Television Actors/Personalities Who Made TIME's 100 Most Influential People

[JamesG]

Louis C.K.
by Joan Rivers






What you see on "Louie" is just the tip of the iceberg — a funny, clever show. What you're not seeing is that he produces it, he writes it, he edits it, he knows every lens, every camera angle. He's Steven Spielberg without the beard and with humor.

And Louis CK, 44, knows the future — that it's all about the Internet and social media. I love that he let people buy his special, Live at the Beacon Theater, online for $5.

When he sent me the "Louie" episode he wanted me to do, I called him and said, "I like it, but I'd like to work with you on this." He was wonderful. There is absolutely no ego there — we reworked the script together and we improvised.

It was such a meeting of the minds, such a joy. Nobody said, "Stick to the script!" He knows that if you let go, if you loosen the reins, something wonderful will happen. He doesn't just walk on the set and say, "My way or the highway" — he knows what he wants, but then he lets it take on a life of its own. It's one plus one equals three with him.

No one can learn how to be funny. What you can learn is how to trust yourself, to have enough self-confidence to say, "I think this is funny — they will too." Louis gets that.

There's no downside to him. He's the next Big One.











Kristin Wiig
by Judd Apatow






I remember seeing Kristen Wiig on her first episode of "SNL". I don't remember the sketch, I just remember her. She was so confident and funny right out of the gate. You would have thought she had been on the show for years. She was instantly one of my all-time favorite cast members.

The same thing seems to have happened with the film Bridesmaids. It's her first starring role, and she is fantastic — vulnerable, explosive and hilarious.



Kristen, 38, was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. Her first screenplay — insightful, brave, groundbreaking and also hilarious. Kristen and her wonderful partner Annie Mumolo are nominated for an Academy Award.

She never thought she was making a statement about women in comedy. Of course women in comedy have always been brilliant. Look at her old "SNL" castmates Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch, Maya Rudolph and Tina Fey. And that is just the women on one show!



For her, it was just about making a movie she could be proud of, and she labored over it tirelessly for half a decade. I guess coming fast out of the gate requires years of hard work that nobody but me gets to see.

I am the lucky one.











Chelsea Handler
by Kathy Griffin






Look, I don't know how Chelsea Handler does it. She presides over her own media empire — talk show, sitcom, books — all while sharing a network with Ryan Seacrest and the Kardashians.

To hell with the TIME 100; she should be Person of the Year just for putting up with Khloe.



What I love about Chelsea, 37, is that she gets the joke. She has not bought into the Hollywood myth that celebrities walk on water. She's still a trash-talking gal from Jersey. Sure, she's an extremely wealthy trash-talking gal from Jersey, but her authenticity is 100 proof.

And yes, I made a vodka reference during a Chelsea Handler tribute. You knew it was coming.



Few women in comedy have gotten the attention and respect of the Establishment. Chelsea has, while being raw, hilarious and unafraid to cross the line — and take it from me, that combination doesn't always go over.

And Seacrest, if you're reading this, remember: it won't be long before Chelsea can buy and sell you.











Matt Lauer
by Howard Stern






We all wondered, Was it over? It's over, it's over, he's losing his hair! It's got to be over!

But we were wrong! The strength was still there, perhaps stronger still, crashing pillars to earth with innate strength and charm and class — Matt Lauer, 54, the anti-Samson, going up against pretty guys and girls, the hairy people. He was still the smartest, the strongest, the classiest.

How? Why? This is a guy who never gives up! Why? How? 'Cause he works his ass off and cares about everything he does. Adversity, begone! Katie leaves. Meredith leaves. Knuckleheads come and go. Matt is there and stronger still.

Our leader, diving into treacherous TV morning waters unscathed by sharks, unstung by stingrays, impossible to harm 'cause our Matt is cool and relaxed and so we're cool and relaxed and we can deal with the complexities of a presidential interview, a great sports event or the wacko.



All people become newsworthy in his Matt-talk, and their stories take on great importance. I've questioned the relevance of the Lohan story, the Brinkley divorce and again, again, again, Kim Kardashian — but it all becomes news, something we want to hear from the Matt Lauer interview.

No wonder NBC is paying someone $25 million a year and it ain't me! Oh, how I admire him, and how I admire his lovely wife Annette.



If there is ever a woman Mrs. Stern and I would want to have a threesome with, it's Annette, although the three of us would probably end up in bed laughing and saying, "Where in the world is Matt?" (Hey, I'm Howard Stern, and I need to throw something inappropriate into everything I do.)

Carry on, Matt. Oh, how we wish we were him.











Claire Danes
by Valerie Plame Wilson






CIA analyst Carrie Mathison, played exquisitely by Claire Danes on Showtime's "Homeland", is exceedingly hard to like. She steals medication from her father, sleeps with married men and counts no close friends or even hobbies, with the exception of appreciating the complexity of jazz.

Carrie does not suffer from the common female need-to-please trait and, in fact, insists she is usually right. She is impulsive in a job that rewards patience and lies to the few people who can tolerate her. When she turns on the charm, it is always for calculated effect. It's absolutely maddening.



And yet ... you can't take your eyes off her. You root for her because those very despicable qualities also make her extraordinarily good at her mission. Danes breathes life and realism into a character who, for once, goes against the clichés of what a female CIA officer is supposed to do and look like.

No sequined gowns or casual gunplay for Carrie — she works in the real world of gathering intelligence. Her bipolar disorder, which she must hide from her employers, is both a blessing and a curse. It provides heightened powers of concentration and obsessiveness about detail but is so finely balanced that she could easily be pushed into insanity.

Carrie may be an improbable CIA agent, but Danes' finely calibrated, deliberate and nuanced portrait of her is breathtaking.











Stephen Colbert
by Garry Trudeau






Before every show, Stephen visits the green room and tells that evening's guest the same thing: "My character's an idiot. Your job is to set him straight."

Easier said than done, especially since the first part's a lie. Stephen's character may ask idiotic questions, but they're so unexpected and diabolically entangling that watching his guests fight their way toward daylight is unalloyed pleasure.



On "The Colbert Report", every day is Opposite Day. Because of how his humor works, the audience finds meaning through sustained inference, which is a lot more fun than it sounds.

Colbert's riffs are so ingeniously convoluted and deeply weird that the post-reason wingers have no response to him. They just have to absorb the punishment, night after night.



I'd like to add here that Stephen and I are old friends, but I can't. I barely know the man. But like millions of others, I revere him as the class clown I never knew — the one without a trace of mean. How he can be so devastating and endearing at the same time I cannot say, but it sure wears well.

Look for him to hold down this spot on TIME's list for years to come.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...111975,00.html