of "Why We Suck" book