Michael Patrick Jann (born May 15, 1970,

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...

) is an American actor, writer, and director best known as a cast member on MTV's ''

The State A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...

''.

Career

Jann attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where, as a freshman, he joined the then-new comedy troupe The New Group, which was eventually renamed to

. The troupe continued performing after college, and in 1993 they gained their own series on MTV, the sketch comedy show ''

'', which ran until 1995. Jann and David Wain directed a majority of the sketches on the series. In 1999, Jann directed the film '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'', which is his

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. Jann produced, and directed many episodes of the 2003-2009

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 ...

series ''

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 ...

'', which was created by several members of The State. He co-wrote the 2006 film ''

Let's Go to Prison ''Let's Go to Prison'' is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Bob Odenkirk and starring Dax Shepard, Will Arnett and Chi McBride. The film was loosely based on the non-fiction book, '' You Are Going to Prison'' by Jim Hogshire. It was relea ...

'', along with The State members (and ''Reno 911!'' cast members)

Thomas Lennon Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!'' Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major st ...

and

Ben Garant Robert Ben Garant (born September 14, 1970), credited earlier in his career as Ben Garant, is an American screenwriter, producer, director, actor and comedian. He has a long professional relationship with Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silve ...

. He directed most of the episodes of the 2008 HBO show ''

Little Britain USA ''Little Britain USA'' is an American spin-off-continuation of British sketch show, ''Little Britain'', produced by and aired on HBO. As in the British series, Matt Lucas and David Walliams play the majority of the characters: originals such a ...

''. Jann has directed episodes of many other television comedy programs, including ''

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, tow ...

'', ''

Childrens Hospital ''Childrens Hospital'' (originally titled ''Children's Hospital'' as webisodes) is an American black comedy television series and web series that parodies the medical drama genre, created by and starring actor/comedian Rob Corddry. The series ...

'', ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'', ''

Emily's Reasons Why Not ''Emily's Reasons Why Not'' is a television series starring Heather Graham. The show, which was based on the novel of the same name by Carrie Gerlach, published in August 2004, was canceled by its broadcaster, ABC, after a single airing on Januar ...

'', ''

Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's come ...

'', '' Friends with Benefits'', '' Happy Endings'', ''

Notes from the Underbelly ''Notes from the Underbelly'' is an American sitcom that was aired on ABC from 2007 to 2008, originally debuting as a mid-season replacement. The series is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Risa Green, and was produced by Eric and Kim Ta ...

'', ''

Reaper A reaper is a farm implement or person that reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were Gallic reapers that were used in Roma ...

'', ''

Suburgatory ''Suburgatory'' is an American television sitcom created by Emily Kapnek that aired on ABC from September 28, 2011, to May 14, 2014. The series originally aired on Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30 Central following '' The Middle''. The title is ...

'', ''

Wedding Band A wedding ring or wedding band is a finger ring that indicates that its wearer is married. It is usually forged from metal, traditionally gold or another precious metal. Rings were used in ancient Rome during marriage, though the modern pra ...

'' and '' Daybreak''. Jann’s upcoming projects include the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

horror film ''Organ Trails'', his second full-length feature.

Personal life

Jann is married to

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

actress

Lisa LoCicero Lisa LoCicero (born April 18, 1970) is an American actress, known for her role as Sonia Toledo in ABC soap opera ''One Life to Live'' and Olivia Falconeri in another ABC soap opera ''General Hospital''. Career Her first notable role was Jocelyn ...

. The two have two children: a son, Lukas, born in 2001, and a daughter, Verity Marion, born in 2015.

Filmography

* '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'' (1999) * ''Bad News Mr. Swanson'' (2001) * ''

'' (2006) * ''Most Likely to Succeed'' (2010) * ''Ghosts/Aliens'' (2010) * ''Brave New World'' (2011) * ''El Jefe'' (2012) * ''Grand Marquee'' (2015) * ''I Shudder'' (2016) * ''Organ Trails'' (2022)

References

External links

*
Videos by Michael Patrick Jann
1970 births Living people American sketch comedians American male comedians American male film actors American film directors American male television actors American television writers American male television writers American television directors Actors from Albany, New York Male actors from New York (state) Comedians from New York (state) Screenwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American comedians The Albany Academy alumni 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers {{US-tv-bio-stub