David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid-1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson more than 130 times (second only to Bob Hope in number of appearances) and served as guest host 12 times, the youngest person to guest-host. Steinberg directed several films and episodes of television situation comedies, including Seinfeld, Friends, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Golden Girls, and Designing Women. Steinberg also hosted the interview program Inside Comedy on the Showtime network.
Early life Steinberg was born on August 9, 1942, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the son of Rabbi Yasha Steinberg (1896–1966), a strict, Romanian-born rabbi, and Ruth Steinberg (–1989). He has three older siblings: two brothers, Hymie Steinberg (1925–1944) and Fishy Steinberg, and one sister, Tammy Lazer (née Steinberg). His older brother Hymie served during World War II and was killed in action when he was 19. David initially studied theology in Israel.
Later, while studying English literature at the University of Chicago, he decided to become a comedian after seeing Lenny Bruce perform. He finished school and was discovered by one of the founders of The Second City in Chicago, which he joined in 1964. There he performed with Robert Klein, Fred Willard, Peter Boyle, and Joe Flaherty. He remained with the group for six years. In 1972, Steinberg was best man at the wedding of his friend, the gangster Crazy Joe Gallo.
Career One of Steinberg's most notorious performances was in October 1968 on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where he gave satirical sermons. The sketch caused CBS to receive a record number of complaints, and, as a result, the network instituted a policy of providing local stations with a closed-circuit telecast of each episode ahead of time so they could choose whether or not to air it. The Smothers Brothers were told by the network that they could have Steinberg on the show again on the condition that he would not repeat the sermons. Nevertheless, Tommy Smothers asked Steinberg to do it again, and he gave a sermon in which he said "The Old Testament scholars say that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The Gentiles, the New Testament scholars say, 'Hold it, Jews, no.' They literally grabbed the Jews by the Old Testament." This incident contributed to the cancellation of the show. The Jonah sketch was never aired by CBS.
Steinberg appeared in two Broadway flops, Little Murders and Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights, which both closed within one week in 1967 and 1968, respectively.
Steinberg was the most frequent host of the pop and rock music ABC television show, The Music Scene, 1969–1970. The show featured performances by Joe Cocker and CSN&Y. In 1972, Steinberg wrote and starred in The David Steinberg Show in the United States as a five-week summer replacement sketch comedy show. Around the same time, TV Guide labelled Steinberg "offbeat, racy, outrageous, and establishment-baiting – all of which makes him a particular favorite among the young and disenchanted."
In 1975 Steinberg hosted Noonday, a short-lived half-hour midday talk show on NBC.
In 1976, Steinberg returned to Canada to produce a second show called The David Steinberg Show. This series was a hybrid sitcom/variety show, modelled loosely on The Jack Benny Program in that the plots centred on the star (Steinberg) and his cast trying to put together another instalment of their variety show. Amongst the regular cast were future SCTV stars Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Dave Thomas, and Martin Short. SCTV's Andrea Martin also appeared on the show, but not as a regular. SCTV premiered the same week as The David Steinberg Show, and ran for six seasons; The David Steinberg Show lasted only one season.
Steinberg performed some notable stand-up comedy during the 1960s and '70s. He released four comedy LPs, including The Incredible Shrinking God (LP MCA 73013, 1968), which contains ten of his comedic sermons and mini-sermons recorded live during his stand-up routine at Second City. He also hosted the 1977 Juno Awards show. He was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2003.
More recently (2005–2007), Steinberg hosted Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg, an informal, interview-style show in which he talks with famous comedians and comic actors, for two seasons on TV Land in the U.S. The first season featured Mike Myers, Larry David, Jon Lovitz, Martin Short, Bob Newhart, and George Lopez. The second season featured Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Roseanne Barr, Jon Stewart, Garry Shandling and Ray Romano. The program was filmed before an audience at UCLA.
His first book, The Book of David (), was published in June 2007 by Simon & Schuster.
In 2010, he directed and produced the Canadian cable comedy series Living in Your Car."HBO Canada presents Living in Your Car, one man's karmic fall from the high life to the highway". Canada NewsWire, April 6, 2010.
Personal life Steinberg has been married twice. He married Judy Marcione in 1973 and they had two daughters. They divorced in 1997 after 24 years of marriage. Steinberg married Robyn Todd in 2005.
Discography The Incredible Shrinking God (UNI LP, UNI-73013, 1968) Disguised As A Normal Person (Elektra Records LP, EKS-74065, 1970). Booga! Booga! (Columbia LP, 1974) Goodbye to the '70s (Columbia LP, PC 33399, 1975)
Awards Steinberg has received five Emmy Award nominations, winning two as one of the writers of Academy Awards programs in 1991 and 1992. He received a CableACE Award in 1992 for his stand-up comedy Cats, Cops and Stuff. He has been nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award (for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series) twice: first in 1991 for the Seinfeld episode, The Tape, and again in 1996 for the Mad About You episode, The Finale: Parts II and III, and has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award (2000) and a Gemini (2001), as well.Awards for David Steinberg. IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-07-07. His parody of the novel Ragtime won him a Playboy Humor Award. In 2003, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.
In December 2016, Steinberg was named a Member of the Order of Canada."Order of Canada's newest appointees include Paralympian, Supreme Court judge and astrophysicist". CBC News, December 30, 2016.
Film Year Title Director Writer Producer Actor Role Notes1967 Fearless Frank The Rat 1969 The Lost Man Photographer 1978 The End Marty Lieberman 1979 Something Short of Paradise Harris Sloane 1980 Nothing Personal Talk Show Host 1981 Paternity 1983 Going Berserk 1996 Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy 1997 The Wrong Guy Outpatient in Neck Brace 1999 Judgment Day: The Ellie Nesler Story 2000 The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave 2003 This Thing of Ours 2005 The Greatest Game Ever Played 2013 When Jews Were Funny Himself Documentary 2015 Being Canadian Himself Documentary
Television Year Title Director Writer Producer Actor Role Notes1968–1969 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour Himself 1968–1992 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Himself / Guest host 1969 NBC Experiment in Television Episode: "This Is Sholom Aleichem"1969–1970 The Music Scene Host 14 episodes1970 The Return of the Smothers Brothers Himself Television special1971 The Odd Couple Himself Episode: "The Odd Couple Meet Their Host"1972,1976–1977 The David Steinberg Show Host 26 episodes1973 ABC's Wide World of Entertainment Paul Episode: "Night Train to Terror"1975 The Smothers Brothers Show Himself Episode: "A Boarding House Is Not A Home"1985 The Twilight Zone Segment: "The Uncle Devil Show"1986 The Young Comedians All-Star Reunion Television special1986 Robin Williams: Live at the Met Stand-up special1986 Tall Tales & Legends Episode: "Casey at the Bat"1986 Billy Crystal: Don't Get Me Started Television special1986 The Ellen Burstyn Show Episode: "Reading Between the Lines"1986 The Golden Girls Episode: "Big Daddy's Little Lady"1986–1987 One Big Family 5 episodes1986–1990 Newhart 15 episodes1987 The Popcorn Kid 2 episodes1987 Duet 3 episodes1987–1991 Designing Women 1988 Eisenhower and Lutz Episode: "Bud Junior, Junior: Part 1"1988 Family Man 5 episodes1988 CBS Summer Playhouse Episode: "Baby on Board"1989 Billy Crystal: Midnight Train To Moscow Television special1989 I, Martin Short, Goes Home Television special1988 Annie McGuire 6 episodes1989 It's Garry Shandling's Show 2 episodes1990 The Earth Day Special Television special1990 The Fanelli Boys Episode: "Pursued"1990 Get a Life Episode: "The Sitting"1990–1991 Good Grief 13 episodes1990–1991 Evening Shade 8 episodes1991 63rd Academy Awards Television special1991–1998 Seinfeld 3 episodes1992 64th Academy Awards Television special1993 Rick Reynolds: Only the Truth Is Funny Television special1993 65th Academy Awards Television special1993 It Had to Be You 4 episodes1993 Daddy Dearest 2 episodes1994–1999 Mad About You Director / Bad Eulogizer 50 episodes1995–1996 The Parent 'Hood 5 episodes1996 Carver's Gate Television film1997 Lost on Earth 6 episodes1997 69th Academy Awards Television special1997 Ink Episode: "Logan's Run"1998 Friends Episode: "The One with Phoebe's Uterus"1998 70th Academy Awards Television special1998 Living in Captivity 2 episodes1999 The Wonderful World of Disney Episode: "Switching Goals"2000 72nd Academy Awards Television special2000–2001 Big Sound Gabe Moss Also creator2000–2001 Even Stevens 2 episodes2000–2017 Curb Your Enthusiasm 8 episodes2002 Robin Williams: Live on Broadway Stand-up special2004 Good Girls Don't Episode: "The Big O"2004 76th Academy Awards Television special2005 Wild Card Episode: "A Whisper from Zoe's Sister"2005 The Comeback 2 episodes2005–2007 Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg Host Also creator2006 Carlos Mencia: No Strings Attached Stand-up special2006 Campus Ladies 3 episodes2006 Sons & Daughters 2 episodes2006 Help Me Help You Episode: "Perseverance"2007 Jim Norton: Monster Rain Stand-up special2008 Weeds Episode: "The Whole Blah Damn Thing"2008 Down and Dirty with Jim Norton 4 episodes2008 Little Britain USA 6 episodes2009 Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction Stand-up special2010 Living in Your Car 4 episodes2011 Norm Macdonald: Me Doing Stand-Up Stand-up special2011 Single White Spenny Episode: "Circumcision"2012 84th Academy Awards Television special2013 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Party Guest Episode: "Wonderland Story" Quality Balls: The David Steinberg StoryHimselfDocumentary2012–2015 Inside Comedy Host 36 episodes2015 The Comedians Billy's Agent (voice) Episode: "Go for Gad"
References
External links
Official David Steinberg site Interview, online from CBC Words at Large (audio)