Jason Woliner is an American director, writer and a former child actor who directed the 2020 movie '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''. He was the non-performing member of the comedy group

Human Giant ''Human Giant'' is a sketch comedy show, starring writer/performers Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer, and directed primarily by Jason Woliner. The show ran for two seasons on MTV. In interviews, the group has mentioned that they were o ...

and directed the bulk of their output. After that, he directed, co-wrote, and acted as showrunner on the cult

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

series '' Eagleheart'' starring

Chris Elliott Christopher Nash Elliott (born May 31, 1960) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He appeared in comedic sketches on '' Late Night with David Letterman'' (1982–1988), created and starred in the comedy series '' Get a Life'' (1990–1992) ...

. Woliner has directed episodes of

Fox TV The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

's '' The Last Man on Earth'',

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

'', and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

's '' Nathan for You'' and '' Jon Benjamin Has a Van'', among others.

Early life and acting career

Woliner was born in

The Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

, and began acting when he was four years old, having been discovered performing in a "father/son magician team" (alongside his father, Alan, who did children's birthday parties under the name "Amazing Alan The Magical Rabbit"). He appeared in over thirty television commercials and as "Matt", a series regular during the first season of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

's ''

Shining Time Station ''Shining Time Station'' is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the Ame ...

''. On Broadway, he performed in the play ''

Conversations with My Father ''Conversations with My Father'' is a play by Herb Gardner. The play, which ran on Broadway in 1992 to 1993, was a finalist for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Overview The play focuses on Eddie Ross (born Goldberg), who is a Russian immigran ...

'' and he played the role of "Bratty Kid" in the cult film ''

Weekend at Bernie's ''Weekend at Bernie's'' is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Robert Klane, loosely based on the 1959 novella ''The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell'' by Jorge Amado. The film stars Andrew McCarthy and Jona ...

''. Woliner attended

Pelham Memorial High School The Pelham Memorial High School is the only high school within the town of Pelham, New York, United States. It is part of the Pelham Union Free School District. A small portion of land that is between Pelham and Pelham Bay Park, with a total ...

and for higher study at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

from 1998 to 2000 before dropping out to pursue a directing career.WTF With Marc Maron Episode 455: Jason Woliner
/ref>

Directing career

After leaving school, Woliner began making films and videos, both on his own and with comedians in New York, which led to the formation of "Human Giant". The first three Human Giant videos ("Shutterbugs", "Illusionators", and the "Shittiest Mixtape Boombox Blast") caught the eyes of executives at MTV, who offered the group a pilot. The show ran for two seasons. He has collaborated with writer-performer

Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...

on a series of horror/comedy specials for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

. The first of these, titled ''

Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends ''Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends'' is a 2014 American television special created and written by Brett Gelman and Jason Woliner for Adult Swim. The special features Brett Gelman as a demented version of himself, along with seve ...

'', aired in April 2014, and the second special, titled ''

Dinner with Family with Brett Gelman and Brett Gelman's Family ''Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends'' is a 2014 American television special created and written by Brett Gelman and Jason Woliner for Adult Swim. The special features Brett Gelman as a demented version of himself, along with seve ...

'', aired in February 2015. The third special, '' Brett Gelman's Dinner in America'', aired in July 2016. Woliner and Gelman wrote the specials together; Gelman stars and Woliner directed. In 2020, he directed the comedy film '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''.

Filmography

Film

Acting roles Special thanks * ''Origin Story'' (2018) * '' Mister America'' (2019)

Television

TV specials

References

External links

*
A.V. Club interview with Human Giant

Human Giant site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woliner, Jason Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American male child actors American male comedians American male film actors American television writers American male television writers American television directors Comedians from New York City Film directors from New York City Male actors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) Writers from the Bronx