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Andy Richter

Andy Richter has built a career out of being both firmly in on the joke and unusually good at making spontaneity look effortless. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on October 28, 1966, and raised in Yorkville, Illinois, he studied film at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and Columbia College Chicago. Student films and videos introduced him to comedic acting and writing, while classes at Chicago’s Improv Olympic led to work with the Comedy Underground and Annoyance Theatre. That Chicago comedy background eventually brought Richter to New York with The Real Live Brady Bunch, in which he played Mike Brady. After meeting writer and producer Robert Smigel, Richter was hired as a writer on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. A practice run-through revealed his rapport with O’Brien, and he became the show’s sidekick shortly before it began airing in 1993. Their partnership became the central thread of Richter’s television career: after leaving Late Night in 2000, he later returned as announcer, writer, sketch performer and sidekick on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Conan. Richter’s own sitcoms gave his comic persona more room to roam. Andy Richter Controls the Universe placed him at the center of an offbeat workplace comedy, while Andy Barker, P.I. cast him as an accountant who becomes a private detective after a case of mistaken identity. Elsewhere, he has often made the most of playful supporting parts, including portraying himself and four fictional identical brothers on Arrested Development and recurring as Stan on The New Adventures of Old Christine. His film work includes Elf, Big Trouble, Scary Movie 2, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Blades of Glory and Semi-Pro. As a voice actor, he has also been part of the Madagascar franchise and voiced characters in The Mighty B! and related Madagascar television series. Across acting, writing, announcing, presenting and podcasting—including hosting The Three Questions with Andy Richter—Richter’s strength remains his adaptable comic presence. He can anchor a premise, sharpen someone else’s punchline or make a sidelong reaction feel like the real payoff.