Anthony Irwin Kornheiser is an American television sports talk show host and former sportswriter and columnist.
48 Facts About Tony Kornheiser
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Kornheiser is best known for his endeavors in three forms of media: as a writer for The Washington Post from 1979 to 2008, as a co-host of ESPN's Emmy Award-winning sports debate show Pardon the Interruption since 2001, and as the host of The Tony Kornheiser Show, a radio show and podcast.
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Tony Kornheiser was born in New York City and raised in nearby Lynbrook.
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Tony Kornheiser was the only child of Estelle and Ira Kornheiser.
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Tony Kornheiser graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1970.
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Tony Kornheiser began his career in New York City, where he wrote for Newsday between 1970 and 1976.
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Tony Kornheiser then moved to The New York Times, where he wrote between 1976 and 1979.
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In 1979, George Solomon recruited Tony Kornheiser to join The Washington Post as a general assignment reporter in Style and Sports.
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In 1980, Tony Kornheiser authored a profile of Nolan Ryan that served as the cover story for the charter issue of Inside Sports.
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Tony Kornheiser became a full-time sports columnist at the Post in 1984.
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Tony Kornheiser began writing columns for the Post's Style Section on November 12,1989.
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Tony Kornheiser started working for ESPN Radio in 1997 and kept his column at the Post.
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In 1991, Tony Kornheiser created a string of now-famous Bandwagon columns to describe the Washington Redskins' Super Bowl run that year.
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In 2005, Tony Kornheiser started to write short columns called A Few Choice Words with his photo in the Post's Sports Section.
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Tony Kornheiser called these short columns "columnettes," writing three per week unless he had other duties.
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Tony Kornheiser did not write columns between April 26,2006, and August 7,2006, to prepare as an analyst of ESPN's Monday Night Football.
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On May 14,2008, it was announced that Tony Kornheiser had accepted a buyout from the Post.
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Tony Kornheiser was back on WTEM locally between November 10,2004, and April 28,2006, after which point Kornheiser put the show on hiatus in order to prepare for his duties with Monday Night Football.
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Tony Kornheiser's show was carried for a short while by XM Satellite Radio, airing between February 28,2005 and April 28,2006.
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Tony Kornheiser went on hiatus from the show following the June 28,2007, broadcast because of his Monday Night Football duties.
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On June 2,2016, Tony Kornheiser announced that his show will be relaunched as a podcast-only show.
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On September 6,2016, Tony Kornheiser returned from his summer vacation with the first full episode of the new podcast.
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Tony Kornheiser appeared on ESPN's The Sports Reporters beginning in 1988 and continuing during the 1990s.
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Tony Kornheiser was a panelist on Full Court Press hosted by George Michael on WRC-TV in Washington, DC during the NFL off-season until that show was canceled in December 2008 due to budget cuts.
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Tony Kornheiser made a number of appearances on Redskins Report on WRC.
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When Monday Night Football moved from ABC to ESPN, Tony Kornheiser received and accepted an offer to be a color analyst on Monday Night Football in early 2006.
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Tony Kornheiser was originally passed over in favor of Sunday Night Football commentator Joe Theismann; however, when play-by-play man Al Michaels left ABC to call Sunday Night Football for NBC, Kornheiser was brought in alongside Theismann and new play-by-play announcer Mike Tirico.
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Tony Kornheiser returned for a second season of Monday Night Football.
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On May 18,2009, ESPN announced that Tony Kornheiser would be leaving Monday Night Football due to fear of flying.
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Tony Kornheiser had a cameo appearance as a bar patron in a 2015 episode of The Americans.
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In June 2016, Tony Kornheiser participated in the roast of political commentator and strategist James Carville.
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In January 2017, it was announced that Tony Kornheiser was part of a new ownership group for Chad's, a bar and restaurant located in the Friendship Heights area of Washington, DC The group included former Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams, TV host Maury Povich, and DC businessman and socialite Alan Bubes.
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Kornheiser began recording episodes of The Tony Kornheiser Show at Chatter on May 1,2017.
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On June 28,2019, Tony Kornheiser announced that the podcast would move to a new location after the summer break due to the closure of Chatter.
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Tony Kornheiser was a member of the Young Democrats club while in high school.
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In 2006, Tony Kornheiser revealed that he had skin cancer and had received treatment.
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Stephen Rodrick wrote for Slate that Tony Kornheiser was allowed by ESPN to argue aimlessly on television and that his Washington Post column was being used to plug side projects rather than gather news from cited sources.
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Tony Kornheiser called on Slate, owned by the Post's parent company, to fire Rodrick.
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Tony Kornheiser's response generated more criticism from media outlets, including the Post.
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Tony Kornheiser played the game and has lots of good insight and Kornheiser just gets in his way.
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In October 2015, Tony Kornheiser was interviewing Huffington Post editor Howard Fineman about the conservative movement in Congress when he asked if Tea Party members are "like ISIS trying to establish a caliphate here," which Fineman called a "good analogy" but without the violence.
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Tony Kornheiser was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
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In 2008, Tony Kornheiser was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
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In 2012, Tony Kornheiser was ranked No 8 in the list of the 100 most important sports talk radio hosts in America compiled by Talkers Magazine.
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In 2016, the Tony Kornheiser Show was ranked No 1 as America's Top 20 Local Sports Midday Shows for 2015 by Barrett Sports Media.
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On July 9,2017, Tony Kornheiser was inducted into the Washington, DC Sports Hall of Fame alongside such notable names as Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.
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On July 12,2013, Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon and Tony Reali were guests at the White House.
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Tony Kornheiser played golf with Obama on a number of other occasions, including in September 2013, June 2014, July 2014, July 2015, April 2016, and May 2016.