Leigh Daniel Avidan (born March 14, 1979), also known by his stage name Danny Sexbang, is an American musician, internet personality, comedian, and actor.
He is one half of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party with Brian Wecht, as well as the co-host of the Let's Play webseries Game Grumps with Arin Hanson.
He is also part of the more rap-based comedy music trio Starbomb with Hanson and Wecht, and the vocalist for the rock duo Shadow Academy, known for its inspiration from classic novels, alongside Jim Roach.
As of October 2023, Avidan also performs vocals for the electronic music duo Skyhill, originally formed in 2007.
Avidan was born and raised in Springfield, New Jersey, the elder child of Debra ( Schwartz) and Avigdor Avidan.
His father was born and raised in Israel, and served in the Yom Kippur War before immigrating to America where he met Avidan's mother.
His younger sister, Dana Avidan Cohn, is the executive style director of PopSugar.
His maternal grandfather Bernard Schwartz assisted in inventing the body electrode.
1997
After graduating from Jonathan Dayton High School in 1997, Avidan began pursuing advertising at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.
2002
In response to a Craigslist ad in late 2002, Avidan joined the indie rock band the Northern Hues, a Philadelphia-based ensemble composed of Aron Brand, Jeff Rains, Alex Yaker, Justin "J" Earley, and Ian Creech.
Avidan acted as the group's lead-singer, and wrote most of the band's lyrics, having recently moved to Philadelphia.
2005
They released one self-titled EP and one live track recorded in early 2005, at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.
In mid-2005, the band split up; Avidan attributes the separation to personality conflicts and creative differences between the band's members, as well as a collective inability to gain greater recognition and success.
2006
In the winter of 2006, Avidan teamed up with Peter Lennox to form a Brooklyn-based alternative rock duo named Skyhill.
2007
Again, Avidan acted as lead-singer and assistant lyricist, and the group released one full album titled Run With the Hunted, on May 16, 2007.
2008
They toured New York in early 2008, before eventually separating due to lost passion.
In 2008, Avidan began studying storytelling and improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York, under the guidance of Zach Woods and Margot Leitman, and had conceptualized the possibility of a new musical project.
2009
In need of another band member, Avidan was introduced to Brian Wecht, the musical director of another troupe, by mutual friends at the theatre in early 2009.
Avidan had already chosen the name "Ninja Sex Party," after "everybody's three favorite things," and worked together with Wecht to create characters to represent the band.
They eventually settled on "Danny Sexbang" as Avidan's character, and "Ninja Brian" as Wecht's. The duo first gained popularity by performing as a musical guest on Leitman's improvisational comedy show Stripped Stories.
Inspired by Tenacious D and Flight of the Conchords, the band is about "a Jewish superhero who wears a unitard, with his best friend, a ninja, and together they sing songs about dicks, and try to hit on women, unsuccessfully."
They were also inspired by the work of The Lonely Island to produce music videos and post them to YouTube.
The group has released several studio albums and singles, many of which have charted on Billboard.
2011
Hanson had previously animated part of the band's music video for "Dinosaur Laser Fight" in 2011.
Avidan's first appearances on the show had been originally met with a negative response from fans, with the number of dislikes on each consecutive video increasing.
However, fans eventually rejected their initial disapproval of a new co-host after witnessing the chemistry between the two hosts, further introducing the Game Grumps channel to more professional content and new audiences.
Avidan would join O'Donovan as co-host of the Game Grumps spin-off show Steam Train, where both hosts play PC games, as opposed to console games.
Avidan remained a co-host of the show until its discontinuation.
In addition to this, Avidan has acted as a co-host of other shows from the Game Grumps platform, including Grumpcade, Table Flip, and Steam Rolled, as well as providing narration for Hunting Monsters.
2013
In 2013, Arin Hanson, co-creator of the comedy gaming YouTube channel Game Grumps, brought Avidan on the show to replace Jon Jafari as co-host, after being introduced to Ninja Sex Party's content by fellow animator Ross O'Donovan.
In late 2013, Avidan teamed up with Wecht and Hanson to announce a side project band named Starbomb, with Avidan as the backup singer.
The band writes parody songs about video games, bringing together the sexually provocative music stylings of Avidan's Ninja Sex Party and the video game-based humor of Hanson.
2015
On October 7, 2015, Avidan and Lennox returned to release the standalone single "Firefly", which was acclaimed for the band's "maturing in both lyrics and sound" over their previous album.
2018
In July 2018, Avidan stated that Skyhill may start new projects in the future, but that nothing was in the works as of then.
On September 17, 2018, the band, along with Tupper Ware Remix Party, performed a censored version of "Danny Don't You Know" on the late-night talk show Conan as a musical guest, making their live television debut.
The band has also appeared in various film festivals, including SXSW, Dragon Con, and the now-defunct LACS.
2020
On October 30, 2020, the group released the single "Howling at the Moon" on YouTube, with an eventual release on streaming services in mid-November of the same year.
At the end of 2020, it was announced via the Skyhill website that the band would be working on a new album.
The album, titled Out in the Moonlight released on October 13, 2023.
As of 2020, they have released five original albums, and three cover albums.
