Danny

"We're playing the feud!"

- Daniel Avidan on many occasions

Leigh Daniel Avidan (born March 14th, 1979),  better known as Danny Sexbang of the band Ninja Sex Party and commonly referred to as Dan or Danny, is the co host of Game Grumps and a member of Steam Train. He joined the show following Jon's departure and assumed the title of "Not-So-Grump".

The Northern Hues
Before Danny was in Game Grumps or Ninja Sex Party, he was in a britpop band named The Northern Hues, a Philadelphia-based sextet, which was created in early 2002 by guitarists Aron Brand and Jeff Rains. Dan Avidan joined the two shortly thereafter, writing songs for many months in North New Jersey and providing vocals. In the Spring of 2003 the band broadened to include multi-talented Alex Yaker and drummer Ian Creech. Their website is now defunct, though their Myspace page remains.

Skyhill
After The Northern Hues, Danny was also in an electronica duo called Skyhill with Peter Lennox. The following paragraph is taken from their website http://www.skyhillmusic.com/.

"Brooklyn-based Skyhill was formed in the winter of 2006, when Dan Avidan and Peter Lennox connected through their love of atmospheric, beat-heavy anthems. Writing & recording throughout 2006 and early 2007, with Dan on vocals and Peter on guitars & keyboards, the band completed what would become their self-produced debut album, Run With The Hunted, in the spring of 2007."

In October 2015, Skyhill started a YouTube channel and posted all ten songs from the Run With the Hunted album as well as a brand new single called "Firefly" that is available for a 99-cent purchase at Amazon.

Ninja Sex Party
Danny is the lead singer of the band Ninja Sex Party. He has a "sidekick" named Brian, or Ninja Brian, who is a pianist and keyboardist. They have four albums out, NSFW, Strawberries and Cream, Attitude City, and Under the Covers, an album of covers from the 1970s and '80s. NSP started out at a UCB as a musical guest at Danny's storytelling teacher's show, "Strip Stories".

In the summer of 2014, Ninja Sex Party played a crowd of about 1,000 at the NerdHQ in Los Angeles. This remained their largest concert ever until they played for over 5,000 at MAGFest 2016 with Tupperware Remix Party.

Starbomb
Danny, Brian and Arin have formed a band called Starbomb, and have released two albums. They normally make parody songs of various video games. Arin made a guest appearance in the Ninja Sex Party concert at NerdHQ. He introduced the duo and later performed "Crasher-vania" with them. This performance marked the first and only live performance by Starbomb until Arin joined NSP and TWRP onstage at SXSW 2016 Austin to perform "I Choose You to Die," "The Hero of Rhyme," and "Robots in Need of Disguise."

Early Mentions
Danny and Arin had been friends for a month, and Arin created animations for NSP's 2011 song Dinosaur Laser Fight and provided voiceovers for 20 Haikus in 20 Days series. Dan was first mentioned by the Grumps back in the Banjo Kazooie playthrough, when Arin begins to tell a story about going to karaoke with Danny and Ninja Brian at 11:26 minutes of part 4, "Who Farted?," and continues the story in the next episode, "Jon's Favorite Part." He was also briefly mentioned in the Mario Party 8 episode, "It's Retro," and the Pocky & Rocky episode "Rocky Road."

Not-So-Grump and Steam Train Conductor
Danny is one of the hosts, or conductors, on Steam Train. Initially the show was planned to be separate from Game Grumps, but the decision was made to post Steam Train on the Game Grumps channel. Prior to Jon's departure from Game Grumps, the plan was to have Arin and Jon host Game Grumps while Danny and Ross hosted Steam Train. Arin specifically recommended Danny as the co-host of Steam Train to Ross, since he felt that Danny would have always been his second choice to co-host Game Grumps if Jon were unavailable. However, plans changed when Jon left unexpectedly and Danny replaced Jon as Arin's co-host. Danny made his first appearance on the channel in Ode to Jon, followed by his Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! playthrough. Despite being recorded months prior, the first episode of Steam Train, Who's Calling?, was uploaded on the same day.

Due to the massive amount of changes on the Game Grumps channel announced in the matter of a couple of hours, including Jon's departure and the introduction of Danny, Ross, and Steam Train, Danny was not initially happily welcomed to the Game Grumps channel by fans, due to a combination of having become accustomed to Jon and Danny's openess about the fact he was not a deeply-involved gamer as Arin and Jon had been. Early videos of Game Grumps with Dan and Steam Train received more dislikes than most previous videos on the channel, and there was much controversy among the YouTube comments and the subreddit. Eventually most of the hate subsided as time went on, and Danny became a welcomed addition to the Game Grumps channel.

As at the time, Danny was working on Game Grumps, Steam Train, Ninja Sex Party, and Starbomb, his workload became too time-consuming and Danny had to step down to a recurring role on Steam Train. Danny's appearances on Steam Train became less frequent with the introduction of Arin, Barry, Suzy, and Brian onto the show. Danny usually returns to the show for specific genres or series of games, such as Sierra games.

Danny has also been in many GrumpOut videos; notably the I Burgie Burgie and All Hail Burgie segments in which he plays the role of an emo teen. After the introduction of Grumpcade, it took Danny nearly a year to be featured on a Grumpcade episode, making his Grumpcade debut in Burger Time, alongside Brian. He has since made only a few more appearances on Grumpcade: Spider-Man 3 The Game featuring Super Best Friends Matt and Woolie, alongside Arin; Catwoman with Brian and Danika (Comic Book Girl 19); and Detective Barbie: The Mystery Cruise, also with Danika.

Trivia

 * Danny grew up in Springfield, New Jersey.
 * The very first band that Danny played with was called Vacuum, named after the fact that they (in their own opinion) sucked. Danny played the bass guitar for the band.
 * Danny once met Adam Reed, one of the creators of the Archer TV (Series), at a party. Adam however, was extremely drunk, and ended up punching Danny in the balls.
 * Danny's favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate.
 * His favorite type of cookie is "Soft and chewy" chocolate chip.
 * Danny stated that there are only five games that he is good at: Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, Super Mario Bros. 2, Karate Kid, Out of This World, and Contra. Danny has also demonstrated considerable skill at Strider, Kung Fu, The Goonies II, and many golf-based games like Kirby's Dream Course, Ribbit King, and Outlaw Golf.
 * Danny's favorite games of all time are Sierra point-and-click games.
 * Danny's full stage name is Daniel Y. Sexbang. Danny claims that the Y stands for "You", saying his name is "enveloping you in a sensual manner".
 * Danny's favorite band is Rush, as said in the Game Grumps AMA.
 * Danny once wrestled an alligator in the Everglades while he was high. At least one photograph of this incident was taken. Eleven years after this happened, Danny declared that, in retrospect, it was a very stupid idea.
 * Danny once spent upwards of $800 on champagne and strippers during a drunken bender in New Orleans several years ago.
 * At the age of 10, Danny stuck his head out the window of a moving car, got his New York Giants hat blown off, cried about it, and his father went into oncoming traffic to get it back for him.
 * He is known for having unusually large thumbs. This caused problems during the playthrough of A Link Between Worlds, as his thumb was too big for the Circle Pad. This is likely why the playthrough was put on hiatus.
 * His favorite food is Skittles, (and Ritz crackers), though he has stated that he has been given way too many packs of them, and though he appreciates it, he wants no more Skittles from fans.
 * His favorite thing to wash Skittles down with is Pepsi.
 * Danny's mother is from Norway, making him half-Norwegian.
 * Danny repeatedly references his former drug habit on the show, often mentioning his past experiences of smoking marijuana regularly. However, he claims that he hasn't smoked pot in years.
 * When Danny was 24 years old and unemployed, he spent every day playing The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and smoking marijuana. Danny says that this went on for so long that he began to confuse people in real life with Morrowind characters.
 * Danny once baked a tray of pot brownies, and then spent the next three days doing nothing but eating them.
 * Danny's father, Avi, was born in Israel. After serving as a tank commander in the Yom Kippur war, he moved to the USA, where he met Danny's mother in a subway. They got engaged not long after.
 * Danny often recounts his history with his father on Game Grumps, and is known for his flawless impression of him. Although his father was initially thrilled with Danny's success on the show, he grew uncomfortable as Danny revealed more of their family's stories, and has begun asking Danny to withhold information during episodes.
 * Avi is also part-Mongolian according to Danny.
 * Danny taught himself to speak at a young age by imitating those around him. As a result of this, he addresses his parents using their first names rather than "mom" and "dad", and addresses his grandmother as "mom".
 * Danny was once invited to an orgy by a lesbian couple that he was friends with, but did not join. On another occasion, he revealed he has participated in a two-female threesome in the past.
 * Danny is Jewish. However, he has stated he is not a practicing member of the faith.
 * Danny is left-handed. He has on numerous occasions demonstrated difficulty with remembering his right and lefts, which he attributes to being left-handed.
 * According to the Game Grumps Calendar, his birthday is on March 14th.
 * Danny's all time favorite movie is The Last Unicorn.
 * In his late teenage years, Danny became sick with mononucleosis and, although he recovered, suffered from depression and OCD afterwards.
 * Danny has stated that he is a fan of The Birthday Massacre.
 * When Danny was in high school, he injured his neck trying to suck his own penis. He swore to never try it again but tried 2 weeks later.
 * When Danny first started masturbating, he would masturbate by rubbing his hands on his penis as though he were making a fire.
 * As a child, Danny once adopted a fruit fly as a pet until his dad walked into the room and unwittingly stepped on it, much to Dan's despair.
 * Danny has stated that The Legend Of Zelda on the NES is one of his favorite games of all time.
 * Danny's iconic scar on his right eyebrow was received when he fell off a box at age 3.
 * Danny is 6'2" and 150 pounds. He claims to have trouble gaining weight, which frustrates him due to his noticeably tall height.
 * At MagFest 2014, Danny (though either as a joke or not) said the inspiration for the Danny Sexbang outfit was made when he watched The Blue Blazer on television and made his own costume. When Owen Hart (aka: Blue Blazer) tragically died, Danny put the costume away for 8 years until he started his current band where he said he was going to honor The Blue Blazer by wearing the outfit again.
 * As a kid Dan bought a My Little Pony doll after finding out his sister had one, and decided to show it to his friends at school.
 * Dan's sisters name is Dana Avidan-Cohn, a.k.a. @InStyleDana. She works for InStyle magazine, is married and has two sons named Nash and Carter.
 * Danny's penis is named Excalibur and he used it to change the course of European History (referencing a Ninja Sex Party song).
 * Whilst learning how to pole dance, Danny hurt Excalibur. No further info on this situation has been released.
 * He also sometimes refers to Excalibur as 'The Admiral', implying that his full name is Admiral Excalibur.
 * Danny has mentioned that people used to refer to him as "The Bony Beetle" because an area of his body was "hard as steel". Incidentally, this is also a name shared by an enemy in Super Mario World.
 * Dan has stated that he is obsessed with Wolf Job, and that he and his friends constantly message it to each other.
 * Dan wears contact lenses.
 * Dan has also stated he has perfect pitch, although fans have speculated this statement is false because Arin has often asked "What key is this song in?" and Dan would reply "Dude I'm not good with keys, dude."
 * It is worth mentioning that he might not necessarily know what names of keys go with which combinations of notes, thus making it possible for him to be "not good with keys, dude" while also having perfect pitch.
 * Dan used to work for Maker Studios, of which Polaris is a sub-network.
 * Dan has a rudimentary knowledge of the French language from spending a semester in France in his youth, as stated in the Steam Train episode:, and shown in Play with the Teletubbies, when Dan speaks simple French phrases, as well as The Legacy Continues, where Dan successfully interprets Glass Joe's speech.
 * Danny lost his virginity when he was 23 years old.
 * Danny helped Rhett and Link write their song Epic Rap Battle: Nerd vs. Geek.
 * Danny's sister used to practice fencing. And is in his own words, is "The Craziest Fucking Fencer, Westfield New Jersey had ever seen."
 * If Danny eats late at night or sleeps on his back he has nightmares or "sleep paralysis" in which he has to call Barry to hold him.
 * Danny is very knowledgeable in the topic of sports. He is also a fan of the San Jose Sharks hockey team.
 * Danny has demonstrated multiple times on Game Grumps that he can imitate the sound of a bong perfectly.
 * As a child, Danny had a fear of skeletons in any game he played (such as Stalfos in Zelda).
 * He claims, however, that if he saw the skeletons in Castle of Dragon™, their silly "pipe-cleaner" appearance would likely have broken his fear.
 * Danny has stated numerous times in Bugalug, Having an Effect, and Let It Rip that he does not have "fully functioning sweat glands".
 * Because of his sweat gland issue, he once suffered from dehydration to the point where he lost his vision and could only see white for twenty minutes. He then stated he became "crazy fucking scared" because of his temporary blindness.
 * Among other things, his sweat gland issue also prevented him from pursuing a career in paleontology, as spending all day dusting bones in the hot desert sun was considered ill-advised.
 * Ross, Arin and Barry managed to convince Danny into believing that Lucario was a fan-made character to be in Super Smash Bros. for a sick child.
 * According to the Indoor Kids podcast, Danny used to take karate classes, but he didn't want to hit people anymore. So he dropped out and joined a dance class.(This could be the idea for his song "I Just Wanna Dance" where Danny is a ninja that wants to dance.)
 * Danny had blue hair and dreadlocks in the same year.
 * His dream car is the Ford Pinto, a car famous for exploding due to a design flaw (the fuel tank was placed in the back of the vehicle).
 * Danny's grandfather was a Holocaust survivor.
 * Dan has stated that the only cartoon character that he has ever been attracted to is Francine Smith from American Dad, and made the mistake of looking up pictures of Rule 34 to sate his curiosity, which he deeply regrets.
 * Dan lived in France as an exchange student, and worked in a factory in Israel for a number of years.
 * Dan has stated he has a severe phobia of the ocean that he got from watching Jaws, and said he won't go to any body of water as well because of this.
 * Dan's maternal grandfather, Bernard Schwartz, while partnered with Richard M. Berman, invented the body electrode, a medical device responsible for saving billions of lives worldwide.
 * Danny has not had his hair cut once since joining the Game Grumps channel. This is because he plans to grow it out and donate it to WigsForKids when it reaches a certain length. He was initially going to donate it to Locks for Love, but has since decided to not to after finding that they are shady.
 * It is possible that he has either already cut it or decided not to cut it at all.


 * Danny has stated that the biggest influences for Ninja Sex Party were comedy bands like Flight of the Conchords, Tenacious D and The Lonely Island.
 * Danny's original stage name was Danny Sweetnuts, the name of his Guitar Hero character. He changed the surname to Sexbang because it "sounded stronger".
 * Danny's blood type is O+
 * Danny has stated that he enjoys saying several words, including "butler", "shrub", "headbutt", "buttcheeks", and "dictator."
 * As stated in Episode 10 of Super Mario Galaxy, the first time Danny ever wore a thong was at his storytelling teacher's UCB show "Strip Stories." He describes it as being "Really, really tight."
 * In Part 34 of "Sonic Adventure DX," Danny and Brian attended a Steel Panther concert at the House of Blues and sang with them. Also at the concert was Billy Ray Cyrus, Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, and Ron Jeremy (who tried to sneak into the VIP section and was thrown out).
 * Danny, along with his friend Josh Sprague, run an American Football podcast called "Balls In Your Ear". The first episode was posted to soundcloud on the 30th of August, 2015. Dan and Josh mostly talk about their favorite teams (the NY Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles respectively) though they discuss other NFL topics as well.
 * Danny had three fish: Lineas, Aximander, and Bob.
 * Danny's favourite unit of measurement is the "dickload".
 * Danny's first language as a small child was Hebrew, but he has since forgotten how to speak it.
 * Danny "shoveled" the Qumran Caves (the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found) at a young age.


 * Danny considers anal sex to be "second base".
 * Danny fought in World War Two alongside his father in the Israeli military, as a messenger pigeon. Despite being held as a POW between the years of 1943 and 1944 (the dates he was captured on and escaped are a hot topic for debate amongst historians), he continued to fight in Germany up until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. When authorities pursued Danny for his arrest, he fled to the Judaean Desert and dug himself a cave- now known as the Qumran Cave. To this day Danny continues to hide from authorities for the crimes of being a badass.