CAMERA
SERIOUSLY FUNNY
Ben Gleib ’ 00 : From campus roots to the stand-up spotlight .
BY BETH ACCOMANDO ’ 82 & JARRETT HALEY
TAPED TO THE DOOR of Ben Gleiberman ’ s childhood room in 1980s Los Angeles , a length of dot matrix printer paper is scrawled with penciled letters : Ben ’ s Comedy Club — two drink minimum . It ’ s what you might expect from a 10-year-old aspiring comedian . You could call it precocious , but in Gleiberman ’ s case it ’ s more like laser focus . While this kind of creative spirit often fades over time , Gleiberman ’ s never did . Instead he brought it with him to UC San Diego , where it flourished with every opportunity to become the comic , the talk show host , the actor and showrunner he always wanted to be .
“ Ben burst into Muir College as an undaunted , fearless first-year student who seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do with his life — make people laugh ,” says Patty Mahaffey , then Muir ’ s coordinator of student activities , who remembers the scrappy freshman well before he became the personality he goes by today , Ben Gleib .
The freshman communications major wasted no time upon coming to campus .
Gleib teamed up with fellow Muiron Jeremy Cole ’ 98 to host The Whatever Live Show , an improvised call-in program broadcast live on Muir TV , then took the lead on creating The Gleib Show , a full-blown talk show in the vein of Gleib ’ s late-night idols , Johnny Carson and David Letterman . Over his college career Gleib would lead a production team of anywhere from 20 to 80 fellow students , including Tim Flora ’ 98 , Dan Zizmor ’ 00 , Jill Lucks ’ 00 and Jason Adelman ’ 99 , many of whom earned course credit for “ The Gleib Show 198 .” As for a final , each season of the show ended with a live broadcast that would eventually become the opener for the Sun God Festival — but it was Gleib ’ s first show on Muir Quad that would prove the most momentous . “ Muir TV was on the sixth floor of Tioga Hall , so I rented two 100-foot A / V cables and ran them from the broadcast room , out the window , down the side of the building and onto the stage ,” he says . “ Then it started raining , which could have ruined everything . I literally dropped down on my knee in the corner and said , ‘ This is my life ’ s vision , and if I ’ m going to have a career in this business , please , please , let the rain stop .’ It did , and I decided I was going to pursue this career for the rest of my life . After that night , I knew I would .”
Gleib of course had three more years of college to get through , which meant three more years on camera . Looking back , The Gleib Show was a chronicle of the ’ 90s , with parodies of popular movies like Titanic , Swingers and American Beauty , and special guests that included MTV ’ s Carmen Electra and Saved by the Bell ’ s “ Screech .” And when it came to campus celebrities , Gleib was even able to convince then-Chancellor Bob Dynes to dance the macarena on stage .
Such charisma would land Gleib a top Hollywood talent manager come graduation , after which he headed to L . A . and hit the ground running . Over the years his stand-up routine got him listed as “ one of comedy ’ s next big things ” by Esquire ; he was tapped to host Idiotest on the Game Show Network and also served as head writer and executive producer .
44 TRITON | WINTER 2019