Robert Klein

Robert Klein is an American stand‑up comedian, singer, and actor whose career has spanned more than six decades, beginning in the mid‑1960s with the improvisational troupe The Second City and evolving into a multifaceted presence on Broadway, television, film, and recorded comedy albums. Born on February 8, 1942 in the Bronx, New York, to Hungarian‑Jewish immigrant parents, Klein grew up in a quintessential 1950s Bronx household, attended DeWitt Clinton High School, and initially contemplated a medical career before switching to the performing arts at Alfred University and later Yale Drama School. His early breakthrough came when he joined The Second City in 1965, sharing an audition room with future comedy legend Fred Willard, and shortly after he was cast by Mike Nichols in the Broadway musical The Apple Tree (1966). Klein’s incisive observational humor, especially his satirical takes on the Watergate scandal, earned him national attention through the 1970 summer series Comedy Tonight and a historic HBO stand‑up special in 1975, making him the network’s first comedy special performer. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Klein released four Grammy‑nominated comedy albums—A Child of the ’50s (1973), Mind Over Matter (1974), New Teeth (1975), and Let’s Not Make Love (1990)—and became a recurring host on Saturday Night Live (1975, 1978), where his skits such as “Nick The Lounge Singer Sings Star Wars Theme” showcased his musical parody talent. On Broadway he earned a Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Musical for Neil Simon’s They’re Playing Our Song (1979), and later headlined his own talk‑show Robert Klein Time on USA Network (1986‑1988). His filmography includes notable supporting roles in The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), Primary Colors (1998), Two Weeks Notice (2002), and the romantic comedy How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), while television appearances on Law & Order: SVU, The Good Wife, and the revived Will & Grace cemented his status as a versatile character actor. Klein’s influence extends to generations of comedians; Jerry Seinfeld has called him “the Beatles of comedy,” and his work continues to be celebrated in documentaries such as Robert Klein Still Can’t Stop His Leg (2016).