Paul Reiser
Encyclopedia
Paul Reiser is an American
stand-up comedian, actor
, television personality, author
, screenwriter
and musician
. He is most widely known for his role on the long-running television sitcom Mad About You
.
on the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
and graduated from Stuyvesant High School
in New York City. He earned his bachelor's degree
at Binghamton University
, where he majored in music (piano, composition). He was active in campus theater productions and founded "The Little Theater That Could", an on-campus community theater organization located in Hinman College, Reiser's dorm community. It was later renamed Hinman Production Company. Reiser eventually found his calling when he performed in New York City comedy clubs during university summer breaks.
, he had a breakout film role in 1982 when he appeared in Diner
, a coming-of-age
film by Barry Levinson
. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet stand-up comedian, effectively brought Reiser's comic abilities to the attention of Hollywood. The film also helped boost the careers of his co-stars Kevin Bacon
, Steve Guttenberg
, and Mickey Rourke
. He followed this success playing a detective in 1984's Beverly Hills Cop
, a role he reprised in the 1987 sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II
. Reiser also had roles in James Cameron
's 1986 movie Aliens
where he played the infamous character Burke; in The Marrying Man
(1991), and in the comedy Bye Bye Love
(1995).
Reiser starred for two years on television as one of two possible fathers of a teenage girl in the sitcom
My Two Dads
, and later rose to fame in North America as Paul Buchman on Mad About You
, a long-running comedy series he helped create in which Helen Hunt
co-starred as his wife. He also played piano for the recording of the show's theme song. For his work in Mad About You, Reiser received nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild award. In the successful show's final 1999
season, he and Hunt were paid US $
1 million ($ million today) per episode. In 2001, Reiser took on a dramatic role as a man desperate to find his birth mother after learning he has a serious illness in the British
television movie
My Beautiful Son.
Reiser has also written three books: Couplehood, about the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship; Babyhood, about his experiences as a first-time father; and Familyhood, a collection of humorous essays. Couplehood was unique in the fact it started on page 145. Reiser explained this as his way of giving the reader a false sense of accomplishment. Both books appeared on The New York Times
bestseller
list. In May 1996, Reiser appeared on Late Show with David Letterman
in the middle of writing his second book. Since he didn't have a title yet (it would later be called Babyhood), he showed a prop book with the same cover as his first book Couplehood. The title was simply called Book, a name Whoopi Goldberg
used for her 1997 publication. Familyhood was released in May 2011.
In 2002, Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry David
's critically acclaimed HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm
.
Reiser placed number 78 on Comedy Central
's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
The name of Reiser's production company - Nuance Productions - comes from one of his lines in the film, Diner
, explaining his discomfort with the word nuance.
Reiser wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy series The Paul Reiser Show
, which aired on NBC
as a midseason replacement
during the 2010-11 television season. "This is nice", quipped Reiser on the Stephanie Miller
radio program, "because you get to sit around and root for other shows to fail." Ironically, due to extremely low ratings, Reiser's own show was canceled after two episodes.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
stand-up comedian, 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...
, television personality, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
. He is most widely known for his role on the long-running television sitcom Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
.
Early life
Reiser was born in New York City, the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Sam Reiser, a wholesale health food distributor. Reiser attended the East Side Hebrew InstituteEast Side Hebrew Institute
The East Side Hebrew Institute was a traditional Jewish day school, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It was "once one of the major institutions of the Jewish East Side".-The Talmud Torah:...
on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
and graduated from Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
in New York City. He earned his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
at Binghamton University
Binghamton University
Binghamton University, also formally called State University of New York at Binghamton, , is a public research university in the State of New York. The University is one of the four university centers in the State University of New York system...
, where he majored in music (piano, composition). He was active in campus theater productions and founded "The Little Theater That Could", an on-campus community theater organization located in Hinman College, Reiser's dorm community. It was later renamed Hinman Production Company. Reiser eventually found his calling when he performed in New York City comedy clubs during university summer breaks.
Career
After honing his skills as a stand-up comic in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, he had a breakout film role in 1982 when he appeared in Diner
Diner (film)
Diner is a 1982 comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. Levinson's screen directing debut, Diner is the first in his "Baltimore films", which also include the subsequent Tin Men, Avalon and Liberty Heights.-Plot:...
, a coming-of-age
Coming of age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhood to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition. It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies...
film by Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet stand-up comedian, effectively brought Reiser's comic abilities to the attention of Hollywood. The film also helped boost the careers of his co-stars Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
, Steve Guttenberg
Steve Guttenberg
Steven Robert "Steve" Guttenberg is an American actor and comedian. He became well known during the 1980s, after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, and Short Circuit.-Early life:Guttenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, the...
, and Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
. He followed this success playing a detective in 1984's Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop
Beverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
, a role he reprised in the 1987 sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II
Beverly Hills Cop II is a 1987 action-comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Tony Scott. It is the first sequel in the Beverly Hills Cop series. Murphy returns as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, who returns to Beverly Hills, California to track down a joint robbery/gun-running ring...
. Reiser also had roles in James Cameron
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron is a Canadian-American film director, film producer, screenwriter, editor, environmentalist and inventor...
's 1986 movie Aliens
Aliens (film)
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
where he played the infamous character Burke; in The Marrying Man
The Marrying Man
The Marrying Man is a 1991 romantic comedy film starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The script is by Neil Simon. Basinger's performance in the film earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.-Plot:Charley Pearl is the heir to a toothpaste empire's fortune...
(1991), and in the comedy Bye Bye Love
Bye Bye Love (film)
Bye Bye Love is a 1995 American comedy-drama film that deals with the central issue of divorce. It was directed by Sam Weisman and written by Gary David Goldberg and Brad Hall...
(1995).
Reiser starred for two years on television as one of two possible fathers of a teenage girl in the sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
My Two Dads
My Two Dads
My Two Dads is an American sitcom that starred Staci Keanan, Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan. It aired on NBC from 1987 to 1990 and was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with TriStar Television and distributed by TeleVentures.-Show synopsis:The show begins when Marcy Bradford , the...
, and later rose to fame in North America as Paul Buchman on Mad About You
Mad About You
Mad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
, a long-running comedy series he helped create in which Helen Hunt
Helen Hunt
Helen Elizabeth Hunt is an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She starred in the sitcom Mad About You for seven years, before being cast in the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets...
co-starred as his wife. He also played piano for the recording of the show's theme song. For his work in Mad About You, Reiser received nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild award. In the successful show's final 1999
1999 in television
The year 1999 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1999.For the American TV schedule, see: 1999-00 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
season, he and Hunt were paid US $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1 million ($ million today) per episode. In 2001, Reiser took on a dramatic role as a man desperate to find his birth mother after learning he has a serious illness in the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
television movie
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
My Beautiful Son.
Reiser has also written three books: Couplehood, about the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship; Babyhood, about his experiences as a first-time father; and Familyhood, a collection of humorous essays. Couplehood was unique in the fact it started on page 145. Reiser explained this as his way of giving the reader a false sense of accomplishment. Both books appeared on The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
bestseller
Bestseller
A bestseller is a book that is identified as extremely popular by its inclusion on lists of currently top selling titles that are based on publishing industry and book trade figures and published by newspapers, magazines, or bookstore chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and...
list. In May 1996, Reiser appeared on 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...
in the middle of writing his second book. Since he didn't have a title yet (it would later be called Babyhood), he showed a prop book with the same cover as his first book Couplehood. The title was simply called Book, a name Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
used for her 1997 publication. Familyhood was released in May 2011.
In 2002, Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry David
Larry David
Lawrence Gene "Larry" David is an American actor, writer, comedian and producer. He is best known as the co-creator , head writer, and executive producer of the television series Seinfeld from 1989 to 1996, and for creating the 1999 HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, a partially improvised sitcom in...
's critically acclaimed HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
.
Reiser placed number 78 on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.
The name of Reiser's production company - Nuance Productions - comes from one of his lines in the film, Diner
Diner (film)
Diner is a 1982 comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. Levinson's screen directing debut, Diner is the first in his "Baltimore films", which also include the subsequent Tin Men, Avalon and Liberty Heights.-Plot:...
, explaining his discomfort with the word nuance.
Reiser wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy series The Paul Reiser Show
The Paul Reiser Show
The Paul Reiser Show is an American television series that aired on NBC. In May 2010, NBC announced that it had green-lit the series for the 2010–11 television season, with the half-hour comedy expected to premiere as a midseason replacement. The series premiered on April 14, 2011, at 8:30 pm...
, which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
as a midseason replacement
Midseason replacement
In American and Canadian television, a midseason replacement is a television series that premieres in the second half of the traditional television season, usually between January and May...
during the 2010-11 television season. "This is nice", quipped Reiser on the Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Miller
Stephanie Catherine Miller is an American comedienne and host of The Stephanie Miller Show, a progressive talk radio program produced in Los Angeles and syndicated nationally by Dial Global. Talkers magazine ranked her as the 24th most important radio talk show host in America for 2010.-Early...
radio program, "because you get to sit around and root for other shows to fail." Ironically, due to extremely low ratings, Reiser's own show was canceled after two episodes.
Personal life
Reiser married Paula Ravets on 21 August 1988 and they have two children: Ezra Samuel (born September 1995) and Leon (born 2000).Filmography
- DinerDiner (film)Diner is a 1982 comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. Levinson's screen directing debut, Diner is the first in his "Baltimore films", which also include the subsequent Tin Men, Avalon and Liberty Heights.-Plot:...
(1982) - Beverly Hills CopBeverly Hills CopBeverly Hills Cop is a 1984 American comedy-action film directed by Martin Brest and starring Eddie Murphy, Lisa Eilbacher, John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Ronny Cox...
(1984) - Odd JobsOdd JobsOdd Jobs is an American comedy film produced by TriStar Pictures and HBO Films, and originally released to movie theatres in 1986.- Cast :* Paul Reiser - Max* Robert Townsend - Dwight...
(1986) - AliensAliens (film)Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, William Hope, and Bill Paxton...
(1986) - Beverly Hills Cop IIBeverly Hills Cop IIBeverly Hills Cop II is a 1987 action-comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Tony Scott. It is the first sequel in the Beverly Hills Cop series. Murphy returns as Detroit police detective Axel Foley, who returns to Beverly Hills, California to track down a joint robbery/gun-running ring...
(1987) - Cross My HeartCross My Heart (film)Cross My Heart is an American romantic comedy that was released in the United States on November 13, 1987. It stars Annette O'Toole and Martin Short.-Plot:...
(1987) - You Ruined My LifeYou Ruined My Life-Plot:It is about 11-year-old Minerva played by Soleil Moon Frye, a girl who lives in a Las Vegas casino with her Uncle Howie played by Allen Garfield. Her uncle spoils her by giving her everything she wants. Minerva gets into trouble and her strict Aunt Hermione played by Edith Fields threatens to...
(1987) - Crazy PeopleCrazy PeopleCrazy People is a 1990 comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah, and directed by Tony Bill.-Plot:Emory Leeson is an advertising executive who experiences a nervous breakdown. He designs a series of "truthful" advertisements, blunt and bawdy and of no use to his boss Drucker's firm.One of...
(1990) - The Marrying ManThe Marrying ManThe Marrying Man is a 1991 romantic comedy film starring Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. The script is by Neil Simon. Basinger's performance in the film earned her a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress.-Plot:Charley Pearl is the heir to a toothpaste empire's fortune...
(1991) - 3½ Blocks from Home (1992)
- Family PrayersFamily PrayersFamily Prayers is a 1993 feature film starring Anne Archer, Tzvi Ratner-Stauber, Julianne Michelle, Joe Mantegna, Brittany Murphy, and Patti LuPone.Directed by Scott Rosenfeld-External links:* at the Internet Movie Database...
(1993) - The TowerThe Tower-Architecture:*The Tower of London, a castle in London, England, started in 1078*The Tower , a building in United Arab Emirates, built in 2002*The Tower , an office tower in Newcastle upon Tyne, England...
(1993) - Mr. Write (1994)
- Bye Bye LoveBye Bye Love (film)Bye Bye Love is a 1995 American comedy-drama film that deals with the central issue of divorce. It was directed by Sam Weisman and written by Gary David Goldberg and Brad Hall...
(1995) - Get BruceGet BruceGet Bruce is a 1999 documentary film starring Bruce Vilanch, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, Shirley MacLaine, Steven Seagal, Carol Burnett and Michael Douglas. The film is directed by Andrew J. Kuehn.-Synopsis:...
(1999) - The Story of UsThe Story of UsThe Story of Us is a 1999 American film directed by Rob Reiner, and starring Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer as a couple married for fifteen years....
(1999) - Pros & ConsPros & ConsPros & Cons is a 1999 comedy film starring Larry Miller and Tommy Davidson. It was directed by Boris Damast. It was released straight to video and is shown on cable television....
(1999) - My Beautiful Son/Strange Relaction (2001)
- One Night at McCool’sOne Night at McCool'sOne Night at McCool's is a 2001 American dark comedy/neo-noir film, directed by Harald Zwart and starring Liv Tyler, Matt Dillon, Michael Douglas, John Goodman, Paul Reiser, Reba McEntire and Andrew Dice Clay.-Plot:...
(2001) - Women vs. Men (2002)
- Purpose (2002)
- The Thing About My FolksThe Thing About My FolksThe Thing About My Folks is a 2005 American drama film directed by Raymond De Felitta. The screenplay by Paul Reiser focuses on the effect a terminal illness has on the marriage of an aging couple and their adult children.-Plot:...
(2005) - The AristocratsThe Aristocrats (film)The Aristocrats is a 2005 documentary film about the famous dirty joke of the same name. It was conceived and produced by comedians Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, edited by Emery Emery, and released to theaters by TH!NKFilm...
(2005) - Funny PeopleFunny PeopleFunny People is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, and Leslie Mann. The film was released on 31 July 2009 in North America, and on 28 August 2009 in the United Kingdom. Funny People uses considerably more...
(2009)
Television
- My Two DadsMy Two DadsMy Two Dads is an American sitcom that starred Staci Keanan, Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan. It aired on NBC from 1987 to 1990 and was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with TriStar Television and distributed by TeleVentures.-Show synopsis:The show begins when Marcy Bradford , the...
(1987–1990) - Mad About YouMad About YouMad About You is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 23, 1992 to May 24, 1999. The show starred Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a newly married couple in New York City. Reiser played Paul Buchman, a documentary film maker. Hunt played Jamie Stemple Buchman, a public relations specialist...
(1992–1999) - Atlanta (Centers on a man and a woman who meet at a funeral and can't seem to stay away from each other)
- Remington SteeleRemington SteeleRemington Steele is an American television series, co-created by Robert Butler and Michael Gleason. The series, starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan, was produced by MTM Enterprises and first broadcast on the NBC network from 1982 to 1987. The series blended the genres of romantic...
– Season 1, Episode 13 – "A Good Night's Steele" (1982) - The Paul Reiser ShowThe Paul Reiser ShowThe Paul Reiser Show is an American television series that aired on NBC. In May 2010, NBC announced that it had green-lit the series for the 2010–11 television season, with the half-hour comedy expected to premiere as a midseason replacement. The series premiered on April 14, 2011, at 8:30 pm...
– (2011) 7 episodes produced, cancelled after two episodes due to extremely low ratings