Dave Karger

Dave Karger (born April 4, 1973) is an American author, entertainment journalist, and television host for Turner Classic Movies.

Early life
Karger was born on April 4, 1973 in Yorktown, New York, within Westchester County. Karger's father was employed with the Fresh Air Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization helping underprivileged children in New York. His mother worked as a public school social worker. At eleven years old, in 1985, Karger watched his first Academy Awards ceremony. He remembered the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (1984) winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

A self-described "child of the 80s," Karger grew up watching films directed by John Hughes. In 1991, he began attending Duke University as an English major. There, he discovered classic cinema after he enrolled in an elective film course called "Hollywood Film Music," which included a screening of the 1944 film noir Laura. Karger deeply admired the film, including the instrumental score by David Raksin. Karger stated, "His score for Laura really turned me on to classic film music, and film scores in general." Karger later told his parents about the course, to which he remembered: "They told me years later that they thought I was absolutely crazy and asked themselves why they were paying all this money for my Duke tuition..." In 1995, Karger graduated cum laude with dual degrees in English and psychology.

1995–2016: Entertainment journalist
In 1994, he was hired by Entertainment Weekly as an intern. He was eventually promoted to senior writer, publishing over 50 cover stories for the magazine. In 2000, he began appearing on the Today show as an "entertainment expert", discussing the Academy Awards and weekend box office numbers. In 2011, he began serving as the Academy's official red-carpet greeter on Oscar night, appearing on E!'s Live from the Red Carpet and ABC's Countdown to the Oscars. By this time, he became the third person to hold the position. The previous two were Variety columnist Army Archerd and Robert Osborne, the host of Turner Classic Movies. The 2011 online broadcast, known as the Oscars Digital Experience, was awarded the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media.

In September 2012, Karger left Entertainment Weekly and joined Fandango Media as a chief correspondent, and made appearances on Today, Access Hollywood, and E! Entertainment. He also hosted the online web series The Frontrunner and Weekend Ticket. The entertainment website TheWrap called him "this generation's mass-media cinematic ambassador".

In 2010, Karger moved to Los Angeles; there, his Entertainment Weekly colleague Sean Smith left his position as host for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's (SBIFF) Virtuosos ceremony to join the Peace Corps in Africa. Smith suggested Karger as his replacement. In 2015, Karger was the recipient of the Publicists Guild Press Award honoring the year's outstanding entertainment journalist. A year later, Karger left Fandango Media. Karger told The Hollywood Reporter: "After a fantastic three and a half years launching original video content at Fandango, the time was right to try something new."

2018–present: Turner Classic Movies
In 2007, Karger made his first appearance on Turner Classic Movies, co-hosting a marathon of Best Picture-winning films with Robert Osborne. In 2016, he began guest hosting for the network when Osborne became ill. With Osborne's blessing, he first introduced a marathon block of Olivia de Havilland's films on her centennial birthday. In 2018, Karger and Alicia Malone were jointly announced as full-time hosts for the network, in which he made his first official hosting appearance on March 5. In 2022, Karger began hosting the programming block Musical Matinee on Saturday afternoons Eastern Time, with its first installment airing Singin' in the Rain (1952). As of 2024, he hosts the primetime lineup on Mondays and the afternoon lineup on Saturdays.

In 2024, Karger published his first book 50 Oscar Nights. In an interview with The Desert Sun, he explained, "I came up with this concept of '50 Oscar Nights' because I thought it would be a different type of Academy Awards book, and also because I thought it would be fun to do." For the book, he interviewed 50 past Academy Award winners from the past 60 years, detailing how they prepared, how they were feeling throughout the ceremony and what they did to celebrate their wins.

Personal life
Karger is openly gay; in 2014, he was named as one of Out magazine's "Out100". He has multiple residencies in Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and New York.