John Henson (comedian)

John Henson
Henson in 2011
Born	John Morris Henson (1967-07-11) July 11, 1967 Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	Boston University
Occupations	Comedian actor talk show host
Years active	1993–present
Spouses	Corie Hirschtick ​ ​ (m. 2000; div. 2006)​ Jill Benjamin ​ ​ (m. 2010; div. 2024)​
Children	2

John Morris Henson (born July 11, 1967) is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He was the co-host of ABC's Wipeout with John Anderson, a prime-time game show that ran for seven seasons.

Biography

Henson was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to Joe and Barbara (née Wright) Henson. He has four older brothers, one of whom is Dan Henson, the President and CEO of GE Capital, Americas. Another is Frank (Bubba) Henson, a teacher at St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut. He studied acting at Boston University, Circle in the Square, Playwrights Horizons and Three of Us Studios in New York City. He has starred in various theater productions such as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Conduct Unbecoming, Heinous Crimes and Other Delights, The Greenhouse Effect and Remote Evolution.

Henson was born with a white streak of hair on the right side of his head. As a result, he received the nickname "Skunk Boy" while hosting Talk Soup.

Henson attended St. Luke's School in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Career

Henson began his career as a stand-up comic. He started appearing in films in the mid to late 1990s. He was the longest-running host of Talk Soup on the E! Entertainment Network, hosting just over 1,000 shows in the four and a half years he was with the network. During his stint as host of Talk Soup, he appeared as a guest on Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In 2004, he was the host of The John Henson Project, a short-lived comedy-reality show on Spike TV, and hosted several broadcast specials including ABC's Best Commercials You've Never Seen, ABC's Best TV You've Never Seen and, more recently, the 33rd Annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. From 2005 to 2007, Henson was the co-host of Watch This!, a daily television show on the TV Guide Channel. Henson has also produced numerous field segments on the entertainment industry for MSNBC and CNN and, additionally, had a small recurring role as a local newscaster on My Name Is Earl.

From 2008 to 2014, Henson co-hosted the ABC obstacle course game-show, Wipeout, and always ended the show with the catch phrase, "Good night, and Big Balls", a reference to the signature obstacle in the show.

Exempting the year 2020, Henson has hosted Halloween Baking Championship on Food Network since 2017. For the 2020 season, Carla Hall served as both a judge and the host.

Henson has also appeared in the Blink-182 music video for "What's My Age Again?"

Filmography

Television

• Space Ghost Coast to Coast – (1997–1998)
• The View
• Politically Incorrect
• Remember WENN
• Stand Up, Stand Up
• Two Drink Minimum
• Caroline's Comedy Hour
• 2006 LA Area Emmy Awards
• Talk Soup – 1995–1999
• The Best Commercials You've Never Seen – (1998)
• The John Henson Project – (2004)
• Watch This! – (2006)
• Wipeout – (2008–2014)
• My Name Is Earl – 2009
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Host) – 2010
• WordGirl (voice of Captain Tangent) – (2010)
• Austin & Ally – (2012)
• Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (voice) – 2012
• The Funniest Commercials of The Year: 2012 – 2012
• Anger Management – 2014
• Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero – 2015
• Worst Cooks in America: Celebrity Edition – 2016
• iWitness – 2017
• Voltron: Legendary Defender (voice of Bob) – 2018
• Halloween Baking Championship (Host) – 2017-2019; 2021-present

Film

• Meet Wally Sparks – 1997
• Stag – 1997 as Timan Bernard
• Blink 182: The Urethra Chronicles – 1999
• Bar Hopping – 2002 as Roger
• Life Without Dick – 2002

Podcast

• Painkiller Already #325 – 2017
• Joy, a Podcast, Hosted by Craig Ferguson – 2024

External links

• John Henson at IMDb