Megan Stalter (born September 15, 1990)Zinoman, Jason

''The New York Times'' 29 Mar. 2020. is an American comedian and actress. In her videos, Stalter specializes in desperate, deluded characters who are prone to theatricality, frequent mispronunciations, and botched suicide attempts.Gillespie, Katherine

''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

'' 6 May 2020. "I feel like all my characters are people whose lives didn't turn out a certain way, but they're still trying to pretend like it did," Stalter has said. Stalter plays Kayla in the

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

comedy ''

Hacks Hacks may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Hacks'' (1997 film), a 1997 American comedy film * ''Hacks'' (2002 film), a 2002 independent American film * '' Hacks: The Inside Story'', a book by Donna Brazile * ''Hacks'' (TV series), ...

.''

Early life

Stalter was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where she lived until the age of 12. She then moved around with her family, and lived in

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

, Huber Heights and

Centerville, Ohio Centerville is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. A core suburb of Metro Dayton, its population was 24,240 as of the 2020 census. Geography Centerville is located at (39.638709, -84.148087). Although the city is located primar ...

. She was raised in the

Pentecostal Church Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

. Stalter attended Wayne High School, where she was part of the drama club, and tried out for every play, but never got the lead. After graduating from high school, Stalter attended

Sinclair Community College Sinclair Community College is a public community college in Dayton, Ohio. History Sinclair Community College is named for David A. Sinclair, a Scottish immigrant and secretary of the Dayton YMCA (1874–1902), who founded the adult training schoo ...

and later

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in honor of aviation ...

, but left to try acting again. She began doing sketch and

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 ...

in Dayton and moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

soon after to do comedy full time. Stalter often collaborates with her brother Nick and his wife Destiny.Garron, Taylor
"Meg Stalter Thinks the Villain From The Mask Is Hot,"
Vulture.com 20 Sept. 2019.Escandon, Rosa
"29-Year-Old Megan Stalter Isn’t Afraid To Beg,"
''Forbes'' 4 Dec. 2019.

Career

Stalter started her career in improv in Chicago.https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/a33959638/meg-stalter-interview/ She also started posted videos online in 2018, on what would become ''The Megan Stalter'' show. In 2019, Stalter moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and got a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. She quickly made a name for herself in the "alt-comedy scene", often performing more than three nights a week around Brooklyn.https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-05-18/megan-stalter-hacks-hbo-max-kayla ''

'' magazine named Stalter one of the "comedians you should and will know in 2019," and in 2020 ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' critic Jason Zinoman declared her "sketch comedy's newest star," writing, "In the constantly shifting ecosystem of young performers on Twitter and Instagram, the most vital voice to emerge during this anxious, isolating moment is that of Meg Stalter." During the pandemic, she improvised as different characters on nightly shows on Instagram Live, which raised her profile rapidly. The Los Angeles Times compared Stalter to other self-distributed comedians such as

Cole Escola Cole Escola (born November 25, 1986) is an American comedian, actor, and singer. They are best known for their cabaret work and their appearances on the television series '' Jeffery & Cole Casserole'' (2009–2010), ''Difficult People'' (2015– ...

and

Ziwe ''Ziwe'' is an American satirical late-night talk show hosted and executive produced by comedian Ziwe Fumudoh based in New York City. The show premiered on May 9, 2021, on Showtime. In June 2021, Showtime renewed the series for a second season ...

. In 2019, she joined the cast and writing staff of the reboot of ''

The National Lampoon Radio Hour ''The National Lampoon Radio Hour'' was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from ''National Lampoon'' magazine. The show ran weekly, for a little over a year, from November 17, 1973 to December 28, 1974. Orig ...

''. She is also the host of the webseries ''The Megan Stalter Show'' and the Forever Dog podcast ''Confronting Demons with Megan Stalter''. She is the voice of Bonnie Davis in the

Paramount+ Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

original series ''

Tooning Out the News ''Stephen Colbert Presents Tooning Out the News'' (often abbreviated as ''TOTN'') is an American live-action/animated satirical news television program created and executive produced by comedian and '' The Late Show'' host Stephen Colbert, Chris ...

'' and plays Kayla in the

comedy ''

.'' The Los Angeles Times called the latter role, as a "clueless Hollywood assistant brimming with self-assurance yet utterly lacking self-awareness," her breakout role.

Personal life

Stalter lives in Los Angeles. She is bisexual. As of October 2022, Stalter is dating a woman named Maddie.

Credits

Film

Television

References

External links

Megan Stalter
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Megan Stalter
on

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 ...

Megan Stalter
on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalter, Megan 1990 births 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American women American bisexual actors American sketch comedians American stand-up comedians American television actresses American women comedians Bisexual actresses Bisexual comedians Comedians from Ohio LGBT people from Ohio Living people People from Cleveland American LGBT comedians