However, his ambitions were thwarted when his uncle gave young Ted his first exposure to horse riding, in which he got thrown in a "scary" ordeal.
"[4] So instead he settled and matriculated to City College of New York, with a major in music with a concentration in jazz piano.
His father was a New York City Public School teacher in Brooklyn for 30 years, and his mother worked in the home, raising five kids.
In a career spanning over twenty years he has opened for Chuck Berry, Smokey Robinson, Louis C.K., Lewis Black, Craig Ferguson, Dennis Miller, Joan Rivers, and Jim Gaffigan.
[9] His latest project is the comedy web series Teachers Lounge [10] which he is independently produced and wrote with his partner and co-star Hollis James, and which featured Lewis Black, Jim Gaffigan, Dave Attell, Judah Friedlander, Jim Norton, Judy Gold, Todd Barry, Rachel Feinstein, Michael Che, and musician Ted Leo as teachers hanging out in the teachers lounge of an elementary school.