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 (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) and a sizeable number of celebrity impressions, his most popular including 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. He also played newsman Roger Stuart, who he goes on the street to question people about the economy. He is a little off because he was told he didn't have to work today, and is a little drunk due to a lunch time gathering with some of his old college buddies. He starts off small, doing things like banging the microphone into people’s mouths, and stuttering through the questions, but as the day goes on the effects of the alcohol starts to hit him, as he does things like cry uncontrollably, and getting feelings of nausea. He then pulls out a flask from his pocket and starts to tell stories of his former elementary/high school girlfriend (he was 10, she was 16) to the camera. He starts getting sick, and violently starts throwing up. He ends the report with a final message that the economy is not good and wanders into a water fountain.

Characters and Impersonations

Celebrity Sketch Season of First Appearance Notes
Careco Coach Hines 14 Another student in Coach Hines' class
Roger Stuart "Drunk Newsman" 14 Newsman
Tom Bergeron Various 14 Game show host
William Frawley Various 14 As his character Fred Mertz from "I Love Lucy".
Andy Griffith Various 14 As his character Andy Taylor from The Andy Griffith Show.
Nick Jonas Various 14 Musician; member of the Jonas Brothers
Jimmy Kimmel Various 14 Comedian and late night talk show host.
John Mayer Various 14 Musician.
Al Michaels Various 14 Television sportscaster
J.D. Power Various 14 Founder of the J.D. Power and Associates Marketing firm.
William Shatner Various 14 Actor
Charlie Sheen Various 14 Actor

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

Year Title Role Box Office Performance Director Other notes
2006 Asian Stories Deli Customer N/A Ron Oda
Kris Chin
Comedy (short film)
2007 Lose Weight with Cancer Fat Jackson N/A Elysia Skye Comedy (short film)
2008 Who the F#ck Is Chip Seinfeld? Himself N/A Mike Newman Comedy (short film)

Television

Year Title Role Total Episodes Other notes
2007 Carpoolers Patient 1
2007 iCarly Gary 1
2007 Pushing Daisies Rick 1
2008–2009 MADtv Various Characters 12
2008 Late Show with David Letterman Himself 1
2010 Blue Mountain State Darrell 1
2010 John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show Himself 2
2010 United States of Tara Jarrett 2
2010 Nick Swardson's Pretend Time Various 1
2011 Mash Up Himself 1 Standup and sketch comedy
2011–2012 Up All Night Gene Martin 19
2013 Happy Endings Kevin 1
2013 @midnight Himself 4
2014 Garfunkel & Oates Jesse 1
2016 Agent Carter Aloysius Samberly 5
2016 Take My Wife Bob 3

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 http://www.madtv.com/
  4. Tedder, Michael. "Matt Braunger Shovel Fighter special review". The Spit Take. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
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