David Allen, known professionally as Dave (Gruber) Allen is an American television and film actor and comedian, best known for his work on the 1990 TV series ''The Higgins Boys and Gruber'' (with

Steve Higgins Steve Earl Higgins (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, producer, announcer, actor, and comedian. He has served as the announcer and sidekick of ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' since 2014, and as a writer and producer of ''Sa ...

and David Anthony Higgins, with whom he had formed the comedy troup ''Don't Quit Your Day Job'' in the '80s). and playing guidance counselor Jeff Rosso on the

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian known for his work in comedy films. Apatow is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he wrote, produced, and directed his films ''The 4 ...

-produced comedy-drama ''

Freaks and Geeks ''Freaks and Geeks'' is an American teen comedy-drama television series created by Paul Feig and executive-produced by Judd Apatow that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 television season. The show is set in a suburban high school near ...

''. He played Mr. Kwest on ''

Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide ''Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide'' (sometimes shortened to ''Ned's Declassified'') is an American live action sitcom on Nickelodeon that debuted on the Nickelodeon Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The serie ...

'' and a town troubadour on ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

''. Allen had a minor role as an "Electrocuted Ghost" known as "Sparky" in the 2016 film ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

''.

Early and personal life

Allen was born and raised to a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

family in

Naperville, Illinois Naperville ( ) is a city in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is a southwestern suburb of Chicago located west of the city on the DuPage River. As of the 2020 United State ...

. He graduated from

Naperville Central High School Naperville Central High School (Naperville Central or NCHS) is a four-year state school, public high school located in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. The school, which enrolls students in grades nine through twelve, is a par ...

, where a classmate gave him the nickname "Groover" which over time changed to "Gruber" and inspired his professional name. Allen discovered his love for music as a child attending church. His preferred way to be identified professionally is "Dave (Gruber) Allen", with "Gruber" in parentheses. As of 2013, he lives in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Career

Allen plays the "Naked Trucker," a character that first appeared as part of a sketch comedy show

2 Headed Dog 2 Headed Dog is a four-man comedy troupe based in Los Angeles, composed of comedians Jim Turner (comedian), Jim Turner, Mark Fite, Craig Anton, and Dave Allen (actor), Dave Allen. The Steve Allen Theater served as the troupe's home base, where ...

. In 1998, at the invitation of Largo owner Mark Flannigan, Allen began to appear as the Naked Trucker as a solo act, opening at Largo in L.A. for

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles in 1994 by the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Their music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar playing. Critics have described their fusion of ...

Jon Brion Jon Brion (born December 11, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and The Grays (band), the Grays before becoming an established pro ...

, and others. The act was an instant success and soon expanded to include

David Koechner David Michael Koechner ( ; born August 24, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. His prominent roles include Champ Kind in the '' Anchorman'' film series (2004–2013) and Todd Packer in ''The Office'' (2005–2013). Koechner first became i ...

, who plays "T-Bones." Koechner and Allen starred in '' The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show'' on

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 ...

, which was picked up for eight episodes. Allen is a member of comedy group

with comedians Jim Turner,

Mark Fite Mark Elliott Fite is an American actor and comedian. Career Fite is a founding member of the comedy group 2 Headed Dog with comedians Jim Turner, Dave Allen, and Craig Anton. He is known for creating roles and performing in comedy shows in ...

, and

Craig Anton Craig Ward Anton (born August 28, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Pettus in '' Lizzie McGuire'' and Lloyd Diffy in ''Phil of the Future''. Early life Anton was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, ...

. He also made an appearance as a minor character, Mr. Woodward, one of Reese's teachers on the television show ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes. The ...

''. Allen frequently plays the character "Todd Carlin", a fictional hippie relative of

George Carlin George Denis Patrick Carlin (May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008) was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential comedians of all time, he was dubbed "the dean of countercultur ...

. Allen has guest starred on ''

'', where he played a town troubadour, organic farmer, and a de facto minister officiating a wedding. He has been credited in many movies and television roles as Dave (Gruber) Allen and David Gruber Allen. Allen has provided multiple voice performances, such as on animated series ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels that initially aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, with four more episodes airing in First-run syndicati ...

'' episodes "Unfortunate Son", "Phish and Wildlife", "Raise the Steaks", and "Bill's House". Allen has also provided his voice in ''

Random! Cartoons ''Random! Cartoons'' is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nicktoons. Much like '' Oh Yeah! Cartoons'', it was created by Fred Seibert and produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on December ...

'' clips. Later on, Allen also played several different characters in

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Newsradio ''NewsRadio'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from March 21, 1995, to May 4, 1999, focusing on the work lives of the staff of a New York City AM news radio station. It had an ensemble cast featuring Dave Foley, Stephen R ...

'', and appeared as night school teacher "Randy", teaching basic auto repair and maintenance in the episode "Motor Skills" of the eighth season of the sitcom ''

Frasier ''Frasier'' () is an American television sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for 11 seasons from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey (screenwriter), Peter Casey, and David Lee (scr ...

''. He has appeared as a hippie on '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' and a protester on ''

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

''. In 2006, Allen appeared in the Stan and Lois sketch on

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

's comedy album ''Ridiculous'' (released by

Comedy Central Records Comedy Central Records is a record label based in New York and owned by Paramount Global. The label specializes in stand-up comedy albums and is distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. The label has ...

). In November 2008, Allen appeared as "Todd"—and was credited as "Todd Carlin"—in the

Cinematic Titanic Cinematic Titanic was a project by ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') creator and original host, Joel Hodgson. The project involved "MSTing, riffing" B-movies, in a manner similar to that of ''MST3K''. Joining Hodgson were some of the ori ...

episode "

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians ''Santa Claus Conquers the Martians'' is a 1964 American Christmas science fiction comedy film. It was directed by Nicholas Webster, produced and written by Paul L. Jacobson, and based on a story by Glenville Mareth. John Call stars as Santa C ...

" during the pre-movie sequence, introducing the movie to the crew. Additionally, Allen has been touring periodically at live shows with Cinematic Titanic, performing his stand-up routine. In 2010, Allen was featured as a sci-fi author in season two of ''

Party Down ''Party Down'' is an American sitcom created and primarily written by John Enbom, Rob Thomas, Dan Etheridge, and Paul Rudd that premiered on the Starz network in the United States on March 20, 2009. The series follows a group of caterers in ...

'' and made a cameo in the film ''

The Mother of Invention ''The Mother of Invention'' is a 2009 American mockumentary-style comedy film directed by Joseph M. Petrick and Andrew Bowser, with screenplay by Petrick. The film stars Jimmi Simpson, Kevin Corrigan, Mark Boone Junior, Dee Wallace, Craig Anton, ...

'' as Dr. Henry Miller. In 2011, Allen had a small role in the movie ''

Bad Teacher ''Bad Teacher'' is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. The film stars Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins, and Jason Segel, and follows a cynic ...

''. In 2012, Allen played the salesman of a futuristic elder care center in "Life Begins at Rewirement," an episode of the

ITVS ITVS (Independent Television Service) is a service in the United States which funds and presents documentaries on public television through distribution by PBS and American Public Television, new media projects on the Internet, and the weekly ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

sci-fi series ''Futurestates''. He also appeared in a recurring role on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

series ''

Mike & Molly ''Mike & Molly'' is an American television sitcom created by Mark Roberts for CBS. It aired from September 20, 2010 to May 16, 2016. The series stars Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy as the eponymous Mike and Molly, a couple who meet in a Ch ...

''. Allen also provided the voice of Frostferatu, among several other characters, in

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

's ''

Mighty Magiswords ''Mighty Magiswords'' (stylized as ''Mighty MagiSwords'') is an American animated television series created by Kyle A. Carrozza for Cartoon Network Video as the network's first online original series. The web shorts officially premiered onlin ...

'' episodes "Share and Share Dislike", "Hideous Hound", "Transylbabies", "Collection Infection", and "King of Zombeez", created by ''MooBeard the Cow Pirate'' creator, Kyle A. Carrozza. In 2017, Allen appeared as the recurring character Dave the Taxidermist in

's '' Trial & Error''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Interview with Allen & partner David Koechner
on public radio program

The Sound of Young America ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

Dave Allen
at live Cinematic Titanic shows, performing standup and discussing his preferred method of writing his name (using parenthesis rather than quotation marks). * in Life Begins at Rewirement * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Dave American male comedians American comedy musicians American male film actors American male television actors American male television writers Living people 1958 births Writers from Naperville, Illinois Television writers from Illinois Comedians from Illinois