Greg Behrendt

Born in San Francisco, CA, Behrendt grew up just north of the Golden Gate City in the Marin County town of Larkspur. After graduating from Larkspur's Redwood High School in 1981, Behrendt attended the University of Oregon in Eugene. Initially enrolled as a business major, Behrendt ended up studying classical theater. Moving back to the Bay Area after college, Behrendt joined a San Francisco-based improvisational comedy group in 1986, which also included fellow comic Margaret Cho. An aspiring rock musician, Behrendt began performing as a comedian in order to support himself while writing music with his band. Encouraged by his peers to pursue stand-up, Behrendt took to the stage at local comedy clubs in the late 1980's and early 1990's, being cheered on by his other up-and-coming comedian friends, Janeane Garafolo, Patton Oswalt and Behrendt's then-roommate, David Cross. As part of the Un-Cabaret, a Los Angeles-based group that provided an alternative venue for local comics, Behrendt began to develop his unique, biting, straightforward sense of humor.After overcoming a long struggle with alcohol and drugs, Behrendt's career as a comedian began to take off. He landed gigs on "An Evening at the Improv" (1982-1996) and Comedy Central's "Premium Blend" (1997-2006). Catching the eye of HBO producers, Behrendt filmed the half-hour comedy special "Mantastic," which was directed by "Sex and the City" (1998-2004) executive producer Michael Patrick King. Focused on the plight of the modern man, Behrendt found his comedic "everyman" niche. In 2001, Behrendt hosted the late-night comedy series "Late Friday" (NBC, 2001-02) and was featured in the comedy special, "Comedy Central Presents: Greg Behrendt." The comic went on to land stand-up gigs on "The Late Show with David Letterman" (CBS, 1993-2015), "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (NBC, 1992-2014) and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" (NBC, 1993-2009). In need of a straight, male point of view, former employer King sought out Behrendt as a consultant on his iconic show, "Sex and the City" during the show's third season. Responding to a colleague while working on the series, Behrendt coined the phrase, "He's just not that into you," which was later worked into an episode of "City," in which Carrie Bradshaw's (Sarah Jessica Parker) then boyfriend Jack Berger (Ron Livingston) broke the news to a hopeful Miranda Hobbs (Cynthia Nixon) that her latest boyfriend would not be calling her back.Encouraged by "City" writer Liz Tucillo, Behrendt and Tucillo co-authored a relationship self-help book in 2004 geared towards the predominately female demographic of "City." Offering women a blunt, "tough love" type of advice, He's Just Not That Into You (2004) topped the #1 best seller lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, prompting Behrendt to appear multiple times on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" (1986-2011) as a relationship advisor and "big brother" to all wayward females sitting by the phone and waiting for the boy to call.After the phenomenal success of the book - which was often sold out at all the major book chains throughout the year - Behrendt went on to co-author It's Called a Break-Up Because It's Broken (2005) with his wife, Amiira Ruotula-Behrendt. Similar to Not That Into You, Broken offered up a list of ways to help readers get over a difficult split. Though the book was initially geared towards a male audience, Behrendt's publishers later shifted the book's emphasis towards a female demographic, knowing there was an already established trust between Behrendt and his female readers.Returning to stand-up, Behrendt filmed the Comedy Central special "Greg Behrendt is Uncool" in 2006, tackling the deconstruction of "cool" from rock 'n roll Gen-Xer to forty-something parent. On a career high from the success of his book, Behrendt signed deals with Sony for the daily relationship talk show "The Greg Behrendt Show" (2006-07), and with ABC to star in the mid-season replacement show, "Greg Behrendt's Wake-up Call." The latter never aired on ABC, and was eventually picked up by SoapNet, which aired the show in 2009.