Super Short Bio
“One of the funniest comedians working today” -TBS
“One of the next big things in comedy” -Esquire
Ben Gleib does a lot of different things. He likes it that way. (He also has ADHD.)
He’s the host and head writer of the Emmy nominated, brain teaser comedy game show “Idiotest”. It was frequently trending on NETFLIX, where it aired for 2 years, and was often the #1 show on Game Show Network during it’s 4 season run. Idiotest now airs on all streaming devices, on Game Show Central and Pluto TV.
His new, critically acclaimed hour standup comedy special “The Mad King” has drawn comparisons to his biggest inspiration, the true GOAT, George Carlin, even from Carlin’s own daughter. The special is available for free on YouTube. Gleib’s Showtime hour standup special “Neurotic Gangster”, trending on Twitter when it premiered, is now on Amazon Prime, and is also available for free on YouTube.
Gleib has made multiple appearances on “The Late Late Show” on CBS, or you might have seen his appearances on “The Tonight Show” on NBC, “@Midnight” on Comedy Central, or countless other TV shows. Back in the day he even starred in a primetime hidden camera show on NBC called “The Real Wedding Crashers” produced by Ashton Kutcher.
He’s done an astounding over 400 episodes of television.
He’s appeared in 13 movies. Most recently, a memorable cameo in the “Jay & Silent Bob Reboot”.
Gleib was a regular for years on the “TODAY Show” on NBC.
He was one of the stars of “Chelsea Lately” for all 7 seasons on E!
He is currently one of the lead anchors on The Young Turks (TYT), the world’s #1 online news network, and does his own video series for them twice a week called “Rebel HQ”.
Gleib’s online videos have amassed well over 300 million views.
His podcast “Last Week on Earth” debuted at #9 on iTunes Comedy, and has released over 200 episodes.
As an actor, he’s also in the recent horror comedy series “Just Beyond” on Disney+.
As a voice over actor, he plays Marshall the Sloth in “Ice Age: Continental Drift” and Dali in Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Book of Life”.
He does a monthly worldwide virtual show called GLEIB OFF THE TOP, where you can come be one of the Mad Ones, and he sometimes does improvised virtual shows with “The Smartest Man in the World” Greg Proops, or with one of the great comedy icons of all time, John Cleese of Monty Python.
Short Bio
TBS called Ben Gleib one of “the funniest comedians working today” and Nikki Glaser called his new YouTube hour special THE MAD KING “Bill Burr level good, without question. Carlin-esque.”
Kelly Carlin, George’s only offspring, tweeted on the official George Carlin Twitter “I think you’ll like this special by Ben Gleib, it reminds me of elements of my dad’s approach.” And she said on her Sirius XM show “There’s a lot of nuance in this special…It’s very thoughtful work”.
Dr. Rashad Richey, host of Indisputable recently called him “one of the brightest political minds in this country.”
Gleib is a fearless standup comedian who speaks his truth with an unyielding confidence, and a bold, yet silly and self-effacing humor. From his well over 300 million views on viral videos, like the Charlie Kirk dolphin fetus or being thrown out of an anti-vax restaurant, to mainstream TV & movie gigs, like 7 seasons on Chelsea Lately, or 4 seasons of his hit game show “Idiotest”, contributing to an incredible over 400 episodes of television. Ben Gleib always has something new to make us think, and make us laugh.
He regularly hosts and guest hosts all shows on The Young Turks (TYT), the world’s largest online news network, and does a twice-a-week video series for them called “Rebel HQ”, sharing his hilarious and blistering take on the world, with over 8 million views in just the first 6 months.
He’s the host, head writer, and co-executive producer of the Emmy-nominated comedy game show “Idiotest”, originally produced for Game Show Network, recently trending on Netflix, and now streaming on Game Show Central on all streaming devices. With 4 seasons and 210 episodes, it was often the most watched original show on GSN, and still gains new fans every day.
Gleib is one of the lead actors on the Disney+ horror/comedy anthology series “Just Beyond”, (and one of only 2 humans on the poster:) His first hour standup comedy special “Neurotic Gangster“, which premiered on Showtime, (trending on Twitter at the time), is now on Amazon Prime and available for free on Youtube.
For 7 years he was one of the stars of "Chelsea Lately" on E! on Chelsea Handler’s roundtable, with over 100 appearances.
His popular news & politics podcast “Last Week on Earth” on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Network debuted at #9 on iTunes Comedy.
Gleib was also a regular on the “Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda”on NBC with over 25 appearances, and has made appearances on “The Late Late Show”, “The Tonight Show”, Comedy Central’s “@Midnight”, and the “Jay & Silent Bob Reboot” movie. As a voice over actor, he voices Marshall the Sloth in “Ice Age”, Dali in “The Book of Life”, and is one of the stars of “Jay & Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie”.
During the pandemic he came up with an idea to create the world’s first virtual comedy venue, “Nowhere Comedy”, which reinvented touring, helped save the livelihoods of hundreds of comedians, and brought live entertainment and community to people worldwide at the time they needed it most. This led to several New York Times profiles, as well as Forbes, Fast Company, and being named the #3 “Innovator that changed comedy in 2020”.
In 2018 Gleib re-invented the telethon, creating the “Telethon for America”, the first telethon in history with the goal of raising zero dollars. Instead they took pledges to vote in the election the following day, and form voter squads to increase voter turnout. Gleib hosted it in 2018 with Olivia Munn, partnering with Michelle Obama’s ‘When We All Vote’. Gleib then hosted the telethon with Rosario Dawson in 2020, partnering with RepresentUs. He also served as head writer and executive producer.
Gleib is considered one of the quickest minds and best improvisers in comedy, often improvising his entire hour. He was the first comedian in history to live stream a full headline set on Facebook Live, and the performance was 100% improvised. He then did it live on Facebook in 8 straight cities.
Virtually, with Nowhere Comedy he does a monthly live worldwide show called “Gleib Off The Top: Crowd Work & Improvised Madness”.
He also does occasional all-improvised shows with improv legend Greg Proops of “Whose Line Is It Anyway” & “The Smartest Man in the World” podcast.
Gleib also does a live worldwide virtual show with comedy icon John Cleese of “Monty Python”, and comedian Camilla Cleese, a show they call “Cleese Gleib Me Alone”. He cannot believe he gets to perform with one of the greatest of all time, John Cleese. It makes him beyond proud.
He also hosts SDSC, a monthly live-streamed unruly chat show, with Jodie Sweetin, Chris Bowers, & Rachel Gallagher, where the online audience is an active part of the show. It was also born in the pandemic, has already had over 400 episodes, spawned a beautiful community, and has a bit of a cult following.
Gleib’s fans, known as the "Mad Ones", who attend his virtual shows, some following him around North America, and consider him their "Grateful Dead", can speak to the impact of his comedy.
Super Long Bio
Ben Gleib was named by TBS one of the "funniest comedians working today" and was called the #3 “Innovator that changed comedy in 2020.”
His hilarious new hour standup special “Ben Gleib: The Mad King” has received rave reviews, and can be seen for free on YouTube here. He’s a news anchor/co-host for several TYT shows (The Young Turks), and does a three-times-a-week video series for them called “Rebel HQ”, sharing his hilarious and blistering take on the world, and which has already received over 6 million views in just the first 3 months.
He’s one of the lead actors of the new Disney+ horror/comedy series “Just Beyond”, streaming now. It’s an anthology series and he plays a 1930’s Film Star who’s now a ghost, in the episode “We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do” directed by Marc Webb (Spiderman, 500 Days of Summer). Gleib is the host, head writer, and executive producer of the Emmy nominated "Idiotest" airing every weekend on Game Show Network and on Game Show Central on Apple TV, Pluto TV, Roku TV, and all streaming devices . The hit comedy brain teaser game show originally had four seasons and 210 episodes on Game Show Network, and was their most watched original show. “Idiotest” was also recently trending on Netflix, where it was only the second game show ever on the platform. The first was “Jeopardy”.
For 7 years Gleib was one of the stars of “Chelsea Lately" on E! with over 100 appearances on Chelsea Handler’s roundtable. He can be seen in the “Jay and Silent Bob Reboot” movie, along with Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Chris Hemsworth, Rosario Dawson, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. He pulled a prank on David Beckham for “The Late Late Show with James Corden” which got 41 million views. Gleib has made several appearances on “The Late Late Show”.
His hilarious first hour standup special "Ben Gleib - Neurotic Gangster" which was trending on Twitter when it premiered on Showtime, is currently on Amazon Prime and is now also available for free on Youtube. Gleib recently went mega-viral twice, landing him both times on the front page of Reddit. One a hidden camera video at an anti-vax restaurant where he exposed their “pro-freedom” hypocrisy as they ripped his mask off his face, denying him his own freedom, and the other a debate with far right leader Charlie Kirk, when Gleib, in an effort to defend women’s rights, exposed that Kirk thought a dolphin fetus was a human being. The video has over 30 million views across platforms.
Gleib is the first comedian to ever live stream a full headline set on Facebook Live, and did it in 8 straight cities on his 2016 tour, 100% improvised, getting almost 4 million views. His act is full of unique material, but he's also one of the best at crowd work, improvising with the audience on the spot. (Maybe don’t sit in the front row of his shows.)
His podcast “Last Week on Earth with Ben Gleib” on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast Network debuted at #9 on iTunes Comedy, and was #1 on Stitcher for over 20 weeks. He comments on everything that happened during the last week, in news, politics, pop culture, and weird stories, often solo, occasionally being joined by celebrity guests like Bryan Cranston, Bob Odenkirk, Moby, Blake Griffin, Adam Ray, Adam Devine, Iliza Shlesinger, Meghan McCain, Aisha Tyler, Former Supreme Allied Commander and Four-Star General Wesley Clark, political pundits, standup comedians, and his parents. (You can subscribe, rate and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.)
During the pandemic, when comedy clubs shut down across the globe, comedians needed work, and people needed a place to gather and laugh, Gleib came up with an idea for the world’s first virtual comedy club, co-creating “Nowhere Comedy”, which is now the premiere virtual destination for comedians to perform live, worldwide ticketed shows. They have put on over 700 shows, making millions of dollars for comedians during this very challenging time, and bringing laughter to people everywhere during what was for many the hardest time in their lives. Bill Burr, John Cleese, Sarah Silverman, Mike Birbiglia, Judah Friendlander, Aida Rodriguez, Chaunte Wayans, Margaret Cho, Todd Barry, The Sklar Brothers, James Adomian, Natasha Leggero, Jay Mohr, and countless up-and-comers have done shows with Nowhere. Gleib, his co-founder Steve Hofstetter, and the club have been featured three times recently in the New York Times, plus features in Forbes and Fast Company. Gleib does his own regular show at Nowhere called “GLEIB OF THE TOP: Crowd Work & Improvised Madness” where his Mad Ones get together for the weirdest comedy show you’ll ever see. Every couple shows a new Mad One is elected “Mayor of Mad Town”, the global virtual community this show takes place in. You have to see it to truly understand. Get tickets at NowhereComedyClub.com. His special guests have included Jamie Kennedy, Colin Mochrie, Adam Ray, Justine Marino, Leah Lamar, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. Gleib also does a show every once in a while at Nowhere with Greg Proops, the improv legend from “Whose Line is it Anyway?” called “Greg & Gleib: It’s a G Thing” where they perform a two man improv show based on your suggestions! As well as a show with comedy icon of all icons, John Cleese of Monty Python, and his very funny daughter Camilla Cleese, in a show they call “Cleese Gleib Me Alone”.
In 2018 Gleib hosted with Olivia Munn the “Telethon for America” powered by Michelle Obama’s ‘When We All Vote’. He also created it, executive produced, and was head writer. It was the first telethon ever with the goal of raising zero dollars. And they succeeded! Reinventing the telethon for the digital age, instead the non-partisan telethon took pledges to vote in the 2018 midterms, aiming to create historic voter turnout, which was achieved! It featured celebrities such as Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Chelsea Handler, Jane Fonda, Constance Wu, Amy Schumer, Jessica Alba, Judd Apatow, Hasan Minhaj, Pete Davidson, Ray Romano, Julia Louis Dreyfus, and over 80 others. He did it again virtually in 2020 during the pandemic, hosting this time with Rosario Dawson, and featuring 65 stars including Alicia Keys, Kerry Washington, Josh Gad, Ed Helms, Eva Longoria, Sarah Silverman, Nikki Glaser, Alyssa Milano, Sophia Bush, Jennifer Lawrence, Doug Stanhope, and countless others. He executive produced the 2020 event with Alyssa Milano and Rosario Dawson, this time partnering with anti-corruption org RepresentUs. More information can be found at TelethonForAmerica.com.
Passionate about helping the country, and afraid Trump would win again, he tried to offer voters an out-of-the-box option and ran for President of the United States in the 2020 election, with the premise that it might take a comedian to take down the heckler that was the former president, aka The Orange Menace. And the knowledge that he would destroy trump on the debate stage. The honor of his lifetime, his campaign concluded after almost 8 months in the race, as the 15th highest fundraising active Democratic campaign (29th overall, out of over 240 candidates). During the run he spoke at events alongside all the front-runner candidates, including now President Biden, campaigned in 13 states and territories, including multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire. He got to spend a day in state prison with convicted murderers, visited soup kitchens, hunger projects, and halfway homes, visited Puerto Rico on the 2-year anniversary of Hurricane Maria, where he got to help a small village that still had not fully recovered, and was arrested protesting corruption in our government at the capitol building in DC. He made it on the ballot in New Hampshire, after his campaign ended still matching campaigns that were on the debate stage and raised millions of dollars. Gleib was interviewed by Larry King, and his campaign was covered by the Washington Post, NowThis, the Des Moines Register, the Nashua Telegraph, and countless others. Videos and information on his campaign and the issues he fought for can be seen at Gleib2020.com (and you can see much more video from the campaign on the Gleib 2020 / G2020 highlights albums on his Instagram, or way back on his IG grid and youtube channel). Some laughed at the idea of a comedian for president, until comedian Volodymyr Zelenskyy, now the President of Ukraine, kind of quieted that criticism. Gleib’s campaign is also notable for three Presidential campaign firsts: The first candidate to hold a campaign event in virtual reality, the first candidate to endorse liquid democracy (what he calls “connected democracy”), and the first candidate to publicly smoke cannabis, done on the web series “Getting Doug with High”, to push for legalization of marijuana and the release from prison of all non-violent marijuana offenders. Gleib ended up achieving the goal of helping destroy trump in the debates, getting the chance to unofficially advise the Biden campaign on his debate strategy.
Buuut back to what matters! Show business! As an actor Gleib has guest starred on “American Princess”, an hour dramedy on from Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black, GLOW.) He also did a memorable guest star on an episode of the E! scripted series "After Lately” and can be seen playing “himself” in the feature film ”Be Like Trees” on YouTube, shot entirely on iPhones.
Gleib was a regular for a couple years on "The Today Show" with Kathie Lee and Hoda making over 25 appearances, and you may have seen one of his appearances on "@Midnight with Chris Hardwick" on Comedy Central, “The Tonight Show”, or as a correspondent on “The Arsenio Hall Show”.
He has toured sold-out arenas all over North America opening for both Chelsea Handler and Dane Cook, has been headlining comedy clubs around the globe since 2007, and has performed standup on "The Late Late Show," ”Last Comic Standing," ”Standup and Deliver”, twice on "Last Call with Carson Daly", and once on a TV show in Israel. He is constantly on tour, and is likely performing soon in a town near you. (Get tickets on this fine website, on the “See Me Live” page.)
Esquire once called Ben Gleib one of “Six comedians who could be comedy’s next big thing.” The other five were Aziz Ansari, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Demetri Martin, and Flight of the Conchords.
Gleib was a guest co-anchor for ABC News digital, from ABC News world headquarters in New York, and did election night 2016 coverage for them. He's been a frequent on-air contributor on CNN, "The Young Turks," (TYT), NewsNation, and NPR, winning a Golden Mic Award for his work on Southern California NPR’s "Patt Morrison's Comedy Congress."
He created, executive produced, hosted, and was head writer on a spinoff special for GSN called "Political Idiotest," blending his game show with his love of politics. In 2017 he was one of the hosts of social impact news show “ASPIREist” on CNN's Headline News. Unusual gigs for a comedian, and examples of why he is one of the most versatile, multi-talented comics in the world. He also hosted and produced a monthly political discussion show called “We the People” at the Hollywood Improv which brought together a comedian and a commentator from the left, and from the right, trying to find solutions through humor. The show made its debut at the 2018 Politicon.
An accomplished voice over actor as well, Gleib is one of the stars of Kevin Smith's "Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie," is the voice of Marshall the Sloth in "Ice Age: Continental Drift," (one of the top animated movies of all-time internationally,) and voices Dali in "The Book of Life" starring Channing Tatum. His voices can also be heard in "Phineas and Ferb," and the youtube series "The Melvin Bros."
Working for the Academy Awards, he hosted "Oscar Roadtrip" which was featured on ABC's Oscars Pre-Show for the 85th Academy Awards, and had the honor of serving as host for the Oscars red carpet. He co-wrote and stars in with Brian Drolet the scripted webseries "CINEDOPES," available for free on Youtube. Gleib is also one of the leads in the feature film "Bad People.” He has also hosted the red carpet for the Grammys, and a football Webseries for Yahoo! Sports called “Behind Enemy Lines”.
In 2007, he starred in the primetime NBC hidden camera comedy series "The Real Wedding Crashers," a show in which he played multiple characters. The show, produced by Ashton Kutcher, then went on to air on Bravo and Style Network. The rest of the 5 person cast, have all gone on to do amazing things in comedy. Desi Lydic (The Daily Show), Catherine Reitman (Writer/Star of Netflix’s Working Moms), Steve Byrne (Sullivan & Son, multiple specials), Gareth Reynolds (The Dollop podcast).
In 2006, Gleib sold a pilot to FOX called "The Gleib Show" produced by Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels, Broadway Video, and NBC Universal. This was based on a show he did for 3 seasons for the National Lampoon Network, and for 4 years before that in college at UC San Diego. It became a class that students could take for 4 units. (This helped several of his friends graduate. Gleib had the privilege of speaking at that graduation, and his show was the subject of his honors thesis. This was lucky because he was not an honor student in any other area. At all.)
He started the brand “Comedy Juice” in 2002 with Scot Richardson, producing the best live comedy shows in the country, in LA at the Hollywood Improv, in New York at Gotham Comedy Club, and many cities in between, consistently booking lineups only of the most famous comedians in the world and giving big breaks to the best up-and-comers, many of whom became huge stars. They sold the company in 2017 and it continues to be one of the best brands in standup comedy.
Also during the pandemic, Gleib began hosting with Steve Hofstetter, Jodie Sweetin, Chris Bowers, and Rachel Gallagher a live online chat show several days a week called SDSC, the Social Distancing Social Club. This show spawned an amazing community, and the show continues on now post-lockdown, once-a-month with Gleib, Jodie Sweetin, Bowers and Rachel! Check it out at SDSCshow.com.
Ben is also an activist of sorts, devoting his time to various causes, (see the activism highlights albums on his Instagram for specific orgs), but his favorite charity is The Harold Robinson Foundation, where he sits on the Advisory Board. HRF sends underserved kids from Watts and nearby areas to Camp Ubuntu, a sleep-away camp for the first time in their lives, full of arts and ropes courses, showing them there’s a world beyond their community, and a future they may have never considered for themselves. Their annual event Pedal on the Pier, which Gleib has emceed for the last 7 years, has raised over 6 million dollars for the kids.
Gleib’s online videos have received more than 300 million views, he has worked for all 4 broadcast TV networks, and many of the major cable networks and streaming platforms.
In 2008, he also shot a pilot where he got to meet and mess with Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton, and ruined a John McCain press conference, getting kicked out by the Secret Service. You can see those clips here.
He is proudest that he is probably better than you at ping pong, (he beat Drake twice), and he enjoys playing the kazoo, sometimes joining actual musicians on stage, like Craig Robinson or Mitch Woods. #kazoolife
He is aware that he has to work on his posture.
A social media addict, Gleib is always posting weird and funny things online, currently posting standup and other comedy videos multiple times a week. He doesn’t sleep enough. Follow him here:
· Twitter: http://twitter.com/bengleib
· Instagram: http://instagram.com/bengleib
· Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bengleib
· YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/bgleib
. TikTok @bengleib