Rob Delaney

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For other people with the same name, see Robert Delaney.

Rob Delaney
Rob Delaney.jpg
Delaney in July 2012
Born (1977-01-19) January 19, 1977 (age 44)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • writer
  • activist
Years active2003–present
Spouse(s)Leah Delaney
Children4
Websiterobdelaney.com

Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He was the co-star and co-writer of the TV show Catastrophe, and has appeared in action-comedy films such as Deadpool 2 (2018) and Hobbs & Shaw (2019).

Early life[]

Delaney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1977, the son of Nancy and Robert Delaney. He grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[1] He is of Irish descent.[2] He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a degree in musical theater in 1999.[3]

Career[]

Twitter[]

Delaney first came to the attention of the public via Twitter, on which he started posting in 2009.[4] By 2016, he had over 1.2 million followers. While other comics were hesitant to share their material on social media, he is considered one of the first comedians to use social media to publish jokes.[5] He credited Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan with his rise in popularity after Linehan began responding to his tweets.[6] In 2010, Paste magazine named Delaney one of the 10 funniest people on Twitter.[7] In May 2012, he became the first comedian to win the award for "Funniest Person on Twitter" at The Comedy Awards.[8]

Writing[]

Delaney has written several articles for Vice[9] and The Guardian.[10] His book Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. was published by Spiegel & Grau in November 2013.[11][12]

Acting[]

Television[]

Delaney and Sharon Horgan being interviewed about Catastrophe in 2015

In December 2011, Comedy Central announced that Delaney would shoot a pilot for a variety show, called @RobDelaney.[13] However, the series was not picked up. Instead, Delaney moved on to co-write and co-star with Sharon Horgan in Catastrophe,[14] that began airing in the UK on January 19, 2015 on Channel 4. The show follows their characters after they get together following a brief affair while he is in the UK on business, and then moves there permanently after he learns that she has become pregnant.[15] It debuted in the United States on Amazon in June 2015.[16] There are now four seasons available with the fourth season confirmed to be the final of the series.[17] Channel 4 aired the concluding episode on February 12, 2019, while Amazon announced the US release date to be March 15 of the same year.[18] The series earned him his sole Emmy nomination, for "Outstanding Comedy Writing".[19]

Since moving to the UK in 2014,[20] Delaney has appeared on several British panel shows, including Have I Got News for You,[21] Would I Lie to You?,[22] 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown,[23] The Big Fat Quiz of the Year[24] and Room 101.[25] In 2016, he appeared on Travel Man as a guest host for the Spanish city of Seville,[26] and in March 2021, he was the guest announcer on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.[27]

Film[]

In the film Deadpool 2 (2018), Delaney played Peter, an average middle-aged man who has no superpowers and joins Deadpool's X-Force.[28] As part of the film's promotion, a Twitter account was launched in Peter's name.[29]

Throughout 2019, Delaney had a series of cameos in Hollywood blockbuster films. He reteamed with director David Leitch and actor Ryan Reynolds for Hobbs & Shaw, in which he appeared as Agent Loeb.[30] He appeared as a theater director in Paul Feig's comedy-drama Last Christmas.[31] Both movies went to No. 1 at the UK box office.[32][33] He also appeared opposite Anne Hathaway in The Hustle as Todd and the Fox News drama Bombshell co-starring Charlize Theron.[34] He filmed a cameo as Elvis Presley in Dexter Fletcher's Elton John musical biopic Rocketman, which was omitted from the theatrical cut.[35] It was also reported that he would appear opposite Reynolds another time, in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.[36] However, he did not appear in the final film. In September 2019 he was cast in The Good House opposite Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.[37]

Personal life[]

Delaney married his wife, Leah, at an undisclosed date. They are long-time residents of London,[38] and have had four sons together.[39][40] In February 2018, Delaney revealed that their son Henry had died in January at the age of two-and-a-half, having received extensive treatment for a brain tumor since 2016.[41] The couple's fourth son was born in August 2018.[42][43]

Delaney has publicly shared his experience with multiple issues, including depression and alcoholism.[44][45] In 2002, he blacked out while driving and drove his car into a building owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In the wreck, he broke his left wrist and right arm, and had both of his knees scratched to the bone. This prompted him to stop drinking.[46][47] He wrote about getting a vasectomy in 2020.[48]

In 2018, Delaney became the first presenter on the CBeebies Bed Time Stories programme to tell a story in Makaton, which he used to use to communicate with his late son Henry.[49]

On Sara Cox's show Between the Covers, Delaney chose the short story collection A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin as one of his favorite books, saying, "One of the things I like most about [Berlin] is not that the stories are amazing, because they all absolutely are, but the way that she wrote is what’s exciting to me. She had a very difficult life, but she couldn't stop herself from writing. She doesn't use a lot of flowery language, which I really don't like. The stories are so amazing and she just had to tell them and you can really feel that in this collection. I think it's as good as it gets."[50]

Delaney is a democratic socialist and an atheist.[51]

Political views[]

Delaney often writes about political issues. He has said that he chooses presidential candidates based mostly on their policies regarding education and health care, reasoning: "Make it easier for your citizens to be healthy and smart and they will save you in ways you have yet to imagine."[52] He supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and voted for Hillary Clinton in the subsequent general election.[53] After Donald Trump was elected president, Delaney joined the Democratic Socialists of America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the American Civil Liberties Union.[54] In February 2019, Delaney endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his second presidential campaign.[55]

Delaney's reaction to the UK's vote to leave the EU in 2016 was simply, "Wow people are idiots."[56] He referred to the Brexit Party as an "army of morons and bigots".[57] In June 2017, as a long-time resident of England who cannot vote due to being a non-UK citizen, he endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 general election.[58] In November 2018, he supported a petition organized by Labour campaign group Momentum calling on Labour MPs to vote against the EU withdrawal agreement which had been negotiated by Theresa May's government.[59]

In November 2019, Delaney joined other public figures in signing a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.[60] In December 2019, along with 42 other public figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few".[61][62]

Delaney has appeared on the American left-wing podcast Chapo Trap House, featuring as a special guest in a live show leading up to the 2019 UK general election.[63] He has also been a vocal supporter of the Antifa movement.[64][65]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year Work Role Notes
2007 Wild Girls Gone Whipped Cream Ass Man
2014 Life After Beth News Anchor
2018 Deadpool 2 Peter[66]
2019 The Hustle Todd
Rocketman Elvis Presley Deleted scene[67][68]
Hobbs & Shaw Agent Loeb
Last Christmas Theatre Director
Bombshell Gil Norman
2021 Tom & Jerry Henry Dubros
Wrath of Man Boss Blake Halls
The Good House Peter Newbold Post-production
Ron's Gone Wrong Andrew Voice; post-production
Home Sweet Home Alone Jeff Post-production
2022 Mission: Impossible 7 Post-production
TBA The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight Post-production
The Bubble Post-production

Television[]

Year Work Role Notes
2009 Coma, Period. Dan Humford 10 episodes
Outer Space Astronauts Commander Cake Episode: "One Year Ago"
2010 This Week in Comedy Himself Episode: "Karen Kilgariff/Rob Delaney"
2011 The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest Himself 6 episodes
2012 Key & Peele Various 3 episodes
First Dates with Toby Harris Brad Episode: "Ex-Girlfriends"
2013 Rob Delaney Live at the Bowery Ballroom Himself Live performance special on Netflix; also executive producer
Cougar Town Guide Episode: "Have Love Will Travel"
Burning Love Kirk 3 episodes
2014 The Michael J. Fox Show Clete Matthews Episode: "Biking"
2015–2019 Catastrophe Rob Norris 24 episodes; also co-creator, co-writer, executive producer
2016 Travel Man: 48 Hours In Himself Episode: "Seville"
2018 Action Team Victor Episode: "Super Mega Robot"
Trust Lansing Episode: "Kodachrome"
Danger Mouse Night Knight (voice) Episode: "Daylight Savings Crime"
Bitz & Bob Bevel (voice) 41 episodes
2021 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Guest announcer 2 episodes
The Great North Brian Tobin (voice) Episode: "Pride & Prejudance Adventure"
No Activity Magnolia (voice) 2 episodes
Birdgirl Brian O'Brien (voice) 6 episodes
Between the Covers Himself Episode #2.2
TBA The Man Who Fell to Earth Hatch Flood Main role, upcoming series
TBA The Power Tom Recurring role, upcoming series

References[]

  1. ^ "How 'funniest person on Twitter' Rob Delaney revived the TV romcom – The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  2. ^ "Irish American Bostonian Rob Delaney named the 'Funniest Person on Twitter'". IrishCentral.com. May 7, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  3. ^ Delaney, Rob (November 5, 2013). "Rob Delaney: A Beautiful, Shimmering Red Flag". Esquire. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  4. ^ Friar, Christine (April 27, 2012). "Rob Delaney Talks Abortion, Comedy And That Famous Green Speedo With 'Vice'". HuffPost. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  5. ^ "Rob Delaney, From Free Twitter Jokes to Comedic Stardom". #TheLabNYC. June 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  6. ^ Holt, Kris (July 4, 2012). "Rob Delaney to The Daily Dot: 'I had to be good at Twitter'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  7. ^ "The 10 Best Comedians of 2010". Paste Magazine. December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  8. ^ "Rob Delaney: First comedian to win 'funniest person on Twitter'". mashable. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  9. ^ "Articles by Rob Delaney". Vice Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  10. ^ "Rob Delaney Profile". The Guardian. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  11. ^ Gilbert, Matthew (November 16, 2013). "Book Review: Rob Delaney by Rob Delaney". Boston Globe.
  12. ^ Ryan, Kyle (November 4, 2013). "Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  13. ^ "Comedy Central preps Twitter show". c21media.net. December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  14. ^ "Catastrophe a new C4 comedy created by Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan" (Press release). Channel 4.
  15. ^ "Star Wars' Carrie Fisher in new Sharon Horgan comedy Catastrophe – first look". Radio Times. 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  16. ^ "'Catastrophe' renewed for seasons 3 and 4". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  17. ^ "Sharon Horgan teases Carrie Fisher tribute and emotional ending in final ever episode of Catastrophe". Radio Times. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  18. ^ Wright, Megh (February 12, 2019). "Catastrophe Returns to the States for Its Final Season Next Month". Vulture. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  19. ^ "Rob Delaney". Television Academy. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  20. ^ O'Malley, Katie (January 20, 2017). "Catastrophe's Rob Delaney Explains The Differences Between US And British Healthcare And It's Blummin' Brilliant". ELLE. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  21. ^ "Have I Got News for You - Episode 6". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  22. ^ "Would I Lie to You?". TVGuide.com. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  23. ^ "8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown - S7 - Episode 1". Radio Times. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  24. ^ "Big Fat Quiz of the Year sparks backlash for booking no female comedians". Metro. December 18, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  25. ^ "Room 101 - Series 6 Episode 7". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  26. ^ "Travel Man: 48 Hours in Seville review – Richard Ayoade reigns in Spain". the Guardian. March 26, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
  27. ^ Seddon, Dan (March 6, 2021). "Deadpool 2's Rob Delaney shocks Takeaway fans with Dirty Dancing confession". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
  28. ^ Deadpool 2, IMDb, Full Credits Cast List retrieved August 2, 2019.
  29. ^ "Peter W. (@PeterW_1974) on Twitter". Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
  30. ^ Hobbs & Shaw, IMDb, Full Credits Cast List retrieved August 2, 2019.
  31. ^ Myers, Kimber. "'Last Christmas' Is A Bad Holiday Rom-Com That Squanders Its Dazzling Stars [Review]". theplaylist.net. The Playlist. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  32. ^ Gant, Charles. "UK box office report, August 2–4: are Hobbs & Shaw fast enough for The Lion King?". www.telegraph.co.uk/. The Telegraph. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  33. ^ Dalton, Ben. "'Last Christmas' ends 'Joker' UK box office reign with £2.6m debut". www.screendaily.com. Screen Daily. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  34. ^ "Roger Ailes Biopic Adds Deadpool 2's Rob Delaney to Cast". comingsoon.net. Coming Soon. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  35. ^ Clarke, Patrick. "Rob Delaney reveals he was meant to play Elvis in 'Rocketman'". NME. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  36. ^ Allen, Ben. "Rob Delaney confirms he WILL star in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu alongside Ryan Reynolds". Radio Times. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  37. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony. "Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Beverly D'Angelo & More Move Into Amblin Partners' 'The Good House'". deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  38. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (August 22, 2014). "@markhoppus Hi Mark, I live in London now if you ever need a place to stay or just want to talk" (Tweet). Retrieved March 4, 2019 – via Twitter.
  39. ^ North, Kyle (November 5, 2013). "Rob Delaney explains why Phoebe Gloeckner's A Child's Life is "the North Star"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  40. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (May 7, 2015). "UK • Can you share this tweet with your grandfather & any stupid cousins? t.co/cqp7jFfrAF" (Tweet). Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
  41. ^ "Rob Delaney". facebook.com. Retrieved February 9, 2018.[non-primary source needed]
  42. ^ "Rob Delaney reveals birth of fourth child months after son's death". The Guardian. December 30, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  43. ^ DeSantis, Rachel (March 5, 2019). "Rob Delaney Feared He Wouldn't 'Bond' with His New Baby After His 2½-Year-Old Son's Death". People. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  44. ^ On Depression & Getting Help. Robdelaney.tumblr.com (February 26, 2010). Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  45. ^ Delaney, Rob (October 1, 2010). "Comedy". Vice. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  46. ^ Delaney, Rob (2011). "Take a Stroll... With Rob Delaney: Helping You, Helping Me". Vice. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  47. ^ Freeman, Hadley (September 17, 2012). "Rob Delaney: 'Twitter has rocketed me to a whole new level of standup'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  48. ^ Delaney, Rob. "'Could I feel what they were doing? Yes': Rob Delaney on the pain and pleasure of his vasectomy". The Guardian. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  49. ^ "Delaney to read and sign CBeebies story". BBC News. November 13, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  50. ^ "Between the Covers: Favourite reads from Vick Hope, Rob Delaney, Rick Stein and Rachel Parris". BBC. May 17, 2021.
  51. ^ Constant, Paul. "Yes, a Bird Is an Animal". The Stranger. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  52. ^ Delaney, Rob (2011). "Take a Stroll... With Rob Delaney: A Voter's Guide". Vice. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  53. ^ Delaney, Rob (2016). "Who I'm voting for and why". Tumblr. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  54. ^ @robdelaney (December 11, 2016). "Joining/donating to/getting involved w/ @NAACP @DemSocialists @PPact @CAIRNational @ACLU & @keithellison's campaign to head DNC feels good" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2016 – via Twitter.[non-primary source needed]
  55. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (February 17, 2019). "I'm publicly supporting Sanders as he prepares to declare he's running just so online teens/millennials feel #safe to do so. Off the internet, ppl love his policies & he'll do great in primaries. But some ppl on here don't like him & are loud so I'm here to say nuts to that" (Tweet). Retrieved February 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
  56. ^ delaney, rob (October 15, 2016). "Line of thought so bizarre; with Brexit or when Bush won in 2004 I thought, "Wow people are idiots," not, "Rigged!" #Soft lil' coward…https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/787258211283918848 …".
  57. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (May 23, 2019). "The Brexit Party is an army of morons & bigots run by a few hedge fund managers seeking to asset-strip the UK. @UKLabour is the party of democratic socialism, the NHS & education, which are the building blocks of a healthy, just society" (Tweet). Retrieved February 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
  58. ^ Milne, Oliver (June 8, 2017). "Who are celebrities voting for in 2017 General Election? The A-Z of famous names supporting Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems and Greens". Daily Mirror. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  59. ^ Ramiro, Joana (November 19, 2018). "This comedy star just supported a Momentum petition to bring down May's Brexit deal". Left Foot Forward. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  60. ^ Neale, Matthew (November 16, 2019). "Exclusive: New letter supporting Jeremy Corbyn signed by Roger Waters, Robert Del Naja and more". NME. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  61. ^ "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  62. ^ Proctor, Kate (December 3, 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  63. ^ "375 - Live in London: Chapo Calling feat. Rob Delaney (12/12/19) | Chapo Trap House on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  64. ^ Rob Delaney [@robdelaney] (August 13, 2018). "I ♥ Antifa" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  65. ^ Rob Delaney [@robdelaney] (September 1, 2017). "Antifa is good. I know there are plenty of voices saying otherwise. Here's why... ↓ …" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  66. ^ "Peter from Deadpool 2 Has His Own Hilarious Twitter Account". April 19, 2018.
  67. ^ Clarke, Patrick (June 18, 2019). "Rob Delaney reveals he was meant to play Elvis in 'Rocketman'". NME. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  68. ^ "Rob Delaney's role cut from Rocketman after actor permanently dyed hair black". Metro. June 16, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.

External links[]

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