Garofalo's father is an Italian American former executive named Carmine Garofalo and her Irish American mother Joan, who died of cancer, was once a secretary. During high school, her family relocated to Houston, Texas, where the trauma of the move prompted her famously self-loathing acerbic persona to begin to blossom. While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Her original gimmick was to read off of her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances. Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the Late Night With David Letterman program, she became a professional standup upon graduating college with degrees in History and American Studies but struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston. One night in 1991 she and her then-boyfriend Rob Cohen, one of Garofalo's fellow The Ben Stiller Show writers got married via a drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas. When they broke up, they never bothered to formally end their marriage; Garofalo has noted that were she ever to want to get married again she's sure she would have no problem getting an annulment. Romantically Garofalo has been linked with Ben Stiller, Craig Bierko, and numerous musicians.
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Entertainment Career
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Comedy
The winner of numerous comedy awards and recognitions, she officially began her career in stand-up comedy in the late 1980s during the grunge era. Her appearance was often in line with grunge style1 disheveled with thick black glasses and unkempt hair. Her comedy is often self-deprecating; she made fun of popular culture and the pressures put on women to live up to media-created body ideals.
Garofalo is a self-described pessimist: "I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth." [1]
Garofalo's comedy shows involve her and her notebook, which is filled with years' worth of article clippings and random observations that she uses for reference during her act for direct quotes, as with new articles, and to enhance the unprepared, fully conversational nature of her standup. Garofalo feels she does not tell jokes but makes observations and hopefully gets laughs.
Garofalo and comedian Marc Maron helped organize the weekly alternative "Eating It" standup comedy show, with different line-ups each week, which played for years at the Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side before the bar was finally razed. Later Garofalo and Maron would work together again to create a liberal radio network.
In April 2004 she was selected by Comedy Central as one of the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time.
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Television
Her television series debut was on the short-lived The Ben Stiller Show on Fox in 1992, on which she was a cast member alongside longtime friends Ben Stiller, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick, and David Cross (who was a bit player). A chance meeting on the set of the show led her to be offered the role of Paula on The Larry Sanders Show on HBO, earning her two Emmy Award nominations in 1996 and 1997.
Following The Ben Stiller Show's cancellation, Garofalo joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in its ill-fated 1994-95 season. As detailed in Tom Shale's book Live From Saturday Night and mentioned in Jay Mohr's Gasping for Airtime : Two Years in the Trenches of Saturday Night Live Garofalo was unhappy on the show, citing weak material and a sexist atmosphere among the writers. She left in January 1995, mid-season.
Garofalo has been offered many television series roles but has accepted few; for instance, she turned down the role of Monica, a role written with her or her type in mind and for which she was the first actress offered, on the hit NBC sitcom Friends. Two Garofalo-starring television pilots, an ABC show called Slice O'Life, in 2003, about a reporter sentenced to sappy human interest stories that appear at the end of news broadcast, and an NBC program called All In, in 2005, based on the family life and professional successes of poker star Annie Duke, were not picked up by their respective networks.
Throughout the 2005-2006 television season Garofalo appeared on The West Wing as a controversial campaign adviser to the fictional Democratic presidential nominee. Garofalo notably participated in the series' first live episode, most of which was a debate televised live on the east coast and then reshot live for the west. Garofalo's character seen walking backstage with her advisee before the start of each debate.
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Movies
Garofalo's first critically-acclaimed starring role in film was in 1996 in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, a variation of Cyrano which featured Uma Thurman in the top-billed but smaller role as a beautiful but vapid model, while Garofalo played a highly intelligent radio host. The independent film, whose final script Garofalo admittedly abhorred, was a surprise hit, eventually becoming number one at the box office. Based on the success of this film, director Cameron Crowe then offered her a crack at the leading lady part in Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise if she could lose weight, but after trimming down, she learned that Renee Zellweger had won the role instead. The mid-1990s were what Garofalo has termed the height of her popularity. Before The Truth About Cats and Dogs, she was visible from television work and memorable supporting roles in films such as Reality Bites, Bye Bye Love and Now and Then and a leading role in I Shot a Man in Vegas. Garofalo has had a variety of leading, supporting, and cameo roles in films as diverse as Steal This Movie, Cop Land, Dog Park, Wet Hot American Summer, Clay Pigeons, Southland Tales, The MatchMaker, Sweethearts, 200 Cigarettes, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Dogma, The Cable Guy, Permanent Midnight, Duane Hopwood, Mystery Men and The Search for John Gissing, among others.
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Politics
Garofalo has been open and outspoken regarding her political views, appearing in the past with figures such as Ralph Nader (whom she supported in 2000, but opposed in 2004) and Jello Biafra at events, while expressing feminist views in interviews throughout her career.
She became more prominent as an activist when she voiced opposition to what became the 2003 Iraq War, appearing on CNN and Fox News to discuss it. She said that she was approached by groups such as MoveOn.org and Win Without War to go on TV, as the networks weren't allowing antiwar voices to be heard. Garofalo and the other celebrities who appeared at the time said they thought their fame could lend attention to a side they believed was being ignored by the corporate media. Her appearances on cable news prior to the war garnered her praise from the left and spots on the cover of Ms. and Venus magazines. Garofalo has had frequent on-air political disputes with Bill O'Reilly, Brian Kilmeade and Jonah Goldberg. [2]
In March 2003, she took part in the Code Pink antiwar march in Washington, D.C. That fall, she served as emcee at several stops on the "Tell Us the Truth" tour, a political-themed concert series featuring Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, and others. Throughout the year, Garofalo also actively campaigned for Howard Dean.
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Air America Radio
In late March 2004 she became a co-host for Air America Radio's new show The Majority Report alongside Sam Seder. Garofalo once said getting on the radio was an early career goal of hers. A program advertisement: "The battle to reclaim America from the forces of darkness continues with hosts Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder." The early days of Air America Radio are chronicled in the documentary Left of the Dial, which includes a debate between Janeane and her conservative father Carmine, who was initially a regular guest on The Majority Report.
Stay (2005/I) .... Dr. Beth Levy
Nadine in Date Land (2005) (TV) .... Nadine
Duane Hopwood (2005) .... Linda
Jiminy Glick in Lalawood (2004) .... Dee Dee
"Pilot Season" (2004) (mini) TV Series (voice) (uncredited) .... Announcer
Junebug and Hurricane (2004) .... Chandre
Nobody Knows Anything! (2003) .... Patty
Wonderland (2003/I) .... Joy Miller
Ash Tuesday (2003) .... Liz
Manhood (2003) .... Jill
Slice o' Life (2003) (TV)
Big Trouble (2002) .... Officer Monica Romero Miami PD
Martin & Orloff (2002) .... Hairdresser
The Laramie Project (2002) .... Catherine Connolly
The Search for John Gissing (2001) .... Linda Barnes
Wet Hot American Summer (2001) .... Beth
Housekeeping (2001) (voice) .... Hotel Employee
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000) .... Minnie Mogul
... aka Abenteuer von Rocky und Bullwinkle, Die (Germany)
Titan A.E. (2000) (voice) .... Stith
... aka Titan: After Earth (USA: promotional title)
The Independent (2000) .... Paloma Fineman
Steal This Movie (2000) .... Anita Hoffman
What Planet Are You From? (2000) (uncredited) .... Nervous Woman
The Cherry Picker (2000)
The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999) .... Dr. Harriman/Handyman
Mystery Men (1999) .... The Bowler
Dogma (1999) .... Liz
200 Cigarettes (1999) (as Janeanne Garofalo) .... Ellie
The Minus Man (1999) .... Ferrin
Can't Stop Dancing (1999) .... Belinda Peck
Torrance Rises (1999) .... Janeane Garofalo
Clay Pigeons (1998) .... Agent Shelby
... aka Clay Pigeons - Lebende Ziele (Germany: TV title)
... aka Lebende Ziele (Germany)
Dog Park (1998) .... Jeri
... aka Réservé aux chiens (Canada: French title)
Permanent Midnight (1998) .... Jana Farmer
Thick as Thieves (1998) .... Anne
Half Baked (1998) (uncredited) .... I'm Only Creative When I Smoke Smoker
The Thin Pink Line (1998) .... Joyce Wintergarden-Dingle
The MatchMaker (1997) .... Marcy Tizard
Cop Land (1997) .... Deputy Cindy Betts
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) .... Heather Mooney
Touch (1997/I) .... Kathy Worthington
Larger Than Life (1996) .... Mo
The Cable Guy (1996) .... Medieval Times Waitress
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) .... Abby
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) (scenes deleted) .... Woman at party
... aka Brain Candy (USA: short title)
... aka Kids in the hall: La pilule du bonheur (Canada: French title)
... aka Pilule du bonheur, La (Canada: French title: short title)
Mr. Show with Bob and David: Fantastic Newness (1996) (TV) .... Various Characters
... aka Fantastic Newness (USA)
... aka The Best of Mr. Show: Fantastic Newness (USA: video title)
Sweethearts (1996) .... Jasmine
Now and Then (1995) .... Wiladene
Coldblooded (1995) .... Honey
... aka The Reluctant Hitman (Australia: video title)
I Shot a Man in Vegas (1995) .... Gale
... aka I Shot a Man in Reno
Bye Bye, Love (1995) .... Lucille
"Saturday Night Live" (1975) TV Series .... Various (1994-1995)
... aka NBC's Saturday Night (USA: original title)
... aka SNL
... aka SNL 25 (USA: new title)
... aka Saturday Night Live '80 (USA: new title)
Reality Bites (1994) .... Vickie Miner
Suspicious (1994) .... Woman
"Tales of the City" (1993) (mini) TV Series (uncredited) .... Coppola Woman
... aka Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City
"The Larry Sanders Show" (1992) TV Series .... Paula (1992-1997)
"The Ben Stiller Show" (1992) TV Series .... Various Characters
That's What Women Want (1992) .... Jennifer
Late for Dinner (1991) .... Counter Girl
Majo no takkyûbin (1989) (voice: English version) .... Ursula
... aka Kiki's Delivery Service (USA)
... aka The Witch's Express Mail (literal title)
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