Ian Harris is a comedian, director, and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

trainer. He owns a Los Angeles-based MMA training center called "Fight Science", named for the unique fighting style that he created. He integrates

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

and

critical thinking Critical thinking is the process of analyzing available facts, evidence, observations, and arguments to make sound conclusions or informed choices. It involves recognizing underlying assumptions, providing justifications for ideas and actions, ...

into his comedy.

Career

Comedy

In the year 1992, Ian moved to Los Angeles from Santa Cruz, California, with a friend. There they wrote the script ''Armaghetto'', which they unsuccessfully tried to sell. Shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles he was asked, after an audition, to close the show ''Annex Sunday Night'' at the comedy club '' The Ice House''. After that he toured the U.S. performing at comedy shows. He often appeared in the comedy club

Punch Line A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...

. In 2000 he moved back to Los Angeles, where he earned a reputation for being brash and irreverent in his comedy. However, in 2006 he stopped doing stand-up comedy and touring, because of his production work and the birth of his daughter in 2005. In 2011 Harris came back to stand-up comedy, integrating skepticism and critical thinking into his act: "I’m a comedian. That’s what I am at my core." He has made fun of

Vaccine controversies Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal of vaccines despite availability and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using ce ...

, glucose intolerance, politics, religions, and the

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance tha ...

“cold preventer” Airborne. Six months after his comeback, Harris toured with comedians Jason Relser and Maurice Northup, doing a secular comedy show ''The Evolution of Comedy Tour''. Harris directed a few comedy specials, including one by Dwayne Perkins, which was bought directly by Netflix. On December 21, 2012, he recorded his own comedy special ''Ian Harris: Critical & Thinking''. Harris' second hour TV special "ExtraOrdinary" was released Dec 12, 2017, by

Adam Carolla Adam Carolla (born May 27, 1964) is an American radio personality, comedian, actor and podcaster. He hosts '' The Adam Carolla Show'', a talk show distributed as a podcast which set the record as the "most downloaded podcast" as judged by ''Guin ...

's Chassy Media and is available on video-on-demand platforms. It was produced with Netflix in mind, but due to policy changes in the company's comedy division they did not pick it up. It was recorded in 2016 at the Rio Theatre in his home town of Santa Cruz (California). Ian is also a regular contributing writer for ''

US Weekly ''Us Weekly'' is an American weekly celebrity and entertainment magazine based in New York City. ''Us Weekly'' was founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, which sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, and sold to Ameri ...

'' magazine's Fashion Police. Harris has performed his comedy act at several atheist and skeptical events: *2017 American Atheists National Conference *2012 Ascent of Atheism Convention in Denver *2013

American Humanist Association The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a 501(c) organization, non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism. The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defe ...

National Convention in San Diego *2013 CFI Summit in Tacoma, Washington In 2014 he hosted a

Sunday Assembly Sunday Assembly is a non-religious gathering co-founded by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in January 2013 in London, England. The gathering is mostly for non-religious people who want a similar communal experience to a religious church, thou ...

in Los Angeles and in 2013 he performed for ''Atheists United''. Since 2015, Harris has been taking his comedy show to Atlanta's

DragonCon Dragon Con (previously Dragon*Con and sometimes DragonCon) is a North American List of multigenre conventions, multigenre convention, founded in 1987, which takes place annually over the Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, as part of the Skeptrack speaker roster. In the Summer of 2017, Harris was added as a part-time co-host of Dogma Debate podcast with David Smalley. Like comedian

Bill Maher William MaherStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', January 12, 2016, PBS; on a series that lists "Jr." and "Sr." distinctions, Bill Maher's birth name was listed simply as William Maher, while his father was William Aloysius Maher Jr., and his pa ...

before him, he enjoys going to socially

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

areas in the united States. “There’s 10-20% that are starving for anything. They’re constantly surrounded by Jesus, nativity scenes, the right-wing propaganda is in full effect, it’s like

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

year-round. So when he (Maher) goes into town, those 10%, they all buy a ticket. While you go to LA, with 13 million people just like you, they don’t give a shit.”

Comedy achievements

In the year 2001 he was on the Top 100 Comedians list of the ''Entertainment Business Journal'', and he was a semi-finalist in ''

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 ...

's'' Laugh Riots Competition. ''Backstage West'' called him Top Character Comedian in Town, and he was a finalist in the San Francisco Comedy Competition. Comedy awards and events: *1995 Finalist Cal State Chico Comedy Competition *1998 Finalist UCSF Comedy Competition *2000 Finalist San Francisco International Comedy Competition *2001 Semi-finalist Comedy Central Laugh Riots Competition *2013 Ventura Comedy Festival

Film

After some years of comedy, Ian wrote and directed his first movie ''It Burns When I Laugh'' which won Best Feature Film at the Seattle Underground Film Festival. This film was presented in festivals, where it had a moderate success, then it was distributed on home video. Ian directed some other movies, short movies and music videos, and in 2013, he began to direct comedy specials for other fellow comedians.

Voice-over

In 2003 Ian began performing

voice-over Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique used in radio, television, filmmaking, theatre, and other media in which a descriptive or expository voice that is not part of the narrative (i.e., non- ...

s in a commercial for Universal Orlando Resorts that aired on the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

of the same year. Since then he has performed voice-over for commercials, television shows, network promos, video games and animation. Clients have included DirecTV, Lays Potato Chips, Full Tilt Poker, Round Table Pizza and the networks Disney XD, Bravo and Fuel. Ian was the narrator for Fuse's Mad Genius, Pepsi/Twitter Live for Now and Scripps Top 3 of Everything. He also does some voice over on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

MMA

Ian began boxing at age six. He wrestled for two and a half years and trained

Kenpo Karate American Kenpo Karate (), also known as American Kenpo or Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, is an American martial art founded and codified by Ed Parker. It is synthesized mainly from Japanese and Okinawan martial arts such as karate and judo, with in ...

Wing Chun Wing Chun (Cantonese) or Yong Chun (Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin) (, lit. "singing spring") is a concept-based martial art, a form of Nanquan (martial art), Southern Chinese kung fu, and a close-quarters system of self-defense. It is a martial ...

and Japanese Jujutsu for nine years. He also trained from 1992 to 2005 with

Richard Bustillo Richard Bustillo (January 28, 1942 – March 30, 2017) was an American martial arts instructor from Hawaii who was a student of the late Bruce Lee and an authority on Jeet Kune Do Concepts and Filipino Martial Arts. Martial arts Bustillo began ...

, a

Bruce Lee Bruce Lee (born Lee Jun-fan; November 27, 1940 – July 20, 1973) was an American-born Hong Kong martial artist, actor, filmmaker, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy which was formed from ...

student. With him, Ian trained

Jeet Kune Do Jeet Kune Do (/ˌdʒiːt kuːn ˈdoʊ/; zh, c=截拳道, l=stop fist way' or 'way of the intercepting fist, j=zit6 kyun4 dou6; abbreviated JKD) is a hybrid martial art conceived and practiced by martial artist Bruce Lee. It was formed from ...

and

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

. In 1996 he also began to train Brazilian jiu-jitsu with Claudio Franca. He began training other fighters in 2003. Ian has been featured in Tapout Magazine and Grappling Magazine teaching techniques and was showcased in the book MMA Lessons, a collection of the best MMA techniques from Tapout Magazine. Ian coined his MMA fighting style Fight Science. In August 2017, Ian, along with three of his former students, opened an MMA training center in Los Angeles. They named it "Fight Science," after the style Ian created.

Critical thinking

Harris has been contributing a comedy essay focusing on critical thinking to the ''

Skeptical Inquirer ''Skeptical Inquirer'' (S.I.) is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle "The Magazine for Science and Reason". The magazine initially focused on investigating clai ...

'' magazine in 2017-2018 in a column called ''The Last Laugh''.

Awards

Film Awards and Accolades: *Official Selection, 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival *Official Selection, 2007 Del Rey Beach Film Festival *Best Short Nominee, 2007 Swansea Bay Film Festival *Official Selection, 2006 Montreal Just For Laughs Comedy Festival *Best Feature Film, Seattle Underground Film Festival *Best Director, 2005 48 Hour Film Project, Los Angeles *Best Use of Genre: 2005 48 Hour Film Project, Los Angeles *Official Selection, 2005 Dances with Films Film Festival *Official Selection, 2005 Best of LA Shorts Festival *Audience Choice, 2004 48 Hour Film Project, Los Angeles *Best Music, 2004 48 Hour Film Project, Los Angeles *Finalist, 2003 Fade-In Magazine Short Film Awards *Best Film, 2003 Zephyr Short Film Festival, Los Angeles *Audience Choice Award, 2002 Colfax Film Festival *Official Selection, 2003 Cal State Fullerton Call to Arts Festival

Filmography

Director

* "Dwayne Perkins: Take Note" (2016) hour comedy special *"Ty Barnett: Issues" (2013) hour comedy special *"Bryan Kellen: Ballet Komedico" (2013) Hour Comedy Special *“Pashittu” Short Film (2006) *“The Cult” Television Pilot (2006) *“Booking Tacoma” Feature Film (2004) *“It Burns When I Laugh” Feature Film (2003) *“Silver Patriot: The Final Chapter” Short Film (2005) *“The Paul Decca Story” Short Film (2004) *“Ring Tone Blues” Short Film (2004) *“Dual” Short Film (2002) *“A.P.U. Art, Pot & Underwear” Short Film (2003)

Music videos

*“Darkest Days” Good Riddance, 2006 Fat Wreck Chords *“Smoother than You” Danny Hamilton, 2005 Koala Records *“Dance of Shiva” OUTLIE, 2004 Porterhouse Records *“You Burn Me Up” The Haywoods, 2000 Wormtone Records

Personal life

Ian was born and grew up in Santa Cruz, California, USA. He attended San Lorenzo Valley High School. He was interested in stand-up comedy, writing short stories, boxing, martial arts and surfing. “I grew up in the 80s (…) in Santa Cruz, in this kind of

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

counter-culture, with

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

, which was huge in the

Bay area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

back in the 80s. (…) I’ve been an atheist my own life. My act is kind of punk rocky.” As a consequence, he tends to attract crowds of a certain age, the same older, white, educated people he meets at

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

conventions. “These are the college professors, not the students. They’re the ones who know who I am and who appreciate what I do. It’s very funny to me that this is the crowd. It’s a hip crowd though!” Harris believes people within the secular movement should respect the range of political opinions of its members. “We’re so splintered. Atheism is not a belief, it’s just a lack of belief in God. Everybody gets to atheism in a different way. (…) This guy might be kind of conservative, he may be a “lower taxes” guy. (...) It doesn't mean that he's not an atheist. (we're always straw-manning people in their own community, because they're easy targets. (...) But all they're doing is splintering their own community.” He lives with his wife Jeaninne and their daughter Bella in Los Angeles, California, USA.

References

External links

* *
Extended Interview from Sensibly Speaking Podcast - December 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Ian Patrick 1971 births Living people American male comedians American male mixed martial artists 21st-century American comedians Comedians from California 20th-century American sportsmen