Dino Stamatopoulos
Encyclopedia
Dino Stamatopoulos is an American television
comedy
writer
, actor
and producer
who has worked on Mr. Show
, TV Funhouse
, Mad TV
, The Dana Carvey Show
, Late Show with David Letterman
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim
programs Moral Orel
and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
.
, Stamatopoulos wrote for his school variety show and was astounded he could get laughs with the material he had written. While attending Columbia College Chicago
he performed a duo act with comedian Andy Dick
, in which Stamatopoulos played a ventriloquist and Dick played a dummy under the influence of sleeping pills.
Stamatopoulos had written a spec script for a Simpsons
episode, just out of love for the show, and Andy convinced him to submit it to The Ben Stiller Show, which got him hired. He met and worked with Bob Odenkirk
. After Stiller's show was canceled, he moved to New York and joined the writing staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, also with Odenkirk. During the '90s he wrote for Late Show with David Letterman
, The Dana Carvey Show
and Mr. Show with Bob and David. In 2000 Dino and Robert Smigel
pitched Comedy Central a spin-off of Smigel's TV Funhouse
SNL cartoons which would be a half-hour sketch comedy show. TV Funhouse
premiered on 2000 and was canceled after one season. He later joined the writing staff on Mad TV
.
He also worked on Tom Goes to the Mayor
with Mr. Show alumnus Bob Odenkirk
. He created the stop motion
animated series Moral Orel
for Adult Swim
which premiered on Christmas of 2005 and aired its final episode in December 2008. He also does the voice of Drinky Crow on The Drinky Crow Show
.
Stamatopoulos's newest stop motion
series Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
, currently in its first season on Adult Swim
, began airing on June 27, 2010.
Since 2009, Stamatopoulos has been appearing in a recurring role as "Star-Burns" on the NBC comedy series Community
. He also works as a consultant and contributing writer on the show. He co-wrote the stop motion animation Christmas episode which aired on December 9, 2010.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
who has worked on Mr. Show
Mr. Show
Mr. Show with Bob and David is an American sketch comedy series featuring former Saturday Night Live writer/actor Bob Odenkirk and stand up comedian/actor David Cross...
, TV Funhouse
TV Funhouse
Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central...
, Mad TV
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
, The Dana Carvey Show
The Dana Carvey Show
The Dana Carvey Show is an American sketch comedy television show that aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. Dana Carvey was the host and principal player on the show while Louis CK served as head writer....
, Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
and Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
programs Moral Orel
Moral Orel
Moral Orel is an American stop-motion animated television show, which originally aired on Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008...
and Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
Mary Shelley's Frankenhole is a stop-motion animated TV series by Dino Stamatopoulos, creator of Moral Orel. Nine of ten 15-minute episodes have aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Frankenhole premiered on June 27, 2010.-Premise:Dr...
.
Biography
While at Ridgewood High School (Illinois)Ridgewood High School (Illinois)
Ridgewood High School, or RHS, is a public four-year high school located in Norridge, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
, Stamatopoulos wrote for his school variety show and was astounded he could get laughs with the material he had written. While attending Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
he performed a duo act with comedian Andy Dick
Andy Dick
Andrew R. "Andy" Dick is an American comedian, actor, musician and television/film producer. His first regular television role was on the short-lived but highly influential Ben Stiller Show. In the mid-1990s, he had a long-running stint on NBC's NewsRadio...
, in which Stamatopoulos played a ventriloquist and Dick played a dummy under the influence of sleeping pills.
Stamatopoulos had written a spec script for a Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode, just out of love for the show, and Andy convinced him to submit it to The Ben Stiller Show, which got him hired. He met and worked with Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
. After Stiller's show was canceled, he moved to New York and joined the writing staff of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, also with Odenkirk. During the '90s he wrote for Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman
Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
, The Dana Carvey Show
The Dana Carvey Show
The Dana Carvey Show is an American sketch comedy television show that aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. Dana Carvey was the host and principal player on the show while Louis CK served as head writer....
and Mr. Show with Bob and David. In 2000 Dino and Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel
Robert Smigel is an American actor, humorist, comedian and writer known for his Saturday Night Live "TV Funhouse" cartoon shorts and as the puppeteer and voice behind Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.-Early life:...
pitched Comedy Central a spin-off of Smigel's TV Funhouse
TV Funhouse
Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central...
SNL cartoons which would be a half-hour sketch comedy show. TV Funhouse
TV Funhouse
Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central...
premiered on 2000 and was canceled after one season. He later joined the writing staff on Mad TV
Mad TV
Mad TV may refer to:*MADtv, an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad magazine*Mad TV , a 1991 German television station management simulation game*MAD TV , a Greek music channel-See also:...
.
He also worked on Tom Goes to the Mayor
Tom Goes to the Mayor
Tom Goes to the Mayor is an American animated television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006, with a total of thirty episodes.-History:Tom Goes to the...
with Mr. Show alumnus Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
. He created the stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animated series Moral Orel
Moral Orel
Moral Orel is an American stop-motion animated television show, which originally aired on Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008...
for Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
which premiered on Christmas of 2005 and aired its final episode in December 2008. He also does the voice of Drinky Crow on The Drinky Crow Show
The Drinky Crow Show
The Drinky Crow Show is an American animated television series created by Eric Kaplan and Tony Millionaire, based on the latter's comic strip Maakies. The pilot episode aired on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim on May 13, 2007. The series premiered on November 23, 2008 and...
.
Stamatopoulos's newest stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
series Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
Mary Shelley's Frankenhole
Mary Shelley's Frankenhole is a stop-motion animated TV series by Dino Stamatopoulos, creator of Moral Orel. Nine of ten 15-minute episodes have aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Frankenhole premiered on June 27, 2010.-Premise:Dr...
, currently in its first season on Adult Swim
Adult Swim
Adult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
, began airing on June 27, 2010.
Since 2009, Stamatopoulos has been appearing in a recurring role as "Star-Burns" on the NBC comedy series Community
Community (TV series)
Community is an American television comedy series created by Dan Harmon that airs on NBC. The series is about a group of students at a community college in the fictional locale of Greendale, Colorado. The series heavily uses meta-humor and pop culture references, often parodying film and television...
. He also works as a consultant and contributing writer on the show. He co-wrote the stop motion animation Christmas episode which aired on December 9, 2010.
Selected filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Type of show | Character |
| 2010– | Mary Shelley's Frankenhole Mary Shelley's Frankenhole Mary Shelley's Frankenhole is a stop-motion animated TV series by Dino Stamatopoulos, creator of Moral Orel. Nine of ten 15-minute episodes have aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Frankenhole premiered on June 27, 2010.-Premise:Dr... |
Creator Writer Executive Producer |
Animated series | Various characters |
| Yappy Broads | Actor | Adult Swim Pilot | Co-host | |
| 2009– | Community Community (TV series) Community is an American television comedy series created by Dan Harmon that airs on NBC. The series is about a group of students at a community college in the fictional locale of Greendale, Colorado. The series heavily uses meta-humor and pop culture references, often parodying film and television... |
Recurring Guest Writer Consultant |
TV Sitcom | Star-Burns |
| 2008–2009 | The Drinky Crow Show The Drinky Crow Show The Drinky Crow Show is an American animated television series created by Eric Kaplan and Tony Millionaire, based on the latter's comic strip Maakies. The pilot episode aired on Cartoon Network's late night programing block, Adult Swim on May 13, 2007. The series premiered on November 23, 2008 and... |
Voice actor | Animated series | Drinky Crow Lt. Vronchy Additional voices |
| 2006 | Lucky Louie Lucky Louie Lucky Louie is an American television sitcom created by Louis C.K., that aired for one season on HBO in 2006. In addition to being the creator, writer and executive producer of the series, C.K. stars as the eponymous Louie, a part-time mechanic... |
Writer | TV Sitcom | |
| 2005–2008 | Moral Orel Moral Orel Moral Orel is an American stop-motion animated television show, which originally aired on Adult Swim from December 13, 2005 to December 18, 2008... |
Creator Writer Director Executive Producer |
Animated series | Various characters |
| 2004–2005 | Tom Goes To The Mayor Tom Goes to the Mayor Tom Goes to the Mayor is an American animated television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006, with a total of thirty episodes.-History:Tom Goes to the... |
Writer Creative Consultant |
Animated series | |
| 2002–2003 | Mad TV Mad TV Mad TV may refer to:*MADtv, an American sketch comedy television series based on Mad magazine*Mad TV , a 1991 German television station management simulation game*MAD TV , a Greek music channel-See also:... |
Writer | Sketch Comedy series | |
| 2000–2001 | TV Funhouse TV Funhouse Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central... |
Writer Actor Executive Producer |
Sketch Comedy series | Chickey Mr. Whiskers Various characters |
| 1996–2006 | Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture... |
Writer (TV Funhouse TV Funhouse Saturday TV Funhouse is the title of a recurring skit on NBC's Saturday Night Live featuring cartoons created by longtime SNL writer Robert Smigel as well as a short-lived spinoff series TV Funhouse that ran on Comedy Central... ) Voice Actor |
Sketch Comedy series | Michael Jackson |
| 1996–1998 | Mr. Show with Bob and David | Writer Executive Producer |
Sketch Comedy series | Various characters |
| 1996–1997 | Late Show with David Letterman Late Show with David Letterman Late Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is... |
Writer | Late Night Talk Show | |
| 1996 | The Dana Carvey Show The Dana Carvey Show The Dana Carvey Show is an American sketch comedy television show that aired on ABC during the spring of 1996. Dana Carvey was the host and principal player on the show while Louis CK served as head writer.... |
Writer | Sketch Comedy series | |
| 1993–1999 | Late Night with Conan O' Brien | Writer Sketch Actor |
Late Night Talk Show | Tomari the Ostrich Kiss-Ass Turkey Abe Lincoln Various characters |
| 1992–1993 | The Ben Stiller Show The Ben Stiller Show The Ben Stiller Show was the name of two sketch comedy television shows that aired on MTV from 1990 to 1991, and then on Fox from September 1992 to January 1993. The Fox show starred Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk. Character actor John F. O'Donohue also appeared in every... |
Writer | Sketch Comedy series | |