Greg Giraldo

Giraldo was born and raised in Queens, New York and attended Regis High School and was voted by his classmates as most likely to succeed. He is the oldest son of immigrant parents from Colombia (father) and Spain (mother) and was raised Roman Catholic. From early on, he excelled academically and was selected to attend Camp Rising Sun, the Louis August Jonas Foundation's international summer scholarship program. Giraldo attended Columbia University. Before becoming a comedian, Giraldo worked as a lawyer, having graduated from Harvard Law School. Giraldo spent less than a year as an associate for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom before deciding that the job wasn't for him. Despite his prior career, Giraldo rejects that persona and very rarely discusses his days as a lawyer.
[edit] Career

Giraldo is known for his distinct delivery and his skills in ranting, never allowing his rhythm to be broken. Giraldo performs regularly at the Comedy Cellar in Manhattan. Giraldo was a regular panelist on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. Additionally, he was the star of the short-lived Common Law, and also starred in several pilots, including The Greg Giraldo Show and Gone Hollywood for Comedy Central. The New York Times has praised Giraldo as "a talented comedian with a winning personality." In 2004 he was featured in the hit spoken-word Lazyboy song, "Underwear Goes Inside the Pants."

Although the series was not picked up in 2005, The Greg Giraldo Show was a similar format to the cancelled Tough Crowd. The regular comics often joked during the run of Tough Crowd that Giraldo would eventually be the host of the show. However, when Giraldo was offered this series, many of the Tough Crowd comedians were rumored to be frustrated that Giraldo was essentially adopting the format used by Colin Quinn.

Giraldo has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien over a dozen times, The Howard Stern Show and The Opie and Anthony Show. Giraldo was a panelist on Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time special. He had two half-hour specials on Comedy Central Presents. He has also written segments for Last Call with Carson Daly.

Giraldo, who has three children, was known among comedians to drink heavily. However, he confirmed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on July 7, 2005 that he has quit drinking. Giraldo recently starred in a series of TV cable commercials. His series Friday Night Stand-Up with Greg Giraldo began on Comedy Central in late 2005 and ran until 2006. His CD Good Day to Cross a River was released 2006 on Comedy Central Records.

Greg has appeared in Comedy Central's annual roasts roasting Chevy Chase, Pam Anderson, William Shatner, Jeff Foxworthy, Flavor Flav, Bob Saget, Joan Rivers and Larry the Cable Guy, as well as the TBS roast of Cheech & Chong.

In 2008, Giraldo appeared in venues across the United States as the headlining act of the Indecision '08 Tour, produced by Comedy Central.

Giraldo was a regular on Comedy Central's television series Lewis Black's Root of All Evil. Giraldo is one of the Advocates who lobbies for their side to be considered the "root of all evil." He has only won in two of his nine appearances.