Jimmy Dore | |
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 Dore at the 2016 edition ofPoliticon | |
| Born | James Patrick Anthony Dore (1965-07-26)July 26, 1965 (age 60) |
| Education | Illinois State University Columbia College Chicago (BA) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1989–present |
| Political party | Independent (2016–present) |
| Other political affiliations | Democratic (until 2016) People's (2021)[a] |
| Spouse | |
| Comedy career | |
| Medium | |
| Genres | |
| Instagram information | |
| Pages | |
| Years active | 2020–present |
| Followers | 97,100 (November 21, 2025) |
| TikTok information | |
| Pages | |
| Years active | 2022–2025 (first account) 2025–present (second account) |
| Followers | 40,600 (March 24, 2023: first account) 5,426 (November 21, 2025: second account) |
| Twitter information | |
| Handle | |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Topics | Stand-up comedy, politics, current events and opinions |
| Followers | 709,200 (November 21, 2025) |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Subscribers | 1.71 million (November 21, 2025) |
| Views | 1.2 billion |
| Website | jimmydore |
James Patrick Anthony Dore (born July 26, 1965) is an Americanstand-up comedian, political commentator,podcaster andYouTube personality. He is the host ofThe Jimmy Dore Show, a comedic political talk show available on Rokfin,Rumble,Twitter andYouTube.[3]
Dore started as a comedian inChicago,Illinois, in 1989 and made several appearances onlate night talk shows early in his comedy career. From 2005 onward, his performances increasingly included political commentary. Dore was affiliated withThe Young Turks from 2009 to 2019 and appeared onThe Young Turks Network show titledAggressive Progressives. From 2009 to 2021,The Jimmy Dore Show was broadcast on public radio stationKPFK 90.7 FM inLos Angeles,California. From 2021 onward,The Jimmy Dore Show became entirely independent and streams live, as well as posts, via Rokfin,Rumble,Twitter andYouTube regularly.
Dore was born in southwest Chicago, Illinois, on July 26, 1965, into aCatholic family of Polish and Irish descent. He was raised in theblue-collar neighborhood of Vittum Park.[4][5]
Dore has 11 siblings and is the youngest of seven boys.[6][7] Due to his large family, Dore grew accustomed to playing to an audience early in life,[8] and he used comedy to avoid beatings from his older brothers.[7] Dore's father was a policeman who owned a brickwork business.[6] Dore has described his father as being aReagan Democrat,[9] and in Dore's senior year of high school, he argued with his father againstRonald Reagan's presidency.[10]
For 12 years, he attended Catholic schools,[11] followed byIllinois State University, dropping out after three years and gaining employment as a forklift driver.[6] He later graduated fromColumbia College Chicago[12] with a degree in marketing communications.[13]
Dore started performing stand-up comedy in Chicago in 1989.[7][9] In 1995, he moved to Los Angeles, where his first big break was an appearance onComedy Central'sMake Me Laugh.[5][6] He has said he began pursuing his career after watching manylate-night talk shows and thinking he could do better than them.[7] The stand-up comedians that influenced Dore includeGeorge Carlin,Jerry Seinfeld andBill Hicks.[9]
Dore has made appearances as a stand-up comic on late-night television shows such asABC'sJimmy Kimmel Live!,CBS'sThe Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, andNBC'sLate Friday. He was the lead performer in aComedy Central Presents half-hour special on April 9, 2004. He was also a writer-performer for theoff-Broadway showThe Marijuana-Logues, which ran at the Actor's Playhouse in New York City.[14]
Dore has performed at the Tropicana Comedy Stop in Las Vegas,[15]the Palms' Playboy Comedy Club,[16]Catch a Rising Star (now known as theLaugh Factory) at theSilver Legacy inReno,[17] andHarrah's on theLas Vegas Strip.[18] He has performed at several comedy festivals, includingJust for Laughs in Montreal, theU.S. Comedy Arts Festival, theMelbourne International Comedy Festival and the Amsterdam Comedy Festival, and has also performed for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.[9]
Starting in 2005, Dore moved away from a standard stand-up set to a 50-minute show, which he would later take on tour.[19] Dore launched the new show,Citizen Jimmy, at theUpright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB Theatre) in Hollywood.[10] Dore's new act incorporated video clips of politicians, journalists, TV personalities and entertainers, and he expressed surprise that no one else was doing it.[7]
Dore's comedy style was described in 2006 byThe Central New Jersey Home News Tribune as incendiary and "based on what makes most in the States angry and uncomfortable."[11] An article in theChicago Tribune compared Dore's stand-up, where he "riffs off the faux pas and flubs of famous folks", toJon Stewart'sThe Daily Show.[7]
In May 2008, Dore launched thepodcastComedy and Everything Else.[20] The show was co-hosted byTodd Glass, who departed from the show in late 2009, and then by Dore's wife Stefane Zamorano.[21] Comedians who were guests on the podcast includedJim Gaffigan,David Spade,Maria Bamford andKyle Cease.[21]
In August 2008,Comedy Central aired Dore's hour-long specialCitizen Jimmy, based on his UCB show of the same name.[10] The special was chosen "Best of 2008" byiTunes, and its accompanying DVD was cited as one of the five best comedy DVDs of the year byPunchline Magazine.[22] That year, Dore also appeared in the documentary filmSuper High Me.[23]
Dore hosted a monthly show,Left, Right & Ridiculous, at the UCB Theatre.[24] His first book,Your Country Is Just Not That Into You, was published in 2014.[23] Another comedy special,Sentenced to Live, was released on October 6, 2015.[23]
In June 2009, Dore began producingThe Jimmy Dore Show, a weekly one-hour comedic look at the news, which originated at KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles and aired nationally on thePacifica Radio Network, ending in 2021.[25] The show aired online viapolitical commentary showThe Young Turks'TYT Network from 2009 to 2019. Dore appeared as a frequent guest host onCurrent TV's broadcast television version of TYT,The Young Turks with Cenk Uygur, and continued working with Uygur onThe Young Turks online. In June 2012, Dore launched an incarnation ofThe Jimmy Dore Show onYouTube via the TYT Network showThe Point withAna Kasparian.[26] Dore soon launched his own YouTube channel, broadcasting from his garage, which by 2019 featured near-daily videos and weekly livestreams.[6] In July 2017, Dore began hosting his own show on the TYT network called "Aggressive Progressives".[27]
A 2017 article inThe Boston Globe saidYouTube demonetization was not only impacting hate videos, but also controversial content from people such as Dore and Trump supporters,Diamond and Silk.[28]
On April 13, 2019, during alivestream, Dore officially announced his departure from the TYT Network, citing a desire to focus on his own show and his live performances.[29]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Dore promoted misleading information about the efficacy and safety of vaccines, even though he had been vaccinated.[30][31][32] The anti-parasitic drugivermectin was promoted on his program as a treatment for COVID-19 although there is no compelling medical evidence to support this.[33]
In a July 2020 video, Dore erroneously saidJoe Biden had once "hosted ablack face affair with a bunch of rich white people", showing an altered clip that had been circulating on social media since January, which had darkened the face of black singer Jerome Powell.[34][35] The video received more than 100,000 views in one day and has since been removed from YouTube.[34]
In January 2021, Dore interviewed Zackary Clark, a member of the anti-government, far-right extremistBoogaloo movement.[36][37][38] Clark used the pseudonym "Magnus Panvidya".[36] Dore tweeted that he was "completely floored" to have learned during the course of the interview that Panvidya supportedBlack Lives Matter andLGBTQ rights and opposed racism, police brutality, war andU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[37] In an opinion piece onThe Daily Beast,Alexander Reid Ross described Dore's interview as being a "public-relations disaster".[39] According to Ross, filmmaker Rod Webber told Dore in a subsequent interview that he should "vet [people like Panvidya] more before putting them out on the internet to tons of people, to let them just say what they want to say unchecked."[39]
In May 2017, Dore discussed conspiracy theories on themurder of Seth Rich on his show.[40][41] According toSalon, Dore continued to insist that there were "a lot of red flags" and there was "probably something more to this story" after the source of much of the conspiracy theory was discredited.[42] In December 2020, an article inNew York magazine said Dore's discernment was questionable, due in part to his "promotion of conspiracy theories implicating theDemocratic National Committee (DNC) in Seth Rich's death".[43]
In 2017, Dore argued that thechemical weapons attack on the opposition-held town ofKhan Sheikhun was likely to have been a "false flag", orchestrated by groups opposed toBashar al-Assad.[44] The investigative journalism siteBellingcat reported that Dore received $2,500 from the Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees in 2017. The Association is responsible for theSerena Shim Award and is described by Bellingcat as a pro-Assad lobby group.[44] According to Bellingcat, Dore featuredEva Bartlett in "another 2017 conspiracy-theory segment" about Syria.[44]
In 2018, according toStephen Shalom writing inNew Politics, Dore cited anop-ed which quotedUS Secretary of DefenseJim Mattis out of context as saying that he did not have evidence that thenerve agentsarin was used in Syria.[45] Mattis, speaking in a press conference in February 2018, had been referring to recent reports when he said "the sarin reports are being examined but have not yet been confirmed or disconfirmed by the United States," adding that Assad's government had "been caught using" sarin during theObama administration and "used it again during our administration".[45]
Dore addressed theUN Security Council in a session in September 2023. During the session, which was initiated by theRussian Federation, Dore referred to a statement by US PresidentJoe Biden from February 2022. In the statement, Biden had warned that, if Russia were to invade Ukraine, "there will no longer be aNord Stream 2 project. We will bring an end to it."
Dore also stated that the US was supporting Ukraine with extensive military aid to prolong the conflict and prevent a peaceful resolution. He said that an economic war was underway betweenthe West and Russia "to fill the pockets of rapacious capitalists who pull the strings of the Government of the United States and dictate its foreign policy".[46]
Dore said his stand-up shifted to be more political in 2005, describing his new style as "'stickin' it to the man' kind of comedy."[9] A 2019 article in theChicago Tribune observed that Dore's material critiqued "Wall Street, themilitary industrial complex,Big Pharma, political operatives andmainstream media".[6]
In a July 2008 interview, Dore said part of him wantedBarack Obama as president but "as a comedian, it would be much better ifJohn McCain became president".[9] Dore said that "whenever a conservative is in office, it's great for comedy", citing a "boom in comedy" during the administrations of Ronald Reagan andGeorge W. Bush.[9]
ALos Angeles Times article saidThe Jimmy Dore Show was a progressive program that had "affection for [Bernie] Sanders and disdain for establishment Democratic politics."[47] Dore supportedBernie Sanders' campaign in the2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries, being called "Sanders-obsessed" byThe Washington Post.[48] During the2020 Democratic primary election, Dore was critical of SenatorElizabeth Warren for not defending Sanders when Sanders was accused of being misogynistic.[49]
In 2016, Dore said that aHillary Clinton presidency would be worse for progressives than aDonald Trump presidency, saying: "don't freak out about a Donald Trump presidency! I think, in fact, my theory is that it's even better for progressives in the short-term, meaning in the two-year term, and in four years for sure."[50][43]
AWashington Post article in 2017 stated that, following the2016 presidential election, Dore had "lit into Democrats for blaming hackers for their loss, raised doubts about the credibility of intelligence agencies, and seen the heavy hand of war hawks hyping the Russia connection to destabilize Europe and the Middle East."[51] Dore was a staunch critic of theSpecial Counsel investigation into potential collusion between theTrump campaign and Russia.[52] In September 2017, Dore said, "if you don't think we need a third party, you're not paying attention."[53]
In June 2020, an article inThe New York Times described Dore as an "ardent critic" of Joe Biden.[52]
In December 2020, Dore circulated a plan to makeNancy Pelosi's re-election asSpeaker of the House conditional onMedicare for All receiving a floor vote. The plan was endorsed byJustin Jackson of theLos Angeles Chargers, political commentatorsKyle Kulinski,Krystal Ball andBriahna Joy Gray andCornel West.[54][55][56]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the proposal to use her leverage for scheduling a vote that was unlikely to pass.[57] Dore told his viewers Ocasio-Cortez was "standing between you and health care" and, in response to her argument that progressive breakthroughs require years of organizing, Dore said, "I figured this out in two weeks, AOC! You liar. You coward. You gaslighter."[43] JournalistsDavid Sirota andRyan Grim said that progressives should use their leverage for other purposes.[58] Dore and his supporters responded that a vote on Medicare For All would inform the public of which elected officials opposed a reform that Americans "overwhelmingly" supported.[59][60][61]
In a 2021 interview onFox Nation byTucker Carlson, Dore said that the United States is anoligarchy dominated by two corporate parties that are unaccountable to the general population. He said Joe Biden and the Democratic Party useidentity politics to placate their political base to avoid having to implement progressive policies like raising theminimum wage, forgivingstudent debt, or establishingsingle-payer healthcare.[62]
Dore was on thePeople's Party's Advisory Council.[39]
In a May 2016 article forVulture, as part of their "Pod-Canon" series highlighting "the greatest individual comedy-related podcast episodes of all time",Nathan Rabin praised an episode of Dore's podcastComedy and Everything Else, where Dore had criticized guestKyle Cease for his controversial $3,000 stand-up comedy boot camp course.[63] Rabin described Dore as being a "well-respected [comedy] veteran" and "purist" who believed the art of stand-up was "rooted in suffering", and that it could not be taught in a classroom.[63] Conversely, inVulture's original 2010 review of the episode, Joe Berkowitz had described Dore's interview with Cease as an "attempt atgotcha journalism that couldn't be any clunkier", adding that he could not "see how someone could walk away from this episode wanting to hear more from Jimmy Dore."[21]
Stephen Shalom, writing inNew Politics, has called Dore "Islamophobic", "conspiracist" and an "apologist for Assad".[64][45] Shalom saidGreen Party candidateHowie Hawkins "made a serious error" when he shared a platform with Dore, which led to theInternational Socialist Organization's New York City chapter rescinding its endorsement of Hawkins in the2018 New York gubernatorial election.[64]
In 2018, an article published onCNNMoney described Dore's show as a "far-left YouTube channel that peddles conspiracy theories, such as the idea thatSyrian chemical weapons attacks are hoaxes".[65] Dore defended his show, stating, "We actually debunk conspiracy theories like the one that says Assad gassed his own people".[66][independent source needed]
In 2019, comedianReginald D. Hunter saidThe Jimmy Dore Show had "a familiar soothing American impishness", and that Dore made "caustically smart observations of the American political left."[67] TheChicago Tribune described Dore as possessing a "potent political voice".[6] In anopinion piece forHaaretz,Alexander Reid Ross described Dore as a "conspiracy theorist" and a "Kremlin defender".[68]
Dore lived with his wife Stefane Zamorano inPasadena, California, from 1997 until 2020, when the couple purchased a home inStudio City, Los Angeles.[69] Although critical of organized religion, Dore identifies asspiritual.[70][independent source needed]
In 2021,Ana Kasparian,Cenk Uygur's co-host, accused Dore of havingsexually harassed her when they had worked together atThe Young Turks, alleging that Dore had made numerous sexually inappropriate comments to her, including while she was teaching a college course to a group of students. Responding to this allegation, Dore said that Kasparian had dressed "unbelievably inappropriately for a newsroom" and that, after she had "bent over in front of [him]" exposing herself, he had said "nice news skirt", which "humiliated her". Dore said he later gave Kasparian an apology note following the incident. Kasparian has since stated that she believes Dore's description of the event contained inaccuracies and alleged that the event Dore referred to was not the first time he had directed inappropriate comments towards her.[71]
This is the only time in the next two years that the progressives are going to have any leverage whatsoever. It is time to get people on the record. Some people say — it wouldn't pass. Then the American people, who are overwhelmingly for Medicare for All, need to know who is against it.
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