John Fugelsang at TEDxTraverseCity

Video Description

John Fugelsang is an actor, comedian & writer who recently had the first political comedy album to ever hit #1 on the iTunes, Amazon & Billboard Comedy Charts. Credits include "CSI," "Providence," "Becker," IFC's "Onion News Network," Coyote Ugly" & the upcoming features "Coexist" and "Price Check" opposite Parker Posey, premiering at The 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He also once interviewed George Harrison & Paul McCartney, on separate continents, for different TV specials, in the same week. His mother is an ex-Nun and his father was a Franciscan Brother. His Drama League-nominated Solo Show 'Guilt: A Love Story' is currently on tour across America and is based on his parents' love story. He admires Jesus as any guy would admire mom's first husband. He's recently performed for US Troops in El Salvador, Honduras, and on their humanitarian mission to Haiti. As a political comedian he's a regular on MSNBC, FOX NEWS, CNN, HLN, & CurrentTV. Along with Stephanie Miller & Hal Sparks, he is 1/3 'Stephanie Miller's Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour.' The tour kicked off in Madison Wisconsin in April 2011, raising money for the recall efforts of Gov. Scott Walker. Since then, the tour has played to sold out houses across America, raising money for progressive causes in every city. Audience members have included Aretha Franklin & on-stage guests have included Lily Tomlin & Rob Reiner. 'Sexy Liberal' was just nominated for 4 2012 Pollstar Awards, including 'Tour of the Year' and 'Volume 1′ is the first political comedy album ever to reach #1 on the iTunes, Amazon & Billboard comedy charts. He appeared on 'Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher' over 20 times, where as one of the youngest regulars he debated figures including Jerry Falwell, Ralph Nader, Ariana Huffington, Erica Jong, Michael Steele, and even David Duke. His piece on the history of the War on Drugs was recently published on The Huffington Post. Other TV credits include 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve,' 'Beyond Belief,' 'Watercooler' for TVGN, 'American Classic' for VH1 UK, 'Paul McCartney's Live Town Hall' and 'George Harrison: The Last Performance' forVH1. As an on-camera host at VH1 he interviewed a wide variety of music luminaries, including Bruce Springsteen, Willie Nelson, Tony Bennett, Pete Townshend, Bo Diddley, Robbie Robertson, Stevie Nicks, Yoko Ono, James Taylor, Joey Ramone and Carlos Santana. His most memorable experience came when a planned 10 minute interview with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar stretched to a 4 hour appearance. At one point, George began playing guitar and taking requests on camera. This was to be George's final time playing on TV. And was subsequently re-broadcast as "George Harrison: The Last Performance." JF's performed at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival and HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, and performed at clubs and colleges all over the country, both as a headliner and as a feature act for artists such as Bill Maher and Darrell Hammond. In between 2 national tours, media appearances & standup John is writing a book about Christianity and Politics, and he recently performed for US Troops stationed in Honduras, El Salvador, and for America's humanitarian mission in Haiti. www.johnfugelsang.com twitter.com/johnfugelsang In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxTraverseCity, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxTraverseCity event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.