Paul Dinello

Early life

He is an alumnus of DePaul University, Chicago-based The Second City, Improv Institute, and Annoyance Theatre.

Career

In the late 1980s, he was hired to perform with Second City's touring company. It was there where he met Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert with whom he often collaborated later in his career. By their retelling, the three comedians did not get along at first – Dinello thought Colbert was uptight, pretentious and cold, while Colbert thought of Dinello as "an illiterate thug"  – but the trio became close friends while touring together, discovering that they shared a similar comic sensibility.

He and Sedaris were offered the opportunity to create a television series for HBO Downtown Productions, Colbert left The Second City and relocated to New York to work with them on the sketch comedy show Exit 57. The series debuted on Comedy Central in 1995 and aired through 1996. Although it lasted for only 12 episodes, the show received favorable reviews and was nominated for five CableACE Awards in 1995, in categories including best writing, performance, and comedy series.

A few years later, Dinello worked again with Sedaris and Colbert to develop a new comedy series for Comedy Central, Strangers with Candy. Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998

Strangers with Candy was conceived of as a parody of after school specials, following the life of Jerri Blank, a 46-year-old dropout who returns to finish high school after 32 years of life on the street. Most noted by critics for its use of offensive humor, it concluded each episode by delivering to the audience a skewed, politically incorrect moral lesson. Dinello served as a main writer alongside Sedaris and Colbert, and portrayed Jerri's naïve and self-centered art teacher, Geoffrey Jellineck, seen throughout the series not actually teaching anything to his classes. Dinello took inspiration for his character from a teacher he used to have in high school. Another running joke throughout the series was that Jellineck was having a "secret" affair with fellow teacher Chuck Noblet, despite the fact that their relationship was apparent to everyone around them.

Thirty episodes of Strangers with Candy were made, which aired on Comedy Central in 1999 and 2000. Though its ratings were not remarkable during its initial run, it has been characterized as a cult show with a small but dedicated audience. Dinello reprised his role for a film adaptation, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and had a limited release in 2006. The film received mixed reviews. Dinello directed and produced the film and also co-wrote the screenplay with Sedaris and Colbert.

Since 2005 until the show's end in 2014, Dinello worked as a writer and supervising producer for The Colbert Report, he has also made some camera appearances as Tad, the building manager. The character is often berated by Colbert, who forces him to do dangerous things.

In 2015, alongside with the rest of The Colbert Report crew, he moved to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert working as a writer and supervising producer. He sometimes appears on camera helping Colbert with some of the show's segments or on the cold open sketches.

Directing and writing career

In 2003, Dinello co-authored the novel Wigfield with Amy Sedaris and Colbert, which they promoted by creating a traveling play.

Participant Media announced that it would produce Dinello's next film, Mr. Burnout (about a burned out teacher seeking to rekindle his love of teaching). He also appeared as Mr. Rooney in the film Be Kind Rewind, alongside Jack Black

Dinello directed the Nickelodeon original movie Gym Teacher: The Movie, starring Christopher Meloni and Sedaris.

With Sedaris, Dinello co-authored Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People, published in 2010. He can be seen with Sedaris in the "Mummified Hand" episode of the Science Channel show Oddities.

Personal life

Dinello dated his Strangers with Candy co-star Amy Sedaris for eight years after they met at Second City.

Dinello met his wife, photographer Danielle St. Laurent, while working on the artwork for the book Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. They got married in 2011, the ceremony was officiated by Stephen Colbert. They have two sons Giancarlo Francis Dinello (2011) and Luca Dinello (2015) Sedaris is their godmother.

Published works