BIOGRAPHY Jim
Brogan is the son of John and Anne Brogan.
He was born in Boston, but at the age of six moved to Chicago and
then to Cleveland.
In a short period, he saved enough money with a paper route and a
pyramid scheme to pay for his parents to join him. Jim
grew up in a Catholic family and went to Catholic schools all the way
through.
His parents sent him to an all boys high school (St. Ignatius) and
an all boys college (Notre Dame). It
was a good life for the young lad, his Mom stayed home and made his school
lunches and his Dad sold landing gear for a living.
But Jim had other ideas of what to do with his life. Armed
with his degree in Sociology, he moved to New York City to pursue his
dream of scaling skyscrapers with suction cups on his hands and becoming a
Human Fly. His fear of heights quickly put an end to that dream. While
working day jobs as a tutor, a bartender and in advertising, Jim turned
his attention to standup comedy.
His first appearance on stage was with his Chinese-American friend,
Larry Lee.
They billed themselves as The Brogan Brothers.
After one disastrous appearance, Jim struck out on his own.
His
first act was an impression of a priest from Notre Dame.
That lasted two performances.
His second act was about going to an intellectual high school.
That lasted six months and even longer for the audience. After
four years of doing standup comedy, Jim was taken under the wing of Jim
continued to do his standup comedy and did guest appearances on The
Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late
Night with David Letterman. He
also got other TV jobs.
He hosted Laffathon (Showtime), Comic
Strip Live (Fox) and You Asked
For It, Again (Family Channel). The perfectionist that he is, he won't
be satisfied until he has been cancelled by all the networks. Deciding
that he could save a few dollars by not hiring a lawyer, he worked for
nine years as an indentured servant on The
Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
His areas of responsibility included being a writer and talent
coordinator (booking comedians for the show). Since leaving The Tonight Show, Jim has been busier than ever. Besides doing his standup, he has written two movies and seen three others. He also was a creative consultant on Yakov Smirnoff’s one-man Broadway show, As Long As We Both Shall Laugh. He found out exactly how long we both shall laugh. It was 24 performances. |