I was listening to the radio, and a voice I didn't recognize was talking about some voice acting work it had auditioned for in the past, and it turned out to have been the voice of the Pets.com sock pupper.
That voice actor's name? Michael Ian Black. I was surprised as I was when I saw Michael Ian Black hosting Spy TV a while ago.
For, I was familiar with Michael Ian Black's work on The State, a sketch comedy show that ran for about two years on MTV, possibly the only thing worth watching on that network at the time. The show tried to get picked up at CBS, and it did manage to produce a one-hour Halloween special, which I had on tape at one point. Sadly, it didn't get picked up.
A handful of the cast splintered off and produced Viva Variety, a European variety show whose gimmick was that it aired in Europe for twenty years before coming to the United States. Aside from some standard sketch comedy, they had many talented acts and guests. I think it ran for three seasons, the last of which was filmed in Las Vegas. Michael Ian Black played Johnny Bluejeans, an American wanna-be who was stuck in the 70's. The joke wore a little thin for me.
I looked at his
IMDB profile, and it's sparse to say the least. I'm surprised I've seen as much of him on television as I have. It mentions his pets.com sock puppet career only in the Trivia section.
Once on The State, he tried to get the rest of the cast to share about themselves by admitting that he was born MIchael Schwartz, but changed his name because he was ashamed of being born Jewish. Imagine my surprise to find out that he really was born Michael Schwartz.
Anyone else have any D-list celebrities they've tracked through very short careers?
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