Biography

Went to Westminster High School in Atlanta, Georgia, with Brian Baumgartner, fellow cast member on The Office (2005).

Plays the banjo and piano, and has played both in some of his TV and movie appearances. Wrote and sang "Stu's Song" in The Hangover (2009).

Got food poisoning during the shooting of The Hangover Part II (2011) after eating street food in Bangkok. He actually filmed some scenes for the film while being severely sick.

Plays bluegrass guitar and banjo in various bands.

Was nicknamed "Chuck E. Cheese" when he was in school.

(2009 - On living in L.A.) I'm kind of embarrassed by how quickly I adjusted to L.A. I really love it. It's so pleasant. I lived in New York for 10 years, I loved it, I never second-guessed it. There were definitely times when I thought, "I will never leave this place". And I kind of got into that center-of-the-universe mindset. And then, my last couple years, I was traveling so much for those The Daily Show (1996) field segments that I really got kind of beaten down, and for the first time, I would land at LaGuardia and get this heavy feeling like, "Ugh, I have to deal with New York City again. It's gonna stink, it's so hot in the summer". All the hardships of city life start to outweigh the convenience and fun of city life. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I was traveling every week, almost, and I was just in and out of the city constantly. I didn't feel very stable. And then when I got to L.A. and started work on The Office (2005), it was so pleasant. It was such a change of pace. I would just go to work every day, the weather was beautiful, and I had this nice kind of Zen time in my car between work and home.

I try to explain to people that you get the roles that are right when they're right. If you have a nerd character but you're kind of a cool guy, you're probably not going to get the nerd part. The nerd is going to get the nerd part. You know, someone like me.

(On filming The Hangover Part II (2011) in Bangkok) We exploited its dark underbelly with great enthusiasm in the movie. We shot in some interesting neighborhoods, what you might call "sketchy", that most tourists probably wouldn't visit. You take a vacation to a place like Thailand and you're ready for the excitement of something new and foreign. But when you're working 14-hour days, all you want is something familiar to ground you. And there's just nothing there. Even the American things, such as Starbucks or a hamburger joint, felt different in Bangkok.

(2011, on if people try to buy him drinks because of his Hangover fame) If I'm in a bar, frat boys will usually try to buy me shots. But I'm not much of a boozer anymore. I certainly had my share of ragers during my 20s, but I think it had more to do with geography than age. I lived in New York City for most of my 20s, and then I moved to Los Angeles when I was 32 or 33. L.A. is all about automobiles, and New York is about public transportation or taxis. So alcohol consumption isn't as automatic as it was when I was in New York.

(2011, on his worst hangover) For me it's less about the physical effects than the remorse. I think I'm a fairly obnoxious drunk, so I'll wake up the next morning just racked with guilt, replaying every conversation I had the night before and every terrible thing that came out of my mouth. I read that's part of the chemical process of alcohol going through your body. It engenders feelings of guilt and depression.