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JDenis Colin Leary (Born August 18, 1957 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an Irish American actor, comedian, writer and director. He is infamous for his dirty and often angst-filled humor. Leary is a distant cousin through marriage of Conan O'Brien; contrary to popular belief, they are not actually related through a recent common ancestor despite a slight resemblance. He jokingly said, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, "All Irish People are related". His name is often misspelled as "Dennis", instead of "Denis". This comes out in one of his comedy routines in which he mentions how his father had a peculiar way of writing which included "D's" that look like "P's". This lead to notes that were written to Denis' teachers that looked like they said "Penis". This is how Leary got the nickname "PenisMan". *** *** Leary first became famous through an MTV-Sketch in which he ranted about R.E.M. He has also released two records of his stand-up comedy: No Cure For Cancer (1993) and Lock 'N Load (1997). In 1994, his sardonic song about the American lower-middle-class male, "(I'm an) Asshole", achieved much notoriety. It was voted #1 in a major Australian youth radio poll, the Triple J Hottest 100, and the video became a late-night MTV staple. Due to its obvious explicit and controversial content, however, it received limited airplay on mainstream American radio stations. Although he says he is most at home on stage doing stand-up, Leary has appeared as an actor in over 40 movies, including The Sandlot, Monument Ave., The Match Maker, The Ref, Suicide Kings, Wag the Dog, Demolition Man, and Operation Dumbo Drop. He has also starred in two television series, The Job and Rescue Me. He also provided voices for characters in animated films such as the saber-toothed tiger Diego in Ice Age and 'Francis' in A Bug's Life. Leary has also produced (and still produces) numerous movies, television shows, and specials, including Comedy Central's Shorties Watching Shorties and the movie Blow, through his production company, Apostle. Material Controversy For many years, Leary had been friends with fellow comedian Bill Hicks. However, when Hicks heard Leary's 1993 release No Cure For Cancer, he was very upset and claimed Leary was stealing his material, due to the similarity in topics covered and some punchlines of Hicks', particularly those on Hicks' releases of 1989 (Sane Man) and 1990 (Dangerous). The friendship ended abruptly as a result. Leary has said he wanted to patch things up before Hicks died in 1994, though this confession happened several years after Hicks' death. While it has never been proven conclusively that Leary actually leeched any of his jokes from other comedians other than from Hicks (a claim which he fiercely denies), some comedians (notably Joe Rogan and Greg Giraldo as pro-Hicks comedians against Leary) and especially fans loyal to Hicks consider aspects of Leary's act and persona to be stolen. However, many other comedians (with Colin Quinn (and, according to some questionable sources, Janeane Garofalo, a Hicks fan and narrator of a 2003 documentary about Hicks) amongst the pro-Leary comedians against Hicks) have formed close personal and/or professional relationships with Leary, which suggests that the opinion of him as a material thief is not shared by everyone within the profession. This controversy was addressed in The Bill Hicks Story by Cynthia True: Leary was in Montreal to host the Nasty Show at Club Soda and Colleen (one of Bill Hicks' managers) was coordinating the talent so she was standing backstage when she heard Leary doing material that sounded incredibly similiar to old Hicks guitar riffs, including his perennial Jim Fixx joke: "Keith Richards outlived Jim Fixx, the runner and health nut. Dude, the plot thickens." When Leary came off-stage, Colleen said, more stunned than angry (but still mad), "Hey, you know that's Bill Hicks' material! Do you know that's his material?" Leary allegedly stood there, stared at her without saying a word, and apparently briskly left the dressing room." The book cites several other examples of lines in No Cure for Cancer that Leary used from older Bill Hicks rants, but left out his "intellectual" stuff, such as philosophy. As Hicks said: "I have a scoop for you. I stole his act. I camouflaged it with punchlines, and to really throw people off, I did it before he did." Leary Firefighters Foundation On December 3, 1999, six firefighters from Leary's hometown of Worcester were killed in a massive warehouse fire. Among the dead were Leary's cousin, Jerry Lucey, and his close childhood friend, Lt. Tommy Spencer. In response, the comedian founded the Leary Firefighters Foundation, which has since distributed over $2.5 million (USD) to fire departments in the Worcester, Boston, and New York City areas for equipment, training materials, and new vehicles and facilities, since its creation in the year 2000. Official Site A separate fund run by Leary's foundation, the Fund for New York's Bravest, has distributed over $2 million (USD) to the families of the 343 firemen killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as providing funding for necessities such as a new mobile command center, first responder training, and a high-rise simulator for the FDNY's training campus. As the foundation's president, Leary has been active in all of the fundraising, and usually presents large checks and donated equipment personally. The close relationship he has developed with the FDNY, as well as individual firefighters across the New York/New England area, has resulted in Leary's most recent television show, Rescue Me, a dramedy on FX. In the pilot episode of the show, he is seen wearing a Leary Firefighter Foundation 9-11 Memorial T-Shirt. Emerson College Leary is a very proud graduate of Emerson College in Boston. At the school he founded the Emerson Comedy Workshop, a troupe that continues to thrive on-campus to this day. After graduating with the Emerson Class of 1979, he took up a job with the school teaching comedy writing classes and maintained the job for five years. At Emerson's 2005 an honorary doctorate commencement ceremony, he spoke and received an honorary doctorate. During a December 2005 appearance at Emerson's Cutler Majestic Theatre he claimed that Emerson College "saved his life" by giving him direction and that throughout his career he's "never forgotten" the lessons he learned there.

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