Celebrity crush: Aisha Tyler

Today's entry features a woman adept at both comedy and drama, also an accomplished voice actress. Amazon and iTunes links follow. Any affiliate payments earned from your purchase or rental will help pay the hosting fees for my podcasts, so please consider clicking.

Name: Aisha Tyler (images -- some NSFW | Web site | Twitter)
Hometown: She was born and raised in San Francisco, Calif., according to her Wikipedia profile. She's of African-American and Native American ancestry.
Best Known For: Tyler is a stand-up comic, dramatic and comedic actress, TV host, voice actress and all-around celebrity. Her résumé is a lot more prolific than I'd ever realized, having mainly known her through her hosting Talk Soup back around 2001. She filled in as a guest movie critic for Roger Ebert after his surgery a few years ago, and she's had recurring roles on 24, CSI, Friends, and The Ghost Whisperer, to say nothing of countless guest appearances on late-night talk shows. On radio, she has been a regular guest on The Stephanie Miller Show.

Her character on Archer, of course. And animation
is the only time you'll see a gun image in a crush profile.

Humble Beginnings: Aisha skipped classes in high school to attend improv workshops. While earning a degree in environmental policy at Dartmouth College, she also performed in an all-female a capella group. She worked in advertising for a while before going out on the road as a stand-up comedian.
Obligatory Edgy Stuff: She appeared nude in Allure magazine in 2006, and her voice work includes Archer, the FX network's risque cartoon spoof of the spy genre. Early TV roles include appearances on Nash Bridges, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Pretender.

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword Dept.: Aisha has written for Glamour and the defunct Jane magazine and has published one book, Swerve: A Guide to the Sweet Life for Postmodern Girls.
The Courteney Cox Factor: Aisha appeared in the 2003 video for "Slow Jamz" by Kanye West and Twista, as well as a 2008 Will.i.am video promoting Barack Obama.
Why Ye Olde Podcaster Likes Her: She's a pretty and funny lady. Do you need more?
Voice work: Archer, season 2 (Amazon | iTunes) * Halo: Reach (video game) (Amazon) * Archer, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Boondocks, season 2: "Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch" (Amazon | iTunes)
Podcast: Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler (explicit content) (copy and paste RSS address to iTunes or podcast-catching software of your choice)

Film and TV-movie credits: Funny: The Documentary (Amazon | iTunes) * Open Books (Amazon | iTunes) * Committed (Amazon | iTunes) * Black Water Transit (Amazon | iTunes) * Aisha Tyler Is Lit: Live at the Fillmore (Amazon -- album | iTunes --  album) * Bedtime Stories (Amazon | iTunes) * Meet Market (Amazon | iTunes) * History of the Joke With Lewis Black (Amazon | iTunes) * The Trap (Amazon | iTunes) * Balls of Fury (Amazon | iTunes) * Death Sentence (Amazon | iTunes) * .45 (Amazon | iTunes) * The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (Amazon | iTunes) * Comic Relief 2006 (Amazon | iTunes) * For One Night (Amazon | iTunes) * A Comic's Climb at the USCAF (Amazon | iTunes) * My Life, Inc. (Amazon | iTunes) * Never Die Alone (Amazon | iTunes) * One Night Stand (Amazon | iTunes) * The Santa Clause 2: The Mrs. Clause (Amazon | iTunes) * Moose Mating (Amazon | iTunes) * Dancing in September (Amazon | iTunes) * Grand Avenue (Amazon | iTunes)

Music video: "Yes We Can" by Will.i.am (Amazon | iTunes) * "Cool Jamz" by Kanye West and Twista with Jamie Foxx (Amazon | iTunes)
Publishing credit: Swerve: A Guide to the Sweet Life for Postmodern Girls (Amazon)
TV and Web series credits: XIII: The Series, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * Invitation to World Literature (documentary): "Candide" (Amazon | iTunes) * The Forgotten: "Designer Jane" (Amazon | iTunes) * Just for Laughs, season 1: "John Cleese" (Amazon | iTunes) * Top Chef, season 4: "Film Food" (Amazon | iTunes) * Reno 911!, season 5: "Dangle's Secret Family" (Amazon | iTunes) * Boston Legal, season 3: "Trial of the Century" (Amazon | iTunes) * Ghost Whisperer, season 2: "Love Never Dies" (Amazon | iTunes) * Ghost Whisperer, season 1 (Amazon | iTunes) * 24, season 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * CSI, season 5 (Amazon | iTunes) * Nip/Tuck, season 2: "Manya Mabika" (Amazon | iTunes) * MADtv, season 9, episode 4 (Amazon | iTunes) * World Poker Tour, season 1: "Hollywood Home Game I" (Amazon | iTunes) * Friends, season 10 (Amazon | iTunes) * The New Tom Green Show (Amazon | iTunes) * Heroes of Comedy: Women on Top (Amazon | iTunes) * CSI: Miami, season 1: "Body Count" (Amazon | iTunes) * Friends, season 9 (Amazon | iTunes) * MTV's Now What?: Purity Test (Amazon | iTunes) * The 5th Wheel (Amazon | iTunes) * Curb Your Enthusiasm, season 2: "Shaq" (Amazon | iTunes) * Off Limits (Amazon | iTunes) * The Pretender, season 3: "PTB" (Amazon | iTunes) * Nash Bridges, season 1: "High Impact" (Amazon | iTunes)