American Idol In 2002, Dunkleman appeared as the co-host with
Ryan Seacrest during the
first season of
American Idol. After the season ended, it was reported that Dunkleman had quit from co-hosting. Various news outlets later on said that he "had his career completely destroyed" for doing so, before it became enormously popular and made Seacrest very wealthy. However, one journalist believes that Dunkleman would have been fired had he not quit earlier, a fact numerous
Idol staffers would eventually admit: Dunkleman had submitted his resignation shortly before news of his firing could reach him. During his 2008 appearance on the sixth season of the reality television weight loss show
Celebrity Fit Club on which he lost 15 pounds, and won the grand prize with his team, he spoke about his reasons for leaving
American Idol following its first season. He stated his departure was due to the terrible way they treated the young contestants on the show, staging the fights between the judges and reshooting contestants with producer-provided glycerin tears in their eyes. He went on to say that leaving the show was a mistake. However,
Ian K. Smith, one of the doctors on the panel, opined that he made the right decision. In appearances on
The Howard Stern Show, he had insisted that he intended to leave
Idol to pursue a career in stand-up comedy and acting, but in 2008, Dunkleman admitted to Stern that he believed leaving the show was a mistake. Dunkleman conceded that he experienced several months of depression, and also still harbored resentment against current show host
Ryan Seacrest, but has come to terms with his situation. Stern has compared Dunkleman to
Pete Best of
the Beatles and several other famous celebrities who chose to leave (or were forced to leave) successful show business careers, only to wind up as has-beens. In 2016, Dunkleman backtracked and said that the mutual decision to part ways was not a mistake on his part.
Other work In 2000, Dunkleman appeared in "The One with the Ring", a
sixth season episode of
Friends, as the man who buys the engagement ring
Chandler wants to buy
Monica. Dunkleman has also appeared in pilots for
ABC and
20th Century Fox and guest-starred on the
late-night talk show Talkshow with Spike Feresten,
Ghost Whisperer and
Las Vegas. He had a recurring guest role on
Two Guys and a Girl, played a stand-up comic suspected of murder in
NYPD Blue, and appeared in an independent film called
Comedy Hell. His
voice acting includes voicing himself in an episode of
The Proud Family, in which the show parodied
American Idol, did voices for the short-lived animated sitcom
3-South, and playing Ruiga in the English dub of the Japanese
anime series
Naruto. Dunkleman was a co-host with
Eric the Actor on
The Idol Re-cap Show on
Sirius's
Howard 101. He also did voice over for the 1st season of
American Idol Rewind. Dunkleman played himself on an episode of
My Name Is Earl, hosting a reality contest show called
Estrada or Nada, in which contestants show their skills in an ''
America's Got Talent''-esque show starring
Erik Estrada. As Dunkleman ended a segment of the show he said, "Dunkleman... out. Hack stole it from me." Dunkleman was also parodied in the series finale of
Drawn Together. In the episode, he was shown as an out of work and pretentious alcoholic and his inner dialogue expresses contempt of Seacrest's last name, success and charisma. According to the on-screen captions, he "declined to voice himself". In 2009, Dunkleman pitched a TV series about his life after
American Idol entitled
American Dunkleman. The series is a fictional account of the actor-comic's life, following the fictional Dunkleman as he tries to work his way back to the television industry, embarrassing himself and disappointing his friends while constantly being reminded that he "could have been a millionaire" had he stuck with
Idol. He does stand up regularly in
Los Angeles at the
Laugh Factory and
The Improv, and he makes regular appearances as the host of
Family Feud Live in
Las Vegas and
Atlantic City for
Fremantle(Media). In November 2019, Dunkleman was on the third episode of Season 1 of the CNBC series
Back in the Game, hosted by
Alex Rodriguez. In September 2021, Dunkleman started his own podcast called Dunklevision. His first guest was
Justin Guarini. ==Personal life==