Paul Reiser

Paul Reiser (born March 30, 1956)[1] is an American comedian, actor, writer, and musician. He is known for his roles as Michael Taylor in the 1980s sitcom My Two Dads, Paul Buchman in the NBC sitcom Mad About You, Modell in the 1982 film Diner, Carter Burke in the 1986 film Aliens, as Detective Jeffrey Friedman in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and Beverly Hills Cop 2 (1987), and more recently as Jim Neiman in the 2014 film Whiplash and Doug Getty in the Amazon Video series Red Oaks.

Not to be confused with Paul Riser.

Paul Reiser
Reiser at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con International
Born	(1956-03-30) March 30, 1956 New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	East Side Hebrew Institute Stuyvesant High School
Alma mater	Binghamton University
Occupation	Comedian, actor, television writer, musician
Years active	1982–present
Organization	Hinman Production Company Nuance Productions
Spouse(s)	Paula Ravets ( m. 1988)
Children	2
Relatives	Will Reiser (cousin) Richard Epstein (first cousin)
Website	paulreiser.com

Reiser is ranked 77th on Comedy Central's 2004 list of the "100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time". The name of Reiser's production company, Nuance Productions, is inspired by one of his lines in the film Diner, in which his character explains his discomfort with the word "nuance".

Reiser also stars in the Netflix supernatural-horror series Stranger Things as Dr. Sam Owens. Reiser appears in the second season of The Kominsky Method as Martin, the boyfriend of Mindy Kominsky.

Early life

Reiser was born in New York City in 1956, the son of Helen (born 1919), a homemaker, and Sam Reiser, a wholesale health food distributor.[2] His family is of Romanian-Jewish descent; he has three sisters. Reiser attended the East Side Hebrew Institute and graduated from Stuyvesant High School.[3] He earned his bachelor's degree at Binghamton University, where he majored in music (piano, composition).

During his university years, Reiser was active in student theater productions at the Hinman Little Theater, an on-campus community theater organization located in Hinman College, Reiser's dorm community.[4] It was later renamed the Hinman Production Company.[5] He found his calling as a comedian while performing in New York clubs during university summer breaks.

Career

After developing his skills as a stand-up comedian, Reiser had a breakout film role in 1982 when he appeared in Diner, a coming-of-age film directed by Barry Levinson. Reiser's character, Modell, a closet stand-up comedian, effectively brought Reiser's abilities to the attention of Hollywood. He followed this success by playing a detective in Beverly Hills Cop (1984), a role he reprised in its sequel, Beverly Hills Cop II (1987). Reiser also had roles in James Cameron's Aliens (1986), in which he played the villainous Carter Burke; The Marrying Man (1991) and Bye Bye Love (1995).

Reiser starred as one of two possible fathers of a teenage girl in the TV sitcom My Two Dads (1987–90), and later came to prominence in North America as Paul Buchman in Mad About You (1992–99), a comedy series he co-created, in which Helen Hunt co-starred as his on-screen wife. He was also the co-composer of the show's theme song, "The Final Frontier" (with Don Was),[6] and performed the piano for the theme's recording. Reiser's role in Mad About You earned him nominations for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an American Comedy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. For the show's final season, Reiser and Hunt received $1 million ($1.5 million today) per episode.[7] After signing onto a Mad About You revival in 2018,[8] it was picked up as a 12-episode limited series by Spectrum Originals in March 2019.[9]

In 2001, Reiser played a dramatic role as a man desperate to locate his biological mother, after learning he has a serious illness, in the British TV film My Beautiful Son. In 2002, Reiser made a guest appearance as himself on Larry David's HBO sitcom, Curb Your Enthusiasm.[10] In the TV comedy film Atlanta (2007), Reiser appears as one half of a couple who, after meeting at a funeral, are unable to stay away from each other.[11] In 2010, Reiser collaborated with the singer Julia Fordham to create a CD album titled Unusual Suspects, which includes the song "UnSung Hero", dedicated to American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The two embarked on an acoustic tour after its release.[12] Reiser also co-wrote the song, "No There There" with Melissa Manchester for her 2015 album, You Gotta Love the Life.[13] Early in his career, Reiser was the opening act for Manchester, she warned him that music audiences can be rough on comedians and that the last comedian that opened for her, left the stage in tears. Reiser reflects about this warning and on how he then bombed at the Concord Hotel. The story is detailed the chapter, "Don't Worry if They Suck", by Paul Reiser, in I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics (2010), By Ritch Shydner, Mark Schiff.[14]

Reiser scripted and starred in the semi-autobiographical comedy series The Paul Reiser Show, which aired on NBC as a mid-season replacement during the 2010–11 TV season.[15] "This is nice", commented Reiser on the Stephanie Miller radio program, "because you get to sit around and root for other shows to fail." However, due to the lack of lead time and promotion by NBC prior to its debut (as well as poor scheduling),[16][17] the low-rated show was canceled on April 22, 2011, with only two episodes aired.[18][19][20] He co-created (but did not star in) the 2017 dramedy There's... Johnny!, set backstage at The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in 1972. Originally created for Seeso, the seven-episode season was released on Hulu after Seeso's collapse.[21]

Reiser has written three books: Couplehood, about the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship; Babyhood, about his experiences as a first-time father; and Familyhood (released in May 2011), a collection of humorous essays. Couplehood is unique in that it starts on page 145; Reiser explained this as his method of giving the reader a false sense of accomplishment. In 1996, Reiser appeared on Late Show with David Letterman in the middle of writing Babyhood. Since he had not yet decided on a title, he presented a prop book, titled simply "Book" and with the same cover as that of Couplehood.

Personal life

Reiser married Paula Ravets on August 21, 1988. They have two sons: Ezra Samuel (born 1995) and Leon (born 2000). He is the cousin of screenwriter and producer Will Reiser,[22] who is known for writing the semi-autobiographical comedy-drama film 50/50 (2011).

Reiser's first cousin is the legal scholar Richard Epstein.[23]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Diner	Modell
1984	Beverly Hills Cop	Det. Jeffrey Friedman
1986	Odd Jobs	Max
	Aliens	Carter Burke
1987	Beverly Hills Cop II	Det. Jeffrey Friedman
	Cross My Heart	Bruce Gaynor
1990	Crazy People	Stephen Bachman
1991	The Marrying Man	Phil Golden
1992	3½ Blocks from Home	Himself
1993	Family Prayers	Dan Linder
1994	Mr. Write	Charlie Fisher
1995	Bye Bye Love	Donny
1999	Get Bruce	Unknown
	The Story of Us	Dave	Uncredited
	Pros & Cons	Prison Man #1
2001	One Night at McCool's	Carl
	Purpose	Ben Fisher
2005	The Thing About My Folks	Ben Kleinman
	The Aristocrats	Himself
2009	Funny People
2014	Whiplash	Jim Neiman
	Life After Beth	Noah Orfman
2015	Concussion	Dr. Elliot Pellman
2016	Joshy	Steve
	Miles	Lloyd Bryant
	War on Everyone	Lt. Gerry Stanton
	The Book of Love	Wendell
	The Darkness	Simon Richards
2017	The Little Hours	Ilario
	I Do... Until I Don't	Harvey Burger
2018	The Spy Who Dumped Me	Arnie Freeman
2020	Horse Girl	Gary
2021	Fatherhood	Paul	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Remington Steele	Ivan Turbell	Episode: "A Good Night's Steele"
1987	Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color	Dexter Bunche	Episode: "You Ruined My Life"
1987–90	My Two Dads	Michael Taylor	60 episodes
1992–1999, 2019	Mad About You	Paul Buchman	164 episodes Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series Nominated—American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a Television Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1995–98) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1994–97) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1994–99) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series (1995–96) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995–98) Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actor in a Quality Comedy Series
1993	The Tower	Tony Minot	Television movie
1995	37th Annual Grammy Awards	Himself (host)	TV special
	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "Paul Reiser/Annie Lennox"
2001	My Beautiful Son	Jerry Lipman	Television movie; AKA Strange Relations
2002	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Paul Reiser	Episode: "The Terrorist Attack"
	Women vs. Men	Bruce	Television movie
2011	The Paul Reiser Show	Paul Reiser	7 episodes
2013	Behind the Candelabra	Mr. Felder	Television movie
2014–16	TripTank	Gary (voice)	10 episodes
2014–15	Married	Shep	10 episodes
2014–17	Red Oaks	Doug Getty	23 episodes
2017–present	Stranger Things	Dr. Sam Owens	9 episodes Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
2018	The Romanoffs	Bob Isaacson	Episode: "House of Special Purpose"
2019	Fosse/Verdon	Cy Feuer	2 episodes
	The Kominsky Method	Martin Schneider	6 episodes

References

1. "Paul Reiser Then and Now". Stanton Daily. Retrieved March 30, 2018.
2. "Paul Reiser Biography (1957–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
3. Lyman, Rick (September 5, 1997). "Be It Ever So Urban, It's Green". The New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
4. "Binghamton University - Magazine: Comic relief". Binghamton.edu. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
5. "The Hinman Production Company". Archived from the original on October 19, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
6. "Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt reprise '90s hit `Mad About You'". Associated Press. November 19, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
7. Carter, Bill (March 24, 1998). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; NBC Signs Deal to Keep 'Mad About You' for Another Season". The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
8. Hibberd, James (April 12, 2018). "Mad About You: Paul Reiser, Helen Hunt close deals for series revival". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
9. Ausiello, Michael (March 6, 2019). "Mad About You Revival With Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt (Finally) Finds a Home". TVLine.
10. "Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 3, Episode 5 : The Terrorist Attack". IMDb.com. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
11. "Prinze Braves Atlanta for CBS". Chicagotribune.com. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
12. Friedman, Roger (September 20, 2010). "Paul Reiser, Musician: TV Comic Joins Famed Singer in Song for Soldiers". Showbiz411.com. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
13. Shapiro, Gregg (2015). "Melissa Manchester Loving the life: an interview with Melissa Manchester". ChicagoPride.com. Retrieved July 24, 2015. Manchester: I didn't know that Paul's a musician. I went to a concert and it turned out that he had co-written several of the lovely songs that the artist was doing. He was there and I asked him if he would like to write (with me) and he said, "Sure." I went to his home and we knocked it out.
14. Ritch Shydner; Mark Schiff (January 21, 2009). I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics. Crown/Archetype. p. 98. ISBN 9780307496041. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
15. "NBC Unveils 2010–11 Primetime Schedule Accented by Five New Comedies, Seven New Dramas and New Alternative Program". The Futon Critic. May 16, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
16. "Paul Reiser Speaks Out About NBC on 'The Tonight Show'". Screenrant.com. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
17. "Amy Landecker moves on after Paul Reiser Show". Articles.chicagotribune.com. April 27, 2011. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
18. Seidman, Robert (April 22, 2011). "NBC Cancels The Paul Reiser Show". The Futon Critic. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
19. Seidman, Robert (April 22, 2011). "The Paul Reiser Show Cancelled After Two Episodes – Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
20. "Paul Reiser Show canceled". TV Series Finale. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
21. Tim Goodman (November 16, 2017). "'There's ... Johnny!': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
22. "I am Paul Reiser - Actor, Comedian, Author, and Musician. Ask Me Anything! • /r/IAmA". reddit.com. Retrieved October 23, 2016.
23. "The Chicken or The Egg?". Ricochet.com. February 13, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2015.

External links

• Paul Reiser on IMDb