DJ Hazard (born Dennis Joseph Hanard in 1953) is an American writer, actor, musician and

standup comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

Early life

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, he grew up in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

and

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to four other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City, Queens, Long Island C ...

and attended the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and more recently, its Midtown Manha ...

, where he studied cartooning, animation, illustration and advertising. He graduated in 1971. His family moved to

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

the following year.

Career

In 1979, he became one of the founders of The Ding Ho Comedy Club in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, along with

Barry Crimmins Barry Francis Crimmins (July 3, 1953 – February 28, 2018) was an American stand-up comedian, political satirist, activist, author, Air America (radio network), Air America Radio writer and correspondent, and comedy club owner. Early life Crimm ...

Steven Wright Steven Alexander Wright (born December 6, 1955) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and film producer. He is known for his distinctive lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical j ...

Paula Poundstone Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actress, interviewer, and commentator. Beginning in the late 1980s, she performed a series of one-hour HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary dur ...

Bobcat Goldthwait Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter. He is known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched ...

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Massachusetts, he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song " Asshole") and th ...

and others. Throughout the 1980s, DJ Hazard was active in the Boston comedy scene, hosting shows at the Comedy Connection and Play It Again Sam's. He performed under the name DJ Hanard, but legally changed his name to DJ Hazard in 1984 after frequently seeing misspellings of his name. In the late 1980s, he hosted a show called "The Friday Night Comic Strip" on

WZLX WZLX (100.7 FM) is a classic rock radio station in Boston, Massachusetts. This station is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. WZLX was one of America's first classic rock FM stations. Its studios are in Medford, and its transmitter is atop th ...

and in 1989, he was named Comedian of the Year in a ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'' reader's poll. During this time, he was known for taking time to critique and encourage new comedians. In the interview section of the documentary film '' When Stand Up Stood Out'', which explores the Boston comedy scene in the 1980s and 90s,

Dane Cook Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He is known for his use of observational comedy, observational, often blue comedy, vulgar, and sometimes black comedy, dark comedy. He released six comedy ...

cites DJ Hazard as being one of the comedians who inspired him to enter standup comedy. In a 2005 interview,

Louis CK Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, actor and filmmaker. C.K. has won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Act ...

credited Hazard for being his mentor when he first started out. After 14 years as a headliner in Boston comedy, Hazard moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 1994. He returned to Boston a year later, bought a 1985

Nissan Stanza The Nissan Violet is a compact car that was first released in Japan in 1973 and produced until 1992. It was initially exclusive to Nissan's Japanese ''Nissan Cherry Store'' dealerships, as a larger companion to the Nissan Cherry. In 1977 the ...

and set off on a three-year self-booked tour of North America before returning to Boston in 1998. He moved back to New York City in 2006. He has also performed extensively throughout Canada, including

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In addition to his stand-up performances, DJ Hazard has released three comedy/music CDs: "Lock Up The Planet When You Leave" (1993), "El Hazardo Rides Again" (2007) and "Man Of Hazardium" (2009). He has also acted in several movies, beginning with the 2004 film '' Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story''. ''.

Personal life

In 1982, he was included in ''Boston Herald'' columnist Norma Nathan's ''Book of Boston's Most Eligible Bachelors''. On June 30, 1991, he and fellow comedian and best friend Rick Jenkins were mistaken for two of America's Most Wanted and held by Federal Agents for the better part of the day until they proved their innocence.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hazard, DJ American male comedians Male actors from the Bronx Male actors from Queens, New York Writers from New York City American comedy musicians 1953 births Living people High School of Art and Design alumni Comedians from the Bronx Comedians from Queens, New York