Bob Harris (writer)

Bob Harris (born October 1963) is an American radio commentator, writer, stand-up comedian, and former eight-time Jeopardy! winner.

From 1998–2002, his daily political commentaries aired on an average of 75 radio stations across the U.S., winning awards from the Los Angeles Press Club and the Associated Press. He was also the morning drive-time host on the Working Assets attempt at explicitly liberal talk radio, RadioForChange.com, and wrote online political columns for Mother Jones magazine.

Harris has variously written for the TV show CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, appeared frequently as a debunker of urban legends on the TLC Network program Mostly True Stories: Urban Legends Revealed, done voiceover work on an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, contributed to several comic book projects published by Dark Horse Comics, and narrated an audiobook on Kosovo by Noam Chomsky. He has also contributed to National Lampoon, the Chicago Tribune, Paul Krassner's magazine The Realist, and numerous other publications.

Early in his career, Harris was a stand-up comedian who appeared in numerous comedy clubs. His increasing political activism led to a series of guest speaking engagements at over 200 colleges.

His game show appearances include an upset of Frank Spangenberg in the first round of the Jeopardy! Million Dollar Masters tournament in 2002, participation in a million-dollar-winning team on Greed in 2000 winning $200,000 for himself, and a successful $250,000 phone-a-friend answer for a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

His current weblog is BobHarris.com, although he also contributes frequently to the weblog This Modern World by cartoonist Tom Tomorrow. Harris is the voice of Sparky the penguin in the animated cartoons.

In 1999, Common Courage Press published his first book "Steal This Book and Get Life Without Parole," a collection of his political columns. Also included was "Thumbs of Steel," an essay originally published in The Realist, about his original appearances on Jeopardy. Harris would later expand this column into Prisoner of Trebekistan, which was published by Crown Publishing Group in 2006, and included details of his later tournament successes and failures.

His third book, a tongue-in-cheek guide to world conflicts, Who Hates Whom: Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing Up-A Woefully Incomplete Guide (Crown Publishing Group), was published September 25, 2007.

Bob's forthcoming fourth book, for Bloomsbury Publishing, will explore the impact of global microfinance and in particular Kiva loans in third-world countries.