Brian Douglas Unger (born 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator.

Biography

Born in Dayton, Ohio to Richard ("Rich") Unger and Eleanor ("Ellie") Oprea, Unger grew up in Granville, Ohio. He graduated from Granville High School and then from Ohio University in 1987, where he majored in communications. He had worked on a television show titled ''Fridays Live'', a student-produced comedy show airing on

WOUB-TV WOUB-TV (channel 20) is a PBS member television station in Athens, Ohio, United States. The station's transmitter is located west of the city off SR 56. Its programming can also be seen on satellite station WOUC-TV (channel 44) in Cambridge, wit ...

, the local PBS affiliate. Unger returned to make a cameo on the show's Season 17 finale. Unger has

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

heritage.

Career

Unger was an original correspondent and producer on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'', from 1996–98. While working for ''The Daily Show'' in 1998, he was named one of ''Entertainment Weekly''s 100 Most Creative People in Entertainment. Unger's other television appearances include ''

O2Be ''O2Be'' is an American comedy television series starring Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger. The series premiered September 22, 2002, on Oxygen. The program is a parody of daytime television with Winstead and Unger as hosts of their own talk show. Cas ...

'', ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American comedy television series airing on Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic actors playing the police officers. Thomas Lennon, Rober ...

'', ''

The Man Show ''The Man Show'' is an American comedy television show on Comedy Central that aired from 1999 to 2004. It was created in 1999 by its two original co-hosts, Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, and their executive producer Daniel Kellison. The pilot ...

'', various '' ''I Love the...'' shows on VH1, ''

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...

,'' ''Hollywood Off-Ramp'', as well as appearances on ''

The Jay Leno Show ''The Jay Leno Show'' is a talk show created and hosted by Jay Leno. Premiering on NBC on September 14, 2009, the program aired on weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET/ PT through February 9, 2010. The program was modeled upon the format of a late ...

'', ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'', ''

Later Later may refer to: * Future, the time after the present Television * ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show * '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992 * ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...

'', ''

Talk Soup ''Talk Soup'' is a television show produced for cable network E! that debuted on January 7, 1991, and aired until August 2002. ''Talk Soup'' aired selected clips of the previous day's daily talk shows—ranging from daytime entries like ''The ...

'', ''

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

'', and ''

Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion ''Live at the Purple Onion'' is the first special and DVD by American stand-up comedian Zach Galifianakis directed by Michael Blieden. The show was recorded at the San Francisco club The Purple Onion in June 2005. Synopsis Galifianakis's routine ...

''. He provided regular commentary ("The Unger Report") for the NPR show ''

Day to Day ''Day to Day'' (''D2D'') was a one-hour weekday American radio newsmagazine distributed by National Public Radio (NPR), and produced by NPR in collaboration with ''Slate''. Madeleine Brand, Alex Chadwick, and Alex Cohen served as hosts. Topics ...

'' from its launch in 2003 until its cancellation, making his final "Unger Report" on March 16, 2009. From 2009 to 2012 he provided commentary to NPR's ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''. He has hosted on MSNBC's ''

Countdown with Keith Olbermann ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' is an hour-long weeknight news and political commentary program hosted by Keith Olbermann that aired on MSNBC from 2003 to 2011 and on Current TV from 2011 to 2012. The show presented five selected news stories o ...

'' and

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

show '' Some Assembly Required'' (with University of Virginia Professor of Physics

Lou Bloomfield Louis Aub Bloomfield (born October 11, 1956) is a physics professor at the University of Virginia. Bloomfield became a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1994 for his work on cluster magnetism and has received several other significant ...

; and then solo in its final season). Unger was one of the co-hosts for the pilot of the PBS series ''

Wired Science ''Wired Science'' was a weekly television program that covered modern scientific and technological topics. In January 2007 PBS aired pilot episodes for three different science programs, including ''Wired Science''. Using Nielsen ratings, CPB-sp ...

.'' Unger has appeared as a spokesman for

Yoo-hoo Yoo-hoo is an American brand of chocolate-flavored beverage that was developed by Natale Olivieri in Garfield, New Jersey, in 1928 and is currently manufactured by Mott's. As of 2019, the drink is primarily made from water, high-fructose corn syru ...

and

Maxwell House Maxwell House is an American brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Heinz in North America and JDE Peet's in the rest of the world. Introduced in 1892 by wholesale grocer Joel Owsley Cheek, it was named in honor of the ...

Coffee. In 2008, he appeared in a BMW documentary about testing of BMW diesels as they embark on a 500-mile road trip from South Carolina to Virginia. The film's purpose was to raise awareness of driving diesels in the United States. Unger later became the official spokesman for the BMW Advanced Diesel. He also appears in a number of recent

Quicken Loans Rocket Mortgage, LLC (formerly known as Quicken Loans LLC) is a mortgage loan provider. It is headquartered in the One Campus Martius building in the financial district of Downtown Detroit, Michigan. In January 2018, the company became the larg ...

commercials. Unger's written commentary has appeared in ''The New York Times'' and ''The Minneapolis Star Tribune'', and he has written a book review for ''The Washington Post''. He is a commentator on the internet talk show ''

The Young Turks ''The Young Turks'' (TYT) is an American progressive news commentary show on YouTube that additionally appears on selected television channels. TYT serves as the flagship program of the TYT Network, a multi-channel network of associated web se ...

''. The show was briefly broadcast on the

Current TV Current TV was an American television channel which broadcast from August 1, 2005, to August 20, 2013. Prior INdTV founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, with Ronald Burkle, each held a sizable stake in Current TV. Comcast and DirecTV each held a smalle ...

television network from 2011 to 2013. Unger was the narrator for the PBS American version of Nature's ''

Spy in the Wild ''Spy in the Wild'' is a British nature documentary television series, produced by BBC Natural History Unit, John Downer Productions and PBS. The series, which is directed and produced by John Downer, premiered in 2017 with a second series in ...

''. In 2019, he appeared alongside Kevin Costner in the TV series ''

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

''.

Hosting

Unger hosted a documentary special on

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

titled ''

How the States Got Their Shapes ''How the States Got Their Shapes'' is a US television series that aired on the History Channel. It is hosted by Brian Unger Brian Douglas Unger (born 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator. Biography Born in ...

''. In 2011, the network expanded the special into a weekly series, which Unger hosts. As of 2014, Unger co-hosts ''Showdown of the Unbeatables''. As of September 8, 2013, Brian Unger hosted an NFL.com segment titled "Game Day Satisfaction: Week 1".

References

External links

* *
NPR's The Unger Report

Wired Science on PBS

AEI Speakers Bureau Profile of Brian Unger
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unger, Brian 1965 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) People from Granville, Ohio American people of Romanian descent American television personalities Ohio University alumni The Young Turks people Male actors from Dayton, Ohio