Biography of Tony Kornheiser

Tony Kornheiser is one of ESPN’s most popular on-air personalities as co-host of Pardon the Interruption (PTI) and as a booth commentator on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. 

In 2006, Kornheiser became just the third non-former player in 37 years to join the MNF booth, along with the legendary Howard Cosell and comedian Dennis Miller.  Teamed with Mike Tirico and Joe Theismann, Kornheiser demonstrated his unique ability to inform and entertain and helped MNF become the most-watched program in cable television history.

Kornheiser and fellow Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon have co-hosted Pardon the Interruption -- which is aired Monday-Friday 5:30-6 p.m. ET -- since the show’s debut on Sept. 22, 2001.  Highlighted by the type of contentious but good-natured verbal sparring that the two engaged in for years at the Post, the program has increased ratings and viewership numbers each year since its inception with its unique, fast-paced, wide-ranging and humorous discussion of the day’s most important and interesting news in sports and more.

Kornheiser and Wilbon take PTI on the road on Mondays during the NFL season from the site of ESPN’s MNF games. The duo also continues to appear on SportsCenter, which airs their “Big Finish” segment during the opening 15 minutes of the 6 p.m. edition.

In addition to his jobs with ESPN, Kornheiser returned to the radio airwaves in February 2007 as host of the popular "Tony Kornheiser Show" on Washington Post Radio (1500 AM and 107.7 FM, weekday mornings 8:30-10:30 a.m. and rebroadcast 10:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.) in the nation’s capital.  The program also airs on XM Satellite Radio.

Kornheiser joined ESPN in November 1997 as host of ESPN Radio’s Tony Kornheiser Show, which premiered January 5, 1998 and continued until March 2004.  His radio show previously aired exclusively on WTEM-AM in Washington, D.C. beginning in 1992.  He also has appeared frequently on ESPN’s Sunday-morning roundtable program, The Sports Reporters.

After a 29 year career with the Washington Post  Kornheiser departed in May 2008. In 2007, both he and Wilbon received the prestigious Eugene Meyer Award, which recognizes employees who exemplify the principles embodied by the paper's former owner and publisher -- journalism, business sense and hard work.  Beginning in 1984 Kornheiser was a sports columnist with the Post and for many years also wrote for the Style section, attracting a large following for his humorous musings on topics ranging from presidential politics to his teenaged children, his elderly father and the behavior of his dog.  These columns have been compiled in three books – Pumping Irony, Bald as I Wanna Be, and Back for More Cash. 

Kornheiser graduated from Harpur College (now SUNY-Binghamton) in 1970.  He began his career in journalism at Newsday and the New York Times.  He is married and has two children.