Andrew J. Lederer
A performer since childhood, Andrew J. Lederer appeared as a vocal soloist with the Brooklyn Borough-Wide Chorus, both in live performance and on CBS-TV. He became a comedian as a teenager and acted in movies and television, including Family Ties, The Facts of Life, and Fame plus starring roles in the movies Out of Control and Body Count (and an excised scene - later restored on DVD - in This is Spinal Tap). Later, he became an entertainment journalist, working as a writer and/or editor for Film Threat Magazine, Wild Cartoon Kingdom, Sci-Fi Universe and others (even the National Enquirer!).
Andrew wrote a substantial portion of the famous Disney/McDonalds Trivia Challenge (which was so hard it was reported on in the major newsweeklies and caused the overworked library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to suspend its information line for the duration of the contest). His original screenplay,Won't Fade Out, was given its own chapter in the book The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made (St. Martin’s Press, 1999), alongside unfinished efforts by the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, and Alfred Hitchcock.
Andrew is a prominent “alternative” comedian. His long-running The Second Show and Eugene Mirman and Bobby Tisdale's Invite Them Up were the first comedy shows at Rififi/Cinema Classics, one of alternative or indie comedy's most important New York venues. His one-person shows, Petula Clark's Greatest Hits, Bridge-Burner, and Me and Hitler were all presented as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In 2007, Andrew will be retuning to Edinburgh as a performer and also acting as a consultant for a new Fringe venue, The Green Room.
Andrew recently made a high profile return to singing as part of the Loser's Lounge Tribute to the Bee Gees.
Style
Lederer's performance style has increasingly tended toward storytelling rather than a recitation of jokes or more standard comic observations. His one-time roommate, Marc Price. has called him the "father of alternative comedy" but, as Lederer points out, this could only be true if any of the major practitioners had actually been influenced by him, which they provably have not.
Influence
Lederer has often worked in the background, privately providing material for other performers and writers.
He wrote sequences performed by comedian Jackie Diamond (Michael Rosenberg) on Fox TV's Comic Strip Live and produced segments for Marc Price on CBS TV's The Midnight Hour outside the auspices of the productions themselves. Additionally, he has advised and contributed to animation and film histories by Jerry Beck and others.
As a consultant to Will Ryan, he was a key player in some of the more recent attempts to popularize the animated character Elmo Aardvark
And though Lederer generally "works clean", edgy, underground comic Rick Shapiro (who very much does not) has credited seeing Andrew with making him realize he could talk about what he wanted to on stage and not be limited by convention.
Work as Producer
Andrew has been producer or co-producer (often with Parker Entertainment) of a number of live productions including many of Scott Blakeman's political comedy shows and the play Lysistrata 100.
He co-produced comedian Ahmed Ahmed's Richard Pryor Award-winning 2004 Edinburgh Festival show and the Edinburgh run of Rain Pryor's Fried Chicken and Latkes in 2005.
References
- Klasfeld, Adam. "A View from the Bridge (and Tunnel)", Theatermania, 2004-3-4. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.
External links
Official sites
Reviews
- Chortle review of 2004 Edinburgh Festival show, "Bridge-Burner"
- Three Weeks review of 2005 Edinburgh Festival show, "Me and Hitler"