Andrew L. Levy or Andy Levy (born 1966) is an American commentator and humorist.
Early years
Levy grew up in
Long Island, New York
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...
.
He attended
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...
, where he was a member of the fraternity
St. Anthony Hall
St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great. The fraternity is a non–religious, nonsectari ...
and co-founded a newspaper, ''
The Fed,'' with
Neil Gorsuch
Neil McGill Gorsuch ( ; born August 29, 1967) is an American lawyer and judge who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served sinc ...
and P. T. Waters. ''The Fed'' was a response to campus liberals.
“It had no campus visibility. It was sort of like shouting into the wind,” Levy said.
Eleven credits short of his degree, Levy served in the
U.S. Army from 1990 to 1993 as a combat signaler.
He was motivated to enlist for
Operation Desert Storm
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...
.
However, Levy spent a year in the
Korean Demilitarized Zone
The Korean Demilitarized Zone ( Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...
and also served at
Fort Lewis Fort Lewis may refer to:
*Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado
**Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States
**Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort Lewi ...
in
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
.
After he left the army, Levy returned to Columbia University and completed his B.A. in political science.
Career
After college, Levy received a grant for a year-long internship at
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's ...
in
Washington, D.C.
After the internship was over, he was hired by NBC and worked there for two years.
Levy enjoyed the job and coworkers, but did not like Washington, D.C. and politics.
He moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
for ten years.
While there, Levy was the publicist for the
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for five months. He then worked for six years as the deputy communications director with the
Directors Guild of America
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merg ...
.
For three years, Levy played keyboards in the band Dalton Grant, based in Los Angeles.
He was also in a cover band, Suite 69, fronted by Dalton Grant bass player Aaron Britt and that included Dalton Grant drummer Joey Ponchetti.
In addition, Levy blogged as the ''Cranky Insomniac.''
Red Eye
Beginning on February 7, 2007, Levy appeared on ''
Red Eye'', the
Fox News Channel
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
late night talk show hosted by
Greg Gutfeld''.
'' Levy served as the show's
ombudsman—a fact-checking
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
who came out for the "Halftime Report" and the "Postgame Wrap-up" to tell the panel what they got wrong and what they missed talking about.
Levy also did fake news reports and later became a regular panelist and co-host on the show.
He was referred to as "TV's Andy Levy" and was known for his
deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blu ...
delivery and a catch-phase "
I apologize for nothing."
"When the show first started, there wasn't anyone more uncomfortable in front of a camera than I was," Levy said. "And I mean in the 400-year history of television. My hands were literally shaking every time I was on air."
''Red Eye'' ended in April 2017.
However, Levy continued to work at Fox News."
Unfiltered
In August 2017, Levy joined
S.E. Cupp's ''Unfiltered'' on
HLN as a panelist and senior producer.
He left when the show changed its format after a move to
CNN in 2018.
The New Abnormal
In 2021, Levy joined ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' podcast, ''The New Abnormal,'' as a co-host with
Molly Jong-Fast.
Twitter wars
In 2011, Levy had an infamous ''
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
'' war with
Chris Brown
Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to ''Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempor ...
[Apology outfoxes Brown TWITTER FIGHT By: Edited by ANNA BRAIN, MX Sydney, Aug 25, 2011. Regional Business News. via EBSCO, accessed May 27, 2022.] When somewhat forced to make an apology to Brown, he chose the platform of ''
Red Eye.
'' Levy said:
"`I'd like to apologize to Chris Brown and to his fans, who are known as Team Breezy. To Mr. Brown, I apologize for referencing the fact that you beat the crap out of Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to t ...
. It was disrespectful of me to draw attention to the fact that you put your girlfriend in the hospital. And further, it was not my place to make people remember that you beat a woman with your fists, leaving her with multiple facial contusions, a bloody nose, and a split lip.…
To Team Breezy, thank you for your thousands of tweets which taught me about the creative possibilities of spelling, grammar, and syntax…In particular, I'd like to thank the female members of Team Breezy, who have taught me that as long as you can sing, you can beat the living hell out of a woman and other women will still love you. And lastly, I apologize to everyone for using Twitter to subtly address the fact it's disgusting that a guy who put his girlfriend in a hospital can, a mere two years later, be warmly welcomed back into society and appear on shows such as ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...
'' as if everything he did magically never happened.''
Levy also engaged in a minor Twitter War with
Adam Levine
Adam Noah Levine (; born March 18, 1979) is an American singer and songwriter. He serves as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the pop rock band Maroon 5. Levine began his musical career in 1994 with the band Kara's Flowers, of which ...
in 2011 after the latter posted his request that
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
stop using his music.
Levy replied in the same format as Levine's original post, saying, "Dear @AdamLevine, don't make crappy f-king music ever again. Thank you."
Levy took a seven-month hiatus from Twitter in 2018.
He says, "Twitter was fun at one point. ...Once it hit a critical mass of people it just started sucking."
Personal life
Levy is a libertarian and occasionally takes positions that differ from
conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
and
Republicans
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
.
In 2011, he defended liberal comedian and television host
Bill Maher
William Maher (; born January 20, 1956) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is known for the HBO political talk show '' Real Time with Bill Maher'' (2003–present) and the similar ...
. In 2016, he said that conservatives "shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the African American community’s frustration" with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign.
That same year after
Michelle Obama
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...
made a speech he wrote, "Seriously republicans are very lucky Michelle Obama says she has no interest in running for office."
Levy has also been described as a "level-headed Trump skeptic" who is "comfortable calling out the president on his numerous mistakes." In 2017, Levy took on his former employer
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
and President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of ...
, saying, "Fox News…have backed themselves into this corner, and now they're the Trump News Network and that's their lifeblood."
He continued, "The press is not supposed to be on the side of people in power ever. The press is supposed to be adversarial, the press is supposed to question, the press is not supposed to curry favor with authority."
Levy has two cats, Pixel and Stormy.
[“Men With Cats Pics Less Likely To Get Online Dates.” June 25, 2020. ''The Five.'' via EBSCO, accessed May 27, 2022.] He has never been married.
He has said, "Living your life in public is distasteful to me."
References.
External links
The Cranky Insomniac BlogAndy Levy Fox News Personality Playlist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Andrew
1966 births
Living people
People from Long Island
United States Army soldiers
Columbia College (New York) alumni
St. Anthony Hall
American libertarians
Fox News people