Matt Braunger

Matt Braunger
Birth name Matthew Braunger
Born (1974-08-01) August 1, 1974
Chicago, Illinois, US
Years active 2007–present
Website Official site

Matthew "Matt" Braunger (born August 1, 1974) is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. Outside of performing stand-up, Braunger is noted for being a cast member on MADtv during its final season in 2008–2009 and as a recurring guest star on NBC's Up All Night.

Early years

Braunger was born August 1, 1974 in Chicago, Illinois. However, his family moved to Portland, Oregon when he was young. After graduating from Portland's Grant High School,[1] Braunger studied theater at Manhattanville College, in Purchase, New York. After earning his bachelor's degree, he moved to Chicago to develop his career in comedy.[2]

Career

Comedian

Braunger has been featured at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal 2007, The Las Vegas Comedy Festival 2007, South By Southwest, and won "Best Of The Fest" at the inaugural Rooftop Comedy Festival in Aspen.[3] He co-founded the popular Bridgetown Comedy Festival that takes place annually in Portland. His debut stand-up comedy album 'Soak up The Night' was released digitally on July 14, 2009 on Comedy Central Records. In 2009, he was named to Variety's Top 10 Comics to Watch and Comedy Central's Hot 9 in '09 list. 'Soak up the Night' was named to the iTunes REWIND Top 20 Albums of 2009. In 2010, he recorded his half-hour Comedy Central Presents special, and in 2012 his hour-long special, Shovel Fighter, aired on Comedy Central to mixed reviews.[4] He released his third comedy album Big Dumb Animal in 2015 along with a special set to air on Netflix.

Matt's television credits include a recurring role on NBC's Up All Night, a series regular role on MADtv, and various roles on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, the Late Show with David Letterman, United States of Tara, Pushing Daisies, Carpoolers, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Acceptable TV, and Live at Gotham. He is also a regular guest on the Chelsea Lately roundtable.

Braunger has performed his stand-up act on television programs such as the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show and Live at Gotham on Comedy Central. He had a Comedy Central Presents special that aired on April 9, 2010. In recent months he has also become a frequent panel guest on Chelsea Lately.

MADtv

Braunger joined the cast of MADtv in 2008 as a feature performer, during the show's final season on FOX (14th season; 2008–2009). Despite the short tenure (often not appearing in episodes), Braunger had a recurring character (Careco, one of Coach Hines' troublemaking students), a sizeable number of celebrity impressions, his most popular including Nick Jonas (with Eric Price and Johnny A. Sanchez as the other two Jonas brothers), Charlie Sheen, Jimmy Kimmel, William Shatner, William Frawley (as Fred Mertz in an I Love Lucy parody), and J.D. Power of J.D. Power and Associates, and a popular one-shot character, Roger Stuart, a field news reporter trying to act professional during a report on the economy despite being drunk.

Characters and impersonations

CelebritySketchSeason of First AppearanceNotes
CarecoCoach Hines14Another student in Coach Hines' class
Roger Stuart"Drunk Newsman"14Newsman
Tom BergeronVarious14Game show host
William FrawleyVarious14As his character Fred Mertz from "I Love Lucy".
Andy GriffithVarious14As his character Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show.
Nick JonasVarious14Musician; member of the Jonas Brothers
Jimmy KimmelVarious14Comedian and late night talk show host.
John MayerVarious14Musician.
Al MichaelsVarious14Television sportscaster
J.D. Power IIIVarious14Founder of the J.D. Power and Associates Marketing firm.
William ShatnerVarious14Actor
Charlie SheenVarious14Actor

Other projects

Braunger and comedian Matt Dwyer hosted a weekly comedy podcast called "MATTs Radio" on mattsradio.com, they taped their final episode on September 30, 2010.

In 2012, Braunger starred in a pilot he created for Comedy Central titled "Braunger", which he co-wrote with The Office writer Brent Forrester. The series was not picked up to series.

Since 2013, Braunger has hosted Ding-Donger with Matt Braunger, a podcast on the Nerdist Podcast Network.

In 2014 he starred in Steel Panther's video for the song "The Burden of Being Wonderful". He has also appeared in Episodes 11 and 12 of Steel Panther TV's internet smash "Demolicious!".

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleBox Office PerformanceDirectorOther notes
2006Asian StoriesDeli CustomerN/ARon Oda
Kris Chin		Comedy (short film)
2007Lose Weight with CancerFat JacksonN/AElysia SkyeComedy (short film)
2008Who the F#ck Is Chip Seinfeld?HimselfN/AMike NewmanComedy (short film)

Television

YearTitleRoleTotal EpisodesOther notes
2007CarpoolersPatient1
2007iCarlyGary1
2007Pushing DaisiesRick1
2008–2009MADtvVarious Characters12
2008Late Show with David LettermanHimself1
2010Blue Mountain StateDarrell1
2010John Oliver's New York Stand Up ShowHimself2
2010United States of TaraJarrett2
2010Nick Swardson's Pretend TimeVarious1
2011Mash UpHimself1Standup and sketch comedy
2011–2012Up All NightGene Martin19
2013Happy EndingsKevin1
2013@midnightHimself4
2014Garfunkel & OatesJesse1
2016Agent CarterAloysius Samberly5
2016Take My WifeBob3
2018My Dead ExOfficer Mitch Maloof3

References

  1. ↑ Hallett, Alison. "Happening This Weekend: EVERYTHING". Portland Mercury. October 13, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  2. ↑ see http://www.planetmadtv.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9597
  3. ↑ see "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 5, 2006. Retrieved 2006-03-01.
  4. ↑ Tedder, Michael. "Matt Braunger Shovel Fighter special review". The Spit Take. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.