Greg Giraldo

Gregory Carlos Giraldo (December 10, 1965 - September 29, 2010) was an American stand-up comedian, television personality, and lawyer. He is remembered for his appearances on Comedy Central's televised roast specials, and for his work on that network's television shows Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, and the programming block Stand-Up Nation, which he hosted. Giraldo was born and raised in Bayside, Queens; his father, Alfonso, was from Colombia and worked for Pan Am, and his mother, Dolores, was from Spain. He was raised Roman Catholic and spoke fluent Spanish.

Giraldo received an academic scholarship to the private Jesuit Regis High School in Manhattan, graduating in 1983, and earned a bachelor's degree in English from Columbia University in 1987. He was admitted to Harvard Law School after scoring in the 99th percentile on the LSAT, and earned a J.D. degree in 1990. He passed the bar and worked for eight months as an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom before changing his occupation. In 1993, he provided pro bono defense counsel to his friend and fellow comedian Jeffrey Ross. Although he did well in law school, Giraldo found he did not like the practice of corporate law.

Giraldo started doing stand-up comedy in 1992, performing regularly at the Comedy Cellar in Manhattan as well as clubs across the U.S. He was the star of the short-lived sitcom Common Law, which he landed after being spotted by Hollywood agents at the 1995 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal. From 2002 to 2004, he was a regular panelist on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, and starred in several pilots for CBS and Comedy Central. In August 2000, he was featured in an Esquire magazine article profiling members of the Harvard Law School class of 1990 who chose career paths other than law.