Anthony J. Barbieri (born August 26, 1963) is an American comedic writer and performer. He is known for his appearances as the ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' character "Jake Byrd", and as "Walter "Mole" Molinsky" in the Comedy Central tv movie, '' Windy City Heat''.

Career

Barbieri was the writer of the monthly satirical ''Monroe'' comic strip for ''

Mad Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

'' from 1997 to 2010. In 1999, he got his first writer's credit for television while working on ''

The Man Show ''The Man Show'' is an American sketch comedy television show on Comedy Central that aired from 1999 to 2004. It was created by its two original co-hosts, Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, and their executive producer Daniel Kellison. The pilot ...

''. Barbieri went on to write for the sitcoms '' That's My Bush!'' and ''

That '80s Show ''That '80s Show'' is an American television sitcom set in 1984 that aired from January 23 to May 29, 2002 on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. Created in the wake of the successful sitcom ''That '70s Show,'' it shared a similar name and even many ...

''.

The Big Three

Barbieri was part of a comedy team known as "The Big Three" with Perry Caravello and Don Barris. In 2003, the trio starred in the

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 ...

reality movie '' Windy City Heat'', directed by Bobcat Goldthwait and written by Barris and Barbieri, and Jimmy Kimmel. The movie was an elaborate prank on Caravello who was under the impression he had landed his first starring role in a major motion picture. In 2010, Caravello, Barris and Barbieri started a weekly comedy

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

called ''The Big 3 Podcast'', on

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 ACE Broadcasting Network. In 2011 the show moved to Barris' own network, before ending in April 2015.

''Jimmy Kimmel Live!''

Barbieri began writing for ''

'' in 2003, and in 2004 started appearing on the show as the character Jake Byrd. Byrd is portrayed as a good-natured man obsessed with celebrities, and his bits involve him satirizing excessive media attention to celebrity spectacles such as the Michael Jackson trial or the arrest of

Paris Hilton Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American media personality, businesswoman, and socialite. Hilton was born in New York City and raised there partially; shuttling between Los Angeles and New York City; she is a great-grandda ...

. Byrd usually interacts with the fans while they are being interviewed by the media or inserts himself into press conferences. He has successfully fooled major media outlets into thinking he is a real person, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', who quoted him in a May 1, 2004, article about the Michael Jackson trial, before running a redact five days later noting that he was a character. Despite this, ''the Times'' wrote again about him, as if he were a real person, during the 2007 O. J. Simpson robbery case. On May 30, 2024, posing as a supporter of former U.S. president and 2024 presidential candidate

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, Byrd was again quoted, as if a real person, in a

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 ...

article about the reactions of Trump supporters towards the former president's

criminal conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a trial by ...

. Byrd carried a sign with the words "Free Father Theresa" outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse while interacting with Trump supporters, in reference to a statement by Donald Trump comparing himself to

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

. The words on Byrd's sign was used in the title of the Fox News article. Byrd was also filmed screaming by

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...

in their coverage of the event. In his part as a parody Trump supporter, Byrd gained brief Internet notoriety as a meme on the social media platform

X (formerly Twitter) Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, imag ...

. In 2008 Barbieri won the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. It is awarded to the best original song or score created specifically for a television program. The a ...

for the ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' song "I'm F**king Matt Damon". He was nominated for another Emmy in 2013 as part of Kimmel's writing staff for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

Filmography

The following list includes shows or films in which he has a small, but credited, role as a writer or actor. * ''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

'' (2015) – (TV program) (voice actor) * '' Windy City Heat'' (2003) – (

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

) (writer/actor) – Appeared as Walter "Mole" Molinsky. * ''

'' (2003–) (talk show on ABC) – (writer/actor) – His own pieces, including his well-known character Jake Byrd. * ''

'' (2002) (TV program) (writer) * ''

Crank Yankers ''Crank Yankers'' is an American television sketch comedy show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, with on-screen re-enactments by puppets. The sh ...

'' (2002–present) (TV program) (writer/voice actor) - Performed Niles Standish and the Concierge. * '' That's My Bush!'' (2001) (TV program) – (writer/actor) – A political comedy spoofing

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

(appeared in one episode). * ''

'' (1999–2004) (TV program) (writer) * '' Delta Force: Land Warrior (2000)'' (

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

) (voice actor) * '' Pledge Night'' (1988) (movie) – Horror film.

References

External links

*
Paris Hilton News conference, with Jake Byrd reference

Radar Magazine quoting Jake Byrd

* ttp://www.madcoversite.com/ugoi-anthony_barbieri.html Complete list of Barbieri's articles for MAD Magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri, Anthony 1963 births Living people American male screenwriters American humorists American satirists American comics writers American satirical comics writers American comedy writers American parodists People from Framingham, Massachusetts American male television writers American television writers Mad (magazine) people Screenwriters from Massachusetts American writers of Italian descent Jimmy Kimmel Live!