Griffin Newman

Griffin redirects here. For the guest named Griffin, see Griffin McElroy

Griffin Newman
Styled per the show logo
Nickname(s)	Downtown Griffy Newms See Nicknames
Social Media

Griffin Claude Beresford Dauphin Newman (on Twitter as @GriffLightning) (born February 19, 1989 3:27am) is an American actor and comedian.

He co-starred as Arthur in the Amazon Studios remake of "The Tick" TV series. He is the co-host of the podcast Blank Check (with Griffin and David) in which he and movie critic David Sims over-analyze filmographies of directors that have massive success early on and are given a "blank check" by the Hollywood studios to make their passion projects. He is one half of #TheTwoFriends.

Biography

Growing up in New York City, Griffin was the child of actress Antonia Dauphin and film producer & educator Peter "Pistol Pete" Newman. He has a younger brother James (aka Jamesy), and a younger sister Romilly whom he often refers to as his best friend. His grandfather is actor Claude Dauphin.

As a child, Griffin's parents kept a somewhat tight leash on his media consumption, and he was not allowed to watch a number of television shows and movies until he was older. Notably he was not allowed to watch the animated TV show "Rugrats" because his mother thought it was too 'cynical'. His first theatrical moviegoing experience was the 1990 re-release of The Jungle Book, something that David contends he would have been too young to see but his mother has confirmed to be true.

Unlike his brother James, Griffin showed little interest in sports. Still, searching for a deeper connection to his father, Griffin instead started showing tremendous interest in movie box office results. The knowledge he acquired during weekly conversations and phone calls with his father about film grosses/budgets and release strategies and week-over-week holds comes in handy during The Box Office Game, a regular feature on the podcast

He was a student at unusual elementary/secondary schools which gave students increased freedom to pursue their own academic goals. Griffin is highly negative when describing these schools, calling them "dumb shitty schools that I hate I went to." He regularly cites how he would stay up late trying to watch three movies a night on his 10-inch television instead of doing homework and came close to getting kicked out of school several times, despite how no one ever got kicked out of these types of schools.

For post-secondary education Griffin attended film school for a brief period before dropping out to pursue comedy (mostly at the UCB in New York) and acting.

Griffin is known to be fond of Pixar movies and animated movies in general, demonstrated in his enthusiasm for movies like Toy Story 2, The Lego Batman Movie or Hotel Transylvania. He is also a big fan of the Fast & Furious movie franchise, and in the past has mounted semi-serious social media campaigns to appear in at least one Fast & Furious movie. He loves the character Watto in the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace trilogy, going so far as to cosplay him on stage in live shows, and his fondness for Watto was even the genesis of the Blank Check podcast, in a way. (See About The Show or The Phantom Podcast miniseries pages for more info.)

On the other hand he remains highly critical of the work and films of Colin Trevorrow and Walt Becker.

In Blank Check, Griffin is known for his tangents and numerous bits which sidetrack the podcast and anger his co-host and producer in a very loving manner. These and other personality traits such as a penchant for making very silly jokes occasionally cause co-host David Sims to refer to his friend as "a child."

Griffin is a rather anxious person and is known to be a sufferer of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), and has been repeatedly late to recordings because of stomach issues. He is unafraid to be politically active demonstrated by him tweeting to President Donald Trump to go fuck himself almost daily following the 2016 USA presidential election. He also famously got himself banned from Twitter dot com right before Disenchanted was released by impersonating Elon 'Comedy is Legal Now' Musk.

His fans may sometimes refer to themselves as "Griff-heads."

Griffin is a frequent guest on other podcasts. For more information on those appearances, see Outside Podcast Appearances.

Nicknames

While not having as many nicknames as fellow podcaster and Blank Check producer Ben Hosley, Griffin does have some.

• Downtown Griffy Newms
• Patricia Heaton, which he has called himself as a reference to his preferred seating in a movie theater – The Middle.
• Griff "The Grip" Newman, his drive-time radio alter ego.
• Dr. Tangent in the First Blank Check Mailbag
• The Walk-On Kid, revealed in For Love of the Game (at approx. 00:10:50) because of his tiny stature and left-handedness, he was impossible to pitch to in Little League.
• Backseat Newms, given in the BC Takes AC episode during the car ride.
• The King of Manhattan, decided upon in The Sixth Blank Check Mailbag when asked who the other monarchs of the 5 boroughs are besides The King of Queens and The King of Staten Island
• The Man of Steelbook, given during the 1941 episode and later reaffirmed on the Chuck E. Cheese 2 episode of Doughboys. Given by Tiger Wiger after his Ninja Scroll Blu-ray steelbook pre-order was cancelled and Griffin was able to locate another provider to place an order. Wiger announced his success by texting Blank Dough with a photo of the steelbook and the message "GRIFFIN NEWMAN HAS A TEN INCH COCK".
• The Pitmaster, given in the 2025 March Madness Update 1 episode following his meat smoking at SXSW with Ben and Marie. He particularly enjoys using the fruit woods. David remains confounded.

Nicknames from Other Podcasts

• The King of Kranch, from Doughboys, because of his love for the Heinz hybrid ketchup/ranch sauce. Introduced to the sauce by the Doughboys in the Game of P'zones Doughboys Double, he claims to always have many bottles in stock because of fear it will be discontinued.
• (Accidental) PTR Legend, from Podcast: The Ride - Griffin was (accidentally) bestowed Legend status in the Casey Jr. Circus Train Live episode due to a Powerpoint error but his status was reaffirmed in the Shrek 4-D episode.
• The Completer, The Train Conductor because he keeps the show on the rails, Mr. Movies for obvious reasons, and Roller in opposition to Mike's assertion that he doesn't rock - all also from Podcast: The Ride