Paul Scheer

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 and overseas.[12][13]

In 1998, while at NYU, Scheer started performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City.[14] Scheer performed in multiple weekly shows, including Talk Show,The Real Real World and the house team Respecto Montalban.[8] The group included Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Jack McBrayer, and Dannah Feinglass.[8][15] They performed long-form improvisation to sold-out crowds every Saturday night for over five years and starred in a political sketch comedy show called George Bush is a Motherfucker.[16]

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".

In 2006, Scheer moved to Los Angeles and has been a regular performer at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles (UCBTLA).[17][18] He performed 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.[19]

In 2003, Scheer was hired as a writer and performer for Oxygen’s Meow TV.[20] Meow TV was a project by Meow Mix that aired programming for cats and their owners.[21]

From 2004 to the conclusion of the show’s first run in 2009, Scheer was a regular cast member on VH1’s Best Week Ever. The show, which originally featured a panel of comedians including Scheer, shifted to a single host format under Paul F. Tompkins and provided comedic commentary on popular culture.[22][23] Other panelists included Nick Kroll, John Mulaney and Patton Oswalt.[22][23][24]

Human Giant's Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, Jason Woliner and Paul Scheer in May 2007

In 2005, Scheer began collaborating with comedians Rob Huebel, Aziz Ansari, and Jason Woliner on short films. Their first videos were Shutterbugs and Illusionators. Shutterbugs saw Huebel and Ansari play talent agents for child actors,[25] and llusionators, starred Ansari and Scheer as Criss Angel-style magicians.[26] In mid-2006, MTV greenlit a sketch series from the trio, called Human Giant. The series debuted April 5, 2007, and ran for two seasons from 2007 to 2008, exploring comedic aspects of modern life and pop culture.[27][28][29]

In 2009, Scheer joined the semi-scripted FX comedy, The League, from Jeff and Jackie Marcus Schaffer about a group of friends in a fantasy football league.[30] Scheer plays Dr. Andre Nowzick, a rich plastic surgeon whose naivete makes him the butt of many jokes. Scheer co-scripted a handful of episodes: "The Anniversary Party," "Expert Witness," "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 episode 81, "The Block."[31] The series premiered on October 29, 2009, and ran for seven seasons through December 2015.[32]

In 2009, Scheer created a 15-minute spoof commercial for an action series called NTSF:SD:SUV:: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle), that aired on Adult Swim. Shortly after airing, it was picked up as a series and ran for three seasons (40+ episodes).[33][34] Scheer played Trent Hauser. The cast included Kate Mulgrew, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Starr, June Diane Raphael, Rob Riggle, Brandon Johnson, and the voice of Peter Serafinowicz as S.A.M. Scheer served as executive producer, writer, director, and actor. It was produced by Abominable Pictures, Inc. and Scheer's 2nd Man on the Moon Productions. The show concluded with a special “movie event” shot in London, which was made to look like San Diego.[35]

In 2015, Paul Scheer joined the cast of Fresh Off the Boat, an ABC comedy loosely based on a memoir by chef Eddie Huang.[36] Scheer played the recurring role of Mitch, whom Eddie Huang hired to be the host at a steakhouse restaurant.[37][38] He appeared in 26 episodes over the show's six seasons.

In 2017, Scheer joined the sixth season of Veep as the character Stevie, the producer of CBS Morning News Show. He won a SAG Award for an Outstanding Performance by a Cast or Ensemble in a Comedy Series.[39] In 2020, Scheer returned to the cast of Veep along with other special guests, including Don Cheadle, Mark Hamill, Beanie Feldstein, Stephen Colbert, and Bryan Cranston in a live table read playing multiple roles to support turnout for the Georgia runoff elections.[40]

In 2018, Scheer joined the Showtime pilot for Black Monday. The show is an ensemble period comedy about the Wall Street crash in 1987 and premiered on Showtime on January 20, 2019. Scheer plays Keith,[41] a closeted stockbroker who was originally scripted to die in the first season.[42] That plotline was later altered.[43] Black Monday aired for three seasons, concluding in 2021.[44] Scheer's performance was named in the Hollywood Reporter's "top 30 best supporting characters on TV" in 2019.[45]

Scheer has appeared in recurring roles on 30 Rock, The Good Place, Future Man, I'm Sorry, and the Nick Jr. Channel series Yo Gabba Gabba!.[7][46][47][48] Scheer also had recurring animated series appearances on Star Trek: Lower Decks, Big City Greens, Big Mouth, and Adventure Time.[7][49][50][51] Scheer and Jack McBrayer made semi-regular appearances on 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!

Scheer appeared as a contestant on the second season of Nailed it! Holiday. He won the competition, but chose not to keep the $10,000 prize, and instead split it between the other two contestants.[52] In August 2015, Scheer and Rob Huebel created a comedy special on a moving bus, Crash Test, produced by Paramount and released on Comedy Central.[53] In 2017, he appeared on Celebrity Family Feud and lost to his wife, June.[54][55]

In addition to acting, Scheer has produced The Hotwives for Hulu, Party Over Here for Fox, Drive Share for Go90, Filthy Preppy Teen$ for FullScreen, The Amazing Gayle Pyle for Amazon, and Unsend for Comedy Central.[56][57][58][59][60][61] In 2016, in addition to executive producing Party Over Here, Scheer created and directed segments for the late-night sketch comedy series with The Lonely Island. It starred Nicole Byer, Alison Rich, and Jessica McKenna.[62]

Scheer and Jonathan Stern are executive producers on the Hulu comedy series The Hotwives. Scheer also co-stars in the series.[63]

Scheer and Rob Huebel are co-creators and directors on the Go90 comedy series Drive Share.[64] Scheer also co-created Filthy Preppy Teen$ with Curtis James Gwinn and Jon Stern.[59]

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.[65]

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.[66] 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.[67]

In 2016 Scheer lent his voice to the first Vine animated series White Ninja as the titular character.[68] In 2017 Scheer produced and starred in Playdates, the first independent pilot to debut at Sundance Group, alongside Carla Gallo.[69]

In 2020 Scheer started the FriendZone Channel on Twitch, where he and other comedians put on weekly shows.[70] Their streams have raised money for charities like Miles for Migrants & Feeding America.[71] In 2021, Scheer's YouTube web series, Marvel Presents The World's Greatest Book Club, won an honorary Webby for best reality program.[72]

How Did This Get Made? a podcast hosted by Scheer, his wife June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas launched in 2010 on Earwolf. 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."[73] Guests have included Kevin Smith, Damon Lindelof, "Weird" Al Yankovic, Danny Trejo, Vanilla Ice, Adam Scott, Tatiana Maslany, and Nick Kroll.[74] In 2022, How Did This Get Made? won the iHeartRadio Podcast Award for best TV & film podcast.[75][76] The podcast also won the 2022 Ambie Award for Best Comedy Podcast.[77]

In 2018, Scheer 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.[78] Unspooled was well received by the press earning top reviews from Esquire, Vanity Fair, Town & Country Magazine, Vulture and Rolling Stone.[79][80][81][82][83] In 2021, Scheer was involved with HBO Max's scripted podcast, Batman: The Audio Adventures.[84]

Scheer also co-founded Wolfpop which later merged with Earwolf.[85]

In 2014, Scheer ventured into comics with writing partner Nick Giovannetti to create a 5-part Boom mini-series, ALIENS vs. PARKER.[86] In 2015, he appeared in The Astonishing Ant-Man #4 by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas, after co-writing a team-up between Ant-Man and Drax the Destroyer in Guardians Team-Up #7.[87]

Scheer and Giovanetti continued their collaboration with Marvel Comics, where they penned Deadpool Bi-Annual #1, a Guardians Team Up,[88] which were released September 2014 and 2015.[89] More recently, they wrote for Marvel "Spider-Man-Deadpool" (2017) and "Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History" (2019).

Scheer also authored two comics for DC: The Harley Quinn short story "It's a Horrible Life" which he co-wrote with Nick Giovanetti, Steve Lieber, Marissa Louise, and Carlos M. Mangual, and Batman: The Audio Adventures Special, a prequel to the podcast series Scheer voiced. Other writers for the comic include Dennis McNicholas, Bobby Moynihan and Heidi Gardner.[90][91]