Owen Benjamin
| Owen Benjamin | |
|---|---|
Benjamin at The Store in Hollywood, CA
|
|
| Birth name | Owen Smith |
| Born | May 24, 1980 Fulton, New York |
| Medium | Stand-up, television, film, internet |
| Nationality | American |
| Years active | 2006 – present |
| Genres | Improvisational comedy |
| Partner(s) | Amy Reinke Smith |
| Notable works and roles | Saturday Nights The Improv Punk'd The Jay Leno Show Gaytown The House Bunny Owen Benjamin Presents |
| Website | Official website |
Owen Benjamin (born May 24, 1980) is an American comedian, pianist, and actor from Fulton, New York.
Benjamin has continued a career in comedy after having been let go from CAA and Hollywood for his stance on transgender children and other issues. He currently produces a daily podcast from his farm in northern Idaho, and is co-founder of video platform Unauthorized.tv, news outlet The Beartaria Times, and The Great Bear Trail, a project to promote local agriculture and "eliminate dependencies and wasteful living."
Contents
Early life
Owen Benjamin was born Owen Smith to John Kares Smith and Jean Troy-Smith, both professors at State University of New York at Oswego.[1] He attended college at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh where he got his start in television at the student run station Plattsburgh State Television.[2]
Career
Benjamin has a podcast, Why Didn't They Laugh, on Sideshow Network. He hosted Esquire Network's The Next Great Burger in 2015. He played a correspondent to Tyson Beckford and Rev Run on their show It's Not You It's Men (2016) on the OWN network.[3]
Benjamin produces the late show on Saturday Nights at The Improv in Hollywood, California, and has also performed on MTV's show Punk'd.[4] Benjamin has starred in several web-only video series. Since 2008 he has been appearing on Sony Pictures Television's C-SPOT and played the role of Owen on Gaytown as well as hosting his own series, Owen Benjamin Presents.[5][6]
In 2007, he made an appearance in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. The scene was deleted from the theatrical release, but can be found in the extended deleted scenes in the home video release.
In 2008, Benjamin had a supporting role in The House Bunny.[7][8] In 2009, he played the lead role in the romantic comedy All's Faire in Love, co-starring with Christina Ricci.[7][8] He was on Comedy Central Presents in 2010. For three seasons (2012–14), Benjamin portrayed Owen Walsh on the TBS original comedy Sullivan & Son.[7]
In March 2009 Benjamin began playing the role of Chance Stevens on Heckle U for CBS Interactive.[9][10][11]
Benjamin hosted the annual ADG Excellence in Production Design Awards from 2014 to 2016.[12]
Benjamin appeared on Inside Amy Schumer in the episode "A Chick Who Can Hang."[13]
Benjamin was also a correspondent on The Jay Leno Show,[14] twice appearing on the program in a segment performing comical jingles for local Burbank businesses.[15][7]
Benjamin maintained a YouTube channel from February 2011 until it was deleted on 3 December 2019.[16][17] In response to his channel being demonetized by YouTube, Benjamin founded an alternative video-sharing service called Unauthorized.tv in collaboration with Vox Day, which went live on 16 March 2019.[18][19]
Personal life
In 2009, Benjamin was engaged to actress Christina Ricci after four months of dating.[20][21][22] The couple broke up in June 2009.[20]
Benjamin lives in Saranac Lake, New York.[23] He is married to Amy Reinke Smith, with whom he has a son, Charlie, born in July 2018.[24]
Influences and deplatforming
Benjamin has cited Adam Sandler and Vince Vaughn as being comedy influences.[25]
His comedy is influenced by his conservative[26] social and political views. He is opposed to political correctness and has been intentionally offensive to mock those who would police his speech.[23] He has also criticized Jews regarding their neuroticism,[27] their attitudes towards the Holocaust, and their political activities, including around policies relevant to Israel.[28]
As a result of his views, scheduled shows of his have been cancelled, he has been suspended from Twitter,[29] his YouTube channel has been demonetized, and two months worth of superchats and membership fees for the channel have been refunded.[30][31] Benjamin has used crowdfunded money to rent the venues for his shows.[26]
On 3 December 2019 Benjamin's YouTube channel was deleted, with YouTube alleging he had violated their Terms of Service but giving no details.[17]
Works
- 2010: Comedy Central Presents (TV release)
- 2013: High Five Til It Hurts! (CD/DVD/audio download/video download)
- 2017: Feed the Bear (video download)
- 2018: Huge Pianist (audio download/video download)
References
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- ↑ Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Inside Amy Schumer at IMDb
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- ↑ Christina Ricci is Engaged!, usmagazine.com, March 17, 2009.
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