David Nkrumah Liebe Unger Hart, also credited as D. L. Hart, is an American outsider musician, puppeteer and actor. He is best known for his appearances on Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, performing bizarre puppetry and singing in a variety of voice characterizations. He is also known in the Los Angeles area for his role as a puppeteer on The Junior Christian Teaching Bible Lesson Program, a local public-access televisioncable TV program, as well as for performing with his puppet "Doug the Dog" just outside the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Music Center after shows, where he is known to many concert goers simply as the "puppet man". He has also been known at times as David Hart, David Lieber Mintz, David Unger Hart, David King Liebe Hart and DL Hart.
Career
During an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, David stated he first developed his passion for puppeteering upon attending church Sunday school in his youth. He claims to have gotten his start in Hollywood performing with comedian Robin Williams and from making an appearance on The Gong Show in 1977. In 1990 he appeared on Golden Girls and in 1993 on Wings. Hart has frequently appeared on television shows The Del Talk Show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as well as various other Abso Lutely productions and independent films. In 2004, David Hart was featured in the documentary Public Access Hollywood. He made an appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2004 and again 2009, as well as on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2004. He also appeared in a commentary on Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! Season One DVD. Throughout late April and early May 2008 he performed live as part of Tim and Eric's Awesome Tour 2008. In 2014 Hart appeared prominently in the independent feature film, White Cop. In 2018, Hart appeared in the crowd sourced remake of Shrek, Shrek Retold, in which he performs the song Hallelujah, originally composed by Leonard Cohen.
Music
Hart writes his own music, mostly about religion, aliens, women, trains, and his tragic love life. For six years he teamed up with his friend and fellow public-access television hostAdam Papagan to create music together, with Hart writing lyrics and singing, and Papagan creating the music. They created four full albums and an EP. Since 2014, Hart has been collaborating and performing with producer/composer Jonah Mociun, developing a more electronic-oriented and carefully sculpted sound. With Mociun, Hart has released the mixtape Go Into The Light and the Teleportation Thru Space EP, with an official album, Astronaut, slated for release in January, 2015. Hart's songs from Tim and Eric are also featured on Awesome Record, Great Songs!. David Hart has been known to sell an album titled Christian Hymns And Songs Of Praise at shows during the Tim and Eric Awesome Tour 2008, as well as the 2009 tour. In Spring 2011, Hart and Papagan toured the East and West Coast with a newly formed band that played punk music exclusively, including new interpretations of their older material. The Best of David and Adam, a compilation cassette tape/download featuring music from David and Adam's five albums, was released by Cellar Hits in 2011.
David was born in Chicago and grew up in Park Forest, Illinois, where his father worked for the United States Postal Service and Chicago Public Schools. His interest in the history of the railroad system was sparked at a young age but extended throughout his life. He has written several songs discussing both his personal remembrances and history of mid-20th Century railroad lines. He is vocal about his abstinence from smoking, alcohol, drugs and his dislike of rap music—but other parts of his life, especially since his arrival in Hollywood in 1976, are less clear. In interviews he revealed that he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy at one point in his life. Hart divorced his wife, Brigitte Unger, in 1993.
