Lori Beth Denberg
Lori Beth Denberg (born February 2, 1976)[1] is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work as an original cast member of the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series All That and for her role as Lydia Liza Gutman on The WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.
Lori Beth Denberg
Early and personal life[edit]
Denberg was born February 2, 1976, in the Northridge section of Los Angeles, California.[2][3] She was raised in a Jewish family.[4]
Denberg is an ordained minister.[5]
She quit drinking in 2005.[6]
Career[edit]
She began her career appearing on Nickelodeon's All That (from 1994 to 1998), after graduating from high school. At 18, she was the oldest cast member.[7] She appeared in the first three seasons of the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out as a regular panelist (from 1997 to 1998), and then The WB's The Steve Harvey Show (from 1998 to 2002).
On Figure It Out, Denberg had a knack for guessing the correct answer just before the contestant could win the grand prize, often even before the end of the second round, as her questions and guesses were more serious and better thought out, as opposed to the sillier questions and guesses that other panelists (particularly Kevin Kopelow and Danny Tamberelli) would give.
She appeared in the 1997 film Good Burger with fellow All That castmates Josh Server, Kenan Thompson, and Kel Mitchell. She had a minor role in the film Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story in 2004, playing cheerleader Martha Johnstone. Denberg reunited with her All That cast members for the 2011 Comikaze Expo. She joked at the expo that she was now "living out her old age." She made a brief cameo in a 2012 episode of Workaholics as herself.[8]
In February 2018, she joined fellow All That castmates for a semi-reunion on the MTV show Wild 'N Out, which aired the following month. She also appeared in an episode of Double Dare that pit Thompson against Mitchell to assist in the demonstration of physical challenges.
In December 2018, Denberg appeared in "Discontinued", a special hosted by YouTube star Andre Meadows. The special looks at the rise and fall of the world's most famous discontinued foods, toys, customs, and businesses.[9]
Denberg returned as a recurring guest star in the 2019 revival of All That, reprising her Loud Librarian role and "passing the torch" as the host of Vital Information to new cast member Reece Caddell.[10][11] She also made a cameo appearance playing Uno in the independent film Ham on Rye in 2019.
She competed on the twenty-fourth season of Worst Cooks in America, the show's seventh celebrity edition titled That's So '90s, which aired in 2022.[12]
In 2024, Denberg gave an interview to Business Insider in which she accused Dan Schneider, the creator of All That and several other Nickelodeon shows, of touching her inappropriately, showing her pornography, and attempting to initiate phone sex with her when she was 19.[13] Denberg also accused Schneider of having her banned from the set of The Amanda Show in 1999 after she voiced concern for the well-being of the show's star, her friend and former All That costar Amanda Bynes. Schneider denied much of the allegations, calling them “wildly exaggerated”.[14]