Matt Besser
| Matt Besser | |
|---|---|
Besser in June 2006
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| Born |
Matthew Gregory Besser September 22, 1967 Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor, comedian, writer |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Spouse(s) | Danielle Schneider (m. 2008) |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | mattbesser |
Matthew Gregory "Matt" Besser (born September 22, 1967) is an American actor and comedian best known as one of the four founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe, who had their own show on Comedy Central from 1998-2000. He currently hosts the improvisation-based podcast Improv4humans on the Earwolf podcasting network.
Besser was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, to parents Diane and Sandy Besser. His father was Jewish and his mother was Christian, and Besser is an atheist. He is also quarter German and quarter French from his mother's side. Besser's grandfather's cousin was Joe Besser of The Three Stooges.
He was recruited to play soccer after starting on his high school team, but instead attended Amherst College with a major in American Studies. There he started doing stand-up comedy and competed in a contest at UMass that was judged by Judd Apatow. After graduating he briefly moved to Denver in an attempt to pursue stand-up, but quickly moved to Chicago. He worked various odd jobs, including stints as a substitute teacher, a host at Carnegie Deli and a host at Dick's Last Resort.
After being "blown away" seeing a improvisational comedy show at iO Theater featuring Dave Koechner, Tim Meadows and Chris Farley, Besser began taking classes there. His improv group Victim's Family (alongside Rick Roman, Adam McKay, Miles Stroth, and Ian Roberts), later renamed The Family (minus Roman, plus Neil Flynn, and Ali Farahnakian), was directed by Del Close, the first long-form group Del focused on.
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