Amir Blumenfeld | |
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Native name | אמיר בלומנפלד |
Born |
Amir Shmuel Blumenfeld January 18, 1983 Afula, Israel |
Nationality | Israeli American |
Education | University of California, Berkeley |
Occupation | Comedian, actor, writer, presenter |
Years active | 2004–present |
Website | http://amirblumenfeld.com |
Amir Blumenfeld's nomination reel for the Webby Awards |
Amir Shmuel Blumenfeld (/əˈmɪər ʃmuːˈɛl ˈbluːmᵻnfɛld/; Hebrew: אמיר שמואל בלומנפלד; born Jan. 18, 1983) is an Israeli-American comedian, actor, writer and television host. Born in Israel, he moved to Los Angeles when he was two, and was hired by the New York-based CollegeHumor in 2005. As well as contributing to its books and articles, he has written and starred in original videos for the comedy website—appearing in series such as Hardly Working and Very Mary-Kate—and was a cast member on its short-lived MTV program The CollegeHumor Show.
Amir first came to national prominence in 2004 when he was a semi-finalist during Yahoo's inaugural national IM Live contest, losing to the eventual champions. Now, he is best known for appearing in the web series Jake and Amir with Jake Hurwitz, in which he plays an annoying and exaggerated version of himself. Originally made by Hurwitz and Blumenfeld in their spare time, the series was then produced by CollegeHumor. Blumenfeld's acting in the series gained him a Webby Award for Best Individual Performance in 2010. In 2011, CollegeHumor released Jake and Amir: Fired, a 30-minute special that is the company's first paid content. Episodes of Jake and Amir average over 500,000 views; by 2012, over 500 had been produced. The pair have also hosted numerous live shows, and started the advice podcast If I Were You in 2013. In December 2013, it was announced that Jake and Amir would be adapted into a TBS television comedy with Ed Helms as an executive producer. TBS never filmed the pilot, despite a fan-created #GreenlightJakeAndAmir Twitter campaign that garnered tens of thousands of tweets. Instead, sister network truTV picked up the pilot and filmed it, though it was never aired.