Amir Blumenfeld facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Amir Blumenfeld
Blumenfeld in 2010
Born	Amir Shmuel Blumenfeld (1983-01-18) January 18, 1983 (age 42) Afula, Israel
Nationality	Israeli American
Education	University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Comedian, actor, writer, presenter
Years active	2004–present

Amir Shmuel Blumenfeld (born January 18, 1983) is an Israeli-American comedian, actor, writer, and TV host. He is also part of the American comedy duo called Jake and Amir.

Amir was born in Israel. When he was two years old, his family moved to Los Angeles. In 2005, he started working for CollegeHumor, a comedy website based in New York City. He wrote for their books and articles. He also wrote and starred in funny videos for the website. Some of these videos were for series like Hardly Working and Very Mary-Kate. He was also on a short-lived MTV show called The CollegeHumor Show.

Amir became well-known in 2004 as a semi-finalist in Yahoo's first national IM Live contest. Today, he is most famous for the web series Jake and Amir. In this series, he stars with Jake Hurwitz. Amir plays an annoying and over-the-top version of himself. He and Jake first made the series in their free time. Later, CollegeHumor started producing it. Amir's acting in the series earned him a Webby Award in 2010 for Best Individual Performance.

The Prank War series became very popular. In it, Amir and Streeter Seidell played bigger and bigger practical jokes on each other. This led to them appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2009. Later, MTV hired them to host Pranked. This was a show that featured prank videos from the internet. Amir and Streeter later shared that their original "Prank War" series was actually planned and not real. Besides CollegeHumor, Amir has also been in the short film The Old Man and the Seymour. He appeared in TV shows like Louie and I Just Want My Pants Back. He was also in the 2011 movie A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. He has also written for ESPN The Magazine and Mental Floss.

About Amir's Life

Amir Blumenfeld was born in Afula, Israel. When he was two, he moved to Los Angeles with his parents and two older brothers. His family follows Reform Jewish traditions. He realized he was funny at a young age. He learned how to make people laugh later on. By the time he was in college, he was trying to write jokes.

He went to Jewish kindergarten and elementary school. Then he attended Milken Community High School, which is a private Jewish high school. In the summer, he went to computer camp and math camp. He has said he wishes he had gone to a Jewish summer camp instead.

Amir graduated from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He hoped to get a creative job in advertising or marketing while also writing comedy. He now uses his degree to make smart jokes about money and numbers.

Since 2017, Amir has been with Avital Ash, who is a writer, actress, and comedian. They got married on October 15, 2023.

Amir is Jewish. He describes himself as "not too religious." He does not go to Temple often, and he does not keep Kosher. However, he celebrates Jewish holidays with his family and speaks Hebrew. He loves basketball and supports the Los Angeles Lakers. His favorite players are Nick Van Exel and the late Kobe Bryant.

Amir's Career Journey

Working at CollegeHumor

Amir Blumenfeld in 2005

In 2003, when Amir was a second-year student at Berkeley, he started writing for the comedy website CollegeHumor. He sent ideas to the co-founder, Ricky Van Veen, who found them funny and posted them. When Amir graduated in 2005, CollegeHumor hired him and Streeter Seidell full-time. They were hired to write The CollegeHumor Guide to College, a funny book about university life. Amir moved to New York City when he was 22. Later, he started writing original videos for CollegeHumor with Dan Gurewitch. He also acted in CollegeHumor Originals and the series Hardly Working. He has played Woody Allen in episodes of Hardly Working and Very Mary-Kate.

Starting in 2007, he and Streeter Seidell appeared in the Prank War video series. In these videos, they played bigger and bigger practical jokes on each other. Streeter said that some pranks showed Amir's desire to be famous. He felt that Amir faking a marriage proposal from Streeter to his girlfriend went "too far." After seven videos over two years, they took a break. Then, Streeter tricked Amir into thinking he had won USD$500,000 by making a blindfolded basketball shot. These pranks led to Amir and Streeter being interviewed by Wired magazine and appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

In 2009, Amir starred in The CollegeHumor Show on MTV with eight other CollegeHumor employees. The staff wrote, filmed, and starred in the show. It was set in the CollegeHumor offices and was like a scripted reality show. It was a half-hour comedy that included sketches already posted online. However, critics did not like the show. Only one season with six episodes was made.

Since 2010, Streeter Seidell and Amir have hosted Pranked. This is an MTV series that shows pranks recorded on video and posted online. The show generally got bad reviews. Critics did not like that it was a clip show using content from YouTube. They said it was not as good as the "prank war" that inspired it.

On July 19, 2017, Amir and Jake Hurwitz had Streeter Seidell as a guest on their podcast If I Were You. On that episode, the creators of Prank War said publicly that the series was planned and not real.

Jake and Amir Web Series

Amir's comedy partner Jake Hurwitz in 2014

Amir met his friend Jake Hurwitz in 2006. Jake started an internship at CollegeHumor. They sat across from each other and began making short videos. They uploaded these videos to Vimeo. Their first video was called "Quick Characters." It was not planned. One of them would point a camera at the other and tell them how to act.

Later, they started the web series Jake and Amir. They posted episodes on jakeandamir.com. In the series, Jake plays a "normal guy." Amir plays his annoying and obsessed co-worker who wants Jake's attention. CollegeHumor started promoting their videos, and then the website took over the series.

Amir has said that his character "sort of evolved." He went from being "super needy [and] weird" to "a little crazier." But the main part of his character, his insecurity, stayed the same. About how similar he is to his character, he said he is "hopefully very different." But maybe deep down, they are the same person. He thinks he is probably a little smarter than the character.

At the 14th Webby Awards in 2010, Jake and Amir won a People's Voice award for Comedy: Long Form or Series. Amir also won an award for Best Individual Performance. Amir was nominated for a 2013 Streamy Awards for Best Male Performance: Comedy for his role in Jake and Amir.

If I Were You Podcast

On May 13, 2013, Amir and Jake Hurwitz announced their first new project after Jake and Amir. It was a comedy podcast called If I Were You. In this podcast, they give advice to listeners who send in questions. Many people enjoy the podcast, finding it funny and easy to listen to.

HeadGum Podcast Network

Amir and Jake Hurwitz learned a lot from making podcasts. This led them to start their own podcasting network called HeadGum. As of May 2020, HeadGum has 34 active shows.

Buckets with Amir Blumenfeld Podcast

In August 2018, Amir announced he started a new podcast called Buckets with Amir Blumenfeld. On this show, he talks about the NBA (professional basketball league) with his guests.

Other Projects

Amir Blumenfeld starred in the 2009 short film The Old Man and the Seymour. He was in it with his friends Streeter Seidell and Dan Gurewitch. The movie is about a man who looks like a student because he has a growth hormone deficiency. He gets mistaken for a student at his nephew's high school. The movie was chosen as a "Staff Pick" on Vimeo. It was also shown at several film festivals.

In 2011, Amir appeared in comedian Louis C.K.'s TV series Louie. This was in the 10th episode of its second season. He played a writer hired to make a movie script better. People said he played the "unfunny" guy who actually ended up being the funniest to the audience. Amir also had a role in I Just Want My Pants Back, an MTV show.

As a writer, Amir works for ESPN The Magazine. He also wrote for the ESPN Guide to Psycho Fan Behavior. He has a section in Mental Floss magazine called "The Curious Comedian."

What Inspired Amir?

Amir said that his education helped shape his humor. He went to Jewish schools growing up, and that's where he developed his sense of humor. He said everyone there was funny. Amir has also been influenced by TV shows he watched as a kid. These include The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and Saturday Night Live. He says these shows taught him to think in a funny, creative, and original way about jokes. He has mentioned Larry David as an influence. He also likes Louie and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Amir has compared the NBC shows The Office and Parks and Recreation to Jake and Amir. He says they all have funny office situations and very funny characters.

Amir's Film and TV Roles

Movies

Television Shows

Online Videos

See also

In Spanish: Amir Blumenfeld para niños