Chris Gethard

Christopher Paul "Chris" Gethard (/ˈɡɛθərd/; born May 23, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is the host of The Chris Gethard Show, a talk show based in New York City since 2011.

Life and career

Personal life

Gethard taping The Chris Gethard Show in September 2011

Gethard grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, the son of Sally and Jeremy Gethard, and attended West Orange High School.^[2] Gethard is also the author of Weird NY, a book detailing the ghost stories and urban legends of New York City, and A Bad Idea I'm About to Do, a collection of stories from Gethard's life, which has been highlighted on This American Life.^[3] Previously, Gethard served as an editorial assistant for the popular Weird NJ and Weird US publications.

He is an avid fan of The Smiths and has two tattoos related to the band—Morrissey's signature on his right shoulder (based on an actual signature he got in marker on his arm), and "It takes strength to be gentle and kind," a lyric from "I Know It's Over," on his right biceps.^[4]

Comedy

In addition to his books, Gethard is an improvisational actor who works largely out of Manhattan's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He began taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in 2000 while he was a student at Rutgers University.^[5] He is in the longform improvisation team The Stepfathers. He organizes a monthly show entitled "The Nights of Our Lives". He has also been part of the UCB Theater's national touring company. An early noted work was entitled Darryl, a one-man show where he portrayed troubled baseball player Darryl Strawberry.

Gethard also wrote the web series The Most Awkward Boy in the World which starred fellow Stepfathers member Zach Woods.

Gethard was featured on Variety magazine's "Ten Comics to Watch in 2010" list.

Gethard has appeared in multiple CollegeHumor.com videos. He has also appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Hope and Faith and Comedy Central's Crossballs.

In April 2010, he was tapped as the lead, alongside Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell, in the Comedy Central sitcom Big Lake. In May 2012, during the CollegeHumor All-Nighter, Gethard announced he would be opening a strawberry farm in upper New Jersey.

In 2013, the Independent Film Channel asked Gethard to write a pilot based on his book, A Bad Idea I'm About to Do. IFC gave Gethard a year, in addition to writing his pilot, to market for them at festivals and produce web content.^[6]

Gethard released his first comedy album, My Comedy Album, on April 22, 2014 on New Jersey's Don Giovanni Records.

In August 2016 Gethard participated for the first time in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing his show Career Suicide dealing with his experiences of depression, suicide attempts and alcoholism.^[7] During his run at the festival, he also recorded an episode of Stuart Goldsmith's "Comedian's Comedian Podcast", which was published in December 2016.^[8]

On May 6, 2017 HBO broadcast Career Suicide, an evening of standup comedy based on Gethard's off-Broadway show of the same title.^[9] Produced by Judd Apatow, the HBO special has garnered praise from Time Magazine, NPR, the A.V. Club, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The Daily Beast, Paste Magazine, The Huffington Post and Splitsider. ^{[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]}

The Chris Gethard Show

Gethard currently hosts The Chris Gethard Show, a talkshow that airs on New York City public-access and is streaming around the world on Gethard's website. The show began as a live piece at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in 2009. Gethard then went to Los Angeles to pitch a network version of the show, but ended up returning to New York City to produce it for public-access because he wanted to retain the chaotic, cheap feel of early MTV talk shows. The show has since grown to consist of both stage and filmed performances. It has developed a reputation for outrageous spectacle, often featuring awkward viewer calls, high-concept group segments and Gethard subjecting himself to abuse, including an episode where he hired a kickboxer to hit him if he failed to answer simple questions about his friends.^[5] As a child, Gethard admired comedians who seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted, such as Howard Stern, Andy Kaufman, and David Letterman. This interest influenced the style of The Chris Gethard Show and Gethard's comedic persona.

The show is entirely self-funded and none of the performers are paid for their time. Though this largely surfaced as result of the style of Upright Citizens Brigade shows and the aesthetic of the show, Gethard has stated that he would not be opposed to the show being picked up by a television network. He met with a number of network producers, but the show was not picked up, the primary concern being its unpredictable nature and frequent swearing.^[6] In early 2014, Comedy Central ordered a pilot from TCGS, to be co-produced by Funny or Die, leading to a brief hiatus from the weekly program. The pilot was taped, but ultimately not picked up by Comedy Central. The show returned to MNN from April to January 2015. In its final MNN episode it was announced that the show had been picked up by Fusion, where it ran for two seasons.

Throughout the show's many manifestations, it has attracted a number of celebrity guests including P. Diddy, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Paul Giamatti, and Lena Dunham.^[19]

After its run on Fusion, The Chris Gethard Show was picked up for a third season by truTV, and will begin airing live episodes in August 2017.^[19]

Beautiful/Anonymous

Gethard is currently the host of Earwolf's podcast Beautiful/Anonymous, which first aired on March 15, 2016. The following is Earwolf's description of the show: "1 phone call. 1 hour. No names. No holds barred. That’s the premise behind Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People, hosted by comedian Chris Gethard". "Every week, Chris opens the phone line to one anonymous caller, and he can’t hang up first, no matter what. From shocking confessions and family secrets to philosophical discussions and shameless self-promotion, anything can and will happen!"

Interactions with fans

Gethard hitchhiked from Los Angeles to Bonnaroo (Tennessee) relying only on the good will of others to help him. He has a series of YouTube videos that document his trip. The videos include trips in vans and driving a firetruck.

The Chris Gethard Show is well known for its audience interaction. One show featured a woman calling in to inquire about the purpose of the show. Gethard invited her to join them and she became a regular for four months.^[5] After this the notion of random, unknown fans becoming regular cast members became popular. The show has continued this trend, having a new "random" as a cast member for 15 episodes.

Discography

• My Comedy Album (2014)

Filmography

Films

Television

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chris Gethard.

External links

• Official website
• Chris Gethard on IMDb
• The Chris Gethard Show website