Theo Von

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Theo Von
Theo Von Comedian.jpg
Von in August 2016
Birth nameTheodor Capitani von Kurnatowski
Born (1980-03-19) March 19, 1980 (age 41)
Louisiana, United States
MediumStand-up, film, television
EducationLouisiana State University, University of New Orleans
Years active1999–present
GenresObservational comedy
Subject(s)Human behavior, human sexuality, American politics, gender differences
Websitetheovon.com

Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski (born March 19, 1980), known professionally as Theo Von, is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, television personality, YouTuber, and actor. He is the host of the This Past Weekend podcast and co-host of The King and the Sting podcast, along with fellow comedian Brendan Schaub.

Early life[]

Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski was born to Gina Capitani and Roland Achilles, who was originally from Bluefields, Nicaragua, and was 70 years old when Theo was born.[1] Von is of Italian and Irish descent on his mother's side and of primarily Polish as well as Native American descent on his father's.[2][3][4]

Von grew up in Covington, Louisiana, with his older brother and two younger sisters, all of whom currently reside in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Von was legally emancipated at age fourteen.[5] In his early years, Von was selected to be part of a search and capture mission when a group of wild monkeys escaped in his town. They were later found in and around the stray animal belt. He graduated from Mandeville High School in Mandeville, Louisiana. He attended Louisiana State University for a time, as well as Loyola University New Orleans, University of Arizona, College of Charleston, and Santa Monica College.[6] Von received his undergraduate degree in 2011 from the University of New Orleans.[7][8]

Career[]

Television and film[]

2000–2008: Reality television[]

Von began a professional career in entertainment at age nineteen when he starred in MTV's Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour in 2000. He was recruited to the show while studying at Louisiana State University.

Following his season of Road Rules, Von was on four seasons and nearly seventy episodes of MTV's reality game show The Challenge, formerly known as Real World/Road Rules Challenge. The show was a spin off of MTV's The Real World and Road Rules. He was part of the cast of the seasons Battle of the Seasons (2002), The Gauntlet (2003–2004), Battle of the Sexes II (2004–2005), and Fresh Meat (2006). Von was runner-up in 2002 and won the following two seasons.[9] Concurrently to the airing of Real World/Road Rules Challenge in 2006, Von competed on Last Comic Standing.

Von returned to reality TV in early 2008, when he was a panelist on the 2008 short-lived ABC Family reality competition show America's Prom Queen. In mid-2008, he was one of the members of the Comedy Central sketch/competition show Reality Bites Back. He won the show, beating out fellow comedians Amy Schumer, Bert Kreischer, and Tiffany Haddish, among others.

2012–present: Game show host and acting[]

Beginning in 2011, Von took over as a host of the popular Yahoo online TV recap show Primetime in No Time.[10][11] Von hosted the TBS hidden camera show Deal With It, executive produced by Howie Mandel, for its run of three seasons from 2013 to 2014.[12]

During this period, Von began appearing in cameo acting roles in a few television shows including Inside Amy Schumer and Why? with Hannibal Buress. He has said that he was not more interested in acting earlier on, despite having opportunities to do pilots and sitcoms, because he was not excited about particular projects and that they often conflicted with his touring and podcasting schedules.[13]

In Spring 2018, Von's three-episode scripted comedy show Man Up was released on Comedy Central.[14] In August 2019, Von announced that he had been cast in the big-budget film The Tomorrow War (at the time known as Ghost Draft) and had been recruited to the project by its star Chris Pratt. A few weeks later, Von announced on his podcast that he had dropped out of the movie due to the time commitment.[13][15]

Stand-up[]

Von began performing stand-up comedy as a young man in Louisiana. At age 23, after his tenure on MTV, he decided to move to Los Angeles and professionally pursue stand-up.[16][17] For some time, he had difficulty as an entertainer in Hollywood as talent agents would not give him a chance, viewing him as a reality TV star.[18] It took years to shake this image and establish himself as a comedian.[19]

Von achieved one of his first major comedic accomplishments a few years later in 2006 when he won the title of Fan Favorite on the online competition aligned with the fourth season of Last Comic Standing.[20] Around this time, Von also began touring his set nationally. He also took part in five international tours for the USO which included performing at Guantanamo Bay.[21][16]

In 2009, Von popularized "crank texting" (sending a text message to random phone numbers to incite conversations), and began his "crank texting" blog, which was picked up as a column by CollegeHumor a year later.[22][23]

On June 1, 2012, Von was the featured comedian in an episode of Comedy Central's The Half Hour, now known as Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents.[16] He also promoted his comedy on The Arsenio Hall Show, Hello Ross, Chelsea Lately, Watch What Happens Live, @midnight, and This Is Not Happening, among other television shows. In 2016, Netflix released Von's debut hour-long comedy special No Offense. The show was taped at the Civic Theatre in New Orleans, Louisiana.[24] In Summer 2019, Von embarked on a three-month national tour called The Dark Arts Tour.[25]

Podcasting[]

As of 2020, Von hosts two podcasts, This Past Weekend and The King and The Sting. Von has been a recurring guest on many comedians' podcasts including The Joe Rogan Experience, Joey Diaz's The Church of What’s Happening Now, The Fighter and the Kid, and Bobby Lee's TigerBelly, among others.[11]

2011–2018: Early ventures[]

In April 2011, Von began his first podcast, The Comedy Sideshow. Taped at the Improv Comedy Club in Hollywood, Von would interview comedians and other entertainers. The show had twenty-three episodes, the last of which premiered in November of that year.[26]

In 2015, Von started a weekly podcast with Matthew Cole Weiss called Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss. Two totally opposite friends – comedian Theo Von and filmmaker/journalist Matt Cole Weiss - compete to see who has better “alleged" tales of celebrities, hilarity, trauma, dating, success and failure from their years living in Hollywood. The podcast lasted three years and had a total of 123 episodes.[27]

2016–present: This Past Weekend and The King and the Sting[]

Von began a new podcast in December 2016, This Past Weekend. The show is a long-form video podcast which features Von storytelling, answering fan voicemails, as well as thoughtful guest interviews.[28] Von released his two-hundredth episode in May 2019.[29]

In December 2018, Von and comedian Brendan Schaub started a new podcast called The King and the Sting. At the podcast's release, The King and The Sting debuted at number 1 on the iTunes Podcast charts in the United States and also reached the top charts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, and Australia.[30]

Personal life[]

Von lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He recently moved production of his podcast This Past Weekend to Nashville, Tennessee.[31]

Appearances in media[]

Comedy specials and albums[]

  • No Offense (Netflix, 2016)[32]
  • 30lb Bag of Hamster Bones (2017 album) - on March 6 it placed #1 on the iTunes Comedy Album charts and #4 on Billboard.[33]

Podcasts[]

  • The Comedy Sideshow (2011)
  • Allegedly with Theo Von & Matthew Cole Weiss (2015–2018)
  • This Past Weekend (2016–present)[34]
  • The King and the Sting (with Brendan Schaub; 2018–present)[30]

Filmography[]

As himself
Year Title Notes
2000 Road Rules: Maximum Velocity Tour Contestant
2002 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons Contestant
2003–04 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet Contestant
2004-05 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Sexes 2 Contestant
2005 Battle of the Network Reality Stars Contestant
2006 Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Fresh Meat Contestant
2006 Last Comic Standing Won the title of "Last Comic Downloaded" (most downloads for online clips).[20]
2008 America's Prom Queen Panelist
2008 Live at Gotham Season 3
2008 Reality Bites Back Contestant
2012-14 Primetime in No Time Host; replaced former host Frank Nicotero[12]
2012 The Half Hour
2013–14 Deal With It Host
2016 Acting Out Himself
2019 Hot Ones Guest
2019 Impaulsive Guest
Acting
Year Title Role Notes
2013 InAPPropriate Comedy Mountain Climber Film[35]
2013 Inside Amy Schumer Director Episode: "A Porn Star Is Born"
2015 Why? with Hannibal Buress Alex

References[]

  1. ^ McIntyre, Michael K. (September 13, 2017). "Theo Von brings New Orleans flavor to the Hilarities stage this weekend". cleveland.com.
  2. ^ Theo Von on "Road Rules", retrieved August 22, 2019
  3. ^ Theo Von & Andrew Santino Make Fry Bread Tacos: Something's Burning with Bert Kreischer, retrieved August 23, 2019
  4. ^ "RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: SIESS, WAGNER, CLEMENT, COBERLY, DUPUIS, TREADWAY, LEVIN , RICH AND RELATED FAMILIES". worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  5. ^ Road Rules S09E01 Walking on the Wind, retrieved August 18, 2019
  6. ^ "Theo Von". OC Weekly. June 10, 2010. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  7. ^ Walker, Dave. "Theo Von gets his own Comedy Central standup showcase". Times-Picayune. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  8. ^ "Alumni Spotlights - Theo Von". unoalumni.com. Retrieved August 18, 2019.
  9. ^ Alvey, Michael (June 16, 2019). "The Greatest Male Players in Challenge History: #13- Theo Vonkurnatowski". Medium. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  10. ^ "Theo Von Takes Over as 'Prime Time in No Time' Host". TheWrap. February 17, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b "About – Theo Von". Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Deadline Hollywood 2013
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Fifty Cent Sniffs | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #224, retrieved August 22, 2019
  14. ^ "Man Up". Comedy Central. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  15. ^ Kroll, Justin (August 21, 2019). "Chris Pratt's 'Ghost Draft' Adds Comedian Theo Von". Variety. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c Innovative Artists (2013). "Theo Von biography" (PDF). Innovative Comedy. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  17. ^ Schulte 2018
  18. ^ Lee & Von 2017, p. 41:00
  19. ^ Kozell 2016
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b Dehnart 2006
  21. ^ "Young Hollywood | For a Good Laugh, Call Theo Von". younghollywood.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  22. ^ Von 2010
  23. ^ Donnelly 2011
  24. ^ "Theo Von 'No Offense' Netflix Special Taping". brownpapertickets.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  25. ^ "Theo Von". facebook.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  26. ^ podcasts.com https://www.podcasts.com/the-comedy-sideshow-with-theo-von/page/20. Retrieved August 23, 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  27. ^ "Final Episode Allegedly With Matthew Cole Weiss podcast". player.fm. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  28. ^ "This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von". stitcher.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  29. ^ Chris Lilley | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #200, retrieved August 23, 2019
  30. ^ Jump up to: a b "iTunesCharts.net: 'King and the Sting' by Brendan Schaub & Theo Von (American Podcasts iTunes Chart)". itunescharts.net. Retrieved July 9, 2019.
  31. ^ Nashville (video). This Past Weekend. September 8, 2020. 4:23-8:59 minutes in. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  32. ^ Netflix 2018
  33. ^ Billboard 2018
  34. ^ Von 2018
  35. ^ "Inappropriate Comedy". IMDB.com. Retrieved September 14, 2013.

Selected work

External links[]

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