Boaz Frankel (born May 24, 1982) is an American television personality who hosted and co-created the television show ''Clips & Quips'' and created the video series ''The Un-Road Trip'', slated to become a television series on

Halogen TV Halogen TV was an American digital cable and satellite television channel that aired feature-length films, documentaries, short films, and original reality programs that centered on making positive social changes and making the world a better pl ...

in 2011. He is also the curator of

The Kazoo Museum The Kazoo Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the kazoo, located in Beaufort, South Carolina. The museum houses one of the largest collections of kazoos in the world. Originally established in 2007 in Seattle, Washington, The Kazoo Mus ...

Beaufort, South Carolina Beaufort ( , different from that of Beaufort, North Carolina) is a city in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. Chartered in 1711, it is the second-oldest city in South Carolina, behind Charleston, South Carolina ...

and owner of one of the largest collections of

kazoos The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbre, timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of ''eunuch flute, mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that mod ...

in the world.

Early life and education

Frankel was born and raised

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, to Jewish family. He attended the Portland Jewish Academy and graduated from Wilson High School in 2000. He attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

, graduating in 2004 with a degree in dramatic writing.

Career

College television

While studying at NYU Frankel co-created a late-night talk show, ''On The Cusp'', that became the most popular program to ever air on NYU TV. In 2004, in his final year at Tisch, Boaz appeared on the ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...

'''s "The Intern" segment where he went on to win the top prize. Also during his senior year he became an intern on ''

Last Call with Carson Daly ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' is an American late-night television series that was broadcast by NBC from 2002 to 2019. Hosted by former MTV personality Carson Daly, the series was initially formatted as a late-night talk show in line with '' ...

''. It was during his internship that Frankel heard about auditions for the WB reality show, '' Studio 7'', in which he appeared on one episode in August 2004. After graduating from NYU in 2004, Frankel created and hosted ''Clips & Quips'', an offbeat entertainment talk show that aired online and on college television stations nationwide for three years. He arranged the first kazoo-sponsored TV show and taught

Peter Sarsgaard John Peter Sarsgaard (; born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television. He made his film debut with '' Dead Man W ...

to play kazoo and

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

to play

dreidel A dreidel, also dreidle or dreidl, ( ; , plural: ''dreydlech''; ) is a four-sided spinning top, played with during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in Europe and Latin America ...

. Amongst other celebrities who appeared on the show, Frankel has interviewed

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He was the fifth actor to play the fictional secret agent Portrayal of James Bond in film, James Bond in the List of James Bond films, James Bond film series, starri ...

, Dame Judi Dench and

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is known for his leading man roles in comedy films and for his work as a television producer. Ferrell received various accolades, including ...

. In June 2007, Boaz brought ''Clips & Quips'' to an end and began development of ''Backstage Live'', a new online entertainment talk show for Social Strata.

The Un-Road Trip

In April 2009 Frankel started a project called the Un-Road Trip in which he travelled across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

for 10 weeks using any mode of transportation except for the gas powered car and documented his progress on video, Twitter, blogs and in photos. The trip began in Portland, Oregon, from where he travelled across the United States and to parts of Canada, returning to Portland at the end of the journey. Frankel's goal was to find alternative modes of transport and during the trip the modes of transport he used include: a duffy boat, a paddle boat,

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...

motorcycle, train, electric bicycle kayak, paraglider, Couchbike, Treadmill Bike ,

Segway A Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter device invented by Dean Kamen. The name is a registered trademark of Segway Inc. It was brought to market in 2001 as the Segway HT, and then subsequently as the Segway PT. ''HT ...

and camel. Coverage of the trip by the media included NBC's ''Today Show'' and

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

's '' The National''. the Un-Road Trip is being developed as a 10 episode television series for

who have licensed the footage Frankel produced during the trip and given him a contract to produce, co-write and host the series.

The Pedal-Powered Talk Show

In 2012, Frankel started the "Pedal-Powered Talk Show", a show where Frankel interviews people in a desk attached to the front of a bicycle. The show is set in Portland, Oregon.

Pittsburgh Today Live & Talk Pittsburgh

In 2023 Frankel Joined

KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPKD-TV (channel 19), a ...

as a reporter for Pittsburgh Today Live (PTL) a daytime talk show in Pittsburgh and Talk Pittsburgh a Talk Show that airs between CBS's The Talk and KDKA-TV News at Four. Frankel has also filled in as a Host for both shows a few times.

Other work

In fall 2009 Frankel took a freelance job with the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

producing videos describing some of the eccentric mail delivery methods used by the U.S. Postal Service. He became the U.S. project manager for the

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

celebration in 2010, responsible for various aspects of event organization from producing videos to writing educational materials for schools. Frankel has carried out freelance reporting assignments for

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a small ...

The Kazoo Museum

Frankel is the owner and curator of

, which was the only kazoo museum on the West Coast when it opened in Seattle in 2007. The museum has since been relocated to Beaufort, SC where it officially opened in its new location in October 2010.

References

External links

GoBoaz WebsiteClips & QuipsUn-Road Trip
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frankel, Boaz American television personalities 1982 births Living people Jews from Oregon Television personalities from Portland, Oregon Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School alumni Tisch School of the Arts alumni