Bryan Callen (born January 26, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and podcaster. He studied acting at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. Callen initiated his career as one of the original cast members on the sketch comedy series MADtv. Callen played Coach Mellor in The Goldbergs and reprised the role as a main character in the Goldbergs spinoff series Schooled. He is also a co-host of The Fighter and the Kid podcast, alongside Brendan Schaub.

Early life

Callen was born on a military base in Manila, Philippines. He is the son of American parents, Victoria Callen (née Sclafani) and Michael A. Callen. Because of his father's career as an international banker, Callen lived overseas until he was fourteen years old, including in the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Lebanon, Greece and Saudi Arabia. He graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon High School in Gill, Massachusetts in 1985. He then attended American University in Washington, D.C., where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in History. He is of Italian and Irish descent.

Career

MADtv (1995–1997) and other television projects

Callen was one of the eight original cast members when MADtv debuted in 1995. Callen's characters included Pool Boy from Cabana Chat with Dixie Wetsworth, motivational speaker Al Casdy, and "relationship-challenged" death row inmate Jeremy Anderson. Callen also performed impressions of Bill Clinton, Robert De Niro, Al Gore, Luke Perry, Steven Seagal, Sammy Hagar, Kevin Bacon, Jim Carrey, Ted Knight and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. Callen has guest starred on television series such as Entourage, NewsRadio, Oz, Frasier, Suddenly Susan, NYPD Blue, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI, 7th Heaven, Rude Awakening, Less than Perfect, The King of Queens, Sex and the City, Kingdom, Stacked, Las Vegas, Reba, Fat Actress, Californication and How I Met Your Mother. Callen played Ricky's sexually abusive father on The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. He also made frequent appearances on Chelsea Lately. He hosted the E! show Bank of Hollywood, and currently appears as a commentator of The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... on truTV. Callen also played the role of Coach Mellor in The Goldbergs and its spinoff series Schooled. The pilot aired on January 24, 2018. The spinoff was picked up for 13 episode order for the fall 2018 television season. Callen co-wrote and co-starred in Dream Crushers with Will Sasso, Sara Rue, and Scott Thompson. The series was shot in 2009 but unaired until 2011. He appeared with Melinda Hill in an episode of the 2012–13 web series Romantic Encounters.

Ten Minute Podcast

Beginning on February 20, 2012, Callen and fellow actors and comedians Will Sasso and Chris D'Elia began the Ten Minute Podcast. Tommy Blacha and Chad Kultgen later replaced Callen and D'Elia.

The Fighter and the Kid

Callen currently cohosts a podcast titled The Fighter and the Kid with Brendan Schaub, and producers Chin and Nick. The podcast formerly focused on the realm of mixed martial arts, but since their departure from Fox Sports, they regularly discuss pop culture and current events as well. Schaub and Callen performed the podcast live on a national tour in 2016. The tour included such venues as The Vic Theatre (Chicago), Gramercy Theatre (New York City), and Wilbur Theatre (Boston); culminating at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. In 2016 Schaub and Callen released The Fighter and the Kid 3D. The twelve episode digital download series features sketch comedy pieces based on the duo's podcast personas. Schaub and Callen regularly appear alongside Joe Rogan during live event broadcasts, such as the UFC and Glory kickboxing, for what is called the Fight Companion. They also appeared on the MTV show Ridiculousness, hosted by Rob Dyrdek, in June 2016. In September 2023, Schaub and Callen publicly stated that Kast Media and its CEO Colin Thomson owed their production company $1.5-1.6 million dollars. Similar claims were made by Jim Cornette followed by Theo Von, Jason Ellis, Whitney Cummings, and Alyx Weiss, who stated they were owed money by Kast Media, including several six-figure and seven-figure shortages. This was in the process of an acquisition of Kast Media by PodcastOne, where Thomson was offering creators partial reimbursement combined with stock options. Amid the news, LiveOne and PodcastOne stock dropped considerably and the company no longer planned to officially hire Thomson. LiveOne took out a high-interest loan to pay Schaub and Callen, but did not compensate other creators.

Other

In March 2023, Callen and fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo and Josh Firestine joined Steven Crowder on his network, Mug Club, to stream on Rumble.

Stand-up comedy

Callen headlines his solo stand up comedy act at venues across the United States. In early 2016 he released Never Grow Up which was recorded live at the Irvine Improv in April, 2015. Never Grow Up was released online in conjunction with The Fighter and the Kid 3D Web series. he released a special in 2019 called Complicated Apes. In 2022, he released his special “Man tears” on his YouTube channel.

Sexual misconduct allegations

On July 31, 2020, it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that four women, including actress Kathryn Fiore, told the newspaper that Callen mistreated them and described incidents of sexual misconduct including rape, assault, and disturbing comments that date back to 1999. In a tweet, Callen denied the accusations. Callen filed a lawsuit against Fiore and her husband Gabriel Tigerman. In January 2021 Judge Monica Bachner ruled in the couple's favor, stating that Callen "did not meet his burden of demonstrating a probability of prevailing on his claim."

Filmography

Comedy specials

Film

Television