Rory Scovel

Last updated

Rory Scovel
Rory ScovelCropped.jpg
Scovel performing in 2013
Born (1980-08-06) August 6, 1980 (age 43)
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • actor
  • writer
Years active2004–present
SpouseJordan Boughrum
Children1
Website roryscovel.com

Rory J. Scovel (born August 6, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He released his first stand-up comedy album Dilation in 2011. He has since released the stand-up specials The Charleston Special (2015), Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time (2017), Live Without Fear (2021), and Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between (2024).

Contents

As an actor, he began his career as part of the main cast on the sitcoms Ground Floor (2013–2015) and Those Who Can't (2016–2019), co-starred in the romantic comedy film I Feel Pretty (2018), and also appeared in and wrote for the comedy series The Eric Andre Show (2012–2016). In the 2020s, he created and starred in his Comedy Central series Robbie (2020) and starred in the Apple TV+ series Physical (2021–2023).

Early life

Rory J. Scovel was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 6, 1980. [1] He has six siblings. [1] He played basketball, tennis, and soccer as a child, and has described himself as hyperactive and a class clown. [2] He attended St. Mary's Catholic School, then Christ Church Episcopal School, from kindergarten through eighth grade. He graduated from Greenville Senior High School in 1999. [1] [3] Scovel spent one year attending the University of Central Florida before enrolling at University of South Carolina Upstate, from which he graduated with a communications degree in 2003. [4] While there, he played Division II soccer. [5]

Career

Comedy

Scovel first performed comedy in December 2003 at an open mic night in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He had just graduated from college and was working as a cameraman at a local television station WSPA. The following year, he moved to Washington D.C., [6] where he performed for three years. [7] He then moved to New York City, where he performed for three years until he moved to Los Angeles, where he now lives. [7]

In 2006, Scovel participated in the Seattle International Comedy Competition; he made it to the finals. [8]

In 2010, he performed his first set for a late night show on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon . The following year, Scovel performed on Conan with comedian Jon Dore using the premise that the show had accidentally booked two comedians; [9] [10] Scovel would go on to perform on and be interviewed by Conan many times in the following decade. Scovel also released his first stand-up album with Stand Up! Records, Dilation . [5] [11] Scovel and the record were named by The Huffington Post as one of fourteen in their "Guide To New Comedy Albums of 2011". [12]

In 2012, Scovel was named among the 10 Comics to Watch by Variety magazine. [13] In April of that year, his set was featured on Comedy Central's The Half Hour . In 2013, he performed a show at the performance venue at Third Man Records, Jack White's record label. [14] The live show was recorded to tape and transferred to vinyl. There is no digital version of this recording. [15] [16] White would later executive produce Scovel's 2017 special for Netflix.

In 2015, Scovel taped his first hour-long stand-up special at the Woolfe Street Playhouse in Charleston, South Carolina; [17] the special was aptly named Rory Scovel: The Charleston Special. In 2017, his next special, Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time, was released by Netflix.

Scovel has opened for comedians such as Louis C.K., Nick Swardson, and Daniel Tosh. [5] [18] He has performed at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival, [19] the FYF Fest in Los Angeles, [20] the Vancouver Comedy Festival, the Del Close Improv Marathon in New York, [21] the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, [22] and the Chicago Improv Festival. [7]

Television and movies

Scovel's breakthrough acting role was as Harvard in the TBS sitcom Ground Floor. [1] He was a main character for both seasons of the show, which aired from 2013 to 2015. Following the cancellation of Ground Floor, Scovel joined the main cast of Those Who Can't , which began airing on TruTV in 2016, reprising his role as Principal Quinn from the 2013 Amazon film of the same name. He had various small acting and voice acting roles throughout the 2010s, including recurring roles on MTV's Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous , NBC's Undateable , and TBS' Wrecked . Scovel had a small role in Demetri Martin's indie comedy film Dean . He had a supporting role in the 2017 wide-release comedy The House . Notably, he starred as the main love interest in the 2018 Amy Schumer comedy film I Feel Pretty .

Scovel was part of the writing staff for the second and fourth seasons of The Eric Andre Show , which aired in 2013 and 2016, respectively. He was featured in the show's "New Years Eve Spooktacular" as well as an episode in season two where he played the fictional Chef Rory Scovel.

In November 2018, it was announced that Comedy Central had green-lit an eight-episode scripted television series produced, co-written, and starring Scovel, called Robbie . [23] In a February 2020 interview, Scovel disclosed that the show had been produced and was looking for a distributor. [24] On May 6, 2020, Comedy Central announced that Robbie would premiere later that week. The show premiered on May 7, 2020, at which time Comedy Central released the series in its entirety on its streaming platform and YouTube. Robbie is Comedy Central's first binge-release. [25] Recently, Scovel played the lead in the Chris Blake quarantine comedy, Distancing Socially filmed remotely using the iPhone 11. The film was acquired and released by Cinedigm in October 2021. [26]

Podcasts

Since 2018, Scovel has co-hosted The Pen Pals Podcast with fellow comedian Daniel Van Kirk. Scovel has appeared on several popular podcasts, including Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend with Conan O'Brien, Comedy Bang! Bang! with Scott Aukerman, Doug Loves Movies with Doug Benson, Sklarbro Country with The Sklar Brothers, The Nerdist Podcast with Chris Hardwick, You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes , Maximum Fun's Stop Podcasting Yourself , The Dead Authors Podcast with Paul F. Tompkins, The Dollop live at the 2016 Riot LA Comedy Festival with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds, The Todd Glass Show , and WTF with Marc Maron , Mega , and Films to Be Buried With with Brett Goldstein.

Personal life

Scovel is married to actress Jordan Boughrum. [27] They live in Los Angeles, where their daughter was born in 2015. [28]

Filmography

Films

YearTitleRoleNotes
2007Groom with a ViewOrgan PlayerShort film
2009Public ServiceLeo's AgentVoice, short film
2010Seattle Komedy DokumentaryHimself
2011Dead MonkeyRicky
2012Is There?: Todd Glass for GLSENParty GuestShort film
2012Broken MikeHimself
2013Documentary Subject Wanted with Rory ScovelHimself
2016 Dean Eric
2016 Reggie Watts: Spatial Himself
2017 The House Joe
2018 I Feel Pretty Ethan
2020Two Pan DanDanShort film
2020GutbusterHimself
2021 Distancing Socially Ben
2022 Babylon The CountNominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2023 Old Dads Terrance Huffy-Schwinn

Television

As actor

YearTitleRoleNotes
2011–2012 The Life & Times of Tim Jim/JerryVoice, 2 episodes
2012–2016 The Eric Andre Show Chef Rory Scovel/Himself2 episodes; also writer for 20 episodes
2013–2015 Ground Floor Harvard20 episodes
2013 Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous Pat6 episodes
2014 Modern Family CarlEpisode: "Marco Polo"
2014–2016 Undateable Kevin4 episodes
2016–2019 Those Who Can't Principal Geoffrey Quinn25 episodes
2016 Animals. RonnieVoice, episode: "Dogs."
2016 Casual PatrickEpisode: "The Magpie"
2016–2017 Wrecked Corey4 episodes
2017 Love GatorEpisode: "The Work Party"
2017 The Great Indoors RickyEpisode: "Ricky Leaks"
2017 Powerless RussellEpisode: "Win, Luthor, Draw"
2017 HarmonQuest Unpredictable WitchEpisode: "Demon Realm Devilry"
2017 Do You Want To See a Dead Body? Cool PharmacistEpisode: "A Body and a Puddle (with Adam Scott and Terry Crews)"
2018 Another Period Men's Club MemberEpisode: "Olympics"
2018Please Understand MeRoryEpisode: "Rory & Natalie"
2019 Historical Roasts William Shakespeare Episode: "Cleopatra"
2019 Cake Voice, episode: "Cache Flow"
2019 Mixed-ish Bob LeeEpisode: "Papa Don't Preach"
2020–2021 Superstore Dr. Brian Patterson4 episodes
2020 Harley Quinn Gus, Assassin, Maitre'dVoice, 3 episodes
2020 Robbie Robbie8 episodes; also writer, creator, and executive producer
2020–2021 Black Monday Agent Crandall2 episodes
2021–2023 Physical Danny RubinSeries regular; 30 episodes
2022 Grace and Frankie Officer SmithEpisode: "The Raccoon"
2024 Kite Man: Hell Yeah! GusVoice [29]

As himself

YearTitleRoleNotes
2007 Live at Gotham HimselfEpisode #2.4
2010 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon HimselfEpisode #2.170
2011–2019 Conan Himself9 episodes
2011–2013New York Stand-Up ShowHimself2 episodes
2012 The Half Hour HimselfEpisode #1.1, also writer
2012UnCabaretHimselfEpisode #1.4, also writer
2012 The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson HimselfEpisode #8.242
2013 The Nerdist HimselfEpisode #1.3
2013Funny as HellHimselfEpisode #3.1, also writer
2013All Growz Up with Melinda HillHimselfEpisode: "Rory Scovel"
2013Money From StrangersHimself3 episodes
2013–2017 @midnight Himself5 episodes
2013 The Pete Holmes Show HimselfEpisode: "Rory Scovel"
2016 Not Safe with Nikki Glaser HimselfEpisode: "Carpe Do 'Em"
2016 This Is Not Happening HimselfEpisode: 3.4 "Blunder", also writer
2018 The Jim Jeffries Show HimselfEpisode: "Questioning Trump's North Korea Strategy"
2019 2 Dope Queens HimselfEpisode: "Music"
2024Office Hours Live with Tim HeideckerHimselfEpisode: #289

Stand-up specials

YearTitleReleased byNotes
2011 Dilation Stand Up! Records
2013Rory Scovel Live at Third Man Record Third Man Records
2015Rory Scovel: The Charleston SpecialSelfReleased on Seeso
2017Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time Netflix
2021Rory Scovel: Live Without FearSelfReleased on Youtube
2024Rory Scovel: Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between Max

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References

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