Craig Lawrence Kilborn (born August 24, 1962) is an American television host, actor, comedian, and sports commentator.
Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's SportsCenter from 1993 to 1996.
[2] Kilborn was taller than his peers from an early age, eventually growing to 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), becoming a standout on the playground basketball court as he got older.
[3] In the ninth grade, Kilborn was recruited by the Northside Magicians, an all-star basketball team in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He excelled with the Magicians and with the Hastings High School basketball team, ultimately earning three letters and multiple all-conference and all-state honors.
After graduating from high school, Kilborn accepted a scholarship to play basketball for Montana State University, where he earned dual bachelor's degrees in media and theater arts in 1985 and has joked he "led the Big Sky Conference in turnovers" and also bench pressed 240 lb (110 kg) while training.
[8] He later began his television career in California as the sports anchor for Monterey County's Fox affiliate KCBA in Salinas.
Some of his early on-air work included covering the Gilroy Garlic Festival and playing bocce with the locals near Cannery Row.
On Jon Stewart's last Daily Show episode August 6, 2015, Kilborn made a cameo appearance as "Host Emeritus".
I achieved my career goals and it wasn't all it was cracked up to be", and adding that he believed the late night timeslot to be "crowded", and "the formats repetitive".
The other reason was that the business side of that particular show was excessively flawed so I escaped the silliness," adding that he had "developed a specific, aristocratic comedic sensibility that didn't mesh with late night.
"[11] In a 2009 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, World Wide Pants executive Peter Lassally indicated that Kilborn left the show "because he didn't get the raise he wanted.
In the 2006 film The Benchwarmers, he played Jerry, the bully to Jon Heder, David Spade, and Rob Schneider's nerdy roles.