Matt Braunger

Matt Braunger describes his level of fame as “People can’t tell if they saw me on TV or if we went to high school together.” He’s been a “Oh, there’s that guy” actor for a while now, on shows like Up All Night, Chelsea Lately, Marvel’s Agent Carter (making him a bonafide member of the Marvel Universe) and so many more. Fun fact: He was only supposed to be on one episode of each of these shows, but the writers kept writing him into more and more, eventually making him a regular. One writer on ‘Carter’ called him “Fun to play with.” Can the same be said of Daniel Day Lewis? Probably not.

Matt Braunger was raised in Portland, Oregon and exposed to a lot of art there, both high and low. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from a small NYC college called Manhattanville, he moved to Chicago and chose to do the low kind (comedy). He studied under Del Close (the father of modern improv), was kicked off his improv team for refusing to take further classes, and clumsily pivoted to stand-up comedy (the lowest of the low). That was 20 years ago. Since then he’s performed on every Late Night show on television, has had two comedy specials on Comedy Central, and one on Netflix. His three comedy albums (Soak Up the Night, Shovel Fighter, and Big Dumb Animal) are among the most listened to on internet and streaming radio. In 2007 Matt co-founded one of the most beloved comedy festivals in the country, Portland’s Bridgetown Comedy Festival. On its tenth anniversary he recorded his new comedy special, “Finally Live in Portland,” during the fest in a former porn theatre, The Paris. “FLIP” comes out in early 2019 via Comedy Dynamics and will be found on streaming services everywhere, including Amazon Prime, iTunes Store, and many more.

If you watch his last special, Netflix’ “Big Dumb Animal,” there’s an ex- girlfriend mentioned a lot (her quote upon seeing it “Your whole special is about me”). In “Finally Live,” there’s a fiancé referenced a great deal as well. Another fun fact: It’s the same woman. Her name is Kara and she’s Matt’s current wife and ex-manager. Yeah, you read that right. Between 2010 and 2016 Matt and his then-manager-now-wife carried on a secret affair (that everyone in their lives knew about), broke up for eight months, got back together, and finally got married in 2018. It’ll make a great movie someday. Especially if they use the true story from “Finally Live in Portland” where they both took too many psychedelic mushrooms at a 4thof July BBQ and ended up at curled up at home getting talked down over the phone by a Domino’s pizza man. Against all odds, Matt and Kara now own a house together.

Which brings us to Braunger’s latest endeavor, a podcast called “Advice from a Dipshit with Matt Braunger,” available on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple and everywhere else. In each episode, Braunger hears messages left for him by people wanting advice, then doles it out from a well-meaning dipshit’s perspective. He is, as he will tell you, made of mistakes. For example, he has a tattoo on his arm that he got on a dare in a pool hall when he was 19. What is it, you might ask? A gothic letter B that looks like the Detroit Tigers D, of course. It insures that no matter where he goes swimming, he has to explain it. He also got married early, at the tender age of 42. Getting advice from him is hilarious.

Matt lives in Los Angeles now but goes back to Portland every chance he gets. He is currently on his Please Hold Me?!?! Tour shamelessly screaming for attention.