Dave Attell is an American stand-up comedian, writer, and actor with a net worth of $6 million. Dave Attell is perhaps best known as the host of Comedy Central’s Insomniac with Dave Attell (2001–2004). He has written for Saturday Night Live (1993–1994) and The Jon Stewart Show (1993–1995), and his film and television appearances include Arrested Development (2005), Funny People (2009), Trainwreck (2015), The Jim Giffigan Show (2015–2016), and Crashing (2017–2019). Dave has also lent his voice to several projects, including Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995–1997), Bob’s Burgers (2017), and The Simpsons (2018).
Early Life
Dave Attell was born David Attell on January 18, 1965, in Queens, New York. He grew up in a Jewish household in Rockville Centre, New York, and his younger sister, Monica, is a musician who has served as Dave’s opening act. Attell attended New York University, earning a communications degree in 1987, and began trying out his comedy at open mic-nights after graduating.
Comedy Career
Dave worked his first stand-up gig at Governor’s in Levittown and has said that he totally bombed. He made his TV debut on VH1’s Stand-Up Spotlight in 1988, and he performed on The Late Show with David Letterman for the first time in 1993. Lorne Micheals saw Attell’s performance and hired him to be a writer on Saturday Night Live. Dave wrote on 20 episodes of the series and appeared on seven episodes.
Attell was then featured on the HBO Comedy Showcase (1995) and the 1995 Young Comedians Special, and he got his own HBO Comedy Half-Hour special in 1996. Dave later appeared on Pulp Comics (1997), Mr. Vegas All-Night Party Starring Drew Carey (1997), Just for Laughs (1997), and The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Drew Carey (1998). In 2001, he was nominated for an American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic, and he released his first comedy album, Skanks for the Memories…, in 2003. In 2006, Attell released the DVD Hey, Your Mouth’s Not Pregnant!, and the following year, HBO aired Captain Miserable, his first one-hour special. In 2014, his one-hour special Road Work aired on Comedy Central.
Television Career
A squiggly, animated version of Dave appeared on Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist in 1995 and 1997, and he was a commentator on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 1999 to 2002. He hosted “Insomniac with Dave Attell” from 2001 to 2004 and visited cities such as Atlanta, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Myrtle Beach, and Philadelphia. The series aired 45 episodes, and the DVDs The Best of Insomniac Uncensored (Vol. 1) and The Best of Insomniac Uncensored (Vol. 2) were released in 2003. Attell began appearing on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn in 2002, and in 2005, he appeared on two episodes of Arrested Development, playing himself, who in turn was playing David Cross’ Tobias Funke on the show-within-a-show Scandalmakers. In 2008, Dave hosted The Gong Show with Dave Attell, which ran for eight episodes on Comedy Central, and he hosted Dave’s Old Porn on Showtime from 2011 to 2012.
