Rob Delaney

Robby Thomas Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an Irish-American [1] comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He was the co-star and co-writer of the TV show Catastrophe, and has appeared in minor roles in blockbuster action-comedy films like Deadpool 2 (2018)[2] and the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw (2019).[3]

For other people with the same name, see Robert Delaney.

Rob Delaney
Delaney in 2012
Born (1977-01-19) January 19, 1977
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materNew York University
OccupationComedian, actor, writer, activist
Years active2003–present
Spouse(s)Leah
Children4
Websiterobdelaney.com

Early life and education

Delaney was raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[4] He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a degree in musical theater in 1999.[5]

Career

Twitter

Delaney first came to the attention of the public via Twitter, on which he started posting in 2009.[6] By 2016, Delaney had over 1.2 million followers. While other comics were hesitant to share their material on social media, Delaney is considered one of the first comedians to use social media to publish jokes.[7] Delaney credits comedy writer and director Graham Linehan with his rise in popularity after Linehan began responding to Delaney's tweets.[8]

In 2010, Paste magazine named Delaney one of the ten funniest people on Twitter.[9] In May 2012, he became the first comedian to win the 'Funniest Person on Twitter Award' at The Comedy Awards hosted by Comedy Central.[10]

Writing

Delaney has written several articles for Vice[11] as well as The Guardian.[12]

His book Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. was published by Spiegel & Grau in November 2013.[13][14]

Television
Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan interviewed about Catastrophe in 2015

In December 2011, Comedy Central announced that Delaney would shoot a pilot for a variety show, called @RobDelaney.[15] However, the series was not picked up.

Instead, Delaney moved on to co-write and co-star with Sharon Horgan in Catastrophe,[16] that began airing in the UK on January 19, 2015 on Channel 4. The show follows their characters after they get together following a brief affair while he is in the UK on business, and then moves there permanently after he learns that she has become pregnant.[17] It debuted in the United States on Amazon in June 2015. [18] There are now four seasons available with the fourth season confirmed to be the final of the series.[19] Channel 4 aired the concluding episode on February 12, 2019, while Amazon announced the US release date to be March 15 of the same year.[20] The series earned him his sole Emmy nomination, for "Outstanding Comedy Writing".[21]

Since moving to the UK in 2014, Delaney has appeared on several British panel shows, including Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year and Room 101. In 2016, he appeared on Travel Man as a guest host for Seville, Spain.

Films

In the film Deadpool 2, Delaney played Peter, an average middle-aged man, who has no powers and joins Deadpool's X-Force. As part of the film's promotion, a Twitter account was launched in Peter's name.[22]

Throughout 2019, Delaney ventured in a series of cameos in feature films. He reteamed with director David Leitch and performer Ryan Reynolds for Hobbs & Shaw, in which he appeared as Agent Loeb. He appeared as a theater director in Paul Feig's comedy-drama Last Christmas in a brief scene with Peter Serafinowicz, Sara Powell and Emilia Clarke.[23] Both movies were #1 at the UK box office.[24][25] He also appeared opposite Anne Hathaway in The Hustle as Todd and the Fox News drama Bombshell co-starring Charlize Theron.[26] He filmed a cameo as Elvis Presley in Dexter Fletcher's Elton John musical biopic Rocketman, which was omitted from the theatrical cut.[27] It was also reported that he would appear opposite Reynolds another time, in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.[28] However, he did not appear in the final film. In September 2019 he was cast in The Good House opposite Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline.[29]

Personal life

Delaney is an Irish American.[30] Delaney is married; he and his wife, Leah Delaney, have four sons, one of whom died in January 2018.[31][32] In February 2018, Delaney publicly shared that their son Henry had died, age two and a half, the month before, after having been diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016 and receiving extensive treatment.[33] The couple's fourth son was born in August 2018.[34][35] Delaney and his family live in London.[36]

Delaney wrote about his experience of getting a vasectomy in 2020.[37]

Delaney has publicly shared his experience with depression and alcoholism.[38][39] In 2002, Delaney blacked out while driving and drove his car into a building owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In the wreck, he broke his left wrist and right arm, and had both of his knees scratched to the bone. This prompted Delaney to stop drinking.[40][41]

Delaney was the first presenter on the CBeebies Bed Time Stories programme to tell a story in Makaton,[42] which he used to use to communicate with his late son Henry.

Delaney is an atheist.[43]

Political views

Delaney is a democratic socialist and often writes about political issues. He has said that he chooses presidential candidates based mostly on their policies regarding education and health care, reasoning: "Make it easier for your citizens to be healthy and smart and they will save you in ways you have yet to imagine."[44] He supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and voted for Hillary Clinton in the subsequent general election.[45] After Donald Trump was elected president, Delaney joined the Democratic Socialists of America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the American Civil Liberties Union.[46] In February 2019, Delaney endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his second presidential campaign.[47]

In 2016, Delaney's reaction to the UK's vote to leave the EU was "Wow people are idiots"[48] and he later referred to the Brexit Party as an "army of morons and bigots". [49] In June 2017, despite being ineligible to vote as a non-UK citizen, Delaney endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 UK general election.[50] In November 2018, he supported a petition organised by Labour campaign group Momentum calling on Labour MPs to vote against the EU withdrawal agreement which had been negotiated by Theresa May's government.[51]

In November 2019, along with other public figures, he signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.[52] In December 2019, along with 42 other cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[53][54]

Delaney has appeared on the American left-wing podcast Chapo Trap House, featuring as a special guest in a live show leading up to the 2019 United Kingdom general election.[55] He has also been a vocal supporter of the Antifa movement.[56][57]

Filmography

Film
Year Work Role Notes
2007 Wild Girls Gone Whipped Cream Ass Man
2014 Life After Beth News Anchor
2018 Deadpool 2 Peter[58]
2019 The Hustle Todd
Rocketman Elvis Presley Deleted scene[59][60]
Hobbs & Shaw Agent Loeb
Last Christmas Theatre Director
Bombshell Gil Norman
2021 Tom & Jerry Mr. DuBros Completed
TBA The Good House Peter Newbold Post-production
Home Alone Jeff Filming

Television
Year Work Role Notes
2009 Coma, Period. Dan Humford 10 episodes
Outer Space Astronauts Commander Cake Episode: "One Year Ago"
2010 This Week in Comedy Himself Episode: "Karen Kilgariff/Rob Delaney"
2011 The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest Himself 6 episodes
2012 Key & Peele Various 3 episodes
First Dates with Toby Harris Brad Episode: "Ex-Girlfriends"
2013 Rob Delaney Live at the Bowery Ballroom Himself Live performance special on Netflix; also executive producer
Cougar Town Guide Episode: "Have Love Will Travel"
Burning Love Kirk 3 episodes
2014 The Michael J. Fox Show Clete Matthews Episode: "Biking"
2015–2019 Catastrophe Rob Norris 24 episodes; also co-creator, co-writer, executive producer
2016 Travel Man: 48 Hours In Himself Episode: "Seville"
2018 Action Team Victor Episode: "Super Mega Robot"
Trust Lansing Episode: "Kodachrome"
Danger Mouse Night Knight Episode: "Daylight Savings Crime"

References
  1. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/catastrophes-star-rob-delaney-still-21371940
  2. Deadpool 2, IMDb, Full Credits Cast List retrieved August 2, 2019.
  3. Hobbs & Shaw, IMDb, Full Credits Cast List retrieved August 2, 2019.
  4. "How 'funniest person on Twitter' Rob Delaney revived the TV romcom – The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
  5. Delaney, Rob (November 5, 2013). "Rob Delaney: A Beautiful, Shimmering Red Flag". Esquire. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  6. Friar, Christine (April 27, 2012). "Rob Delaney Talks Abortion, Comedy And That Famous Green Speedo With 'Vice'". HuffPost. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  7. "Rob Delaney, From Free Twitter Jokes to Comedic Stardom". #TheLabNYC. June 19, 2013. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  8. Holt, Kris (July 4, 2012). "Rob Delaney to The Daily Dot: 'I had to be good at Twitter'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  9. "The 10 Best Comedians of 2010". Paste Magazine. December 6, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  10. "Rob Delaney: First comedian to win 'funniest person on Twitter'". mashable. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  11. "Articles by Rob Delaney". Vice Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2012.
  12. "Rob Delaney Profile". The Guardian. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  13. Gilbert, Matthew (November 16, 2013). "Book Review: Rob Delaney by Rob Delaney". Boston Globe.
  14. Ryan, Kyle (November 4, 2013). "Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage". The A.V. Club. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  15. "Comedy Central preps Twitter show". c21media.net. December 8, 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
  16. "Catastrophe a new C4 comedy created by Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan" (Press release). Channel 4.
  17. "Star Wars' Carrie Fisher in new Sharon Horgan comedy Catastrophe – first look". Radio Times. 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  18. "'Catastrophe' renewed for seasons 3 and 4". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  19. "Sharon Horgan teases Carrie Fisher tribute and emotional ending in final ever episode of Catastrophe". Radio Times. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  20. Wright, Megh (February 12, 2019). "Catastrophe Returns to the States for Its Final Season Next Month". Vulture. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  21. "Rob Delaney". Television Academy. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  22. "Peter W. (@PeterW_1974) on Twitter". Twitter.
  23. Myers, Kimber. "'Last Christmas' Is A Bad Holiday Rom-Com That Squanders Its Dazzling Stars [Review]". theplaylist.net. The Playlist. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  24. Gant, Charles. "UK box office report, August 2–4: are Hobbs & Shaw fast enough for The Lion King?". www.telegraph.co.uk/. The Telegraph. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  25. Dalton, Ben. "'Last Christmas' ends 'Joker' UK box office reign with £2.6m debut". www.screendaily.com. Screen Daily. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  26. "Roger Ailes Biopic Adds Deadpool 2's Rob Delaney to Cast". comingsoon.net. Coming Soon. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  27. Clarke, Patrick. "Rob Delaney reveals he was meant to play Elvis in 'Rocketman'". NME. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  28. Allen, Ben. "Rob Delaney confirms he WILL star in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu alongside Ryan Reynolds". Radio Times. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  29. D'Alessandro, Anthony. "Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Beverly D'Angelo & More Move Into Amblin Partners' 'The Good House'". deadline.com. Deadline. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  30. "Irish American Bostonian Rob Delaney named the 'Funniest Person on Twitter'". IrishCentral.com. May 7, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  31. North, Kyle (November 5, 2013). "Rob Delaney explains why Phoebe Gloeckner's A Child's Life is "the North Star"". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  32. Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (April 22, 2015). "UK • Can you share this tweet with your grandfather & any stupid cousins?" (Tweet). Retrieved August 11, 2015 – via Twitter. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  33. "Rob Delaney". facebook.com. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  34. "Rob Delaney reveals birth of fourth child months after son's death". The Guardian. December 30, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  35. DeSantis, Rachel (March 5, 2019). "Rob Delaney Feared He Wouldn't 'Bond' with His New Baby After His 2½-Year-Old Son's Death". People. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  36. Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (August 22, 2014). "@markhoppus Hi Mark, I live in London now if you ever need a place to stay or just want to talk" (Tweet). Retrieved March 4, 2019 – via Twitter.
  37. Delaney, Rob. "'Could I feel what they were doing? Yes': Rob Delaney on the pain and pleasure of his vasectomy". The Guardian. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  38. On Depression & Getting Help. Robdelaney.tumblr.com (February 26, 2010). Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  39. Delaney, Rob (October 1, 2010). "Comedy". Vice. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  40. Delaney, Rob (2011). "Take a Stroll... With Rob Delaney: Helping You, Helping Me". Vice. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  41. Freeman, Hadley (September 17, 2012). "Rob Delaney: 'Twitter has rocketed me to a whole new level of standup'". The Guardian. Retrieved October 25, 2012.
  42. "Delaney to read and sign CBeebies story". BBC News. November 13, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  43. Constant, Paul. "Yes, a Bird Is an Animal". The Stranger. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  44. Delaney, Rob (2011). "Take a Stroll... With Rob Delaney: A Voter's Guide". Vice. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  45. Delaney, Rob (2016). "Who I'm voting for and why". Tumblr. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  46. @robdelaney (December 11, 2016). "Joining/donating to/getting involved w/ @NAACP @DemSocialists @PPact @CAIRNational @ACLU & @keithellison's campaign to head DNC feels good" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2016 – via Twitter.
  47. rob delaney [@robdelaney] (February 26, 2009). "I'm publicly supporting Sanders as he prepares to declare he's running just so online teens/millennials feel #safe to do so. Off the internet, ppl love his policies & he'll do great in primaries. But some ppl on here don't like him & are loud so I'm here to say nuts to that" (Tweet). Retrieved February 20, 2019 – via Twitter. |date= mismatches calculated date from |number= by two or more days (help)
  48. delaney, rob (October 15, 2016). "Line of thought so bizarre; with Brexit or when Bush won in 2004 I thought, "Wow people are idiots," not, "Rigged!" #Soft lil' coward…https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/787258211283918848 …".
  49. delaney, rob (May 23, 2019). "The Brexit Party is an army of morons & bigots run by a few hedge fund managers seeking to asset-strip the UK. @UKLabour is the party of democratic socialism, the NHS & education, which are the building blocks of a healthy, just society".
  50. Milne, Oliver (June 8, 2017). "Who are celebrities voting for in 2017 General Election? The A-Z of famous names supporting Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems and Greens". Daily Mirror. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  51. Ramiro, Joana (November 19, 2018). "This comedy star just supported a Momentum petition to bring down May's Brexit deal". Left Foot Forward. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  52. Neale, Matthew (November 16, 2019). "Exclusive: New letter supporting Jeremy Corbyn signed by Roger Waters, Robert Del Naja and more". NME. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  53. "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. December 3, 2019. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  54. Proctor, Kate (December 3, 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
  55. "375 - Live in London: Chapo Calling feat. Rob Delaney (12/12/19) | Chapo Trap House on Patreon". Patreon. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  56. Rob Delaney [@robdelaney] (August 13, 2018). "I ♥ Antifa" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  57. Rob Delaney [@robdelaney] (September 1, 2017). "Antifa is good. I know there are plenty of voices saying otherwise. Here's why… ↓ …" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  58. "Peter from Deadpool 2 Has His Own Hilarious Twitter Account". April 19, 2018.
  59. Clarke, Patrick (June 18, 2019). "Rob Delaney reveals he was meant to play Elvis in 'Rocketman'". NME. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  60. "Rob Delaney's role cut from Rocketman after actor permanently dyed hair black". Metro. June 16, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
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