Alonzo Bodden (; born June 13, 1962) is an American
stand-up comedian, actor, writer and former political commentator. In 2004, he won
NBC's reality competition TV show ''
Last Comic Standing
''Last Comic Standing'' is an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, and again in 2014 and 2015. Each season a comedian from an initially large group of hopefuls was picked as ...
'' in its third season after being the
runner-up in its second season earlier in the year. Bodden debuted his comedy album in 2001, and his hour-long DVD special and his half-hour television special in 2005. He has been a recurring panelist on
NPR's quiz radio show ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' since 2010, and has appeared as a host and contributor on news platform
The Young Turks.
Early life
Bodden was born and raised in the
St. Albans neighborhood of
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York, to an
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
mother and an
Afro-Honduran father.. Bodden went to
Aviation High School in
Long Island City, Queens. He went on to work for
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
and
McDonnell Douglas in Long Beach in the training department in the early 1990s.
Career
Just for Laughs in Montreal provided the opportunity for Bodden's big break, opening the door for many other TV shows. He has been the host of the annual Just for Laughs festival in Bermuda over a dozen times.
He hosted
[ The Adam Carolla Podcast, 3/11/2009] the
Speed TV program ''
101 Cars You Must Drive''. He is also a host for ''
America's Worst Driver''. He also guest starred on ''
Angel''.
He has performed on numerous television shows, including ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', ''
Make Me Laugh'', ''
Late Friday'', ''
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn'', ''
Comedy Central Presents'', and ''
It's Showtime at the Apollo
English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal auxiliary verbs and a few others. Although the auxiliary verbs of English are widely believed to lack inherent semantic meaning and instead to modify the ...
''. He is also a voice actor who has worked on ''
Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue'', ''
Masked Rider'', and ''
O'Grady''.
Bodden appears as a panelist on NPR's news quiz show ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!''. He has also been a guest on ''
The Joe Rogan Experience'' and on ''
The Adam Carolla Show''.
He is a co-host of ''
Inside the Vault'' on
WGN America.
In 2011, he was a panelist on a
BBC America year-end television debut special of ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' He is also a recurring panelist currently on the ''Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' weekly
NPR show and podcast.
During 2014, he was a comedic panelist on
Game Show Network's original series ''
Mind of a Man''.
In 2019, he released his special Heavy Lightweight on Amazon Prime Video.
Bodden has regularly appeared as a commentator for
The Young Turks network.
Filmography and discography
Albums and TV specials
Movies
* ''
8 Guys'' (2003) (
short film
A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...
)
* ''
Bringing Down the House'' (2003)
* ''
The Girl Next Door'' (2004)
* ''
Scary Movie 4'' (2006)
* ''
National Lampoon's Totally Baked: A Potumentary'' (2007)
* ''
Why We Ride'' (2013)
Television
*''
Angel'' (2003) - Eddie Rhodes
*''
America's Worst Driver'' (2010)
*''
Californication S07'' (2014) - Alonzo
*''
Fresh Off the Boat'' (2018) - Mr. Carlson
*''
The Great American Joke Off'' (2023) - Himself (recurring panelist)
*''
Mr. Birchum'' (2024) - Don Gage
Voice-over
*''
Masked Rider'' – Ultivore (voice)
*''
Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue'' – Thunderon (voice)
*''
Fallout 76: Wastelanders'' – Aubrie Willem, Dontrelle Haines (voice)
''Family Feud Live''
In 2019, Bodden was tapped to host ''Family Feud Live'', a live traveling version of the
game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
''
Family Feud'', which also featured celebrity "team captains"
Brian Baumgartner,
Cathy Rigby and
"Grocery Store Joe" Amabile.
Personal life
Bodden is a car and motorcycle enthusiast. In addition to an e92
BMW M3 and JCW Mini Cooper, Bodden owns many motorcycles, including a
Triumph Rocket III, a
Triumph Speed Triple, a
Ducati 1098, a
BMW HP2, and a
Ducati Multistrada, and formerly owned a
Honda CB400F.
In 2010, Bodden
highsided his Ducati 1098 while racing at
Buttonwillow Raceway Park. The crash shattered his
scaphoid, requiring surgeries and a bone graft to fix.
In 2011, he had customizer Nick Anglada rebuild the bike in a bare aluminum and anodized gold palette.
On March 26, 2013, Bodden donated a kidney to his brother, who is three years older.
References
External links
*
*
Interview on Adam Carolla's podcastAlonzo on recently donating a kidney to his brother
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodden, Alonzo
1962 births
African-American male comedians
African-American comedians
American male comedians
African-American male actors
American male voice actors
American people of Honduran descent
Living people
Last Comic Standing winners
Male actors from Queens, New York
People from St. Albans, Queens
Comedians from Queens, New York
20th-century American comedians
21st-century American comedians
20th-century African-American people
21st-century African-American people