Background
His most famous catchphrase is "That"s not right!" delivered while doing an impression of his mother, which is followed by, and usually preceded by, her complaints and remonstrations.
His most famous catchphrase is "That"s not right!" delivered while doing an impression of his mother, which is followed by, and usually preceded by, her complaints and remonstrations.
Meaney began his career in comedy in 1980. His "big break" into mainstream culture is considered to be his first Home Box Office comedy special done in 1986, followed by his debut performance on The Tonight Show in 1987. Since then, his act has been broadcast several times by Home Box Office, Comedy Central and several network television stations with appearances on The Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Regis and Kathy Lee, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Conan.
Typically, his acts consist of commentary about his family and complaints about hotel service.
Often, Meaney closes his show with a rendition of the 1985 song "We Are The World" which includes comical impressions of the various singers who originally sang the song. He is also well known for ending his performance with a few jokes that will intentionally not get a good response in order to follow them up with a song reminiscent of "I Don"t Care" by Jean Lenox and Harry O. Sutton sung about how he doesn"t care whether the audience laughs at his jokes.
He starred as the title character on the short-lived sitcom version of Uncle Buck. He intermittently appears on The Jay Thomas Show as a co-host.
In the 2000s, Meaney performed on Broadway in the musical Hairspray for seven years.
He released a comedy album in 2004 titled That"s Not Right.