HSN host and stand-up comedian Helen Keaney was born in Binghamton, NY. Helen attended Hunter College in New York City and majored in history and minored in classics. While attending school she took acting classes and graduated Magna Cum Lauda. After graduation, Helen had an internship at The Manhattan Punchline and an opportunity to continue taking classes. This time she chose an education in stand-up comedy. Helen also found herself married and divorced just after 4 months of marriage and turned to comedy to help cheer her up through this difficult time. She was inspired by comedians like Rita Rudner who was a woman comic on stage being truly funny.
Helen took her comedy to the stage at the Boston Comedy Club in New York City and her second time on stage won a comedy contest. The prize was to be the host of the clubs open-mic night. Some of her now famous open-mic guests included Jon Stewart, Ray Romano and Dave Attel – just to name a few. She caught the attention of television executives, landing a job Co-Hosting “Short Attention Span Theater” on Comedy Central.
Like many other NY based comics, Helen wanted to see what was happening on the west coast. So she took a two-week vacation to Los Angeles, did a few sets at the Laugh Factory and wound up staying. She was given an opportunity to perform at the Montreal Comedy Festival – Just For Laughs. She caught the eye of television executive, the late Brandon Tartikoff and now TV was on her radar.
On the second day of a vacation to Los Angeles she met Michael Davies (“Who Wants to be a Millionaire”), who cast her and Mark Steines (“Entertainment Tonight”) as Co-Hosts of “The Big Day,” based on the British show “The Big Breakfast.” The talent executives at Disney promptly gave her lots of money for a sitcom holding deal, which forced her to sit home and do nothing for a year. After being paroled, Helen landed guest spots on NBC’s “The John Larroquette Show,” HBO’s “Not Necessarily the News with Dennis Miller,” and USA’s “Lost on Earth.”
She did the voice for the spunky female lead on the popular game “Pandemonium,” so geeks everywhere are familiar with her work. Her stand-up appearances include A&E’s “An Evening at the Improv,” Lifetime’s “Girl’s Night Out, ” VH-1′s “Stand-up Spotlight,” NBC’s “Friday Night,” and Comedy Central’s “Make Me Laugh”.
Helen is always selling something to the American people via national commercials for such wonderful products as Clorox. Tylenol, Gateway, Degree Deodorant, Dr. Scholl’s, Starkist, Thermacare, KFC and Verizon. Corporate America contributes to her mortgage by employing her as a host/MC and comedian for such venerable companies as Merck, Nextel, Tenneco, Bayer, Ortho-McNeil, and Canon.
Recent television hosting gigs include TBS’s “Movies For Guys Who Like Movies,” GSN’s “Lover’s Lounge,” Discovery Health’s “Sex Drive” and she can currently be seen hosting “You’re Invited” on the Style Network.
