Biography
Who is Andy Richter?
Early life and education
Andy Richter was born Paul Andrew Richter on October 28, 1966, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He grew up as the second of four children. His mother worked as a kitchen cabinet designer, and his father taught Russian at Indiana University for over three decades. Andy spent his youth living in Yorkville, Illinois. He attended Yorkville High School, graduating in the year 1984. During his time in high school, he earned the title of Prom King.
Following high school, Andy attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and later Columbia College Chicago to study as a film major. While enrolled at Columbia, he gained early experience in comedic performance by starring in multiple student films. He left college in 1988 to work as a production assistant on commercial video shoots in Chicago. Shortly after, he began taking classes at the Improv Olympic, quickly advancing to become a house performer.
Working with Conan O'Brien
Andy met writer Robert Smigel at a post-show party for Saturday Night Live. Smigel later hired Andy as a writer for a new late night program. During a pre-production test run for the new series, Smigel placed Andy on stage next to host Conan O'Brien to test lighting and audio levels. The production staff noticed an immediate and strong rapport between the two men. Andy became the official sidekick for Late Night with Conan O'Brien just weeks before the program began broadcasting in 1993.
After spending seven years on the program, Andy chose to leave in 2000 to pursue acting opportunities in film and television. He eventually reunited with Conan in 2009 to serve as the announcer and a writer for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. When Conan moved to TBS in 2010 to host a new program, Andy followed and resumed his familiar roles as announcer, writer, and comedy sketch participant.
Television and film career
Beyond his work with Conan, Andy starred in the short-lived Fox sitcom Andy Richter Controls the Universe and later appeared in Quintuplets. In 2007, he starred in the NBC comedy series Andy Barker P.I., which was co-written by Conan O'Brien. He also built a substantial voice acting career, providing the voice of Mort in the animated Madagascar film franchise and voicing Ben Higgenbottom in the Nickelodeon series The Mighty B!
Andy has made numerous guest appearances on various television programs, including Malcolm in the Middle, Will & Grace, and Arrested Development, where he played a set of identical quintuplet brothers. In 2024, he competed on the reality singing competition The Masked Singer disguised as the Dust Bunny. In 2025, he competed on Dancing with the Stars partnered with professional dancer Emma Slater, ultimately finishing in seventh place.
Game shows and podcasting
Andy set a well-known television record by achieving the highest all-time one-day score on Celebrity Jeopardy! During the 2009 to 2010 season, winning sixty-eight thousand dollars for charity. He later hosted the ABC game show Big Fan starting in 2017. In June 2019, he expanded his media work by launching his own interview podcast titled The Three Questions with Andy Richter on the Earwolf network.
Birthday and age
Andy Richter was born on October 28, 1966, which makes Andy 59 years old today. That birthday falls under the Scorpio sign. Andy shares the date with 35 other famous people.
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