Joel McHale

Joel McHale
Joel McHale 2014 Comic Con (cropped).jpg
McHale in July 2014
Born (1971-11-20) November 20, 1971 (age 50)
Rome, Italy
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Washington
Occupation
  • Actor
  • comedian
  • television host
Years active1996–present
Spouse
Sarah Williams
(m. 1996)
Children2
Websitejoelmchale.com

Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and television host. He is best known for hosting The Soup (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015). He has performed in the films Spider-Man 2 (2004), Open Season 2 (2008), Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011), Ted (2012) and The Happytime Murders (2018). He also starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Great Indoors (2016–2017), hosted a reboot of Card Sharks (2019–2021), and portrays the superhero Sylvester Pemberton / Starman on the show Stargirl (2020–present). In 2020, he hosted a special aftershow interviewing key subjects from the Netflix documentary series Tiger King. McHale voiced Johnny Cage in the direct-to-video martial arts film Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020), a role he reprised in the sequel Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021). He also voices X-PO in Lego Dimensions (2015–2017) and The Scientist in Fortnite (2021–present).

Early life

McHale was born in Rome on November 20, 1971, the son of Jack McHale, who worked as the Dean of Students at Loyola University's Rome Center, and his wife Laurie. His father is American and is from Chicago, while his mother is Canadian and a native of Vancouver. McHale is of Irish and Norwegian descent, and was raised Catholic. He grew up on Mercer Island, Washington, and briefly lived in Haddonfield, New Jersey, before returning to Mercer Island. He attended Mercer Island High School. He received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Washington in 1995, and was briefly in the Theta Chi fraternity but left it because he "couldn't stand it."

McHale was recruited to be on the University of Washington's rowing team, but later joined its football team. Though most of his teammates received athletic scholarships, he was a walk-on who played tight end for two years on the scout team without appearing in an actual game. He was part of the Almost Live! cast, a local sketch comedy television show produced by Seattle's KING-TV. From 1993 to 1997, he was a member of the improv comedy group at Unexpected Productions, participating in Theatersports! at the Market Theater located in Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. He received an MFA from the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington.

Career

Hosting

In 2004, McHale began hosting The Soup, a satirical weekly television show on the E! television network. Throughout the show, he takes the audience through the oddities and ridiculous happenings of the week in television. He frequently appears as a co-host on Loveline. He has been a judge on Iron Chef America. He was involved in the American version of the British TV show The IT Crowd. McHale made a guest appearance on the finale of Last Comic Standing's sixth season, when he recapped the show's events in his typical format of jokes made popular on The Soup. He made an appearance as a guest judge on RuPaul's Drag Race season 11, episode 4, "Trump: The Rusical".

McHale was the host at the 2014 White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner. He hosted the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards and the 2015 ESPY Awards. In 2016, he appeared as an occasional co-host alongside Kelly Ripa in the ABC morning show Live with Kelly. McHale hosted the 43rd People's Choice Awards on January 18, 2017 and the 2017 Webby Awards on May 15, 2017. McHale hosted video game developer and publisher Ubisoft's press conference at E3 2010.

In January 2018, it was announced that he would be receiving his own talk show on Netflix in February. The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale combined celebrity guests, pre-taped sketches and video clips in a half-hour series that focused on pop culture and news from around the world. On August 17, 2018, it was announced that Netflix had canceled the show after 19 episodes, reportedly due to low viewership.

On April 8, 2019, TVLine reported that McHale would host a revival of the game show Card Sharks for ABC. The revival would premiere on June 12 of that year, running for two seasons and 21 episodes until July 7, 2021. The iteration was canceled in April 2022.

Beginning March 27, 2020, McHale co-hosts The Darkest Timeline podcast with former Community co-star Ken Jeong; the podcast was created in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Also in 2020, he hosted an after-show special of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King. With Jeong, they became the new hosts of Fox's New Year's Eve special New Year's Eve Toast & Roast. The second edition was canceled due to the quickly rising cases of Omicron variant in the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, McHale hosted Crime Scene Kitchen, also on Fox.

Acting

23
McHale at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con

After earning his master's degree in acting, McHale moved to Los Angeles and landed small roles in Diagnosis: Murder, CSI: Miami, and Will & Grace. He played a TV reporter in the biopic Lords of Dogtown. He guest-starred as a cast member on the NBC improv comedy show Thank God You're Here during the pilot episode and had a guest role on an episode of Pushing Daisies. McHale appeared in Spider-Man 2 in a small role as Mr. Jacks, a bank manager.

McHale has a long association with Circle X Theatre, where he has done several plays. McHale was a weekly guest on The Adam Carolla Show and Mickey and Amelia, and occasional guest on Opie and Anthony. He occasionally appeared on Countdown with Keith Olbermann in a humor sequence closing the show.

McHale starred in the sitcom Community, which premiered in fall 2009, and continued to host The Soup. McHale made an appearance on the first episode of the fifth season of Tosh.0. He played Rex in Ted (2012) and had a short guest stint on the FX show Sons of Anarchy. He played a police officer in the supernatural horror film Deliver Us from Evil. McHale appeared in 3 episodes between the tenth and eleventh seasons of The X-Files in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

McHale played the lead role in the CBS sitcom The Great Indoors, which began airing in the fall of 2016. The series was cancelled on May 13, 2017, due to low ratings.

In 2018, McHale was cast in the recurring role of Chris on the second season of the Netflix horror-comedy series Santa Clarita Diet.

In December 2018, it was announced that McHale was cast as Sylvester Pemberton, the Golden Age Starman in the DC Universe and The CW series Stargirl. After sporadic appearances in its first two seasons, he was upgraded to series regular for the third.

McHale has been a regular guest panelist on The Masked Singer. He first guested in episode four of the first season, then in two episodes of season 2 and episode 8 of season 3. In season 4, he was a guest panelist in episodes 3 and 4, on his first appearance performing Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" as the "Robin" (wearing a cut-out face of Robin Thicke). He went on to be a guest panelist in the third episode of season 5 and episode 7 of season 6.

Personal life

McHale married Sarah Williams in July 1996. They live in the Hollywood Hills with their two sons, Isaac and Eddie. In a 2018 interview on Dax Shepard's podcast Armchair Expert, McHale revealed he was dyslexic, having discovered this when his two sons were diagnosed.

McHale has said that he has an interest in watches. His interest started because of stylist Jose Camilo who got him to wear a Ritmo Mundo watch and then buy a Bell & Ross military watch. He now owns 12 watches.

McHale is a fan of the Seattle Seahawks football team and the Los Angeles Gladiators esports team.

Politics and beliefs

He attends a Presbyterian church and has been supportive of the LGBT community; while performing at the Durham Performing Arts Center, he wore a handmade gay-rights shirt, talked about the bathroom law passed weeks prior, said he was donating all proceeds to the LGBTQ Center of Durham, and would not perform in the state again until the law was overturned. McHale, along with several of his Community castmates, made a campaign video in support of Joe Biden in October 2020 titled "Human Beings for Biden."

Philanthropy

In 2021, McHale has shown his support for the Children's Tumor Foundation, an organization dedicated to raising awareness for and treating Neurofibromatosis. Some other charities and foundations that McHale has supported include DoSomething.org, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Friar's Foundation, Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Motion Picture & Television Fund, Noreen Fraser Foundation, Screen Actors Guild, The FEED Foundation, The Trevor Project, and UNICEF.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Spider-Man 2 Mr. Jacks
2004 Wait Short film
2005 Lords of Dogtown Reporter
2005 Game Time Johnson Short film
2006 Mini's First Time Host
2008 The Onion Movie Office Worker Uncredited
2008 Open Season 2 Elliot (voice)
2009 The Informant! FBI Agent Robert Herndon
2011 Spy Kids: All the Time in the World Wilbur Wilson
2011 What's Your Number? Roger
2011 Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope Himself Documentary
2011 The Big Year Barry Loomis
2012 Ted Rex
2014 Blended Mark Reynolds
2014 Deliver Us from Evil Butler
2014 Adult Beginners Hudson
2014 A Merry Friggin' Christmas Boyd Mitchler
2018 Assassination Nation Nick Mathers
2018 A Futile and Stupid Gesture Chevy Chase
2018 Game Over, Man! Himself Cameo
2018 The Happytime Murders Agent Campbell
2020 Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge Johnny Cage (voice) Direct-to-video
2020 Becky Jeff Hooper
2021 Happily Tom
2021 Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms Johnny Cage (voice) Direct-to-video
2021 Queenpins Rick Kaminski
2022 California King Filming
2023 Untitled Community film Jeff Winger also executive producer
2023 Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match Johnny Cage (voice) Direct-to-video

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1996 Almost Live! Various Unknown episodes
1998 Bill Nye the Science Guy Defendant Episode: "Fluids"
2000 The Huntress Quicky the Clown Episode: "Springing Tiny"
2000 The Fugitive Curtis Episode: "Far from Home"
2000 Diagnosis: Murder Richard Episode: "By Reason of Insanity"
2001; 2020 Will & Grace Ian Episode: "Cheaters"
Phil Episodes: "Filthy Phil, Part I" and "Filthy Phil, Part II"
2004–2015 The Soup Himself (host) 618 episodes; also writer and executive producer
2005 CSI: Miami Greg Welch Episode: "Urban Hellraisers"
2007 The IT Crowd Roy US pilot; never aired
2007 Thank God You're Here Himself 1 episode
2007 Pushing Daisies Harold Hundin Episode: "Bitches"
2007; 2009 Robot Chicken Various Voices 2 episodes
2009–2015 Community Jeff Winger Lead role
2011 26th Independent Spirit Awards Himself (host) Television special
2011 Phineas and Ferb Norm Head Prototype (voice) Episode: "Candace Disconnected"
2012 Sons of Anarchy Warren Episodes: "Small World" and "Toad's Wild Ride"
2013 Conan Conan O'Brien Episode: "Occupy Conan: When Outsourcing Goes Too Far"
2013–2015 Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja First Ninja (voice) 5 episodes
2013 2013 VGX Awards Himself (host) Television special
2014 Video Game High School The President of the United States Episode: "OMGWTFPS!?"
2014 White House Correspondents' Dinner Himself (host) Television special
2015 Regular Show DVD (voice) Episode: "Format Wars II"
2015 2015 ESPY Awards Himself (host) Television special
2015 Comedy Bang! Bang! Himself Episode: "Joel McHale Wears a Navy Zip-up and High Tops"
2015 BoJack Horseman Alex (voice) Episode: "Yesterdayland"
2016–2018 The X-Files Tad O'Malley 4 episodes
2016 Dr. Ken Ross Episode: "Dave's Valentine"
2016 Difficult People Felix Episode: "Hashtag Cats"
2016 Lip Sync Battle Himself Episode: "Jim Rash vs. Joel McHale"
2016–2017 The Great Indoors Jack Gordon 22 episodes
2017 Dimension 404 Dr. Matthew Maker Episode: "Matchmaker"
2017 Mystery Science Theater 3000 Doug McClure Episode: "At the Earth's Core"
2017 Rick and Morty Death Stalker Hemorrhage (voice) Episode: "Rickmancing the Stone"
2017–2018 Milo Murphy's Law Victor Verliezer (voice) 2 episodes
2017, 2019 Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television Himself 2 episodes
2018 The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale Himself (host) 19 episodes; also writer and executive producer
2018–2019 Santa Clarita Diet Chris 4 episodes
2018 Drunk History George Corwin, Robert Ellis Cahill Episode: "Halloween"
2019 Joel McHale: Live from Pyongyang Himself Comedy special
2019-present The Masked Singer Himself 9 episodes
2019 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself (guest judge) Episode: "Trump: The Rusical"
2019 The Rookie Brad Hayes Episode: "The Shake Up"
2019–2021 Card Sharks Host and executive producer 21 episodes
2019 Mr. Iglesias Danny Episode: "Oh Boy, Danny"
2019 What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage Himself Episode: "Preetempted"
2020 Medical Police Himself Episode: "Deuce to Nines, Double Draw"
2020 Black-ish Himself Episode: "You Don't Know Jack"
2020 Dummy Jason Levy Episode: "Ideal Woman"
2020–present Stargirl Sylvester Pemberton / Starman Recurring role (Season 1–2); Main role (Season 3)
2020 Tiger King Himself (host) Episode: "The Tiger King and I"
2020 The Twilight Zone Orson Rudd Episode: "8"
2020 Psych 2: Lassie Come Home Lassiter's Father Television film
2020 Game On! Himself (contestant) Episode: "Celebrity Guests: Becky Lynch and Joel McHale"
2020 Match Game Himself (contestant) 2 episodes
2020 The Cabin with Bert Kreischer Himself Episode: "Fresh Perspectives"
2020 New Year's Eve Toast & Roast 2021 Himself (co-host) With Ken Jeong
2021 Celebrity Wheel of Fortune Himself (contestant) 1 episode
2020 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Himself (contestant) 2 episodes
2021 American Housewife Doyle Bradford Episode: "The Election"
2021 Crime Scene Kitchen Himself (host) Also executive producer
2021 Nickelodeon's Unfiltered Himself Episode: "Why Did the Bear Cross the Road?"
2019–2022 Love, Death & Robots Sergeant Morris Episode: "Kill Team Kill"
2022 The Bear Chef de Cuisine 3 Episodes
2022 Celebrity Beef Himself (host)
TBA Animal Control Frank Main role; also executive producer

Video games

Year Title Voice role Note
2015 Lego Dimensions X-PO, Himself
2021–present Fortnite: Battle Royale The Scientist Uncredited Role

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2010 EWwy Award Best Actor in a Comedy Community Nominated
2011 Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
EWwy Award Best Actor in a Comedy Won
Satellite Award Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
2012 TV Guide Award Favorite Ensemble Won
Critics' Choice Television Award Best Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
PAAFTJ Television Award Best Lead Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated
Best Cast in a Comedy Series Won
EWwy Award Best Actor, Comedy Won
Satellite Award Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy Nominated
2014 Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program The Soup Nominated
2019 Golden Raspberry Award Worst Supporting Actor The Happytime Murders Nominated

Books

  • McHale, Joel (2016). Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be. Penguin. ISBN 9780399575372.

This page was last updated at 2022-10-20 02:30 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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