John "Spud" McConnell (born November 13, 1958) is an American actor and television/radio personality based in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Louisiana. He is married to actor/producer Maureen Brennan. McConnell is a character actor who has appeared in more than 40 films, ranging from obscure

independent films An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

(mostly filmed locally in New Orleans, or elsewhere set in the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

region) to major cinematic release movies such as ''

O Brother, Where Art Thou? ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' is a 2000 comedy drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson, with Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and ...

'', ''

Django Unchained ''Django Unchained'' () is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson, with Walton Goggins, Dennis Ch ...

'', '' 12 Years a Slave'', and ''

Interview with the Vampire ''Interview with the Vampire'' is a gothic horror and vampire novel by American author Anne Rice, published in 1976. It was her debut novel. Based on a short story Rice wrote around 1968, the novel centers on vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac ...

''. McConnell has also appeared in numerous plays, including an off-Broadway run in the one-man show '' The Kingfish'', wherein he portrays colorful Louisiana

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Huey P. Long Huey Pierce Long Jr. (August 30, 1893September 10, 1935), nicknamed "the Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination ...

. He is perhaps best known for having portrayed Ignatius J. Reilly from the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning novel ''

A Confederacy of Dunces ''A Confederacy of Dunces'' is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) a ...

'', and in that role was the model for a life-sized bronze statue of the fictitious character on historic Canal Street in downtown New Orleans. On

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, McConnell has had recurring roles in several series, among them ''

Underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

'' and '' Hap & Leonard''. He also made several appearances over three seasons of '' Roseanne'', with good friend and colleague

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy series ''Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he rec ...

. McConnell was also featured in a recurring role on the FX series '' The Riches'', and on the HBO series '' Treme'' as a (fictional)

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

at (real life) radio station

WWOZ WWOZ (90.7 FM) is a non-profit community-supported radio station in New Orleans. It is owned by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. The station specializes in music from or relating to the cultural heritage of New Orleans and the sur ...

. For 11 years McConnell was the #1 afternoon radio personality in the Gulf South, hosting a daily call-in

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

, "The Spud Show", on WWL 870 AM and 105.3 FM. In early 2019, McConnell began hosting the

morning drive Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...

show on KKND (FM). Like his earlier show on WWL, it was also called "The Spud Show" but featured music, in the station's

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...

format, and less politics and talk. On September 8, 2020, KKND switched to hot adult contemporary and dropped McConnell's morning show. SpudFLS2

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

References

External links

* *
Official Web Site
1958 births American male film actors American male television actors Living people Male actors from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Male actors from New Orleans {{US-radio-bio-stub