Cody Dove

Born to a father who was a rodeo announcer and a mother who worked providing state assistance to those without home energy; Cody Dove came into the world on February 14, 1974. His early years were spe ...Show More

Born to a father who was a rodeo announcer and a mother who worked providing state assistance to those without home energy; Cody Dove came into the world on February 14, 1974. His early years were spent traveling the rodeo circuit with his family where he would often help the specialty act performers in the arena (appearing as the animated bottom half of a saw-in-half clown act gone wrong, playing seesaw with a trained Appaloosa horse). When Cody was nine, he witnessed a magician performing miracles behind a shop counter in Canby, Oregon (where the family was traveling doing rodeos at the time). Becoming a magician led him to create his own business (complete with checking account) which he would cultivate over the next nine years. From living rooms to packed school auditoriums to libraries, Cody traveled through the Four Corners area of northern New Mexico and Arizona performing for audiences of all ages. Drawn to the comedy aspect of his style of magic shows, and inspired by Jonathan Winters and Johnny Carson, Cody "retired" from magic at eighteen - the same year he would replace an actor in local college production of "Roosters" (a play by Milcha Sanchez Scott about a Hispanic family torn apart by cockfighting). While a member of his high school Speech and Debate team, he had also begun improvising in a category of competition offered at many of the regional tournaments.While attending San Juan College, he would not only appear in several other theater productions, but begin his radio broadcasting career with KISZ FM, originally a Top Forty station which would gradually become Alternative at the height of that genre's popularity. Initially, Cody worked weekends inserting local commercials into syndicated programs, but was shortly promoted to afternoons before ending his tenure with the station as part of a popular morning show. He would leave KISZ to work briefly as a Classic Rock personality at KDAG Big Dog Radio before leaving radio for other pursuits. While on the air, he began opening up for stand-up comedians which would appear at the college and other local venues around town. While stand-up comedy was challenging, he knew his first love was improvisation, and - based on the advice of Keith Stubbs - a touring comedian he had befriended - set off to study with The Groundlings in Los Angeles.While repeating the first level of his instruction at The Groundlings, a fellow improviser, David Shore (who would later join the main stage cast of The Second City Toronto) recommended another program in town facilitated by a west coast branch of Chicago's ImprovOlympic. After his first two levels of instruction, Cody was placed on a long-form Harold team comprised of both new members and veterans (Michael Stoyanov, who played Mayim Bialik's older alcoholic brother on the television program "Blossom" was on the team - along with James Grace, the current producer of iO West). Cody had not been with the group very long when, upon learning The Second City would be building a new theater in the same city as his long-distance girlfriend at the time, he left Los Angeles for Cleveland, Ohio.After completing several levels of a conservatory program of instruction offered by The Second City, Cody left northeast Ohio to travel with his parents on the rodeo circuit of the Pacific Northwest - the same circuit, years earlier, he had first tried his hand at steer riding (a precursor to bull riding). After discovering The Second City had regrouped its efforts to open a theater, he moved back to Cleveland where he finished the conservatory program, began improvising in local jam sessions with fellow students, and joined the cast of an interactive Irish funeral entitled "Flanagan's Wake."Through an open audition, Cody was hired as a television host for the UPN affiliate WUAB. "43 The Block," for which he hosted, consisted of pop culture interstitials inserted between syndicated programming aired by the station. It wasn't long after being hired by the television station that he auditioned to be a member of the first cast of The Second City Cleveland. Somehow edging out hundreds of other hopefuls, Cody joined the initial cast of six in May, 2002. Over the next eighteen months, while in addition to his UPN hosting job also working as a human-interest reporter for the local CBS affiliate WOIO, he would write and perform in every revue the theater produced being the only original member of the troupe to perform in every show. He also taught in the same Conservatory program which had given him the instruction he initially needed to begin his career.When the theater closed in January of 2004, he remained in Cleveland to continue performing with a core group of his fellow revue performers. Calling themselves "Oliver Twisted," they began a run of shows at a downtown entertainment venue known as Pickwick & Frolic. The hour-long performances involved short-form improvised pieces as well as an extemporaneous musical based on the life of an audience member. Cody continued to work at the television station which housed both affiliates, and maintained a successful relationship with a local talent agency which had helped him secure commercial work.In 2005, Cody left Northeast Ohio for his native New Mexico with the idea of opening an improvisational theater. Although he had some success performing with a three-man troupe known as "Cleveland" - consisting of an fellow performer from Ohio who had followed him to New Mexico and a Chicago improviser who had relocated to Albuquerque - the plan to open a theater of his own never materialized. He briefly moved back to Los Angeles before relocating to Northeast Ohio where he tried to figure out the direction which his life should take. A phone call made by the same friend who had followed him out to New Mexico (and long since left the state to pursue other work) informed him The Second City was trying to reach him regarding a new opportunity.That phone call would lead to almost four years of continuous travel within a partnership between The Second City and Norwegian Cruise Line. From Bridgetown, Barbados to Istanbul, Turkey; Cody traveled aboard three different ships performing improvisational and sketch comedy to passengers from all over the world. After fourteen months in the Caribbean, and eighteen months in Europe, Cody took some time off from ships to move to Chicago where he performed with special engagements for the theater (including a six week stint in Arizona, and several one-night engagements across the Midwest) when he was not teaching at its training center.In 2010, Cody returned to sea aboard Norwegian Epic, the second-largest cruise ship in the world. During his eight months of performing he appeared in five-hundred-and-seventy-six shows - including a live action murder mystery he had helped create along with Brendan Dowling and best-selling author Scott Turow.In the fall of 2011 he appeared in a revue created by The Second City specifically for the city of Baltimore. In December he appeared in "The History of Chicago," and in early 2012 he became a member of "The Second City's Improv All Stars" both produced for The Second City Chicago on their newest stage: The UP Theater.In May of 2012, he joined the cast of "The Second City 2: Less Pride, More Pork" - a city-specific theatrical for Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park. Cody also taught improvisation for the Ohio theater as part of their Summer Camp program.He returned to Ohio in August to begin working on "The Yank," sharing scenes with Fred Willard and Kevin Farley. The production moved to Ireland in September and was joined by the talents of Colm Meaney, and Irish actress Charlotte Bradley. Hide