Thomas Lennon

Thomas Lennon
Lennon in 2015
Born
Thomas Patrick Lennon

(1970-08-09) August 9, 1970 (age 53)
Alma materNew York University
Occupations
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • screenwriter
Years active1991–present
Spouse
Jenny Robertson
(m. 2002)
Children1

Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series Reno 911!

Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major studio comedies with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. They wrote the Night at the Museum films, The Pacifier, Balls of Fury, and Baywatch.

Early life

Lennon was born on August 9, 1970 in Oak Park, Illinois of Irish and Scottish descent, he is the son of Kathleen (née McSheehy) and Timothy Lennon. He graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1988.

At the age of 16, he met friend and future co-star Kerri Kenney at Theatre Camp at Northwestern University. The two later attended NYU, where they joined a comedy troupe called The New Group.

Career

Acting and performing

While Lennon was a member of The New Group, the comedy troupe changed its name to The State. As they performed their material at theaters and clubs in New York City, they worked on the MTV show You Wrote It, You Watch It. This led to the self-titled series The State (1993–95), which was nominated for a 1995 Cable Ace Award for Best Comedy Series. That same year, they created a special for CBS called The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special.

Following the departure of The State from MTV, and failed long-term deals with both ABC and CBS, Lennon, along with Kenney, Robert Ben Garant and Michael Ian Black, went on to create and star in the Comedy Central program Viva Variety (1997–99). The show was based on a sketch that Lennon had written for the final season of The State, called "The Mr. and Former Mrs. Laupin Variety Programme." Viva Variety received a 1997 Cable Ace Award nomination for Best Comedy Series. After Viva Variety, Lennon, Kenney and Garant created and starred in Reno 911! (2003–09). The series was initially slated for Fox, but the channel rejected it for being too risque, and the program eventually ended up on Comedy Central.

Lennon has appeared as a guest star in dozens of TV shows, including The League, Childrens Hospital, Party Down, New Girl, How I Met Your Mother, Comedy Bang Bang, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23. One of his notable guest starring roles was as Joey Tribbiani's blackjack-dealing "identical hand twin" on the Friends fifth-season finale ("The One In Vegas", Pts. I and II). Additionally, he has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Tonight Show, The Daily Show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and at 31, had the second-highest number of appearances on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

In 2008, Lennon started doing stand-up comedy, occasionally playing guitar and incorporating music. He has appeared on The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show, The Jeselnik Offensive, and The Benson Interruption. He was the guest on the first episode of Chris Hardwick's The Nerdist Podcast, which was recorded in Lennon's garage.

In 2010, Lennon and Garant created and starred in a sitcom pilot for NBC called The Strip. In May that year it was announced that NBC had decided not to produce it as a series.

In November and December 2011, Lennon filled in as guest voice for the robot sidekick Geoff Peterson on the CBS show The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Lennon has also appeared in numerous films, including Bad Teacher, Memento, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and I Love You, Man, for which he and co-star Paul Rudd were nominated for a 2009 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. In both Christopher Nolan's film Memento (2000) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Lennon played the role of a doctor.

Lennon's voice acting work includes Kim Possible, Bob's Burgers, Archer and Planet Sheen, in which he played the character of Pinter. He played Scribble in Secret of the Wings and Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast. He supplied the voice of Eddie the Shipboard Computer in the film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and plays the voice of Fearless Leader in the 2014 DreamWorks short film version of Rocky and Bullwinkle. He is also the voice of Munk on Dawn of the Croods and the voice of Chief O'Hara in the Warner Brothers animated film Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders.

Lennon was a producer of the 2013-17 late-night panel game show, @midnight, hosted by Hardwick, and appeared 17 times on the show as a panelist/contestant. He won the show seven times.

Lennon played Felix Unger in the 2015-17 television series reboot of The Odd Couple opposite Matthew Perry, who played Oscar Madison. In 2016, he co-starred as a scientist in Paramount Animation's Monster Trucks and began a recurring role on the Fox action sitcom Lethal Weapon as Leo Getz, a character previously portrayed on film by Joe Pesci. At the 2016 People's Choice Awards ceremony, he participated in an on-stage sketch parodying the recent gaffe by Steve Harvey at the Miss Universe 2015 pageant.

In 2020 and 2021, he recurred in Supergirl's fifth and sixth seasons as Mr. Mxyzptlk, taking over from Peter Gadiot.

In 2020, Lennon reprised his role as Lieutenant Jim Dangle in the seventh season of Reno 911! which aired on Quibi. He also appeared in the 2021 film Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon. The eighth season of the series, now titled Reno 911! Defunded, premiered on The Roku Channel in February 2022.

In 2023, Lennon was cast in the Zoey 101 reboot, Zoey 102. The film was released on July 27, 2023, on Paramount+.

Screenwriting

Lennon is a successful screenwriter and script doctor. Most of Lennon's screenplays are written in collaboration with writing partner Robert Ben Garant. Their films have earned over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office.

Among Garant and Lennon's credits are the Night at the Museum films, the 2005 Disney comedy The Pacifier and the 2006 prison comedy Let's Go to Prison.

In 2010, FX Network ordered a pilot episode for a Garant/Lennon science fiction television comedy called USS Alabama, set 1000 years in the future, aboard a United Nations Peacekeeping spaceship, the U.S.S. Alabama. Garant and Lennon released a book about writing for film called Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can Too! in 2011.

Garant and Lennon wrote, directed and starred in the 2013 film Hell Baby starring Rob Corddry and Leslie Bibb. The film was produced by Darko Entertainment, and shot on location in New Orleans, Louisiana. Hell Baby premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Garant and Lennon are credited as story co-writers on the film version of Baywatch (2017).

Lennon is also the author of four of IFC's "50 Greatest Comedy Sketches of All Time".

Novels and stage

Lennon has written three young adult novels titled Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles, Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death, and Ronan Boyle into the Strangeplace. Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles debuted on the New York Times Bestseller list. He wrote the book for the theatrical production of "Trading Places: The Musical!" which debuted at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta in June 2022.

Personal life

Lennon lives in Los Angeles and Wisconsin with his wife, actress Jenny Robertson, and their son Oliver (b. 2009). He is a fan of The Smiths and Morrissey, occasionally performing live with the tribute band Sweet and Tender Hooligans as a guitarist.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1994 A Friend of Dorothy 'Moonie' Short film
1998 Row Your Boat Census Taker
1999 Drop Dead Gorgeous Documentarian Voice
2000 Memento Doctor
2001 Out Cold Eric Montclare
2002 Boat Trip The Priest
2003 Le Divorce Roger Walker
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Thayer
A Guy Thing Pete Morse
2004 Taxi Unknown Writer
Heights Marshall
2005 Conversations with Other Women Videographer
Herbie: Fully Loaded Larry Murphy Also writer
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Eddie the Shipboard Computer Voice
The Godfather of Green Bay D.U.G.
The Pacifier Unknown Writer
2006 Night at the Museum
Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas Police officer
Let's Go to Prison Unknown Writer
Eden Court Shroeder Duncan
2007 Balls of Fury Karl Wolfschtagg Writer, producer
Reno 911!: Miami Lieutenant Jim Dangle Writer, executive producer
The Ten Scotty Pale
2008 Hancock Mike
2009 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Orville Wright Writer
Uncredited cameo
17 Again Ned Gold
I Love You, Man Doug
Al's Brain in 3-D Co-Worker Short film
2010 Hot Tub Time Machine Customer Uncredited
2011 Cedar Rapids Roger Lemke
How to Survive a Robot Uprising Unknown Writer
Bad Teacher Carl Halabi
What's Your Number? Dr. Barrett 'Barry' Ingold
A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas Todd
2012 The Hunger Pains Buttitch Totalapathy Short film
What to Expect When You're Expecting Craig
The Dark Knight Rises Doctor
Secret of the Wings Reading Fairy Voice
Howard Cantour.com Rocco Short film
2013 Hell Baby Pat Writer, producer, director (with Robert Ben Garant)
Rapture-Palooza Mr. Murphy
Jerry, the Exorcist Roommate Jerry Short film
We're the Millers Rick Nathanson
2014 Mr. Peabody and Sherman Italian Peasant #2 Voice; also wrote additional dialogue
Transformers: Age of Extinction Chief of Staff
Rocky & Bullwinkle Fearless Leader, Mayan Princess Voice, short film; also writer
Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast Scribble Voice
2015 Knight of Cups Tom
Hot Tub Time Machine 2 BMW Guy Uncredited
Grand Zero David Van Vleck Short film
2016 Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders Chief O'Hara / Prison Warden Voice
Monster Trucks Dr. Jim Dowd
2017 Baywatch Unknown Story writer
Pottersville Brock Masterson
Batman vs. Two-Face Chief O'Hara Voice
2018 A Futile and Stupid Gesture Michael O'Donoghue
The 15:17 to Paris Principal Michael Akers
Half Magic Darren
Dog Days Greg
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich Edgar Easton
2019 VHYes Tony V.
2020 Valley Girl Rodney Bingheimer
Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics Himself
2021 Cherry Dr. Whomever
Shoplifters of the World Uncle Dick
Reno 911! The Hunt for QAnon Lieutenant Jim Dangle Writer, executive producer
2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Salesman
Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again Theodore Roosevelt Voice
2023 Zoey 102 Kelly Kevyn
Urkel Saves Santa: the Movie V.D.I Voice; Direct-to-Video
TBA Unfrosted: The Pop-Tart Story Post-production
Chosen Family Max Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1992 You Wrote It, You Watch It Various characters Also writer
1993–1995 The State Various characters Also co-creator and writer
1995 The State's 43rd Annual All-Star Halloween Special Various characters Television special; also writer
1997 Viva Variety Host Meredith Laupin 16 episodes; also writer
1997–1999 Hercules Atlas Voice, 3 episodes
1999 Friends Randall (Joey's hand twin) 2 episodes
Strangers with Candy Unknown Writer: "Bogie Nights"
1999–2000 Jesse Ernie 2 episodes
2001 The Legend of Tarzan Landlord Voice, episode: "Tarzan and the Mysterious Visitor"
2002 Kim Possible Voice, episode: "Kimitation Nation"
MDs Chester E. Donge 8 episodes
2003–2009,
2020–present
Reno 911! Lieutenant Jim Dangle Also creator
Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Comedy or Drama Series (2020)
2004–2006 Brandy & Mr. Whiskers Vic Voice, 2 episodes
2006 Stacked Gary Episode: "You're Getting Sleepy"
2007 Wainy Days Ice Cream Man Episode: "Dorvid Days"
2009 The League Bryce Episode: "The Usual Bet"
2010 Party Down Nick DiCintio Episode: "Nick DiCintio's Orgy Night"
Svetlana Fyodor Episode: "Wish Fulfillment"
2010–2011 Funny or Die Presents Richard, Co-Pilot 5 episodes
2010–2013 Planet Sheen Pinter, Blurg Voice, 15 episodes
2010–2019 Archer Charles Voice, 4 episodes
2011 Memphis Beat Keith Grant Episode: "Inside Man"
Childrens Hospital Pat Episode: "Home Is Where the Hospital Is"
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson Geoff Peterson, Robot Skeleton, Chloe Banderas Voice, 3 episodes
2012–2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Various characters 4 episodes
2012 New Girl Neil Episode: "See Ya"
How I Met Your Mother Klaus 2 episodes
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 Trey Epis
Blake Shelton's Not So Family Christmas Director Television special
2012–2019 Bob's Burgers Chuck, additional voices Voice, 6 episodes
2013 Franklin & Bash Harley Episode: "Shoot to Thrill"
NTSF:SD:SUV:: Santa Episode: "Wreck the Halls"
@midnight Contestant Also executive producer
Key & Peele Person At People Park #5 Episode: "Pussy on the Chainwax"
Wendell & Vinnie Lord Derek Episode: "Swindle & Vinnie"
2013–2014 Sean Saves the World Max Thompson 14 episodes
Newsreaders Vincent Gates, Pritchard Batchman 3 episodes
2014 Hollywood Game Night Himself Episode: "Things That Go Clue-Boom in the Night"
The Goldbergs Tauntaun Todd Episode: "A Wrestler Named Goldberg"
Hot in Cleveland Agent Gilmore Episode: "Surprise!"
The Birthday Boys Lou Skywalker Episode: "Cerf's Folly"
Comedy Central's All-Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special Unknown Television special; writer
2015 Over the Garden Wall Jimmy Brown Voice, episode: "Chapter 3: Schooltown Follies"
The Hotwives Garrett Truesdale Episode: "You Make Me Wanna Drought"
Crash Test: With Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer Studio Security Television special
Robot Chicken Various characters Voice, episode: "Garbage Sushi"
2015–2017 The Odd Couple Felix Unger Main role; 38 episodes
2015–2016 Another Period Marquis de Sainsbury 5 episodes
TripTank Caller, Broker, Rob Voice, 3 episodes
Dawn of the Croods Munk, Crud Voice, 9 episodes
2015–2019 Drunk History Various characters 3 episodes
2016 Animals. Kevin Voice, episode: "Rats."
2016–2017 Goldie & Bear Brian Voice, 2 episodes
Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures Wick Cooper, Cleaning Droid Voice, 6 episodes
2016–2019 Bajillion Dollar Propertie$ Serge 9 episodes; also executive producer
2016–2022 American Dad! Various Characters voices 13 episodes
2017–2019 Santa Clarita Diet Principal Novak Recurring role; 6 episodes
Lethal Weapon Leo Getz Recurring role
2017 Milo Murphy's Law Henry Voice, episode: "Murphy's Lard"
Justice League Action Amazo Voice, episode: "Boo-ray for Bizarro"
2017–2018 Spirit Riding Free Garrett Truesdale Voice, 2 episodes
2018 The Thundermans Assista Boy Episode: "Side-Kicking and Screaming"
For the People Freddie Morris, Captain Shadow Episode: "Everybody's a Superhero"
Dallas & Robo Dr. John Eichler, Dickie St. James Voice, episode: "Murder on the Georgia Overdrive"
Legend of the Three Caballeros Clinton Coot Voice, 8 episodes
Sideswiped Aaron Cunningham Episode: "Matched Up"
Spy Kids: Mission Critical Dr. Chad Jericho Voice, episode: "Ace Off"
2019 Teachers Larry Bop Episode: "Face Your Peers"
Knight Squad Sir Angus Macchio Episode: "Knight of the Living Dead"
Critters: A New Binge Mr. Weber 3 episodes
American Housewife Simon Episode: "Insta-Friends"
At Home with Amy Sedaris Edwin Chuzzlewit Episode: "Halloween"
Modern Family Orson Episode: "Can't Elope"
Veep President of CBS Episode: "Oslo"
Crank Yankers Himself Voice, episode: "Tiffany Haddish, Roy Wood Jr. & Thomas Lennon"
2019–2021 Where's Waldo? Wizard Whitebeard Voice, main role
2020 The Twilight Zone J.J. Malloy Episode: "Ovation"
Close Enough Henri Voice, episode: "Haunted Couch"
Home Movie: The Princess Bride Prince Humperdinck 2 episodes
2020–2021 Supergirl Mr. Mxyzpltk 4 episodes
2021 Solar Opposites Police Cop Voice, episode: "The Sacred Non-Repeating Number"
Infinity Train Spiceman Voice, episode: "The Party Car"
Friends: The Reunion Himself (Joey Tribbiani's Hand Twin) HBO Max special
Central Park Leslie Portergrave Voice, episode: "Central Dark"
Ten Year Old Tom Neighbor Rick Voice, episode: "Tomz Lemonade/A Tale of Two Lunch Ladies"
Aquaman: King of Atlantis Nuidis Vulko Voice, 3 episodes
The Big Leap Zach Peterman 5 episodes
2021–2022 Jellystone! Top Cat Voice, recurring role
The Ghost and Molly McGee Maxwell Davenport Voice, 4 episodes
2022 Lego Star Wars: Summer Vacation Wick Cooper Voice, Disney+ special
2023 Rock, Paper, Scissors Paper Voice, Nickelodeon TV series, upcoming

Web

Year Title Role Notes
2019 Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television Himself Episode: "For Your Inconsideration"

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