Overview (3)

Mini Bio (1)

Andy Richter was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the second of four children of Glenda (Palmer), a kitchen cabinet designer, and Laurence R. Richter, who taught Russian at Indiana University. He was raised in Yorkville, Illinois. His parents divorced when he was four. Richter attended the University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign and then moved to Chicago's Columbia College to study film. Richter played in several Chicago improvisation groups before catching his role with Conan O'Brien.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: John Sacksteder <jsack@ka.net>

Spouse (1)

Trivia (11)



In September 1999, he announced his retirement from Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) nine months hence (mid-May 2000).

Set a record on Celebrity Jeopardy! for most money earned at $29,400 ($24,400 + $5000 victory bonus). [1999]



Was high school prom king.



Attended Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Illinois.





While attending Columbia College in Chicago, Andy had the title role in a class film called "My Dinner with Andy", a parody of the film Mein Essen mit André (1981).

Attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.



His father is an expert in Russian linguistics.



Daughter, Mercy Josephine, was born March 2007.



Son, William Oscar, born 2001.



His last name means "judge" in German. Andy's paternal grandmother was of French descent. Andy's maternal grandmother was born in Lahowkow, China, to Swedish parents. His other ancestry is German, English, and remote Welsh.



Personal Quotes (25)

Because homecoming came first, and there was the homecoming court. The five guys on homecoming court were disqualified from being in the prom court. So being prom king was being sixth most popular.



Since she got a cause and stopped being funny. I think she's real funny, but lately it's all been hearts and flowers and tears and saving teenagers and creating a role model. And that ain't funny. No giggles there.



I was prom king. Which is actually saying I was the sixth most popular, because the five who were on homecoming were automatically disqualified from prom, so of course I have to look at it that way.



I briefly considered doing Edgar Allan Poe and just swearing a lot.



I wouldn't want to be a talk show host. That's another awkward compliment people make. 'You should have your own talk show.' And I think, no thank you.



I've always tried to be nice to people, so that sort of translates into popularity, I guess.



The desire to do different things was the main motivator that made me leave late night because I'd been there seven years. The combination of an entrepreneurial desire to see how far I could push my success and a short attention span. But now I've done other things. And I'm sort of ready to sit somewhere and sit in the same place for a while.



The basic equation that mystified me as a young man was looking at guys who could actually get girls. I was always amazed, because they never seemed to care. I was like, 'How do they do that?'



There are naked people in boots on a mountain top firing guns.



At a very basic level, I think television exists for game shows, and I think it always will.



I want to get back and figure out how we're going to make 'The Tonight Show' funny and good.



I mean, I'll say the filthiest things in the world, but when it comes down to it, I'm kind of a prude.



But I don't read a lot of fiction. I prefer the nonfiction stuff.



I watch mediocre shows that have been on for three or four seasons, and feel angry at them.



I'm not that professional.



If somebody's looking at pictures of naked people and you go, 'Oh I don't want to see that,' you're lying. Cause naked people are always interesting. Always. Whether they're beautiful, or naked or 500 pounds.



Anything that I read, I read because I'm interested in it.



No, I don't know any Emily Dickinson poems!



Some people are born with a brain that has this weird, magical mathematical thing that makes them an amazing jazz musician.



We've been swimming at nude beaches and I love to go skinny dipping, but I'm sorry, sitting on top of a mountain, that's just, you're trying to show off or something. That's ridiculous.



If you start to just aim for what the audience wants to hear, you're already hamstrung because you don't have any freedom.



It's funny, because 'Arrested Development' is tied to Andy Richter in a few different ways. For me personally, after I did Andy Richter, one of the next things I did was a show called 'Quintuplets' for a season for Fox, and this was while 'Arrested Development' was on. I used to go over and hang out on their set.



Well, I refer to 'Celebrity Jeopardy ' as the short-bus 'Jeopardy,' because it is a lot easier. Like, there was a whole column basically naming stores in New York.



It's a very nice thing to have a baby.



The people on 'Quintuplets' were great, but I wasn't a producer on that show, and it wasn't exactly my taste.

