Born Jeffrey Ross Lifschultz on Sept. 13, 1965 in Newark, NJ, Ross grew up in the Garden State before later attending Boston University, where he earned a degree in broadcasting and film. Getting his start in stand-up, Ross performed at the local comedy clubs before making his television stand-up debut on “The Late Show with David Letterman” (CBS, 1993- ). A member of the infamous New York City Friar’s Club – a private club known for their celebrity roasts – Ross found his niche as an insult comic, a la Don Rickles. Teaming up with Comedy Central in 1998, The Friar’s Club celebrity roast was broadcast to the public with “Comedy Central Presents: The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Drew Carey,” earning Ross some much-needed exposure. He went on to roast Jerry Stiller, Rob Reiner and infamous playboy Hugh Hefner in a series of Friar’s Club specials.
Ross found success off-stage as well; he worked as a writer on the first season of Comedy Central’s unapologetically male “The Man Show” (1999-2004) and went on to write for host Billy Crystal on “The 72nd Annual Academy Awards (ABC, 2000) and Jamie Foxx and Chris Rock on the “MTV Video Music Awards.” He also served as host and head writer on the MTV comedy roast show “MTV Bash: Carson Daly” (2003) and became roast master for Comedy Central with the special “Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson” in 2005. Proving to be a popular series for the network, Ross was invited back to host Comedy Central roasts of William Shatner in 2006, Flavor Flav in 2007 and Bob Sagat in 2008. A staunch supporter of troops overseas, Ross embarked on a one-week USO tour of Iraq with fellow comedian Drew Carey in 2003. Documenting the experience on film, Ross later released the film – titled “Patriot Act: A Jeffrey Ross Home Movie” – in 2005. Hailed by one critic as “the best documentary to emerge so far from the Iraq War,” “Patriot Act” proved to be a poignant portrayal of both the Iraq war and the tradition of USO comedy tours made popular by legendary comic Bob Hope.
Returning to his offensive nature in 2006, Ross wrote and produced the animated series “Where My Dogs At?” (MTV2). Parodying Hollywood celebrity, the series was centered on Buddy (Ross), a beagle lost on the streets of Hollywood, and his friend Woof (Tracy Morgan), a bulldog. The series was pulled after its first season however, when controversy arose about the depiction of African-American women in the episode “Woofy Loves Snoop,” a parody of rapper Snoop Dogg. Undeterred, Ross went on to star in his first stand-up special on Comedy Central – “Jeffrey Ross: No Offense” - in 2008. That same year, Ross signed on raise his profile outside the comedy realm by competing on ABC’s reality show phenomenon “Dancing with the Stars.”