Born: December 6, 1955
BlueMeter: Clean
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Works

Records

2007 I Still Have a Pony
2005 The Aristocrats (Original Soundtrack)
1990 The Best Of Comic Relief '90

This album is a compilation, featuring multiple comics.

1989 Best of Comic Relief, Vol. 3

This album is a compilation, featuring multiple comics.

1987 Best of Comic Relief, Vol. 2

This album is a compilation, featuring multiple comics.

1985 I Have a Pony

Specials (and other video)

2006 Steven Wright: When the Leaves Blow Away
2005 When Stand Up Stood Out

Documentary about the beginnings of the Boston Comedy scene.

2005 The Aristocrats
1996 Comics Come Home 2

This special features multiple comedians.

1995 Comics Come Home
1991 Comic Relief IV

Benefit show that features multiple comics.

1991 Wicker Chairs and Gravity
1987 Comic Relief '87

Benefit show that features multiple comics.

1986 The Young Comedians All-Star Reunion
1985 A Steven Wright Special
1982 The 7th Annual Young Comedians Show

Books (by and about)

No books by or about this comedian.

Biography

Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Steven Wright tuned into a local radio station that frequently played comedy albums. He grew enamored with both <a href="/comedians/comic/bill-cosby">Bill Cosby</a> and <a href="/comedians/comic/george-carlin">George Carlin</a>. He remembered their routines and would perform them for his classmates.

Wright attended Emerson College and after graduating in 1979, began to hit the nascent Boston comedy club circuit. At the time, Boston was arguably the best place for a young comic to be. The scene was full of experimentation and encouragement. And with it removed from much of the entertainment industry, there was no authority there to suggest that somebody doing something new might be doing something wrong.

Wright claims that he never intentionally constructed his unique deadpan and surreal style. The simple desire to make people laugh brought it out. Wright has described his act as a view of the world through the eyes of a child, but described in the words of an adult.

While taking his kid to look at colleges in Boston, Peter LaSally of the Carson-era "Tonight Show" planed a visit to the Ding-Ho, the epicenter of Boston's comedy scene. That night he saw Wright perform. Immediately impressed, LaSally had Wright booked to appear on the Tonight Show on August 6, 1982.

That first appearance was magical — every comic's dream. Carson invited Wright to the couch, a rarity held for only the comics that Carson loved. Wright was invited to perform again only a week later, something unheard of at the time.

Wright broke out from there because a regular on the expanding circuit resulting from the first comedy boom. Along with becoming a regular guest on "Late Night with David Letterman", Wright performed stand-up on "Saturday Night Live", a rare venue for the form.

In 1986, Wright released his first comedy album called "I Have a Pony." The album would go on to receive a Grammy.

Wright also became a fixture on HBO, performing his first hour-long special for the network and then as a filmmaker, making shorts like Academy-Award winning "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings."

1990 brought Wright's second HBO special entitled "Wicker Chairs and Gravity."

Steven Wright soon graduated to performing in theaters, regularly selling them out. And for a long time that was the only way you could see Wright perform stand-up - in concert. No specials. No CDs. Just live performances.

In 2006, Steven Wright released his first hour-long stand-up special in 15 years entitled "When the Leaves Blow Away." The special aired on Comedy Central and was subsequently released on DVD in 2007. It was also released on CD on Comedy Central Records under a new title: "I Still Have a Pony", a nod to his breakout release more than 20 years earlier.

2009 saw the re-release of "I Have a Pony", paired with a DVD of Wright's first HBO special "A Steven Wright Special", which had become a much prized rarity at the time.