Neil William Garguilo (born April 14, 1982) is an American writer, producer, director, actor and improv comedian. Garguilo is co-creator, showrunner and star of the

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

original animated series ''

Hell Den ''Hell Den'' is an adult animated sketch comedy series that premiered on May 10, 2019 on the internet platform DrinkTV and later moved to Syfy's late-night programming block, TZGZ The following is a list of TV programs for the American channel ...

'' which is amongst the first series to appear on Syfy's TZGZ late-night block. He also appeared on all five seasons of the MTV hit comedy series ''

Awkward Awkward may refer to: * Awkwardness or embarrassment, an emotional state of intense discomfort with people * ''Awkward'' (TV series), an American teen comedy series * ''Awkward'' (album), a 2001 album by Ty * ''Awkward'', a 1999 graphic novel by ...

'', and regularly works with Funny or Die and members of the comedy group Broken Lizard. He is the founding member of the celebrated improv comedy group Dr. God, the group responsible for the 2015 horror-comedy ''

Bloodsucking Bastards ''Bloodsucking Bastards'' is a 2015 American comedy horror film directed by Brian James O'Connell, written by Ryan Mitts and Dr. God, O'Connell's comedy group. The film stars Fran Kranz, Pedro Pascal, Emma Fitzpatrick, and Joey Kern. The film wa ...

''. In 2020, Garguilo won a Daytime Emmy Award for his Funny or Die series ''Brainwashed By Toons''. He was nominated twice for the series and shares an Emmy Award with ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'' star

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' Se ...

Early life

Garguilo was born in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Spotswood High School and is a graduate of Pace University. While in college, he also attended the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

and performed stand-up comedy regularly at the New York Comedy Club.

Career

After college, Garguilo attended the

Lee Strasberg Theater Institute The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute (originally the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute) is an acting school founded in 1969 by actor, director, and acting teacher Lee Strasberg. The Institute is located in Union Square on East 15th Street, a ...

and studied improv comedy at

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 McKay, Ri ...

(New York and Los Angeles),

iO West The iO West (formerly known as the "ImprovOlympic West") was the Los Angeles branch of the iO in Chicago. The theater was located at 6366 Hollywood Blvd., in Hollywood, California. In addition to presenting improv and sketch comedy shows ever ...

, Second City Hollywood and the Pack Theater. His television career started at TV Guide Network as an assistant on the John Henson television series ''Watch This''. From there, Garguilo would work on and off camera for years before landing the role of Principal Cox on the hit MTV series ''

''. In 2014, he created his first television series ''MOCKpocalpyse'' which aired for three seasons on the Mark Cuban-owned cable network AXS TV. This talking-head comedy series featured comics such as

Steve Agee Steven Douglas Agee (; born February 26, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, writer and musician, known for roles including Steve Myron on the Comedy Central series ''The Sarah Silverman Program'' and as John Economos in the 2021 superhero fil ...

, Nate Bargatze, Mary Birdsong, Frangela, Kevin Heffernan, Dave Holmes, Jamie Kaler,

Michael Kosta Michael Kosta (September 27, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and former tennis player. In July 2017, he joined ''The Daily Show'' as a correspondent. He has also hosted '' The Comment Section'' for the E! Network with producer Joel Mc ...

Steve Lemme Stephen Carlos Lemme (born November 13, 1968) is an American actor, writer, and producer, and one of the members of the Broken Lizard comedy group. Early life Lemme attended The Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's Un ...

, Jimmy Pardo,

Emo Philips Emo Philips (born Philip Soltanec February 7, 1956) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, writer and producer. His stand-up comedy persona makes use of paraprosdokians spoken in a wandering falsetto tone of voice. The confused, childlike deli ...

, Catherine Reitman, Sam Richardson,

Brody Stevens Steven James Brody (May 22, 1970 – February 22, 2019), known professionally as Brody Stevens, was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He starred in the Comedy Central reality series '' Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!'', and was known for appearan ...

Ryan Stout Ryan Matthew Stout (born September 30, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian and television host.Pullen, Doug (2011)The life of Ryan: Comedian from El Paso finds his niche by poking fun where few dare, "El Paso Times, December 18, 2011, retrieve ...

and more. In 2019, Garguilo launched his production company Rafael Raffaele Entertainment. Through his company, Garguilo created his first animated television series ''

'' alongside the members of his comedy group Dr. God. He serves as showrunner, director and stars as Andrew in addition to playing dozens of sketch characters. Also, through his company, Garguilo created, directed, wrote and produced his 2019 Funny or Die digital series ''Brainwashed by Toons'', featuring songs with

, Wayne Brady and Lea Thompson. He made the series with longtime collaborators Dwayne Colbert and Gregory James Jenkins. For his work, he won Outstanding Original Song and was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Special Class Series at the 47th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Personal life

Garguilo is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent. In 2019, he was engaged to voice actress and producer Kristin Sanchez.

Filmography

Television

Film

Digital

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Neil Garguilo
at the

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 p ...

.
Neil Garguilo
at the Ruby LA. {{DEFAULTSORT:Garguilo, Neil 1982 births 21st-century American comedians American comedy writers American male comedians American male screenwriters American television writers American male voice actors Pace University alumni Living people People from New Brunswick, New Jersey American male television writers Daytime Emmy Award winners Showrunners Writers from New Jersey Screenwriters from New Jersey 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers