Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and activist. He was the co-star and co-writer of the TV show Catastrophe, and has appeared in comedy films such as Deadpool 2 (2018) and Tom & Jerry (2021).

Rob Delaney
Delaney in 2012
Born (1977-01-19) January 19, 1977 (age 47)
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • writer
  • activist
Years active2003–present
SpouseLeah Delaney
Children4
Websiterobdelaney.com

Early life edit

Delaney was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1977, the son of Nancy and Robert Delaney. He grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[1] He is of Irish descent.[2] He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a degree in musical theater in 1999.[3]

Career edit

Twitter edit

Delaney came to the attention of the public via Twitter, where he began posting in 2009.[4] By 2016, he had over 1.2 million followers. While other comics were hesitant to share their material on social media, he is considered one of the first comedians to use social media to publish jokes.[5] He credited Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan with his rise in popularity after Linehan began responding to his tweets.[6] In 2010, Paste magazine named Delaney one of the 10 funniest people on Twitter.[7] In May 2012, he became the first comedian to win the award for "Funniest Person on Twitter" at The Comedy Awards.[8]

Writing edit

Delaney has written articles for Vice[9] and The Guardian.[10] His book Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. was published by Spiegel & Grau in November 2013.[11][12] His memoir A Heart That Works, about the loss of his two-and-a-half-year-old son Henry to brain cancer, was published by Spiegel & Grau in 2022.[13]

Acting edit

Television edit

 
Delaney and Sharon Horgan being interviewed about Catastrophe in 2015

In December 2011, Comedy Central announced that Delaney would shoot a pilot for a variety show, called @RobDelaney.[14] However, the series was not picked up. Instead, Delaney moved on to co-write and co-star with Sharon Horgan in Catastrophe,[15] 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.[16] It debuted in the United States on Amazon in June 2015.[17] The program ended after four seasons.[18] 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.[19] The series earned him his sole Emmy nomination, for "Outstanding Comedy Writing".[20]

Since moving to the UK in 2014,[21] Delaney has appeared on several British panel shows, including Have I Got News for You,[22] Would I Lie to You?,[23] 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown,[24] The Big Fat Quiz of the Year[25] and Room 101.[26] In 2016, he appeared on Travel Man as a guest host for the Spanish city of Seville,[27] and in March 2021, he was the guest announcer on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.[28]

Film edit

In the film Deadpool 2 (2018), Delaney played Peter, an average middle-aged man who has no superpowers and joins Deadpool's X-Force.[29] As part of the film's promotion, a Twitter account was launched in Peter's name.[30][31]

Throughout 2019, Delaney had a series of cameos in Hollywood blockbuster films. He reteamed with director David Leitch and actor Dwayne Johnson for Hobbs & Shaw, in which he appeared as Agent Loeb.[32] He appeared as a theater director in Paul Feig's comedy-drama Last Christmas.[33] Both movies went to No. 1 at the UK box office.[34][35] He also appeared opposite Anne Hathaway in The Hustle as Todd and the Fox News drama Bombshell co-starring Charlize Theron.[36] He filmed a cameo as Elvis Presley in Dexter Fletcher's Elton John musical biopic Rocketman, which was omitted from the theatrical cut.[37] It was also reported that he would appear opposite Reynolds another time, in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.[38] 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.[39]

Personal life edit

Delaney resides in London with his wife Leah;[40] they have had four sons together.[41][42] In February 2018, Delaney revealed that their two-and-a-half-year-old son had died the previous month, having received extensive treatment for a brain tumor since 2016.[43][44] The couple's fourth son was born in August 2018.[45][46] In 2020 he wrote about getting a vasectomy.[47]

Delaney has publicly shared his experience with multiple health concerns, including depression and alcoholism.[48][49] In 2002, he blacked out while driving and drove 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 him to stop drinking.[50][51]

In 2018, Delaney became the first presenter on the CBeebies Bed Time Stories programme to tell a story in Makaton, which he used to communicate with his late son Henry.[52]

On Sara Cox's show Between the Covers, Delaney chose the short story collection A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin as one of his favorite books.[53]

Delaney is an atheist.[54]

Political views edit

In June 2017 he endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 general election, despite being unable to vote as a non-UK citizen (but longtime resident).[55] In November 2018, he supported a petition organized 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.[56]

In November 2019, Delaney joined other public figures in signing 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.[57] In December 2019, along with 42 other public 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".[58][59]

In 2016, Delaney became a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.[60][61][62]

Filmography edit

Key
Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film edit

Year Work Role Notes
2007 Wild Girls Gone Whipped Cream Ass Man
2014 Life After Beth News Anchor
2018 Deadpool 2 Peter
2019 The Hustle Todd
Rocketman Elvis Presley Deleted scene[63][64]
Hobbs & Shaw Agent Loeb
Last Christmas Theatre Director
Bombshell Gil Norman
2021 Tom & Jerry Henry Dubros
Wrath of Man Boss Blake Halls
The Good House Peter Newbold
Ron's Gone Wrong Andrew Morris Voice
Home Sweet Home Alone Jeff McKenzie
2022 The Bubble Marti
The School for Good and Evil Stefan
2023 Northern Comfort Ralph
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One JSOC
Love at First Sight Andrew Sullivan
2024 Argylle Deputy Director Powell
Orion and the Dark Orion's Dad (voice)
Deadpool & Wolverine Peter Post-production[65]

Television edit

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 (voice) Episode: "Daylight Savings Crime"
Bitz & Bob Bevel (voice) 41 episodes
2021 Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway Guest announcer 2 episodes
The Great North Brian Tobin (voice) 2 episodes
No Activity Magnolia (voice) 2 episodes
Birdgirl Brian O'Brien (voice) 6 episodes
Between the Covers Himself Episode #2.2
Fairfax Grant (voice) 4 episodes
2022 Big Nate Martin Wright (voice) Main role
Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway The Devil Recurring role in Polterguys
The Man Who Fell to Earth Hatch Flood Main role, 8 episodes
2023 The Power Tom Recurring role
Black Mirror Mac Episode: "Joan Is Awful"
Invincible Nuolzot / Séance Dog (voice) Season 2 [66]
TBA Bad Monkey Christopher Main role, upcoming series

References edit

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  3. ^ Delaney, Rob (November 5, 2013). "Rob Delaney: A Beautiful, Shimmering Red Flag". Esquire. Archived from the original on July 16, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
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  39. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 8, 2019). "Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Beverly D'Angelo & More Move Into Amblin Partners' 'The Good House'". deadline.com. Deadline. Archived from the original on September 29, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  40. ^ 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). Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved January 15, 2023 – via Twitter.
  41. ^ 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. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  42. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (May 7, 2015). "UK • Can you share this tweet with your grandfather & any stupid cousins? http://t.co/cqp7jFfrAF" (Tweet). Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2021 – via Twitter.
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  61. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (April 9, 2020). "I'm a lifetime member of DSA & have been for 4 yrs now but I just made this fun badge & so can you! https://t.co/iQybEGsYvC https://t.co/OW0DfCtd8G https://t.co/dzhejyor1V" (Tweet). Archived from the original on April 9, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2023 – via Twitter.
  62. ^ Delaney, Rob [@robdelaney] (September 22, 2020). "I am a Democratic Socialist & I'm working hard to recruit your nieces & nephews.🌈 https://t.co/p7TRuCLkwA" (Tweet). Archived from the original on September 22, 2020. Retrieved January 15, 2023 – via Twitter.
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  66. ^ "Invincible Season 2: Release Date, Trailer, Cast & More". Retrieved September 11, 2023.

External links edit