Dan Cummins (born May 17, 1977) is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host. His first comedy album, ''Revenge is Near'', distributed by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

, was ranked as one of the top 10 comedy CDs of 2009 by Punchline Magazine. His first hour-long special for

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

, titled ''Crazy With A Capital F'', premiered May 29, 2010. He was a co-host for ''

The Playboy Morning Show ''The Playboy Morning Show'' is a live, daily, nationally syndicated talk show that airs internationally on Playboy TV and PlayboyRadio.com, reaching over 85 million households. The show is an audio/visual version of ''Playboy'' and integrates ma ...

'' and hosts multiple podcasts: ''Timesuck'', since 2016; ''Scared to Death'', with his wife Lynze, since 2019; and ''Is We Dumb'' with Joseph Paisley, which ran from 2020 to 2022.

Early life and education

Cummins was born and raised in

Riggins, Idaho Riggins is a city in the western United States in Idaho County, Idaho. Nestled deep in a canyon at the confluence of the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers in west central Idaho, it is approximately north of Boise, and south-southeast of Lewis ...

. He graduated from high school in 1995 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

from

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. He then worked at a residential treatment center as a child and family counselor for six months, which he described as a horrible experience.

Career

Comedy

In 2000, Cummins performed at the open mic of the now-defunct Laugh’s Comedy Cafe inside the Season Ticket bar near the

Spokane Arena Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena (Spokane Arena) is a multi-purpose arena in the northwestern United States, located in downtown Spokane, Washington. Opened in 1995, it is home to the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL). Facility C ...

. In 2001, Cummins entered the Seattle Comedy Competition, finishing as runner-up. There he met David Crowe, with whom he formed a two-man stand-up and variety act, COBDOG, (Crowe On Bass, Dan On Guitar), the highlight of which was having a radio-friendly version of one of their sketches, titled "At The Coffee Shop," making ''

The Bob & Tom Show ''The Bob & Tom Show'' is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995. Originally syndicated by Pre ...

'' best-of CD, ''Bob And Tom Gone Wild''. The duo split in 2003. In 2005, Cummins performed at the New Faces showcase at the Just For Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, catching the attention of both

and ''The Late Late Show'' talent booker. In 2006, Cummins performed on Comedy Central’s ''

Live at Gotham ''Live at Gotham'' is an American stand-up comedy television show airing on Comedy Central. The show features up and coming stand-up comedians performing live at the Gotham Comedy Club in New York City New York, often called New York Cit ...

'', his first performance recorded for television. A month later, he made his network television debut, performing on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the The Late Late Show (American talk show), ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airi ...

''. Also, in 2006, he performed at his second major festival, the HBO Las Vegas Comedy Festival. The year 2007 started off with Cummins performing at the Comedy Central South Beach Comedy Festival, and then booking approximately 100 college dates at the NACA Nationals college booking convention in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. Cummins then recorded his first television stand-up special, ''Comedy Central Presents Dan Cummins'', in August at the Hudson Theater in New York City. In 2008, Cummins performed at nearly 100 schools and also advanced to the semi-finals of

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 ...

, Season 6. In 2009, Dan’s Comedy Central Presents was voted third favorite by fans in Comedy Central’s annual Standup Showdown. Shortly after, Comedy Central bought the rights to air a one-hour special. On October 17, 2009, in front of a sold-out audience at the

Bing Crosby Theater Bing Crosby Theater is a performing arts theater located in Spokane, Washington which was designed by theater architect Edwin W. Houghton. The theater was originally built in 1914 as an 800-seat movie theater called Clemmer Theater. Between Aug ...

in Spokane, Washington, Cummins recorded his first one-hour Comedy Central special, ''Crazy With A Capital F''. Its initial showing on Comedy Central aired May 29, 2010. The accompanying CD was released on May 25, 2010; the DVD version was released on June 8, 2010. Later in June 2009, Cummins performed at the second-annual Rooftop Comedy Aspen Comedy Festival. He made two additional television appearances in 2009, appearing on an episode of

Byron Allen Byron Allen (born Byron Allen Folks on April 22, 1961) is an American businessman, film and television producer, and comedian. He is the founder of the American media company Allen Media Group (formerly Entertainment Studios), which has intere ...

’s ''Comedy.TV'', and on ''

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fifth installment of ''The Tonight Show'', hosted by Conan O'Brien. It aired from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, succeeding ''The ...

'' the day before

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

. The year 2009 also included the release of Cummins' first nationally distributed CD, ''Revenge is Near'', on June 23 via Warner Brothers Records. It peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Comedy Charts, and Punchlinemagazine.com put it in their top 10 list for the best comedy CDs of 2009. In 2010, Cummins appeared in season two of G4’s ''The International Sexy Ladies Show'', and has moved to

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, California, where he began working with

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

. Cummins also attempted to produce several television projects. Since early-2009, filmmaker Mike Newman has been filming an ongoing documentary on Cummins’ stand-up career. Cummins opened for Los Angeles-based recording artist Hughie Stone Fish on the "Siren Songs" tour in September 2014.

Podcasting

On January 5, 2015 it was announced that Cummins would take over permanent co-hosting duties on ''

''. On September 18, 2016, Cummins released the first episode of his comedic/historical podcast “Timesuck”. On September 18, 2019, Cummins released the first episode of his second podcast, “Scared to Death”. Cummins was the first comic chosen to be spotlighted by

Pandora Radio Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by the broadcasting corporation Sirius XM that is based in Oakland, California in the United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the " Music Genome Proje ...

Personal life

Cummins has two children, a son and a daughter with his former wife, whom he divorced in 2009. Cummins shares custody of his children, who split time between

and

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Coeur d'Alene ( ; ) is a city and the county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the most populous city in North Idaho and the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 54,628 at th ...

. Cummins married Lynze Radzyminski, a costume designer and wardrobe assistant, in August 2016.

Stand-up releases

* ''Comedy Central Presents Dan Cummins'' (2008) * ''Revenge is Near'' (2009) * ''Crazy With A Capital F'' (2010) * ''Hear This'' (2012) * ''Chinese Affection'' (2015) * ''Don't Wake the Bear'' (2016) * ''Maybe I’m the Problem'' (2018) * ''Feel the Heat'' (2018) * ''Get Out of Here; Devil'' (2020) * ''Trying to get better'' (2023)

References

External links

* http://www.dancummins.tv * * http://timesuckpodcast.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20091106111336/http://www.livinthedreammovie.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummins, Dan American stand-up comedians Living people 1977 births 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Idaho American male comedians