Michael Ian Black (born Michael Schwartz on August 12, 1971 - Chicago, Illinois, USA) is an American actor, comedian and comedy writer. He was born in Chicago, but grew up in Hillsborough, New Jersey. He began his career as a member of the comedy group The State and was featured on the television show by the same name on MTV. He continued working with members of that group on the show Viva Variety in the role of "Johnny Bluejeans", and in the film Wet Hot American Summer. He was also the voice actor behind the Pets.com sock puppet, and had a supporting role on the television program Ed.
His dry, sarcastically reverent commentary on pop cultural artifacts on VH1's "I Love the 70s/80s/90s" series have added to his and the shows' popularity.
In the latter part of 2004 he acted as guest host of CBS's The Late Late Show while auditioning for the permanent hosting role. He was a finalist for the position, but the job eventually went to Craig Ferguson.
He is also an occasional contributer to the online edition of McSweeney's, where he writes a column entitled Michael Ian Black Is A Very Famous Celebrity.
He will co-star in and co-write (along with Michael Showalter and David Wain (from The State)Stella, a live-action adaptation of their popular stage show. These modern-day Marx brothers embark on various misadventures, from falling in love with Ed Norton's wife to accidentally killing their ex-Nazi landlord. Every episode features a new set of absurdist obstacles for our perpetually suit-clad trio. Ten episodes of Stella are scheduled to air beginning in June 2005 on Comedy Central.
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