Matthew Gregory Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer, and writer, best known as one of the four founding members of the
Upright Citizens Brigade
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKa ...
sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on
Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. He currently hosts the improvisation-based podcast ''Improv4humans'' on the
Earwolf
Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate com ...
podcasting network.
Early life
Besser was born and raised in
Little Rock, Arkansas
( The "Little Rock")
, government_type = Council-manager
, leader_title = Mayor
, leader_name = Frank Scott Jr.
, leader_party = D
, leader_title2 = Council
, leader_name2 ...
, to parents Diane and Sandy Besser. His father was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, whereas his mother was Christian. Besser is an atheist. He is a quarter German and a quarter French from his mother's side. Besser's grandfather's cousin was
Joe Besser
Joe Besser (August 12, 1907 – March 1, 1988) was an American actor, comedian and musician, known for his impish humor and wimpy characters. He is best known for his brief stint as a member of The Three Stooges in movie short subjects of 1957� ...
of
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeared ...
.
He was recruited to play soccer after starting on his high school team, but instead attended
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educati ...
with a major in American Studies. There, he started doing
stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...
and competed in a contest at
UMass
The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...
that was judged by
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films ' ...
.
After graduating, he briefly moved to Denver in an attempt to pursue stand-up, but quickly moved to Chicago. He worked various odd jobs, including stints as a substitute teacher, a host at
Carnegie Deli and as a host at
Dick's Last Resort.
Career
After seeing an
improvisational 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 ...
show at
iO Theater
iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted ...
featuring
Dave Koechner,
Tim Meadows
Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...
and
Chris Farley
Christopher Crosby Farley (February 15, 1964 – December 18, 1997) was an American actor and comedian. Farley was known for his loud, energetic comedic style, and was a member of Chicago's Second City Theatre and later a cast member of the ...
, Besser began taking classes there.
His improv group Victim's Family (alongside
Rick Roman
Richard Roman (August 12, 1966 - April 16, 1992) was an actor and improvisational comedian from Philadelphia. While attending Temple University, Roman began his career in comedy partnering with Paul F. Tompkins in Philadelphia at The Comedy Wor ...
,
Adam McKay, Miles Stroth, and
Ian Roberts), later renamed The Family (minus Roman, plus
Neil Flynn
Neil Richard Flynn (born November 13, 1960) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles as Janitor on '' Scrubs'' and Mike Heck in the ABC comedy series '' The Middle''. He has had notable appearances in television series ...
, and
Ali Farahnakian), was directed by
Del Close
Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...
, the first long-form group Del focused on.
Besser is a founding member of Upright Citizens Brigade, which began as a
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...
group in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
in 1990. Original members included
Ian Roberts,
Ali Farahnakian,
Adam McKay,
Rick Roman
Richard Roman (August 12, 1966 - April 16, 1992) was an actor and improvisational comedian from Philadelphia. While attending Temple University, Roman began his career in comedy partnering with Paul F. Tompkins in Philadelphia at The Comedy Wor ...
, and
Horatio Sanz
Horacio Sanz (born June 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz, is a Chilean-born American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1998 to 2006.
Early life
Sanz was born on June 4, 1969 in Sant ...
.
In 1993, UCB were regular guests on stage at the
New Variety produced and hosted by R. O'Donnell at the Chicago Improv comedy club.
While performing at the New Variety, Besser was cast and directed by
O’Donnell in the New Year's Eve special ''Twisted'', which aired on
WFLD
WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...
Fox 32 TV, Chicago. ''Twisted'' also featured Besser (and comedian Michelle Garb) in a series of improvised commercials directed by O’Donnell for McDonald's, Toyota, and Ameritech.
In 1996, the UCB relocated to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Their sketch-comedy series ''
Upright Citizens Brigade
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKa ...
'' aired for three seasons on
Comedy Central from 1998 to 2000. The cast consisted of Besser,
Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...
,
Ian Roberts, and
Matt Walsh. It originally included a voice-over by
Del Close
Del Close (March 9, 1934 – March 4, 1999) was an American actor, writer, and teacher who coached many of the best-known comedians and comic actors of the late twentieth century. In addition to an acting career in television and film, he was ...
. After its cancellation,
Comedy Central released all three seasons on DVD.
Besser and the UCB moved on to other projects and opened comedy theaters in New York City and Los Angeles. Besser went on to be the creator and co-star of the
Redman &
Method Man
Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half o ...
MTV hidden camera prank show ''Stung''. In 2004, he created and starred in his second
Comedy Central show, ''
Crossballs'', which mocked news debate shows by pitting fake experts (played by Besser and other comedians) against real people.
Besser has appeared in films such as ''
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'', ''
Martin & Orloff
''Martin & Orloff'' is a 2002 feature film written by and starring Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts, best known as half of the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy troupe, along with Ian's wife Katie Roberts. The film was produced and directed by Lawrence ...
,'' ''
Year One'', ''
Undead or Alive
''Undead or Alive: A Zombedy'' is a 2007 Western comedy horror film directed by Glasgow Phillips, written by Phillips and Scott Pourroy, and starring Navi Rawat, Chris Kattan and James Denton. The film was later acquired by Image Entertainment, ...
'', ''
Drillbit Taylor'', and ''
Junebug'', in addition to a number of sitcoms including ''
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, Ro ...
'', ''
How I Met Your Mother
''How I Met Your Mother'' (often abbreviated as ''HIMYM'') is an American sitcom, created by Craig Thomas (screenwriter), Craig Thomas and Carter Bays for CBS. The series, which aired from September 19, 2005 to March 31, 2014, follows the main c ...
'', ''
New Girl
''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zoo ...
'' and alongside his wife
Danielle Schneider
Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series ''The Hotwives'' and current ...
in ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...
''. In 2003, the UCB filmed their first full-length improvised movie, ''Wild Girls Gone''. In early 2010 the film was screened at several indie theaters in the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
area and is now sold for digital download on iTunes and on DVD at the official ''UCB Theater'' website. The troupe had also performed their signature brand of longform improv (ASSSSCAT) in a special for the
Bravo channel in 2005. In 2008, they released a
DVD entitled ''ASSSSCAT!: Renegade Improv Comedy'' through
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
, which features an uncensored improv performance by the troupe and special guests. The DVD also includes deleted scenes and along with other bonus features.
In 2008, Besser played the part of "Courtney Frenchip", the hippie roommate of
David Cross
David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/ Netflix sitco ...
in ''David's Situation'', a pilot made for
HBO written by Cross and
Bob Odenkirk
Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off '' Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has ...
. The pilot was filmed live on May 9, 2008, but was not picked by HBO as a series. In 2013, he portrayed
Edwin Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize ...
in the "Chicago" episode of
Comedy Central's ''
Drunk History
''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's ...
''. Between 2011 and 2014, he appeared on ''
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 ...
'' as the morning
DJ Crazy Ira.
Besser and the UCB continue to run a Los Angeles comedy theater in
Franklin Village. Besser and the UCB currently perform several times a week at the Los Angeles theater, in their show ''ASSSSCAT 3000'' every Sunday night.
Other work
Besser makes frequent appearances on many podcasts on the Earwolf podcasting network, including ''
Comedy Bang Bang
''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humani ...
'', as well as hosting "The Earwolf Challenge", a reality-competition series where several
podcasters compete against each other.
Besser's Comedy Central pilot ''This Show Will Get You High'' aired as a
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...
special on October 27, 2010. The show featured video shorts and sketches from Besser and
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater comedians
John Gemberling,
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 be ...
,
Paul Rust
Paul Robert Rust (born April 12, 1981) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in the 2009 film ''I Love You, Beth Cooper'' and in the Netflix series '' Love''.
Early life
Rust was born in Le Mars, Iowa, the son of Jeanne and Bob ...
, and
Betsy Sodaro
Betsy Sodaro is an American actress from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. Sodaro is best known for her appearances on comedy programs such as ''Another Period'', '' Duncanville'', '' Clipped'', ''Animal Practice'', '' Nailed ...
, and
Nathan Barnett.
In 2011, Besser began hosting the ''Improv4humans'' podcast, where he and guest improvisers perform scenes based on suggestions sent in via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. The podcast releases an episode each week and has differing guests.
Besser wrote and directed his first film, ''
Freak Dance'',
Matt Besser interview on blankmaninc.com
(July 9, 2012) based on his long-running UCB stage show. The film premiered at the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers’ creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the ...
on October 21, 2011, and had a limited theatrical and video on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
release in May 2012. The film was made available on DVD and iTunes on July 10, 2012.
In 2014, Besser and comedian Rich Fulcher
Richard Fulcher (born November 18, 1968) is an American comedian, actor and author. He played Bob Fossil and other characters in the British comedy series ''The Mighty Boosh'', and Edward Sheath in the American series ''Jon Benjamin Has a Van''. ...
had an Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
special air as part of the channel's "4AM Infomercial Parody" series, called ''In Search Of Miracle Man''. Besser and Fulcher hosted the show as two men claiming the second coming of a savior they call "Miracle Man".
Besser co-starred in both seasons of the Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...
comedy series ''The Hotwives
''The Hotwives'' is an American sitcom that premiered on July 15, 2014, on the video streaming website Hulu. Developed by Paramount Digital Entertainment as a parody of ''The Real Housewives'' reality television franchise broadcast on Bravo, th ...
'', which stars his wife Danielle Schneider
Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series ''The Hotwives'' and current ...
, who also co-created the series. Besser plays the husband of Schneider's character. In 2015, Besser and Schneider played another married couple ("Blake and Karen") in the epilogue of a 2015 episode of the comedy series ''Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...
''.
Personal life
Besser married actress-comedian Danielle Schneider
Danielle Caroline Schneider (born January 1, 1975) is an American actress, writer, and improvisational comedian from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She co-created and starred in the Hulu reality TV parody series ''The Hotwives'' and current ...
in 2008. Their daughter Sidney Diane Besser was born on July 29, 2013.
References
External links
Official Site
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besser, Matt
1967 births
Living people
Jewish American atheists
American male film actors
American stand-up comedians
American podcasters
American male television actors
American television writers
American male television writers
American people of German descent
American people of French descent
Jewish American male actors
Jewish American writers
Little Rock Central High School alumni
Male actors from Little Rock, Arkansas
Amherst College alumni
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American sketch comedians
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers
20th-century American comedians
21st-century American comedians
Screenwriters from Arkansas