On Monday, major news was announced by FOX: American Idol will end after Season 15. Can you believe it? It was the singing competition that kept on going. It was the reality show that, thankfully, brought Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood into my life. Admittedly, I stopped watching the series a long time ago, but I was surprised to hear the cancellation news. After the announcement, another important thought entered my mind: what happened to Brian Dunkleman, aka Ryan Seacrest's co-host from American Idol Season 1?
Remember him? If not, just take a glance at the above photo. Funnily enough, I'm not the only one wondering about him. During FOX's 2015 Upfronts conference call, Dana Walden, Chairman and CEO for FOX Television Group, asked the question: "Where is Brian Dunkleman?" After that, my Twitter feed flooded with the same question, among many jokes about the man who once contributed to the bad jokes alongside Seacrest on the first season of Idol.
Soon after thoughts of Dunkleman invaded many minds, he provided an answer: he's busy not giving a care in the world about American Idol. If this is indeed the official Twitter page of Brian Dunkleman (it's unverified), then here is the tweet he shared on Monday:
Best tweet ever, right? That seems to be all Dunkleman has to say about Idol . On Monday, Billboard reached out to a rep for the former host who said: "My client has no further comments." If that's all he has to say, it's fine by me. Dunkleman for the win.
With all that said, what has Dunkleman been up to since we last saw him and his very spiky hair on TV? According to his Twitter bio, he is a "Television history footnote." If you check out his official website, he's an "actor, comedian, and host." After hosting on Idol, he appeared on NYPD Blue, Ghost Whisperer, and Las Vegas. He even showed up on Celebrity Fit Club to lose 15 pounds, in addition to pitching his own series based on his life in 2009 titled American Dunkleman. (It never got picked up.) It also looks like he can be heard on The Dunk Tank podcast and does standup at Los Angeles' Laugh Factory and Improv.
Other than his career, he is also busy being a father to his adorable son and cute dog.
Will we see Dunkleman return to the small screen anytime soon? It looks like FOX is totally on board in having him return for the final season. As Walden told reporters during the conference call on Monday, "If you can find him, I'll invite him."
Basically, Dunkelman is now semi-relevant again.
