Andy Richter

Andy Richter is best known as a comedian, actor and longtime sidekick to Conan O’Brien on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and Conan. Richter was raised in Yorkville, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign before transferring to Columbia College Chicago, where he studied film. He began performing improv in college and became active in the Chicago comedy scene.

Richter’s career took off in the early 1990s when he joined O’Brien as an announcer and sidekick for Late Night in 1993. He left the show in 2000 to pursue acting but returned for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien in 2009 and remained with Conan until its end in 2021. He also hosted the game show Big Fan in 2017 and lent his voice to characters on animated shows like TrollsTopia and Bob’s Burgers.

His notable acting credits include films like Elf (2003), Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006) and 80 for Brady (2023), as well as TV shows like Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Quintuplets and Arrested Development. He has also voiced Mort in Madagascar (2005) and its spinoffs. In 2025, he was announced as a cast member on season 34 of Dancing With the Stars.

Richter married actress Sarah Thyre in 1994. The couple welcomed son William and daughter Mercy before separating in 2019. In 2023, Richter tied the knot with Jennifer Herrera, a set designer.