original_network upright citizens brigade
Neil Richard Flynn ( born November 13 , 1960 ) is an American actor and comedian , known for his role as Janitor on the ___MASK74___ / ABC medical comedy - drama " Scrubs ". He currently portrays Mike Heck on the ABC sitcom " The Middle ". In many of his acting roles , he has portrayed a police officer . Matthew Charles " Matt " Berry ( born 2 May 1974 ) is a BAFTA award - winning English actor , writer , and musician . Berry is perhaps best known for his acting role as Douglas Reynholm in " The IT Crowd " from 2007 until the final episode in 2013 . He is also well known for his appearances in " Garth Marenghi ' s Darkplace ", " The Mighty Boosh ", " Snuff Box ", and " The Wrong Door ". He plays Beef in " House of Fools " and the title character in ___MASK52___ sitcom " Toast of London ". He also starred in and composed . ___MASK84___ is an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Global Entertainment Group , a unit of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom . The channel carries comedy programming , in the form of both original and syndicated series and stand - up comedy specials , as well as feature films . Adam McKay ( born April 17 , 1968 ) is an American film director , producer , screenwriter , comedian , and actor . McKay served as head writer for the ___MASK74___ sketch comedy series " Saturday Night Live " for two seasons . He directed "" ( 2004 ), "" ( 2006 ), " Step Brothers " ( 2008 ), " The Other Guys " ( 2010 ), and "" ( 2013 ). McKay has a creative partnership with actor Will Ferrell , with whom he co - wrote all except one of these films . Rich Fulcher ( born 18 November 1968 ) is an American comedian and author based in the United Kingdom . He is best known for his roles in the British comedy series " The Mighty Boosh " and as Edward Sheath in the American series " Jon Benjamin Has a Van ". He also makes appearances in Noel Fielding ' s more recent show , " Noel Fielding ' s Luxury Comedy ". His other appearances include " Snuff Box " alongside Matt Berry and " Unnatural Acts " with Julian Barratt and Fielding of " The Mighty Boosh ". Sketch comedy comprises a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes , called " sketches ", commonly between ___MASK21___ and ___MASK15___ minutes long . Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians , either on stage or through an audio or visual medium such as radio and television . Often sketches are first improvised by the actors and written down based on the outcome of these improv sessions ; however , such improvisation is not necessarily involved in sketch comedy . Amy Poehler ( born September 16 , 1971 ) is an American actress , comedian , director , producer , voice artist and writer . After studying improv at Chicago ' s Second ___MASK34___ and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s , she went to New York ___MASK34___ in 1996 to become part of the improvisational comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade . The group ' s act became a half - hour sketch comedy series on ___MASK84___ in 1998 . Along with other members of the comedy group , Poehler was a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre . Chicago ( or ), officially the ___MASK34___ of Chicago , is the third - most populous ___MASK34___ in the United States , and the fifth - most populous ___MASK34___ in North America . With over 2 . 7 million residents , it is the most populous ___MASK34___ in the state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States , and the county seat of Cook County . The Chicago metropolitan area , often referred to as Chicagoland , has nearly 10 million people and is the third - largest in the U . S . Richard " Rick " Roman ( 1966  1992 ) was an actor and improvisational comedian from Philadelphia . While attending Temple University , Roman began his career in comedy partnering with Paul F . Tompkins in Philadelphia at The Comedy Works . The National Broadcasting Company ( ___MASK74___ ) is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of ___MASK40___ , a subsidiary of Comcast . The network is headquartered in the Comcast Building ( formerly known as the GE Building ) at Rockefeller Center in New York City , with additional major offices near Los Angeles ( at Universal City Plaza ), Chicago ( at the ___MASK74___ Tower ) and soon in Philadelphia at Comcast Innovation and Technology Center . The network is part of the Big Three television networks . ___MASK74___ is sometimes referred to as the " Peacock Network ", in reference to its stylized peacock logo , which was originally created in 1956 for its then - new color broadcasts and became the network ' s official emblem in 1979 . Philadelphia is the largest ___MASK34___ in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the fifth - most populous ___MASK34___ in the United States , with an estimated population of 1 , 567 , 442 and more than 6 million in the seventh - largest metropolitan statistical area , . Philadelphia is the economic and cultural anchor of the Delaware Valleya region located in the Northeastern United States at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers with 7 . 2 million people residing in the eighth - largest combined statistical area in the United States . Matthew Gregory " Matt " Besser ( born September 22 , 1967 ) is an American actor and comedian best known as ___MASK21___ of the ___MASK45___ founding members of the Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy troupe , who had their own show on ___MASK84___ from 1998 - 2000 . He currently hosts the improvisation - based podcast " Improv4humans " on the Earwolf podcasting network . Saturday Night Live ( abbreviated as SNL ) is an American late - night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol . The show premiered on ___MASK74___ on October 11 , 1975 , under the original title ___MASK74___ ' s Saturday Night . The show ' s comedy sketches , which parody contemporary culture and politics , are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members . Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest ( who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast ) and features performances by a musical guest . An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming , " Live from New York , it ' s Saturday Night !", properly beginning the show . The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago ' s ImprovOlympic in 1990 . The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser , Amy Poehler , Ian Roberts , and Matt Walsh , Adam McKay , Rick Roman , Horatio Sanz and Drew Franklin , whose picture is the UCB logo . Other early members included Neil Flynn , Armando Diaz , and Rich Fulcher . In 2013 , Besser , Roberts and Walsh wrote The Upright Citizens Brigade Comedy Improvisation Manual . The ___MASK34___ of New York , often called New York ___MASK34___ or simply New York , is the most populous ___MASK34___ in the United States . With an estimated 2015 population of 8 , 550 , 405 distributed over a land area of just , New York ___MASK34___ is also the most densely populated major ___MASK34___ in the United States . Located at the southern tip of the state of New York , the ___MASK34___ is the center of the New York metropolitan area , one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world . A global power ___MASK34___ , New York ___MASK34___ exerts a significant impact upon commerce , finance , media , art , fashion , research , technology , education , and entertainment , its fast pace defining the term " New York minute ". Home to the headquarters of the United Nations , New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world . The Mighty Boosh is a British comedy troupe featuring comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding . Developed from three stage shows and a six - episode radio series , it has since spawned a total of 20 television episodes for ___MASK48___ which aired from 2003 to 2007 , and two live tours of the UK , as well as two live shows in the United States . The first television series is set in a zoo owned by Bob Fossil , the second in a flat and the third in a second hand shop in Dalston called Nabootique . Vince and Howard run the shop and Naboo owns it . Horacio Sanz ( born June 4 , 1969 ), better known by his stage name Horatio Sanz , is a Chilean - born American actor and comedian , best known as a cast member on " Saturday Night Live " from 1998  2006 . John William " Will " Ferrell ( born July 16 , 1967 ) is an American actor , comedian , producer , and writer . He first established himself in the mid - 1990s as a cast member on the ___MASK74___ sketch comedy show " Saturday Night Live ", and has subsequently starred in comedy films such as "" ( 2004 ), "" ( 2006 ), " Step Brothers " ( 2008 ), " The Other Guys " ( 2010 ) and "" ( 2013 ), all but one of which he co - wrote with his comedy partner Adam McKay . The two also founded the comedy website Funny or Die in 2007 . Other films roles include " Elf ", " Old School " ( both 2003 ), " Blades of Glory " ( 2007 ), and the animated films " Megamind " ( 2010 ) and " The Lego Movie " ( 2014 ).