Paul Scheer


Paul Christian Scheer is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster.
Scheer is best known for starring as Andre Nowzick on the FX/FXX series The League and as the co-creator and one of the stars of the MTV sketch comedy series Human Giant, as well as creating and starring in the Adult Swim comedy-action series . He co-hosts the popular film discussion podcast How Did This Get Made? alongside his wife June Diane Raphael and comedian Jason Mantzoukas. He has appeared with recurring roles on television programs such as the HBO comedy Veep and the ABC comedy Fresh Off the Boat. Scheer currently stars alongside Don Cheadle in the Showtime comedy series Black Monday.

Early life and education

Scheer was born in Huntington, New York, to Gail Ann and William Paul Scheer. Scheer attended Catholic schools during his upbringing. He graduated from St. Anthony's High School and attended New York University, where he majored in communication and education.

Career

Television

''Human Giant''

Around the summer of 2005, Scheer began collaborating with fellow comedians Rob Huebel and Aziz Ansari as well as director Jason Woliner to make short films. The first video created by the group was Shutterbugs, about Huebel and Ansari as cut-throat child talent agents. This was followed by the sketch Illusionators, which starred Ansari and Scheer as Criss Angel-style goth magicians. In mid-2006, MTV gave the green light for a sketch series from the group, called Human Giant, which debuted April 5, 2007.

''The League''

The League premiered on FX on October 29, 2009 and ran for seven seasons. The series is a semi-scripted comedy from Jeff and Jackie Marcus Schaffer about a group of friends in a fantasy football league. Scheer plays Dr. Andre Nowzick, a rich plastic surgeon whose naivete makes him the butt of many jokes. Scheer has co-scripted a handful of episodes: "The Anniversary Party", "Expert Witness", "Sober Buddy", "The Out of Towner" and "Tailgate" with co-star Nick Kroll; he co-wrote the episode "Bringer Show" with Stephen Rannazzisi and was the sole credited writer of "The Block".

Other television work

Scheer created , a live action 15 minute action television show parody, which premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim on July 21, 2011, and ran for over forty episodes. Scheer also served as executive producer, writer, director, and star. It is produced by Abominable Pictures, Inc. and Scheer's 2nd Man on the Moon Productions.
Scheer and Jack McBrayer made semi-regular appearances on the Nick Jr. series Yo Gabba Gabba!, during a segment called "Knock Knock Joke of the Day". They were featured as themselves in the Yo Gabba Gabba! comic book, and made appearances on the Yo Gabba Gabba! live tour. In 2012, Scheer appeared as a villainous Cowboy Android in an episode of The Aquabats! Super Show!, another series from the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba!
Black Monday is a historical comedy that premiered on Showtime on January 20, 2019. Black Monday chronicles the biggest international stock market crash in history which occurred on October 19, 1987. Scheer portrays the character Keith.
Scheer had a recurring role on the ABC show Fresh Off the Boat as the restaurant host and waiter Mitch, who is the protégé of its new owner Randall.
Scheer appeared on the second season of Nailed it! Holiday as a contestant. He won the competition, but chose not to keep the $10,000 prize, and instead split it between the other two contestants.

Other projects

In 2006, Variety named Scheer one of the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" and Alternative Press hailed him as one of their favorite comedians.
Scheer and Jonathan Stern are executive producers on the Hulu comedy series The Hotwives. Scheer also co-stars in the series.
Scheer and Rob Huebel are co-creators and directors on the Go90 comedy series Drive Share.
Scheer co-created the Fullscreen series Filthy Preppy Teen$ with Curtis James Gwinn and Jon Stern.
In 2013, upon the return of The Arsenio Hall Show, Scheer launched a web series for JASH called The ArScheerio Paul Show. In each episode, Scheer re-creates interviews from Arsenio Hall's original show, including the famous Bill Clinton episode, with Will Arnett playing Clinton. Scheer sports a comically enlarged flat-top haircut to resemble Hall.
In 2014, Scheer co-wrote and co-starred in multiple episodes of the Adult Swim mockumentary, The Greatest Event in Television History, detailing the recreation of famous television show openings.
In 2015, Scheer launched a follow up web series with JASH to Arscheerio Paul called, ScheeRL, which recreates interviews from MTV's Total Request Live hosted by Carson Daly, with Scheer playing the role of Daly and various comedians playing the musician guests.
In August 2015, Scheer and Huebel created a comedy special on a moving bus, Crash Test, produced by Paramount and released on Comedy Central.
In 2016 Scheer lent his voice to the first Vine animated series White Ninja as the titular character.
In 2016, Scheer created, executive produced, and directed segments for the late-night sketch comedy series, Party Over Here, for Fox with The Lonely Island which starred Nicole Byer, Alison Rich, and Jessica McKenna.
Scheer produced and starred in Playdates, the first independent pilot to debut at Sundance Group, alongside Carla Gallo in 2017.

Podcasting

How Did This Get Made? is a podcast on Earwolf hosted by Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas. Each episode has a celebrity guest/comedian and features the deconstruction and mockery of terrible films. In 2011, iTunes selected How Did this Get Made? as its favorite comedy podcast of the year. In 2012, LA Weekly named the show "The Best Comedy Podcast". Guests have included Kevin Smith, Damon Lindelof, "Weird" Al Yankovic, Danny Trejo, Vanilla Ice, Adam Scott, Nick Kroll, and Amy Schumer.
Scheer also is a co-founder of Wolfpop, which was a sister network of the Earwolf podcast network and has since merged with Earwolf.
In 2018, Sheer started Unspooled, a podcast dedicated to watching and discussing all 100 films on the American Film Institute's top movies of all time, with co-host Amy Nicholson.

Comics

Scheer ventured into comics with writing partner Nick Giovannetti to create a 5-part Boom mini-series, ALIENS vs. PARKER. He also appeared in The Astonishing Ant-Man #4 by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas.
Scheer and Giovanetti continued their collaboration with Marvel Comics where they penned Deadpool Bi-Annual #1, a Guardians Team Up, which were released September 2014 and 2015.. More recently, they wrote for Marvel "Spider-Man-Deadpool" and "Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History".

Live performances

In 1995, Scheer became a member of New York City's longest running Off-Broadway comedy show, Chicago City Limits. As a member of their touring company, Scheer extensively traveled throughout the United States as well as overseas.
In 1998, he joined the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City where he performed Sketch and Improvisation with Respecto Montalban, winners of the 2003 ECNY Award for "Best Improv Show". The group included Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Jack McBrayer and Dannah Feinglass. They performed their brand of long-form improvisation to sold out crowds every Saturday night for over five years and collaborated with Adam McKay on a political sketch comedy show called George Bush is a Motherfucker.
In 2002, Scheer created and starred in Automatic Vaudeville at the Ars Nova theater, which The Hollywood Reporter called "one of the top five shows in the country".
Scheer moved to Los Angeles in 2006 and is a regular performer at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. He performs an improvised show based on audience members' Facebook profiles called FACEBOOK. The show was named the "Best Improv Show" by Los Angeles magazine and has been profiled on Good Morning America. Cast members include McBrayer, Riggle, and Huebel.
Scheer co-hosts Crash Test with Human Giant alumnus Huebel. Los Angeles called the show "Extremely funny... Several thumbs up" and MetroMix said, "Sketch comedy doesn't get much funnier." He also occasionally performs in a two-person improv show, Scheer/McBrayer with McBrayer.
In 2010, Scheer organized a charity event with Ben Stiller called A Night of 140 Tweets in which he got 140 comedians and actors to appear on stage at the UCB Theater in Los Angeles, each of them reading a single tweet. The performers included Stiller, Will Ferrell, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, Aziz Ansari, the cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dane Cook, Wilmer Valderrama, John Cho, Mindy Kaling, and Sasha Grey. The event, released as a charity DVD and online download, raised over $500,000 dollars for Haiti.
In 2017, he appeared on Celebrity Family Feud and lost to his wife, June.

Personal life

Scheer lives in Los Angeles and is married to actress-writer June Diane Raphael. They first met in January 2004, after the artistic director of Manhattan's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre brought Scheer in to offer tips to Raphael and her comedy partner on making improvements to their UCB two-woman sketch show, and started dating shortly afterwards. They moved from New York to Los Angeles in 2005. In October 2009, Scheer and Raphael married at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Scheer's best man was a Jack Nicholson impersonator. They have two sons, born in April 2014, and August 2016.
In September 2015, Scheer said he practices Transcendental Meditation.

Filmography

Film

Television