Thomas Lennon

Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director and novelist. As an actor he is best known for his work as a cast member on MTV's The State, for his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the Comedy Central series Reno 911! and as Felix Unger on the CBS series The Odd Couple. Lennon is also an accomplished screenwriter of several major studio comedies with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. Their films include comedies such as the Night at the Museum films, The Pacifier, Balls of Fury, and Baywatch.
==Early life==
Lennon was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Of Irish and Scottish descent, he is the son of Kathleen (McSheehy) and Timothy Lennon. He graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1988.
At the age of 16, he met friend and future co-star Kerri Kenney at Theatre Camp at Northwestern University. The two later attended NYU, where they joined a comedy troupe called The New Group.
==Career==
===Acting and performing===
While a member of The New Group, the comedy troupe changed its name to The State. As they performed their material at theaters and clubs in New York City, they worked on the MTV show You Wrote It, You Watch It. This led to the self-titled series The State (1993–95), which was nominated for a 1995 Cable Ace Award for Best Comedy Series. That same year, they created a special for CBS called The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special.
Following the cancellation of The State, Lennon, along with Kenney, Robert Ben Garant and Michael Ian Black, went on to create and star in the Comedy Central program Viva Variety (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of The State, called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme." Viva Variety received a 1997 Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Comedy Series. After Viva Variety, Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in Reno 911! (2003–09). Initially slated for Fox, the program later debuted on Comedy Central.
Lennon has appeared as a guest star in dozens of TV shows, including The League, Childrens Hospital, Party Down, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Comedy Bang Bang, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. One of his notable guest starring roles was as Joey Tribbiani's blackjack dealing, "identical hand twin" on the Friends fifth-season finale ("The One In Vegas," Pts. I and II). Additionally, he has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and at 31, had the second-most number of appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, occasionally playing guitar and incorporating music. He has appeared on The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, The Jeselnik Offensive, and The Benson Interruption. He was the guest on the first episode of Chris Hardwick's The Nerdist Podcast, which was recorded in Lennon's garage.
In 2010, Lennon and Garant created and starred in a sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. In May that year it was announced that NBC had decided not to produce it as a series.
In November and December 2011, Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick Geoff Peterson on the CBS show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.
Lennon has also appeared in numerous films, including Bad Teacher, Memento, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and I Love You, Man, for which he and costar Paul Rudd were nominated for a 2009 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. In both Christopher Nolan's film Memento (2000) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Lennon played the role of a doctor.
Lennon's voice acting work includes Kim Possible, Bob's Burgers, Archer and Planet Sheen, in which he played the character of Pinter. He played Scribble in Secret of the Wings and Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. He supplied the voice of Eddie the Shipboard Computer in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and plays the voice of Fearless Leader in the 2014 DreamWorks short film version of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is also the voice of Munk on Dawn of the Croods and the voice of Chief O'Hara in the Warner Brothers animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.
Since its premiere in October 2013, Lennon has appeared 17 times on the late-night internet-based improv panel game show, @midnight (which he also produces), winning a total of seven times.
In 2014, Lennon was cast as Felix Unger in the television series reboot of The Odd Couple opposite Matthew Perry, who plays Oscar Madison. The show ran for three seasons. In 2016, he co-starred as a scientist in Paramount Animation's Monster Trucks and began a recurring role on the Fox action sitcom Lethal Weapon as Leo Getz, a character previously portrayed on film by Joe Pesci. At the 2016 People's Choice Awards ceremony, he participated in an on-stage sketch parodying the recent gaffe by Steve Harvey at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.
===Screenwriting===
Thomas Lennon is a successful screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.
Among Garant and Lennon's credits are the Night at the Museum films, the 2005 Disney comedy The Pacifier and the 2006 prison comedy Let's Go to Prison.
In 2010, FX Network ordered a pilot episode for a Garant/Lennon science fiction television comedy called USS Alabama, set 1000 years in the future, aboard a United Nations peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama. Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can Too! in 2011.
Garant and Lennon wrote, directed and starred in the 2013 film Hell Baby starring Rob Corddry and Leslie Bibb. The film was produced by Darko Entertainment, and shot on location in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hell Baby premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Garant and Lennon are credited as story co-writers on the film version of Baywatch (2017).
More recently, The Machine, written by Garant and Lennon, is set to star Vin Diesel. Additionally, their script Action No. 1 is in pre-production.
Lennon is also the author of four of IFC's "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time.""50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time" IFC; April 7, 2008
===Novels===
Lennon has written a young adult novel Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles, the first in a series of Ronan Boyle novels.
==Personal life==
Lennon lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Jenny Robertson, and their son Oliver (born 2009).Pearlman, Cindy. "Oak Park native acts, writes way to 'Reno 911!' and beyond", Chicago Sun-Times. Published April 15, 2009. He is a fan of The Smiths and Morrissey, occasionally performing live with the tribute band "Sweet and Tender Hooligans" as a guest guitarist. Lennon is close friends with Weird Al Yankovic.
== Filmography ==
===Film===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1994	A Friend of Dorothy 	Moonie 	Short film
1998	Row Your Boat 	Census Taker 	
1999	Drop Dead Gorgeous 	Documentarian (voice) 	
2000	Memento 	Doctor 	
2001	Out Cold 	Eric Montclare 	
2002	Boat Trip 	The priest 	
2003	Le Divorce 	Roger Walker 	
2003	How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 	Thayer 	
2003	A Guy Thing 	Pete Morse 	
2004	Taxi 	 	Writer
2004	Heights 	Marshall 	
2005	Conversations with Other Women 	Videographer 	
2005	Herbie: Fully Loaded 	Larry Murphy 	Writer
2005	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 	Eddie the Shipboard Computer (voice) 	
2005	The Godfather of Green Bay 	D.U.G. 	
2005	The Pacifier 	 	Writer
2006	Night at the Museum 	 	Writer
2006	Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas 	Police officer 	
2006	Let's Go to Prison 	 	Writer
2006	Eden Court 	Shroeder Duncan 	
2007	Balls of Fury 	Karl Wolfschtagg 	Writer, producer
2007	Reno 911!: Miami 	Lieutenant Jim Dangle 	Writer, executive producer
2007	The Ten 	Scotty Pale 	
2008	Hancock 	Mike 	
2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Orville Wright 	WriterUncredited cameo
2009	17 Again 	Ned Gold 	
2009	I Love You, Man 	Doug 	
2009	Al's Brain in 3-D 	Co-Worker 	Short film
2010	Hot Tub Time Machine 	Customer 	Uncredited
2011	Cedar Rapids 	Roger Lemke 	
2011	How to Survive a Robot Uprising 	 	Writer
2011	Bad Teacher 	Carl Halabi 	
2011	What's Your Number? 	Dr. Barrett 'Barry' Ingold 	
2011	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas 	Todd 	
2012	The Hunger Pains 	Buttitch Totalapathy 	Short film
2012	What to Expect When You're Expecting 	Craig 	
2012	The Dark Knight Rises 	Doctor 	
2012	Secret of the Wings 	Reading Fairy (voice) 	
2012	Howard Cantour.com 	Rocco 	Short film
2013	Hell Baby 	Pat 	Writer, producer, director (with Robert Ben Garant)
2013	Rapture-Palooza 	Mr. Murphy 	
2013	Jerry, the Exorcist Roommate 	Jerry 	Short film
2013	We're the Millers 	Rick Nathanson 	
2014	Mr. Peabody and Sherman 	Italian Peasant #2 (voice) 	Also wrote additional dialogue
2014	Transformers: Age of Extinction 	Chief of Staff 	
2014	Rocky & Bullwinkle 	Fearless Leader / Mayan Princess (voice)	Short film; also writer
2014	Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast 	Scribble (voice) 	
2015	Knight of Cups 	Tom 	
2015	Hot Tub Time Machine 2 	BMW Guy 	Uncredited
2015	Grand Zero 	David Van Vleck 	Short film
2016	Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders 	Chief O'Hara / Prison Warden (voice) 	
2016	Monster Trucks 	Dr. Jim Dowd 	
2017	Baywatch 	 	Story writer
2017	Pottersville 	Brock Masterson 	
2017	Batman vs. Two-Face 	Chief O'Hara (voice) 	
2018	A Futile and Stupid Gesture 	Michael O'Donoghue 	
2018	The 15:17 to Paris 	Principal Michael Akers 	
2018	Half Magic 	Darren 	
2018	Dog Days 	Greg 	
2018	Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich 	Edgar 	
===Television===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1992 	You Wrote It, You Watch It 	Various 	Also writer
1993–95 	The State 	Various characters 	Also co-creator and writer
1995 	The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special 	Various characters 	Television special; also writer
1997 	Viva Variety 	Host Meredith Laupin 	16 episodes; also writer
1997–1999 	Hercules 	Atlas (voice) 	3 episodes
1999 	Friends 	Randall 	2 episodes
1999 	Strangers with Candy 	 	Writer: "Bogie Nights"
1999–2000 	Jesse 	Ernie 	2 episodes
2001 	The Legend of Tarzan 	Landlord (voice) 	Episode: "Tarzan and the Mysterious Visitor"
2002 	Kim Possible 	Unknown character (voice) 	Episode: "Kimitation Nation"
2002 	MDs 	Chester E. Donge 	8 episodes
2003–09 	Reno 911! 	Lieutenant Jim Dangle 	Also creator
2004–06 	Brandy & Mr. Whiskers 	Vic (voice) 	2 episodes
2006 	Stacked 	Gary 	Episode: "You're Getting Sleepy"
2007 	Wainy Days 	Ice Cream Man 	Episode: "Dorvid Days"
2009 	The League 	Bryce 	Episode: "The Usual Bet"
2010 	Party Down 	Nick DiCintio 	Episode: "Nick DiCintio's Orgy Night"
2010 	Svetlana 	Fyodor 	Episode: "Wish Fulfillment"
2010–11 	Funny or Die Presents 	Richard / Co-pilot 	5 episodes
2010–13 	Planet Sheen 	Pinter / Blurg (voices) 	15 episodes
2011 	Memphis Beat 	Keith Grant 	Episode: "Inside Man"
2011 	Childrens Hospital 	Pat 	Episode: "Home Is Where the Hospital Is"
2011 	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson 	Geoff Peterson The Robot Skeleton - Chloe Banderas (voice)	3 episodes
2012 	New Girl 	Neil 	Episode: "See Ya"
2012–15 	Comedy Bang! Bang! 	Various 	4 episodes
2012 	How I Met Your Mother 	Klaus 	2 episodes
2012 	Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 	Trey 	Epis
2012 	Blake Shelton's Not So Family Christmas 	Director 	Television special
2012–14 	Bob's Burgers 	Chuck (voice) 	3 episodes
2013 	Franklin & Bash 	Harley 	Episode: "Shoot to Thrill"
2013 	NTSF:SD:SUV:: 	Santa 	Episode: "Wreck the Halls"
2013 	@midnight 	Contestant 	Also executive producer
2013 	Key & Peele 	Person at People Park #5 	Episode: "Pussy on the Chainwax"
2013 	Wendell & Vinnie 	Lord Derek 	Episode: "Swindle & Vinnie"
2013–14 	Sean Saves the World 	Max Thompson 	14 episodes
2013–14 	Newsreaders 	Vincent Gates / Pritchard Batchman 	3 episodes
2014 	Archer 	Charles (voice) 	3 episodes
2014 	Hollywood Game Night 	Himself 	Episode: "Things That Go Clue-Boom in the Night"
2014 	The Goldbergs 	Tauntaun Todd 	Episode: "A Wrestler Named Goldberg"
2014 	Hot in Cleveland 	Agent Gilmore 	Episode: "Surprise!"
2014 	The Birthday Boys 	Lou Skywalker 	Episode: "Cerf's Folly"
2014 	Comedy Central's All-Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special	 	Television special; writer
2015 	Over the Garden Wall 	Jimmy Brown (voice) 	Episode: "Chapter 3: Schooltown Follies"
2015 	The Hotwives 	Garrett Truesdale 	Episode: "You Make Me Wanna Drought"
2015 	Crash Test: With Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer 	Studio Security 	Television special
2015 	Robot Chicken 	Various (voices) 	Episode: "Garbage Sushi"
2015–17 	The Odd Couple 	Felix Unger 	Main role; 38 episodes
2015–16 	Another Period 	Marquis de Sainsbury 	5 episodes
2015–16 	Drunk History 	Major Jesse Marcel / Timothy Leary 	2 episodes
2015–16 	TripTank 	Caller / Broker / Rob (voice) 	3 episodes
2015–16 	Dawn of the Croods 	Munk / Crud (voices) 	9 episodes
2016 	Animals. 	Kevin (voice) 	Episode: "Rats."
2016 	Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures 	Wick Cooper / Cleaning Droid (voices) 	4 episodes
2016 	Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ 	Serge 	6 episodes; also executive producer
2016, 2017	American Dad! 	News Director, Satan (voices) 	2 episodes
2017–19 	Santa Clarita Diet 	Principal Novak 	Recurring role
2017–19 	Lethal Weapon 	Leo Getz 	Recurring role
2017 	Milo Murphy's Law 	Henry (voice) 	Episode: "Murphy's Lard"
2017 	Justice League Action 	Amazo (voice) 	Episode: "Boo-ray for Bizarro"
2017 	Spirit Riding Free 	Garrett Truesdale (voice) 	Episode: "Lucky and the Long Way Home"
2018 	The Thundermans 	Assista Boy 	Episode: "Side-Kicking and Screaming"
2018 	For the People 	Freddie Morris/Captain Shadow 	Episode: "Everybody's a Superhero"
2018 	Sideswiped 	Aaron Cunningham 	Episode: "Matched Up"
2019 	Teachers 	LarryBop 	Episode: "Face Your Peers"
2019 	Knight Squad 	 	Episode: “Knight of the Living Dead”
2019 	American Housewife 	Simon 	Episode: “Insta-Friends”
2019 	Where's Waldo? 	Wizard Whitebeard 	Main voice role
===Web===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2019	Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television	Himself	Episode: "For Your Inconsideration"
==References==
==External links==
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Category:Actors from Oak Park, Illinois
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