Todd Barry

Struggling to leverage his English degree amid earlier roles as a VD clinic clerk and a drummer, the deadpan and occasionally doe-eyed Todd Barry resigned himself to a career shift and entered standup comedy in 1987. Born and raised in the Bronx, Barry had long admired Steve Martin, George Carlin, and Andy Kaufman. Years of club performances preceded his 1998 Jury Award for Best Stand Up Comic at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, which elevated him to wider recognition. Following an April 1999 guest spot on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Barry visited the newsgroup "alt.fan.conan-obrien," where a regular poster labeled him "worst guest of the week" and "icky." Irked by the comments, he devised the one-man show Icky, incorporating instrumental pieces by Yo La Tengo and enjoying a successful engagement at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. The special Comedy Central Presents: Todd Barry also debuted that year.

His first CD, the self-released Medium Energy, surfaced in 2001. Once comedian David Cross named it among his favorite releases, Sub Pop acquired distribution rights in 2004. Comedy Central Records simultaneously put out the CD/DVD set Falling Off the Bone that year, then reissued Medium Energy the next. From Heaven arrived in 2007 and prompted a headlining tour that included an opening slot on Louis C.K.'s Word tour. Super Crazy, his one-hour special, premiered on Comedy Central in 2012 and later received both CD and digital release via the network's label. Barry mounted an improvisational standup tour in 2013 and compiled select moments into the video special The Crowd Work Tour. Comedy Dynamics eventually issued the material on CD in 2016.