Chris Gethard

Gethard grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, the son of Sally and Ken Gethard,^[9][10] and attended Redwood Elementary and Edison Middle School. When he was three years old, Gethard was next-yard neighbors with a seven-year-old with dwarfism who was his friend and bully.^[11] Gethard attended West Orange High School and was a member of its marching band, the Marching Mountaineers.^[12] His older brother had a best friend, Mike D, who ran a fanzine called Marcia and organized rock shows. In his senior year of high school, Gethard wrote a fanzine called No Sign of Charlie and released two issues. According to Gethard, readers thought it wasn't the most well-made but was funny.^[13] As a child, Gethard was a visitor of the infamous Action Park.^[14][15]

In his sophomore year of college, in 2000, he joined the improv troupe at the Cabarat Theatre at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.^[2][16] During the summer, Gethard began taking classes at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Manhattan, New York.^[17] Gethard graduated from Rutgers University in May 2002 with a Bachelor's degree in American studies.^[2] He quit drinking alcohol a few months before his 22nd birthday.^[18] He served as the Special Projects Coordinator for Rutgers' Cabarat Theatre from 2000 to 2002.^[19]

In 2001, at age 21, Gethard began doing paid acting gigs on Late Night with Conan O'Brien portraying teenagers, a result of his younger appearance during his teenage years and much of his twenties.^[21] He briefly lived in Los Angeles in 2004, before settling in Queens, New York later that year.^[13]

Gethard began doing stand-up comedy in 2006. He was a guest writer on Saturday Night Live in 2007 for two weeks.^[22] In 2009, Gethard served as an actor and writer on Undisputed, an unaired pilot for Fox. The mockumentary sitcom depicts a fictional professional wrestling promotion with Gethard portraying an in-show writer. Gethard became friends with Colt Cabana who he met during filming.^[23]

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.^[24] He wrote a series of articles for Vice that year,^[25] and Vulture included Gethard in its 'Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2013' on April 29.

On January 30, 2014, Gethard shot a pilot for Comedy Central for a commercial TV network iteration of TCGS.^[26] Colt Cabana accidentally injured Michael Cera's groin during filming.^[27]

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.^[28] 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.^[29]

On May 6, 2017, HBO broadcast Career Suicide, an evening of standup comedy based on Gethard's off-Broadway show of the same title.^[30] Produced by Judd Apatow, the HBO special has garnered praise from The New York Times, Time,^[31] NPR,^[32] The A.V. Club,^[33] USA Today,^[34] Entertainment Weekly,^[35] The Daily Beast,^[36] Paste,^[37] The Huffington Post^[38] and Splitsider.^[39]

On October 10, 2019, he was featured in a 30-minute YouTube documentary called Laughing Matters, created by SoulPancake in collaboration with Funny or Die, wherein a variety of comedians discuss mental health.^[40]

The Chris Gethard Show

Gethard on The Chris Gethard Show in September 2011

Gethard at SXSW in March 2024

Gethard hosted The Chris Gethard Show, a talk show that originally aired on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network and was streamed 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.^[17] In a 2016 interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross he said he felt that The Chris Gethard Show had a manic energy, and was a way for him to channel his manic thoughts, and behavior.^[22] 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 laid the groundwork for Gethard's comedic persona.^[41]

The show became known for its audience interaction. One episode 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.^[17] The show continued this trend through its public access run, having a new "random" as a cast member for 15 episodes each.

The show was entirely self-funded, and none of the performers were paid for their time during its public access time. However, this largely surfaced as result of the style of Upright Citizens Brigade shows and the aesthetic of the show, Gethard had 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.^[24] 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.^[22]

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.^[42]

After its run on Fusion, The Chris Gethard Show was picked up for a third season by truTV, and began airing live episodes in August 2017.^[42] In August 2018, Gethard announced the show had been canceled and would not return for another season.^[43]

Gethard married Hallie Bulleit, leader of The Chris Gethard Show band The LLC and lead singer of The Unlovables.^[51] on August 30, 2014, in Brooklyn, New York.^{[52][unreliable source?]} The service was performed by fellow Chris Gethard Show cast member Murf Meyer.^[53] His wife is vegetarian.^[54]

Chris Gethard has been diagnosed with manic depression. He stated that early on the mania portion of the manic depression diagnosis was worse than the depression portion.^[22] He also said he manages his symptoms through medication, therapy, and support from his wife.^[55]

Gethard is a fan of professional wrestling. His favorite sport is basketball and he is a fans of the New York Knicks in the NBA. His favorite player growing up was John Starks who went on to appear on The Chris Gethard Show in 2016.^[56] He is a fan of The Smiths and has two tattoos related to the band. One of them is Morrissey's signature on his right shoulder (based on an actual signature he got in marker on his arm) which he had tattooed on March 23, 2009.^[57] The other being a tattoo on his right biceps saying "It takes strength to be gentle and kind," a lyric from "I Know It's Over".^[58] Gethard became a fan of Star Wars during his childhood and memorized the Star Wars Encyclopedia.^[59]

Books

• Weird New York: Your Guide to New York's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (2010)
• A Bad Idea I'm About to Do: True Tales of Seriously Poor Judgment and Stunningly Awkward Adventure (2012)
• Lose Well (2018)
• The Lonely Dad Conversations (2023)
• Dad at Peace (2024)

Select essays and articles

• A Speech for My High School (Medium, 2019) A Speech for My High School
• Dad on Pills: Fatherhood and Mental Illness (Scribd, 2022)'Dad on Pills': NJ comedian Chris Gethard tackles parenthood, mental illness
• Why I Want My Son to Grow Up in Jersey (New Jersey Fan Club, Rutgers University Press, 2022)^[61]
• The Only Living Comedian in New York: Chris Gethard on Avoiding Los Angeles (Vulture, 2016) The Only Living Comedian in New York: Chris Gethard on Avoiding Los Angeles