Brian Alexander Wecht, also known by his character name Ninja Brian, is an American musician,

Internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

and

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

. He is best known as a member of

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

musical duo A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform Instrumental music, instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely ...

Ninja Sex Party Ninja Sex Party (often abbreviated as NSP) is an American musical comedy duo consisting of singer Dan Avidan and keyboardist Brian Wecht. They formed in 2009 in New York City and are currently based in Los Angeles. They are also known as two thi ...

and video game-based comedy music trio

Starbomb Starbomb was an American musical-comedy group composed of Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht of musical-comedy duo Ninja Sex Party together with Flash animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson and "space rock masters" TWRP, a Canadian music group ...

. He has also been a past member of the affiliated

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strateg ...

webseries ''

Game Grumps ''Game Grumps'' is an American Let's Play web series hosted by Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan. Created in 2012 by co-hosts Hanson and JonTron, Jon Jafari, the series centers around its hosts playing video games. After Jafari left the show in 2013 to f ...

'', all three alongside

Dan Avidan Leigh Daniel Avidan (born March 14, 1979), also known by his stage name Danny Sexbang, is an American musician, Internet personality, comedian, songwriter, actor and record producer. He is one half of the musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party with B ...

. Wecht originally worked as a theoretical physicist, and notably held research positions at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and the

Queen Mary University of London , mottoeng = With united powers , established = 1785 – The London Hospital Medical College1843 – St Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College1882 – Westfield College1887 – East London College/Queen Mary College , type = Public researc ...

. Specialized in

particle physics Particle physics or high energy physics is the study of fundamental particles and forces that constitute matter and radiation. The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) an ...

, his work included research on

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interac ...

supersymmetry In a supersymmetric theory the equations for force and the equations for matter are identical. In theoretical and mathematical physics, any theory with this property has the principle of supersymmetry (SUSY). Dozens of supersymmetric theories e ...

, and

quantum field theory In theoretical physics, quantum field theory (QFT) is a theoretical framework that combines classical field theory, special relativity, and quantum mechanics. QFT is used in particle physics to construct physical models of subatomic particles and ...

. He retired in 2015, choosing to join ''Game Grumps'' while focusing on his musical career. He is also the co-creator of ''The Story Collider'', a science-based story telling podcast recorded in front of a live audience. In

, Wecht plays the character of "Ninja Brian", a non-verbal, homicidal masked

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

, in both live shows and music videos. He performed all instruments on early Ninja Sex Party albums, until TWRP started acting as their

backing band A backup band or backing band is a musical ensemble that typically accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a recording session, and the group may or may not have its own name, such ...

in 2015. Wecht also co-hosts the podcast ''Leighton Night with Brian Wecht'' and portrays Ninja Brian on his live comedy show titled ''Ninja Brian's All-Star Variety Luau Spectacular''.

Career

Education

Wecht attended

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

and the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

where he obtained his PhD in

in 2004. Wecht held research positions at

, the Center for Theoretical Physics at the

, the

, and the

, prior to becoming a faculty member at the

. While there, Wecht worked on

, and

. Wecht has an extensive record of highly cited contributions. He retired in 2015 to join ''Game Grumps'' and dedicate himself to his music career.

Ninja Sex Party

Prior to meeting

, Wecht was the

musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

of an

improv comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

troupe in New York. In 2009, Avidan, who had conceptualized Ninja Sex Party and was in search of a bandmate and/or producer, was introduced to Wecht by Julie Katz, a member of Wecht's comedy troupe (who would later be featured in Ninja Sex Party's music video "The Decision"), to whom Avidan had asked if she knew any musicians. Specializing in humorous songs, both on stage or in their music videos, the duo started by appearing on various film festivals. They regularly published original songs on their YouTube channel, which progressively helped them in becoming popular, as well as studio albums on a regular basis. Although he only played keyboards on stage, Wecht performed all instruments on early Ninja Sex Party albums, including piano and drum machines, while Avidan was in charge of all vocals, except for occasional backing or spoken vocals by Wecht. Ultimately, the duo was joined by

Tupper Ware Remix Party TWRP (pronounced ''twerp''), formerly known as Tupper Ware Remix Party, is a Canadian rock band originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Initially founded in 2007, the band moved to Toronto in 2011 with a change in members and musical direction. Th ...

in 2015, after which Wecht focused solely on keyboards for studio recordings.

Starbomb

Wecht's bandmate Dan Avidan had been the co-host of the

webseries ''

'' since 2013. The same year, Wecht, Avidan, and Avidan's ''Game Grumps'' co-host

Arin Hanson Arin Hanson (born January 6, 1987), also known by the pseudonym Egoraptor, is an American YouTuber, actor, rapper, and animator. He is well-known for his Flash cartoons, as well as being the co-founder and co-star of the popular YouTube Let's Pla ...

formed

. This new comedy band followed the humorous style of Ninja Sex Party, but focused on video game parodies. The project was officially revealed on December 3, 2013. It was quickly followed by a self-titled album on December 17. A second album, ''

Player Select ''Player Select'' is the second studio album by American comedy supergroup Starbomb, composed of Dan Avidan and Brian Wecht of American comedy duo Ninja Sex Party and Flash animator and Internet personality Arin Hanson. The album was released ...

'', was released on December 16, 2014. Starbomb's third album, '' The TryForce'', was released on April 19, 2019.

''Game Grumps''

Wecht officially joined the ''Game Grumps'' team alongside Avidan and Hanson on November 5, 2015, becoming their new social media manager; he had occasionally appeared in their videos, mainly alongside Avidan to promote Ninja Sex Party. The team officially introduced him via a humorous sketch featured at the beginning of their ''

BurgerTime originally released as in Japan, is a 1982 arcade game developed by Data East initially for its DECO Cassette System. The player is chef Peter Pepper, who must walk over hamburger ingredients located across a maze of platforms while avoiding c ...

'' video, "revealing" him to be the secret mastermind behind ''Game Grumps'' all along. He is occasionally featured in some of their videos, mostly in ''Grumpcade'' and ''Steam Train'', but also in several non-gameplay videos. He was the co-writer, composer and

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

on their promotional short ''I Burgie Burgie'', and its sequel ''All Hail Burgie''.

Others

Wecht appeared in an episode of ''Hot Pepper Game Review'' episode on September 16, 2013, "reviewing" the video game ''

Dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lu ...

'' under his Ninja Brian persona after eating a "very spicy"

chili pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

; the episode is a joke, as Ninja Brian simply stares at the camera in silence for the entire episode, not blinking a single time in almost four minutes. Although his mouth is not visible, Wecht confirmed that he did actually eat the pepper while filming. He also appeared in the fourth episode of the second season of '' Child Genius'' in 2014, having set questions about

for the participants, and reacting to their different answers. He voiced the character of Quizzmaster Quinn in the video game '' Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator'', a 2017

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

video game made by members of ''Game Grumps''. He also appeared in two episodes of '' Good Game'', a webseries starring Avidan and Hanson. Alongside fellow ''Game Grumps'' member Barry Kramer and

Rooster Teeth Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American digital media company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner ...

writer Miles Luna, Wecht co-wrote the episode "Grey vs. Gray" of ''

Red vs. Blue ''Red vs. Blue'', often abbreviated as ''RvB'', is an American web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media fr ...

''.

Discography

Ninja Sex Party

* ''

NSFW Not safe for work (NSFW) is Internet slang or shorthand used to mark links to content, videos, or website pages the viewer may not wish to be seen looking at in a public, formal or controlled environment. The marked content may contain nudity, p ...

'' (2011) * '' Strawberries and Cream'' (2013) * ''

Attitude City ''Attitude City'' is the third studio album by the American musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party. The album was released on July 17, 2015. Six tracks from the album, "Party of Three," "Dragon Slayer," "Attitude City," "Why I Cry," "Peppermint Cream ...

'' (2015) * '' Under the Covers'' (2016) * ''

Under the Covers, Vol. II ''Under the Covers, Vol. II'' is the fifth studio album by American comedy duo Ninja Sex Party. It is their second cover album and a follow-up to their previous album '' Under the Covers''. It follows the same musical orientation, consisting o ...

'' (2017) * ''

Cool Patrol ''Cool Patrol'' is the sixth studio album by American musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party, released on August 17, 2018. Following two cover albums, it marks their return to original and comedy-oriented material since Attitude City in 2015. It is ...

'' (2018) * ''

Under the Covers, Vol. III ''Under the Covers, Vol. III'' is the seventh studio album by the American Comedy music, musical comedy duo Ninja Sex Party, originally released on November 15, 2019. It is the third cover album released by the duo, following ''Under the Covers (N ...

'' (2019) * ''The Prophecy'' (2020) * ''Level Up'' (2021)

Starbomb

*''

'' (2013) *''

'' (2014) *''The TryForce'' (2019)

Personal life

Wecht is married to Rachel Wecht (née Bitney). The couple have a daughter, Audrey, who was born in 2014; nicknamed "Ninja Audrey", she appeared on several special ''Grumpcade'' episodes in 2017 with her father to celebrate

Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the United ...

. Wecht has a PhD and one of his inspirations for becoming a theoretical physicist was the television series ''

Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physi ...

''. He has strongly negative views on being anti-vaccine, and towards the use of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

over scientifically-proven treatments for serious illnesses and diseases.

Bibliography

Forewords

References

External links

* *
Brian A. Wecht
on

INSPIRE-HEP INSPIRE-HEP is an open access digital library for the field of high energy physics (HEP). It is the successor of the Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System (SPIRES) database, the main literature database for high energy physics since the 1970 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wecht, Brian 1975 births 21st-century American comedians American comedy musicians Comedians from California Harvard University staff Living people Male YouTubers Massachusetts Institute of Technology staff Theoretical physicists University of California, San Diego alumni University of Michigan staff Williams College alumni MIT Center for Theoretical Physics alumni Ninja Sex Party Starbomb members