Dan Avidan

Leigh Daniel Avidan (born March 14, 1979), known professionally as Dan Avidan but also known by his stage/character name Danny Sexbang, is an American musician, Internet personality, singer-songwriter, comedian, and actor. He is one half of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party with Brian Wecht, as well as the co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps with Arin Hanson. He is also part of the video game-based comedy music trio Starbomb, alongside both Wecht and Hanson.

Early life
Avidan was born and raised in Springfield, New Jersey, the elder of two children of Debra Schwartz and Avigdor Avidan. His father was born and raised in Israel, and served in the Yom Kippur War before immigrating to America where he met Avidan's mother. His younger sister, Dana Avidan Cohn, is a bench jeweler,[8] the executive style correspondent of InStyle magazine, and the executive style director of PopSugar. His maternal grandfather Bernard Schwartz assisted in inventing the body electrode.

After graduating from Jonathan Dayton High School in 1997, Avidan pursued advertising at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. After dropping out due to disinterest in the course, Avidan entered a student exchange program, attending a Tufts University satellite campus in Talloires, France to study botany.

2003–08: The Northern Hues and Skyhill
In late 2003, Avidan joined the indie rock band the Northern Hues, a Philadelphia-based group created in early 2002, composed of guitarists Aron Brand and Jeff Rains, Alex Yaker, Justin Earley, and Ian Creech.[17] Avidan acted as the group's lead singer and songwriter, and provided most of the band's lyrics while staying in northern New Jersey.[18] They released one self-titled EP and one live track recorded in early 2005, at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.[17][19] In mid-2005, the band split up; Avidan attributes the separation to spending "years in [a band] that went nowhere due to lack of planning and focus."[20]

In the winter of 2006, Avidan teamed up with Peter Lennox to form a Brooklyn-based alternative pop duo named Skyhill.[21] Again, Avidan acted as lead singer and songwriter, and the group released one full album, Run With The Hunted, on May 16, 2007.[22] They toured New York in 2008,[23] before eventually separating due to creative differences.[24] On October 7, 2015, Avidan and Lennox returned to release the single Firefly,[25] acclaimed for the band's "maturing in both lyrics and sound" over their previous album.

2009–12: Ninja Sex Party formation
In 2009, Avidan began studying storytelling and improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, under the guidance of Margot Leitman, and had conceptualized the possibility of a new musical project. In need of a producer, Avidan was introduced to Brian Wecht, who was the musical director of another troupe, by mutual friends at the theatre. Avidan had already chosen the name "Ninja Sex Party," in addition to designing a costume for himself, and worked together with Wecht to create characters to represent the band. They eventually settled with "Danny Sexbang" as Avidan's character, and "Ninja Brian" as Wecht's. The duo first gained popularity by performing as a musical guest on Leitman's improvisational comedy show Stripped Stories. Inspired by The Lonely Island and Flight of the Conchords, the band is about "a Jewish superhero who wears a unitard, with his best friend who's a ninja, and together they sing songs about dicks, and try to hit unsuccessfully on women."

The group has released several studio albums and singles, many of the latter of which have charted on Billboard. As of 2016, they have released three studio albums, one cover album, and are producing a fourth studio album called Cool Patrol, as well as a second cover album called Under the Covers Volume II.

The band has also appeared in various film festivals, including SXSW, Dragon Con, and the LACS.

2013–present: Game Grumps and Starbomb
Main articles: Game Grumps and Starbomb

In mid-2013, Jon Jafari left his position as co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps.[40] After being introduced to Ninja Sex Party's content by fellow animator Ross O'Donovan,[41] Arin Hanson, creator of the series, brought Avidan on to replace Jafari as co-host.[42] Avidan would also join O'Donovan as co-host of the Game Grumps spin-off show Steam Train, where both would play strictly PC games.[40] Avidan has remained a part-time co-host of the show since, though it has been put on hiatus. In addition to this, Avidan has acted as a co-host of other shows from the Game Grumps platform, including Grumpcade, Table Flip, and Steam Rolled, as well as providing narration for Hunting Monsters.

In late 2013, Avidan, Wecht, and Hanson teamed up to create a side project band named Starbomb, with Avidan as the lead singer-songwriter. The band writes parody songs about video games, bringing together the sexually provocative music stylings of Avidan's Ninjja Sex Party and the video game-based humor of Hanson. As of 2016, the group has released two albums, both of which have placed on various Billboard charts.

Other collaborations
In 2009, Avidan composed and pitched the theme song for the children's television series Power Rangers RPM alongside producer William J. Sullivan. However, due to the tone of the show's plot clashing with Avidan's demo, the song was scrapped.[48][49]

In 2012, Avidan briefly partnered with Mondo Media to create and host a sketch comedy miniseries written by Lena Dunham called Dirty Shorts, in which Avidan portrayed an exaggerated version of himself, similar to that of Danny Sexbang.[50] The series was not received well, and was dropped after the first 12-episode season. Avidan has commented that the Mondo Media staff experience was welcoming, although he was not confident that the way his character was written would appeal to audiences.[51] Avidan also created, wrote, and provided voice acting for the studio's short-lived animated comedy miniseries DJs in PJs.[52] Avidan returned to Mondo in September 2013 to compose "Dick Figures: The Movie: The Song" for the Dick Figures: The Movie soundtrack with Ninja Sex Party.[53]

Avidan has appeared on various YouTube webseries as a guest, including Did You Know Gaming?,[54] a webseries dedicated to video game trivia, Good Mythical Morning,[55] a variety show hosted by Rhett and Link, and Nacho Punch,[56] a sketch comedy webseries.

On August 3, 2015, Avidan performed with Steel Panther at their House of Blues venue, singing "Party All Day."[57] The two have collaborated on multiple occasions, with Steel Panther making a cameo in Ninja Sex Party's "Road Trip" music video, and providing vocals for "6969."

Avidan is the co-creator and co-host of the football-centric podcast Balls In Your Ear, along with Josh Sprague.[60][61]

Avidan, alongside co-creator Kyle A. Carrozza, performed the theme song for the Cartoon Network series Mighty Magiswords.[62]

In September of 2017, the band Night Runner released an album entitled Thunderbird, which featured Avidan on the fourth track, called "Magnum Bullets". [63]

Discography
The Northern Hues
 * The Northern Hues EP (2004)
 * World Cafe Live 2005 (2005)

Skyhill

 * Run With The Hunted (2007)
 * Firefly (2015)

Ninja Sex Party
Main article: Ninja Sex Party discography

NSFW (2011)

Strawberries and Cream (2013)

Attitude City (2015)

Under the Covers (2016)

Under the Covers, Vol. II (2017)

Cool Patrol (TBA)

Filmography
Film

TBA	The Players' Score: A Video Game Music Documentary	Himself

TV Series

My Little Pony (2025 TV Series) - Luxo Ball (voice)

Web series

2012	Dirty Shorts	Himself	12 episodes

2012	DJs in PJs	Slice (voice)	2 episodes

2013–present	Game Grumps	Himself	4,000+ episodes; co-host

2014	Nacho Punch	Himself	Episode: "Hipsters Love Coffee"

2014	Co-Optitude	Himself	Episode: "Twisted Metal"

2015	Did You Know Gaming? Himself (voice)	Episode: "Guitar Hero"

2015	Red vs. Blue	Lap Fed (voice)	Episode: "Temple of the Key"

2015	On the Spot	Himself	Episode: "RTX 2015 (ft. Game Grumps)"

2015–2017	Good Mythical Morning	Himself	2 episodes[55]

2016	Jash	Waiter	Episode: "#DoYourJob"[64]

2016	MatPat's Game Lab	Himself	Episode: "Can Gamers Defuse BOMBS?"

2017	Harmontown	Himself	Episode: "Down with Sighty"

2017	Good Game	Alex Taylor	6 episodes

As writer	Edit

Year	Title	Notes

2012	DJs in PJs	2 episodes

2013	The Mythical Show	3 episodes

2013	"Breaking Bad: The Middle School Musical"	Webby-winning video short

2013	"Epic Rap Battle: Nerd vs. Geek"

Video games	Edit

Year	Title	Role

2017	Pinstripe	Daniel

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator	Robert[65]

Hex Heroes	Himself

Splatoon 3 - Octoling (voice)