Megan Stalter

Megan Stalter (born September 15, 1990)[1] is an American comedian and actress. In her videos, Stalter specializes in desperate, deluded characters who are prone to theatricality, frequent mispronunciations, and botched suicide attempts.[1][2] "I feel like all my characters are people whose lives didn't turn out a certain way, but they're still trying to pretend like it did," Stalter has said.[2]

Megan Stalter
Born (1990-09-15) September 15, 1990
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Medium
  • Television
  • internet
Years active2018–present
Genres

Stalter plays Kayla in the HBO Max comedy Hacks.

Early life

Stalter was born in Cleveland, where she lived until the age of 12. She then moved around with her family, and lived in Dayton, Huber Heights and Centerville, Ohio. She was raised in the Pentecostal Church.[3] Stalter attended Wayne High School, where she was part of the drama club, and tried out for every play, but never got the lead. After graduating from high school, Stalter attended Sinclair Community College and later Wright State University, but left to try acting again. She began doing sketch and improvisational comedy in Dayton and moved to Chicago soon after to do comedy full time.[4] Stalter often collaborates with her brother Nick and his wife Destiny.[5][6]

Career

Stalter started her career in improv in Chicago.[7] She also started posting videos online in 2018, on what would become The Megan Stalter show.[7] In 2019, Stalter moved to New York and got a manager.[4] She quickly made a name for herself in the "alt-comedy scene", often performing more than three nights a week around Brooklyn.[8][7] New York magazine named Stalter one of the "comedians you should and will know in 2019," and in 2020 The New York Times critic Jason Zinoman declared her "sketch comedy's newest star," writing, "In the constantly shifting ecosystem of young performers on Twitter and Instagram, the most vital voice to emerge during this anxious, isolating moment is that of Meg Stalter."[1][9] During the pandemic, she improvised as different characters on nightly shows on Instagram Live, which raised her profile rapidly.[8] The Los Angeles Times compared Stalter to other self-distributed comedians such as Cole Escola and Ziwe.[8]

In 2019, she joined the cast and writing staff of the reboot of The National Lampoon Radio Hour.[10] She is also the host of the webseries The Megan Stalter Show and the Forever Dog podcast Confronting Demons with Megan Stalter. She is the voice of Bonnie Davis in the Paramount+ original series Tooning Out the News and plays Kayla in the HBO Max comedy Hacks. The Los Angeles Times called the latter role, as a "clueless Hollywood assistant brimming with self-assurance yet utterly lacking self-awareness," her breakout role.[8]

Personal life

Stalter lives in Los Angeles. She is bisexual.[11]

As of October 2022, Stalter is dating a woman named Maddie.[12]

Credits

Film
YearTitleRoleNotes
2020 Little Miss Ohio[7] Various characters
2021 Star-Crossed: The Film Heist Gear Driver
2023 Sometimes I Think About Dying Isobel
2023 Cora Bora Cora
2023 Problemista Lili
2023 First Time Female Director
2023 Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain † Post-production

Television
YearTitleRoleNotes
2020–present Tooning Out the News Bonnie Davis (voice) 31 episodes
2021–present Hacks Kayla 11 episodes
2021 Yearly Departed Self Comedy special
2022–present Snack vs. Chef Self Host
2022 Queer as Folk Meg Guest
2023 RuPaul's Drag Race Guest judge Episode: "Old Friends Gold"

References
  1. Zinoman, Jason. "Now Playing Nightly on Instagram: Sketch Comedy’s Newest Star," The New York Times 29 Mar. 2020.
  2. Gillespie, Katherine. She started doing improv in her early 20s in Ohio. “I was really, really bad. There was a man at the theater in Ohio who asked me to stop being in the show,” says Stalter, “Ohio was pretty right.” After a year, she moved to Chicago where she started to find her way in comedy.https://www.forbes.com/sites/rosaescandon/2019/12/04/29-year-old-megan-stalter-isnt-afraid-to-beg/#35b7c2843c7a"Megan Stalter: Faking It 'Til She Makes It," Paper 6 May 2020.
  3. Tartasky, Alexandra (April 19, 2021). "Megan Stalter On Panera Bread and Pivoting". Cultured Mag. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  4. Varias, Chris (November 5, 2020). "Megan Stalter, Dayton Comedian, returns home for pandemic videos". Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  5. Garron, Taylor. "Meg Stalter Thinks the Villain From The Mask Is Hot," Vulture.com 20 Sept. 2019.
  6. Escandon, Rosa. "29-Year-Old Megan Stalter Isn’t Afraid To Beg," Forbes 4 Dec. 2019.
  7. "Meg Stalter, Uninterrupted". Harper's BAZAAR. 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  8. "Megan Stalter always knew she was 'special.' The rest of us are catching up". Los Angeles Times. 2022-05-18. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  9. Kroeger, Jake, and Anne Victoria Clark. "The Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2019," Vulture.com 29 Oct. 2019.
  10. Wright, Megh. "The National Lampoon Radio Hour to Feature All Your Favorite Comedy Babies," Vulture.com 19 Sept. 2019.
  11. "20 LGBTQ+ Entertainers Who Made the Out100". www.out.com. 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  12. "Fans React After 'Hacks' Actress Meg Stalter Does a 'Hard Launch' of Her Relationship on Social Media". www.parade.com. 2022-10-16. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
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