Griffin McElroy

Griffin Andrew McElroy ( , born April 17, 1987) is an American podcaster, actor, writer, composer, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'' and '' The Adventure Zone'', as well as for co-founding the video game journalism website ''Polygon''.

Early and personal life

McElroy was born in 1987 to Clint McElroy, former co-host of WTCR-FM's morning radio show in Huntington, West Virginia, and his wife Leslie. Griffin McElroy is an alumnus of Marshall University with a degree in journalism. He used to live in Chicago. He married Rachel McElroy in 2013. They have two sons: Henry McElroy, born in November 2016, and August "Gus" Clinton McElroy, born in March 2021.

Career

Journalism

McElroy's journalism career began in 2007, when he began working as the weekend editor for ''Joystiq''. During the 2008 United States presidential election, McElroy also acted as MTV's local journalist for his home state of West Virginia. He departed ''Joystiq'' in 2012 in order to found ''Polygon'' along with his brother Justin McElroy and Christopher Grant, going on to later become a senior video producer for the site. During his tenure, he oversaw a large volume of video content for the site, including their ''Monster Factory'' series and several let's plays. In 2018, Griffin and Justin both announced their departure from ''Polygon'', in order to focus on their podcasting careers and families.

Podcasting

Since 2010, Griffin McElroy, along with his brothers Justin and Travis, has co-hosted the comedy podcast ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'', an "advice show for the modren icera" hosted as part of the Maximum Fun network. The brothers also starred in a 2017 TV show based on the podcast, which originally aired on Seeso.

In 2014, the McElroy brothers launched a tabletop role-playing game podcast entitled '' The Adventure Zone''. Initially playing ''Dungeons & Dragons'', the show moved into other game systems in later seasons. Griffin McElroy acted as the Dungeon Master and voice of numerous NPCs for the initial 69 episodes of their first campaign,
''Balance He later took on the similar role of "Keeper" for the Monster of the Week Powered by the Apocalypse based ''Amnesty'' campaign. In the show's third campaign, ''Graduation'', he played the role of Sir Fitzroy Maplecourt, Knight-in-Absentia of the Realm of Goodcastle. McElroy reprised his role as DM for ''Ethersea'', the fourth campaign of the show, which concluded in July, 2022. He also composes much of the original soundtrack for the series.

The first sub-arc of ''The Adventure Zone: Balance'', named ''Here There Be Gerblins'', was later adapted into a graphic novel in cooperation with artist Carey Pietsch, and was published by First Second Books in 2018. The book topped ''The New York Times''' best-selling trade fiction list, becoming the first graphic novel to do so. It was followed by a second graphic novel, ''Murder on the Rockport Limited!'', in 2019; ''Petals to the Metal'', in 2020; and ''The Crystal Kingdom'' in 2021.

Griffin and his brothers also co-host a yearly podcast with Tim Batt and Guy Montgomery, released every American Thanksgiving since 2015, called '' 'Til Death Do Us Blart'' where they watch and review the film '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2'' each episode. The podcast released a bonus episode on April 28, 2020, where they instead watched the original '' Paul Blart: Mall Cop''. The brothers also host the documentary podcast ''The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls World Tour'', which ultimately resulted in the announcement that all three were set to make cameo appearances in the film.

Since 2017, Griffin has co-hosted the podcast ''Wonderful!'' with his wife, Rachel, where they discuss things they are interested in and enjoy. The two had previously hosted another podcast named '' Rose Buddies'', in which they recapped episodes of '' The Bachelor'' and related television series.

Griffin has appeared twice as a guest on ''The George Lucas Talk Show,'' once during the May the 4th, 2020 fundraiser ''The George Lucas Talk Show All Day Star Wars Movie Watch Along','' and later on the December 22, 2020, episode ''The George Lucas Holiday Special.''

Voice acting

McElroy has appeared as a voice actor in several animated series, including ''Clarence'', ''Big City Greens'', ''We Bare Bears'', and '' Camp Camp''. He also provided voice commentary for the 2017 video game '' 100ft Robot Golf'', alongside his brothers. In September 2018, following a successful podcasting campaign, the McElroy brothers, Travis and Justin, confirmed that they would be voicing the character Skyscraper in the film '' Trolls World Tour'', with Griffin also voicing Country Tear. In April 2021, McElroy was announced to be voicing a role in '' The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' and is listed in the credits as Additional Voices.

Awards and achievements

In 2017, ''Forbes'' named McElroy a "30 Under 30" media luminary. This became a running gag during the introduction of ''My Brother, My Brother And Me'' for several years.

In 2021, a newly discovered species of millipede was named ''Nannaria mcelroyorum'' in recognition of the McElroy family's podcasts, which entertained the scientists during their field work. The millipede is found in West Virginia as well as the wider Appalachian region.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McElroy, Griffin
1987 births
Living people
21st-century American journalists
People from Huntington, West Virginia
Marshall University alumni
Journalists from West Virginia
American online journalists
American male journalists
American media critics
American podcasters
American male voice actors
Video game critics
McElroy family