David Herman

Comedian

MADtv

**David Herman** (born February 20, 1967) is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He was an original cast member on *MADtv* and played Michael Bolton in *Office Space*.[1] He is also known for his voice-work on *Bob's Burgers*, *Futurama* and *King of the Hill*.

## Early life

Herman was born into a Jewish family in New York City and raised in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in 1987, then attended the acting program at SUNY Purchase. Herman appeared in the films *Born on the Fourth of July*, *Lost Angels*, and *Let It Be Me*; but he is probably best known for his role as Michael Bolton in Mike Judge's *Office Space*. Earlier, Herman had joined the cast of John Leguizamo's *House of Buggin'* in 1994; however, that show was short-lived. When Fox decided to mount a sketch comedy show to replace *House of Buggin'*, Herman was kept on as an original *MADtv* cast member.

## Career

### *MADtv*

Herman was one of nine original cast members of *MADtv*[1] when the series debuted in 1995. Unlike the other original repertory and featured players, he was one of the few cast members who came to the show with an established acting career. Herman's *MADtv* characters included Mike Lawson (Incredible Findings), Generation X anchorman Marsh (*X News*), and concerned father Joel Linder. Former castmate Artie Lange referred to Herman as "a brilliant, talented actor" and called him "one of my best friends in show business."

Herman lampooned celebrities and famous figures such as Don Adams (as Maxwell Smart from *Get Smart*), Tim Allen (as Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor from *Home Improvement*), Woody Allen, Nicolas Cage, Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, David Duchovny (as Fox Mulder from *The X-Files*), Larry Flynt, Tom Hanks (as Forrest Gump and as Jim Lovell from *Apollo 13*), Larry King, Kenny Kingston, Regis Philbin, Charles Nelson Reilly, John Ritter (as himself and as Jack Tripper from *Three's Company*), Joel Schumacher, Robert Shapiro, Pauly Shore, Brent Spiner, Patrick Stewart (as Jean-Luc Picard from *Star Trek: The Next Generation*), and Alex Trebek.

Herman was a repertory performer on the show for two and a half seasons. He wanted to leave the show to do other projects, but Fox would not let him out of his contract as they considered him too valuable to the show. So he got himself fired by screaming all his lines during read-through. While continuing his voice work on *King of the Hill*, he came across the script for *Office Space*, for which *Hill* creator Mike Judge had specifically written the Michael Bolton part with Herman in mind.[2]

### Other television projects

Herman's television credits include guest-starring on the WB's *Angel* and Fox's action drama *24*.[1]

### Film projects

Although he is primarily a television actor, Herman has appeared in several films including *Dude, Where's My Car?* and *Fun with Dick and Jane.* Herman had a prominent role in the 1999 comedy *Office Space*, where he played a gangsta rap-loving nerd unfortunately named Michael Bolton who must endure questions about his relationship to the famous singer. In 2006, he appeared in another Mike

Judge film, *Idiocracy*.[1]

Voice acting

Herman is also known for his work as a voice actor in cartoons and video games, notably in *Futurama*, where he provides the voices of many recurring characters (including Scruffy, Roberto, Mayor Poopenmeyer, and Ogden Wernstrom), and *King of the Hill*, for which he voiced Anthony Page (the social worker from the pilot episode and "Junkie Business"), Eustis, and other incidental characters. His other voice work includes *Family Guy*, *American Dad!*, *Father of the Pride* (in which he voices Roy Horn), and the *Jak and Daxter* video game series. He starred as Ubuntu Goode (and other supporting voices) in *The Goode Family*. He also provides the voice for Mr. Frond (and other supporting voices) in Fox's *Bob's Burgers*, *OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes* where he voices Mr. Gar, and from 2012 to 2015 worked on the Comedy Central series *Brickleberry* as self-absorbed park ranger Steve Williams.