birth_place article_title birth_date known_for employer education name
seattle , washington , u.s. john keister -lrb- comedian -rrb-
 15 february 1956 almost live ! king-tv , kiro-tv , art institute of seattle franklin high school , 1974 john keister
john keister -lrb- comedian -rrb-

john keister -lrb- born february 15 , 1956 -rrb- is a seattle-based comedian , writer , commentator and motivational speaker , best known as the host of the local comedy program `` almost live ! ''
from 1988 to 1999 .
a native of seattle , he grew up in the seward park neighborhood and graduated from franklin high school in 1974 .
he was an editor for `` the daily '' as a student at the university of washington , graduating with a degree in communications in 1979 .
he wrote for `` the rocket '' and initially joined king-tv as a music reviewer on a program called `` rev '' in 1984 .
shortly thereafter , he joined the cast of king 's local comedy program almost live ! .
following the departure of original host ross shafer , keister became the show 's host and its format was reworked to emphasize the opening monologue , sketches , and parody news segments .
he won a total of twelve local emmy awards for his work on the show .
`` almost live ! ''
was canceled by king in 1999 .
in 2000 , keister created a new sketch comedy show for competing station kiro-tv , titled `` the john report with bob '' .
its format was similar to the news report segment he had done on `` almost live ! ''
, with additional sketch material from bob nelson and local comedy troupes .
the new show was canceled after a year .
keister was a writer for the 2005 public television series `` the eyes of nye '' , starring fellow `` almost live ! ''
alumnus bill nye .
keister currently teaches video production classes at the art institute of seattle .
he has three sons , elroy , riley , and arlo .
keister is also a staff writer and producer for the critically acclaimed children 's pbs series `` bizkid $ '' taped at seattle 's kcts public television studios .
he shows up occasionally in several of the series short vignettes playing various funny characters .
on april 30 , 2009 , keister appeared on `` the brandon ivey show '' at the historic university theater in the u-district .
he refuted rumors regarding his death .
also in 2009 , keister was the narrator for `` sonicsgate '' , a documentary about the controversial relocation of the seattle supersonics to oklahoma city .
in january 2013 , keister returned to king-tv with a new comedy show called `` the 206 '' , along with former `` almost live ! ''
costar pat cashman and his son chris .
in october , 2014 , the 206 co-host pat cashman announced that keister had departed the show to pursue other interests .
when contacted by the seattle times , keister explained that he was happy that he was able to help get `` the 206 '' up and running , `` but everyone is working for almost nothing . ''
he said he is now putting together a one-man show called `` the keister monologues . ''
