Matt Walsh (comedian)

For other people named Matt Walsh, see Matt Walsh (disambiguation).

Matt Walsh
File:Mattwalshcomedy.jpg Walsh backstage at the UCB Theater
Born	Matthew Paul Walsh (1964-10-13) October 13, 1964 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, comedian, director, writer
Years active	1996–present

Matthew Paul "Matt" Walsh (born October 13, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, director and writer best known as a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade improvisational sketch comedy troupe. He has also starred in comedy programs such as Dog Bites Man on Comedy Central and Players on Spike TV.

Early life

Walsh was born in Chicago, the fourth of seven children of Dick and Audrey Walsh. He attended Hinsdale South High School and played on the football team as a backup tight end. He graduated from Northern Illinois University with a degree in psychology, spending a year in Austria at Salzburg College. He began his comedy career in Chicago, performing at the Annoyance Theater and studying comedy at ImprovOlympic under improv comedy legend Del Close. In 1991, he met comedian Matt Besser, who he began performing stand-up comedy with. He would eventually join Besser in forming the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, along with Amy Poehler and Ian Roberts.

Career

Along with Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, and Ian Roberts, he is a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy troupe and played "Trotter" in the troupe's sketch comedy series, which ran for three seasons on Comedy Central. Before the show, the UCB comedy foursome had already been doing improv shows at their theatre in New York, which used to be a burlesque house before they remodeled it to become a theatre. To date, they have founded two successful Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theaters located in New York and Los Angeles.

Besides his sketch work with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Walsh is also known for his memorable supporting roles in popular comedy films in recent years including Cyrus, Old School, The Hangover, Role Models and Semi-Pro. Walsh also wrote and starred in the cult indie-comedy Martin & Orloff, which had a limited theatrical run in 2002 and 2003. In addition, he was also a correspondent on The Daily Show from 2001–2002, made regular appearances in comedy sketches on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and MTV's Human Giant as well as starring in the Comedy Central mockumentry series Dog Bites Man in the summer of 2006. Except for The Hangover: Part II, Walsh has the distinction of appearing in every other Todd Phillips comedy film to date, most often playing characters aptly named "Walsh".

In 2010, Walsh created the improvised comedy series Players for Spike TV. Walsh (creator, writer, director and executive producer of the show) stars in the series alongside his Upright Citizens Brigade partner Ian Roberts, as two brothers who run a sports bar together. The show aired for one season, concluding on August 14, 2010.

Walsh currently hosts the sports/comedy podcast "Bear Down" (beardownpodcast.com) with comedian Scot Armstrong (screenwriter of Old School) where they discuss their favorite football team The Chicago Bears and do sports-themed comedy bits such as fake call-ins and in-character interviews. The podcast has also featured appearances by comedians such as Horatio Sanz, Ian Roberts, Joseph Nunez, and Matt Price.

In 2010, he began a recurring role on the NBC comedy series Outsourced. In 2011, he was cast as one of the co-stars in the upcoming HBO series Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

In 2010, Walsh directed his first feature film called The High Road, an indie-comedy he co-wrote with Josh Weiner. The film will be released in 2011.

Personal life

Walsh lives in Los Angeles with his wife Morgan. They have two sons, Jude and Emmet.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1998	Talent	Ted
1999	Fatty Drives the Bus	Man in Baseball Uniform
2000	Road Trip	Crime Scene Photographer
2002	Martin & Orloff	Dr. Eric Orloff
2003	Pushing Tom	Co-Worker
	Old School	Walsh
	The Test	Joe	Short film
	Death of a Dynasty	Frat Boy No. 1
	Elf	Eye Witness
	Brainwarp	Captain Maniac	Video
	Bad Santa	Herb
2004	The Sensual Lover of Bindalele	Budo	Short film
	Starsky & Hutch	Eddie
	Christmas with the Kranks	Neighbor #2
2006	School for Scoundrels	Walsh
2007	Wild Girls Gone	Sheriff Terry Moran
	Dante's Inferno	Fox Reporter	Voice only
2008	Lower Learning	Mr. Conroy
	Be Kind Rewind	Officer Julian
	Drillbit Taylor	Not for Pot Driver
	Semi-Pro	Father Pat
	Step Brothers	Drunk Corporate Guy
	Role Models	Davith of Glencracken
2009	Mystery Team	Jim
	I Love You, Man	Impatient Golfer
	The Hangover	Dr. Valsh
2010	Cyrus	Tim
	Due Date	TSA Agent
	Queens of Country	Cleveland Norvis
2011	High Road	N\A	Director, co-writer

Television work

• Veep (2012) - Mike McClintock
• Jon Benjamin Has a Van (2011) – Various Characters
• Childrens Hospital (2010–2011) – Various Characters
• Outsourced (2010–2011) – Jerry Stern
• Community (2010) – Joshua the Groundskeeper
• Nick Swardson's Pretend Time (2010) – Various Characters
• Party Down (2010) – Larry Duckett
• Players (2010) – Bruce Fitzgerald
• The League (2009) – Oracle's Father
• Human Giant (2007–2008) – Various Characters
• Dog Bites Man (2006) – Kevin Beekin
• Reno 911! (2004–2009) – Ranger Glen/Various Characters
• The Daily Show (2001–2002) – Correspondent
• Upright Citizens Brigade (1998–2000) – Trotter/Various Characters
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1996–2004) – Various Comedy Sketches

External links

• Matt Walsh at IMDb
• Audio interview on The Sound of Young America: MP3 Link
• Interviewed by Josh Fulton on Improv Resource Center