Seán Cullen

Infobox Comedian
name =Seán Cullen


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caption =Cullen in 2004
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birth_name =Seán Cullen
birth_date =1965
birth_place =Peterborough, Ontario
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medium =Stand-up
television
Radio
nationality =Canadian
active =1988–present
genre =improvisation & mimicry
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notable_work =Corky and the Juice Pigs Last Comic Standing 6 The Seán Cullen Show


website = [http://www.seancullen.com seancullen.com]
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Seán Cullen (born 1965) is a Canadian comedian who has been active in the comedy world since the late 1980s. He is known for combining improvisation with mimicry and music. [ [http://www.gazette.uwo.ca/1997/January/16/Entertainment2.htm Feature on Dame Sybille from the UWO Gazette] ] Cullen has been described in "Time" as the "vanguard of comedy's next generation".Fact|date=August 2008

Career

Cullen entered into the public eye in 1988 as a member of musical comedy group Corky and the Juice Pigs. For 13 years, Corky and the Juice Pigs toured the world, winning awards at the Edinburgh Fringe & performing at Just for Laughs in Montreal eight times. The group was also featured on Fox's "MAD TV". They released two comedy albums. The group broke up in 1998, after eleven years together.

Following the breakup, Cullen began performing solo, often accompanied by musician Dylan Goodhue. He wrote and mounted his own one-man show called "Wood, Cheese and Children" which went on to become a special in CTV's "Comedy NOW!" series and was nominated for a Gemini Award. Also in 1998, he was in a sketch comedy show in England called "Unnatural Acts".

Cullen has appeared frequently on Canadian television, including CBC's "Air Farce", CTV's "The Associates", and The Comedy Network's "Patti" and "Liocracy". He has appeared on American sitcoms, such as "The Ellen Show", "Payne". He has been a guest on "The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn", hosted NBC's "Late Friday", and has been featured in comedy bits on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" in which he visits an event and intervews other attendees. He has appeared on Comedy Central's "Premium Blend", and his own "Comedy Central Presents" special in 2002.

In 2003, Cullen produced his own sitcom, "The Seán Cullen Show", for the CBC. It lasted for one six-episode season. Also at Christmas of 2003, CBC aired the "Seán Cullen's Home for Christmas" special. Cullen hosted the 17th and 18th Annual Gemini Awards Galas in 2002 and 2003 respectively, winning a Gemini himself the latter year for hosting the former gala. He has also won awards in 2001 for his gala performance at Just for Laughs, and in 2006 for hosting "What Were They Thinking" — a CTV program in which Cullen visited various unusual and somewhat inexplicable landmarks around Canada. Cullen, along with Goodhue, hosted "The Just For Laughs 20th Anniversary Special" on CBC.

In 2004, Cullen appeared as Max Bialystock in the Canadian production of "The Producers" for Mirvish Productions, earning him a Dora Mavor Award nomination. In July 2005, CBC Radio One began airing "Simply Seán", a music radio program hosted by Cullen.

Cullen has a longstanding relationship with the members of the band Barenaked Ladies, formed when the band, in its original duo form, opened for Corky and the Juice Pigs on an early cross-Canada tour in 1989. On the Barenaked Ladies' 2004 U.S. and Canadian holiday tour, Cullen joined the band on the road. He would tell a comedic version of the nativity story, and sing Christmas songs with band member Kevin Hearn accompanying him. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1582 Seán Cullen on The Hour] ]

In January 2007, Cullen was invited to join the band as a performer on their Ships & Dip Caribbean cruise, performing a comedy set each of the four nights of the cruise; he alternated headlining and opening with fellow comedian Harland Williams. They were both invited back for the followup cruise in 2008, comedians Boothby Graffoe and Debra DiGiovanni joining the lineup.

In 2008, Cullen was a contestant on NBC's "Last Comic Standing 6". He became a finalist on the show, making it through the auditions, Las Vegas semi-finals, and the "house" round. Cullen was eliminated on the July 31, 2008 episode after the first of two rounds of home viewer voting which determined the final winner.

Cullen is associated with Balzac's Coffee, a chain of cafés in southern Ontario. The company frequently sponsor's Cullen's events, such as his comedy show, The Sean Schau!. Cullen also appears in other videos promoting the chain, exhibited on his MySpace.com page, and YouTube.

hows

The Seán Cullen Show

"The Seán Cullen Show" is a television comedy that appeared briefly in the summer of 2003. The show, starring Seán Cullen, aired a total of six episodes on CBC Television. The show was a sitcom about the life of Seán Cullen.

Among the highlights of the show were several songs sung by Seán Cullen in character. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/seancullenshow/ The Seán Cullen Show] ]

Characters

*Seán Cullen - The head of the household.
*Betty (Jennifer Robertson)- A homemaker perpetually stuck in the 1950s.
*Sonny (Ted Ludzik) - The mentally challenged son of Sasquatch and Betty, who is the apple of Betty's eye.
*Frau Foch (Teresa Pavlinek) - Seán's evil genius next door neighbor who never lets anyone touch her hair.
*Sasquatch (Stephen R. Hart) - Frau's servant.
*Winston, the Cellar Dweller (Winston Spear) - A man who lives in Seán's basement.
*The Critics (Ryan & Jason Belleville) - Two men who sit in the audience and criticise the show.
*Scottish Jesus - A Scottish version of Jesus.

imply Seán

"Simply Seán" is a Saturday morning entertainment radio show on the Radio One network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, hosted by Seán Cullen that runs during the network's summer schedule in place of "Go!" in its timeslot.

The show consists of Cullen giving commentary and conducting interviews interspersed with musical selections. [ [http://www.cbc.ca/radiosummer/simplysean/ CBC.ca Simply Sean homepage] ]

The Sean Schau!

Since at least 2006, Cullen has hosted a comedy show entitled "The Sean Schau!" at the Drake Hotel Underground. [ [http://www.myspace.com/seanschau The Sean Schau! Myspace.com page] ] . The show takes the format of a Late night television talk show, including local celebrity guests, and a house band. The show also features sidekick "The Orb" — a glowing white orb on a pedestal that converses with Cullen, as well as live commercials for the show's sponsor performed by Cullen and the guests.

Cullen opens the show with a monologue, and features a variety of recurring comedy bits during the show, including video segments, and improvised songs. Guests are commonly welcomed to the stage by the band and Cullen playing a sting of a classic song with the lyrics altered to include the guest's name in place of a rhyming word or phrase (for example, recurring guest Richard Crouse is usually introduced with "Brick House" altered to "Dick Crouse").

Novels

Outside of performance, Cullen has written three books in his own "Hamish X" series of novels for young adults. [ [http://www.hamishx.com Hamish X website] ] , including "Hamish X and The Cheese Pirates", "Hamish X and The Hollow Mountain" and "Hamish X Goes To Providence, Rhode Island".

Personal life

Cullen lives in the Toronto area with his wife. The couple has a son, born in Fall 2008.

Discography

Corky and the Juice Pigs

*Corky and the Juice Pigs (1993)
*Pants (1994)

olo

*Sean Cullen Live! (2000)
*I Am a Human Man (2008)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0191526|name=Seán Cullen
* [http://www.seancullen.com Seán Cullen's Official Web Site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/theseancullen Seán Cullen's MySpace page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/seanschau The Sean Schau MySpace page]
* [http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20070603b.html Sean Cullen interview June 2007]