| Gary Gulman | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Gulman atComics Come Home Event in 2013 | |
| Born | (1970-07-17)July 17, 1970 (age 54) Peabody, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Medium | Stand-up, television |
| Alma mater | Boston College |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Genres | |
| Subject(s) | Everyday life,pop culture,childhood,Judaism,mental illness |
| Website | garygulman |
Gary Lewis Weston Gulman (born July 17, 1970) is an Americanstand-up comedian.[1] He was a finalist on theNBC reality-talent showLast Comic Standing in its second and third seasons. He released his first CD,Conversations With Inanimate Objects in 2005, and his first television specialGary Gulman: Boyish Man the following year. Since then, he has released two other comedy albums and three other comedy specials, including 2019'sThe Great Depresh onHBO.
Gulman was born on July 17, 1970, inPeabody, Massachusetts, to Barbara and Philip Gulman. He is the youngest of three brothers, and was raised in aJewish family.[2][3] Gulman's parents divorced before he was two years old and his family struggled financially.[4]
Gulman has described himself as a sensitive kid who enjoyed making his friends laugh, drawing and painting, and playing basketball. He attendedPeabody Veterans Memorial High School.[5] After his junior year of high school, he was recruited to play football.[4]
Gulman attendedBoston College on a football scholarship.[4] He playedtight end during his freshman year but later left the team.[6] Gulman credits the time he spent playing football in college as one of the main reasons he recognized and began to seek help for his lifelong struggle withdepression and for his later pursuit of a career in comedy.[6] Gulman graduated in 1993 with a degree inaccounting, planning to become aCPA like one of his brothers.[7]
After graduating, he worked for two years as an accountant at theBig Six accounting firmCoopers & Lybrand (nowPricewaterhouseCoopers), while going to comedy clubopen mics at night.[4] He then began working as a substitute teacher, where he was well known for trying out his stand-up routines on high-school students before bringing them to the stage at night.[8]
Gulman's comedy centers on absurd observations about daily occurrences. He is one of only a handful of comedians to appear on every major late-night television comedy program,[9] having performed onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno,Late Show with David Letterman,The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,Jimmy Kimmel Live!,Conan,Late Night with Seth Meyers,Just for Laughs, andJohn Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show.[10][11]
On November 25, 2006, Gary Gulman starred in his own one-hourComedy Central special entitledGary Gulman: Boyish Man. His second Comedy Central special aired on December 8, 2012, calledIn This Economy?, followed byIt’s About Time in 2016 onNetflix andThe Great Depresh in 2019 on HBO.[12] His fifth special,Born on Third Base, premiered on Max in December 2023[13] to critical acclaim.[14]
Gulman began performing at open mics in 1993 in the Boston area.[15][16] In early 1999, Gulman began to pursue stand-up full time;[17][16] he moved from his family home in Peabody toLos Angeles where he had receiveddevelopment deals. He worked on developing five different shows during this time but none of them were picked up by a television network.[18][19]
Gulman performed his first late night stand-up set in 1999 onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The following year, he performed on theLate Show with David Letterman.
Gulman first came to national attention in 2003 when he was a contestant on the second season of theNBC reality-talent showLast Comic Standing. In season 2, he finished in third place behindJohn Heffron andAlonzo Bodden. Gulman was also on the third season of the show in 2004. FollowingLast Comic Standing, Gulman released his first comedy albumConversations with Inanimate Objects. He then appeared inDane Cook's documentary seriesTourgasm which premiered on HBO in 2006; Gulman appeared with fellow comedians Dane Cook, Jay Davis, andRobert Kelly.
Wanting to have more opportunities to perform stand-up, Gulman moved to New York City in 2006.[18] In 2008, Gulman was the host ofNESN'sComedy All-Stars. During this period, Gulman performed stand-up onThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno (2005),Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2006),Last Call with Carson Daly (2006),The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2007), andConan (2011), among other shows.
In 2012, Gulman released a new Comedy Central specialIn this Economy? The show was taped in theWilbur Theatre inBoston, Massachusetts. Following its premiere, he performed on theLate Show with David Letterman for the second time. In May 2014, Gulman had a guest appearance onInside Amy Schumer. In April of that year, he performed for the first time onLate Night with Seth Meyers and in June 2014 he was the guest onThe Pete Holmes Show.
In March 2015, Gulman taped his new specialIt's About Time. It was released the following year, in May 2016, by Netflix. During the interim time, Gulman was hospitalized for clinical depression; this was not publicly made known at the time.[20]
In January 2017, he performed onThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In May 2017, he was again hospitalized due to depression.[20] In 2018, he appeared as a fictionalized version of himself on HBO'sCrashing and appeared in episode four of HBO's four-part special of the2 Dope Queens podcast withJessica Williams andPhoebe Robinson.[11]
During this period, Gulman was onConan three times (2014, 2015, 2016). The last of those sets, about a fictional documentary on the making ofUS states' two-letter abbreviations, wentviral.[21]
Since January 1, 2019, Gulman has been posting daily tips for aspiring comedians on his Twitter feed.[22][23][24] In fall 2019, he was interviewed on bothConan andLate Night with Seth Meyers.
Gulman recorded aHBO special in June 2019, entitledThe Great Depresh.Judd Apatow served as executive producer. The special premiered on October 5, 2019, and sees Gulman opening up about his depression, anxiety and hospitalization.[12][25] He has described the show as "a hybrid, where I do some documentary about my recovery, treatment, and my hospitalization, and then I do stand-up surrounding that." It includes conversations with his wife Sadé, his psychiatristDr. Richard Friedman, and his mother Barbara,[26] who asked "if Judd Apatow could make her look thinner".[27] Gulman has stated he had "retired from life" because of his crippling depression for more than two years before recovering through treatment and medication.[27] However, he felt very anxious and sad when he got back on stage, and his way of dealing with that was to joke about it, leading to the idea for the special.[27] Gulman credits his psychiatrist with guiding him through medication, treatment and hospitalization, which he was particularly terrified of because all he knew about it previously were the negative depictions of hospitalization likeOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest andGirl, Interrupted.[27] He has stated that his hospitalization actually "turned out very ordinary, and so helpful"[27] and he hopes that sharing his experience will help to destigmatize medication and therapy.[26]
In 2019, Gulman had a small role as a comedian in the filmJoker.[28][29]
His first book,Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the '80s (Flatiron Books), was released on September 19, 2023.[30]
Gary has been open about his struggle withdepression andanxiety and incorporates it into his comedy.[31][4]
Gulman is married to Sadé Tametria, with whom he was first seen in 2014.[32] The two live inHarlem inNew York.[33]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Lucky Them | Craig | |
| 2019 | Joker | Comedian |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Tourgasm | himself | did a few episode of the first season |
| 2014 | Inside Amy Schumer | Judge #1 | Episode: "Raise a Glass" |
| 2016 | Cop Show | Actor | Episode: "Showdown" |
| 2018 | Crashing | Gary | Episode: "Bill Burr" |
| 2022 | Life & Beth | Shlomo | 4 episodes |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
