Jon Benjamin

Say “Jon Benjamin,” and feel the collective squeal of a massive generation of animation and comedy nerds. Benjamin helmed two big-time genre forerunners—Home Movies and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist—back in the ’90s and early ’00s, shaping tens of thousands of odd young minds who saw a cartoon on TV and didn’t realize (until it was too late) that they were in for some dry wit instead of a cat blowing up. That’s a good thing, of course, and it has landed Benjamin work on Archer and Bob’s Burgers, as well as his own half-hour sketch show, Jon Benjamin Has A Van, on Comedy Central. Loosely based on news-magazine programming, it’s uncomfortable at best most of the time. But that’s Benjamin’s forte, and he knows it.

Updated 04/20/2012