Will Sasso
| Will Sasso | |
|---|---|
 Sasso at the San Diego Comic-Con International in July 2010. | |
| Birth name | William Sasso[1] |
| Born | May 24, 1975 Ladner, British Columbia, Canada |
| Medium | Sketch comedy |
| Nationality | Canadian-American |
| Years active | 1990–present |
| Genres | Film, television |
| Website | www |
William Sasso (born May 24, 1975) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, voice actor, and former podcaster on his podcast Ten Minute Podcast. He is notable for his five seasons as a cast member on Mad TV from 1997 to 2002 and for starring as Curly in the 2012 film reboot of The Three Stooges, and Happy Gilmore (1996). and his tv show roles as Carl Monari in Less than Perfect (2003-2006), Doug Martin in How I Met Your Mother (2008-2012), and as Bill Ryan in United We Fall (2020-present).
Early life
Sasso was born in Ladner, British Columbia, to Italian immigrants.[2] He graduated from Delta Secondary School in Delta, British Columbia in 1993. He credits his determination to become an actor and his respect for comedy to an "unhealthy addiction to television".[citation needed]
Career
At the age of 15 he landed his first agent and quickly began booking roles in television and film. Before moving from Vancouver to Los Angeles, California, Sasso starred for five seasons as quirky teen Derek Wakaluk on the award-winning Canadian dramatic series Madison.
MADtv
By the end of its second season (1996–1997), MADtv experienced its first big cast turnover. Three of the show's repertory performers (Bryan Callen, Orlando Jones and Artie Lange) left the cast. As a result, in 1997, casting executives at FOX had to cast replacements for the show. Sasso (along with Alex Borstein and Aries Spears) was selected to join the MADtv third season cast as a regular cast member. Upon his exit, MADtv became known as "The House that Sasso Built and Bryan Callen squatted in."[2]
Sasso is known for quirky characters such as the accident-prone handyman Paul Timberman, Eracist member Hugh, singer Michael McCloud, Talkin' American host Rui Peranio and Mexican luchador Señor Bag of Crap. In several MADtv sketches, he played singer Kenny Rogers, who was depicted as a sloppy, drunken redneck.
Will began developing several network television projects with Disney/Touchstone for ABC in 2001 and in 2002, Sasso left MADtv to pursue the next stage of his career.
Professional wrestling
Sasso is a professional wrestling fan, and has made appearances with multiple American pro wrestling promotions.
Sasso engaged in a worked shoot angle with former world champion wrestler Bret Hart, which began on February 6, 1999 during Hart's second guest appearance on MADtv. In a sketch lampooning the election of Jesse Ventura to gubernatorial office, Hart "broke character" and attacked the cast members for making light of wrestling, apparently injuring Sasso. He then appeared in a later episode at the curtain call during the ending credits and again attacked Sasso in an "unscripted" assault. Sasso then appeared at ringside during the February 8, 1999 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, where Hart again attacked him. Sasso retaliated by interfering in Hart's match against Roddy Piper, making him lose the match and the WCW United States Championship. This led to a grudge match on the February 15, 1999 episode of Nitro, where Sasso appeared with castmate Debra Wilson, who turned on Sasso, making it a one-sided match. During Sasso's time in WCW, commentator Bobby Heenan would refer to Sasso as "Will Fatso".[citation needed]
Sasso's impersonation of Steve Austin impressed the WWF (as it was then still known, before its name changed to WWE) so much that they asked him to be part of the February 7, 2002 episode of WWF SmackDown!, appearing alongside Chris Jericho and Austin himself, as a means to promote Austin's upcoming "MADtv" appearance.
On the live April 9, 2012 broadcast of WWE Raw, he appeared along with the other actors in The Three Stooges movie, alternating between Curly and Hulk Hogan impersonations. He was chokeslammed by Kane.
Sasso also appeared on a WWE Main Event promo for Dolph Ziggler.
Later projects
Since leaving MADtv, Sasso's television appearances include four seasons as Carl Monari on Less than Perfect, as well as a role in Robson Arms. Sasso also played the role of Fortunio Balducci in Southland Tales. Sasso starred in $h*! My Dad Says, based on the Twitter feed Shit My Dad Says created by Justin Halpern. The show premiered in the fall of 2010 and its cancellation was announced on May 15, 2011.[3][4]
Sasso hosted the 2006 Canadian Comedy Awards in London, Ontario as well as the festival's "Sketch & Improv Showcases". Additionally, he was a host at the 2005-2006 NHL award ceremony. Sasso appeared on the CSI episode "The Chick Chop Flick Shop". He also appeared in the Childrens Hospital episode "Frankfurters".[5]
From February 20, 2012 to April 12, 2018 Sasso hosted the Ten Minute Podcast with Bryan Callen and Chris D'Elia (who were later replaced by Tommy Blacha and Chad Kultgen). He has also appeared on The Fighter & The Kid podcast several times.
Sasso began posting on Vine, creating a running gag of lemons randomly escaping from his mouth without warning.[6] In addition, he posts videos in characters impersonating the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Cosby, Hulk Hogan and Robert De Niro. As of September 2014, he has two million followers. In 2018, Sasso plays Mountie Archambault in the comedy film Super Troopers 2. In November 2019, he voiced Mr. Ellingboe in Netflix's Klaus.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Ernest Goes to School | Russell | |
| Ski School 2 | Tomcat Collins | ||
| 1995 | Magic in the Water | Shy Young Orderly | |
| 1996 | Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco | Pizza Boy | |
| Happy Gilmore | Mover # 1 | ||
| Malicious | Guy | ||
| 1997 | The 6th Man | Scrubby D | |
| Beverly Hills Ninja | Chet Walters | ||
| 1998 | Brown's Requiem | "Fat Dog" Baker | |
| 1999 | Drop Dead Gorgeous | Hank Vilmes | |
| 2000 | Best in Show | Dale | |
| 2002 | "Still Waiting" (music video) | Record Company Executive | |
| Dawg | Willie Smits | ||
| 2003 | The Hot Chick | Mr. Garbajian | Deleted scenes |
| A Mighty Wind | Phil | ||
| 2005 | Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story | Randy Newman/James Lipton | Voice; Direct-to-DVD |
| 2006 | Dark Ride | Hospital Aide | |
| 2007 | Southland Tales | Fortunio Balducci | |
| 2008 | Lower Learning | Jesse Buchwald | |
| College Road Trip | Deputy O'Malley | ||
| 2009 | Year of the Carnivore | Dirk | |
| 2010 | National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus | Awesomest Maximus | |
| Life As We Know It | Miss Pennsylvania's Husband | ||
| For Christ's Sake | Alan | ||
| 2011 | Division III: Football's Finest | Terry Lockwood | |
| 2012 | Moving Day | Clyde | |
| The Three Stooges | Curly Howard | ||
| 2013 | The Right Kind of Wrong | Neil | |
| Movie 43 | Jerry (The Pitch) | Nominated – Razzie Award for Worst Screen Combo (shared with the entire cast) | |
| 2014 | Hit By Lightning | Seth | |
| 2016 | Army of One | Roy | |
| 2017 | Killing Hasselhoff | Wasserstein | |
| The Female Brain | Dennis | ||
| 2018 | American Woman | Terry | |
| Super Troopers 2 | Mountie Roger Archambault | ||
| The Grizzlies | Mike | ||
| Henchmen | Gluttonator/Union Boss | Voice | |
| 2019 | Boss Level | Brett | |
| Inside Game | Baba Battista | ||
| Klaus | Mr. Aksel Ellingboe | Voice | |
| 2020 | Irresistible | Nick Farlander |
Television
| Year | Show | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air | Classmate (uncredited) | Season 4, Episode 3 "All Guts, No Glory" |
| 1994 | The Odyssey | Drewg | |
| 1994–97 | Madison | Derek Wakaluk | |
| 1995–96 | Sliders | Gomez Calhoun | |
| 1996 | Annie O | Awesome Heckler | |
| Susie Q | Police Officer | ||
| Doctor Who | Pete | ||
| Heck's Way Home | Mover #1 | ||
| 1997–2002,
2003–04, 2009, 2016 |
MADtv | Various Characters | |
| 1997 | Dad's Week Off | Ivan "Boom Boom" Krutovski | |
| 1999 | Family Guy | Randy Newman | (Credited as "William") / Episode: Da Boom |
| WCW Monday Nitro | Himself | ||
| 2000 | The X-Files | Leslie Stokes | Episode: "Je Souhaite" |
| 2002 | WWF SmackDown | Steve Austin (impersonation) | |
| Latin Grammy Awards | Presenter | ||
| 2003 | The Western Alienation Comedy Hour | Host | |
| 2003–06 | Less than Perfect | Carl Monari | Main role (40 episodes) |
| 2005 | Lilo & Stitch: The Series | Experiment 322, a.k.a. Heckler (voice) | |
| Family Guy | Todd | Episode: "The Fat Guy Strangler" | |
| 2006–07 | 'Til Death | Russ | 2 episodes |
| 2007 | Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary | Himself | |
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Mason Lafon | Guest / Episode: "The Chick Chop Flick Shop" | |
| Entourage | Jay Lester | ||
| Family Guy | Episode: "Meet the Quagmires" | ||
| 2008–12 | How I Met Your Mother | Doug Martin (the bartender) | |
| 2008 | Family Guy | Bernie the Hamster | Episode: "The Man with Two Brians" |
| Robson Arms | Bark[7] | ||
| 2009 | Two and a Half Men | Charlie's Recording Engineer | |
| 2010 | Childrens Hospital | a Trucker | |
| Neighbors from Hell | Balthazor Hellman | ||
| $h*! My Dad Says | Vince | Main role | |
| Family Guy | Various | Episode: "Partial Terms of Endearment" | |
| 2012 | Bobby Briggs | Episode: "Joe's Revenge" | |
| WWE Raw | Curly-Hulk Hogan | Promoting The Three Stooges film | |
| 2013–present | Channel Squad 1 | Morton | |
| 2013 | Super Fun Night | Parker | |
| The League | Officer Bungalon | ||
| Hollywood Game Night | Himself | ||
| Drunk History | Frank Nitti | ||
| Murder Police | Tommy Margaretti | 13 episodes | |
| 2014 | Anger Management | Jimmy | |
| Justified | Al Sura | 3 episodes | |
| Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V | Strong "The Sledgehammer" Ishijima (voice) | 2 episodes | |
| 2014–15 | Hot in Cleveland | Franky | 3 episodes |
| 2014–17 | Modern Family | Señor Kaplan | 3 episodes |
| 2015 | Fool Canada | Various | 10 episodes |
| The Comedians | Himself | ||
| Key & Peele | Pirate | ||
| Robot Chicken | Phil Coulson (voice) | ||
| 2015–18 | Another Period | Policeman #1 | 10 episodes |
| 2016 | Shameless | Yanis | 4 episodes |
| Motive | Hank Novak | ||
| 2017 | Family Guy | Larry's Doctor/Max & Ken | Episode: "Cop and a Half-wit" |
| American Housewife | Billy | ||
| Curb Your Enthusiasm | Bill | ||
| 2017–18 | Kevin (Probably) Saves the World | Dave | |
| 2017–present | Loudermilk | Ben | |
| 2018 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Chris Sadler | |
| 2018–19 | Grey's Anatomy | Jed | 2 episodes |
| 2019-current | Mom | Police Officer Andy | 6 episodes |
| 2019 | Harley Quinn | Maxie Zeus | |
| 2020 | United We Fall | Bill Ryan |
References
- ^ Will Sasso at IMDb
- ^ a b Ten Minute Podcast (2017-06-07), Ten Minute Podcast - 285 - Setting Parameters, retrieved 2018-06-06
- ^ "CBS Announces 2010-2011 Primetime Schedule" (Press release). CBS Television Network. May 19, 2010.
- ^ "'The Defenders,' 'S#*! My Dad Says,' and 'Mad Love' Canceled By CBS". TV By The Numbers. 2011-05-15. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ "Ten Minute Podcast". tenminutepodcast.libsyn.com. Retrieved 2019-04-06.
- ^ "WATCH: It Is Impossible Not To Laugh At This". Huffington Post. March 23, 2013.
- ^ "Robson Arms - Season 3". Retrieved 2008-07-23.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1975 births
- 20th-century American comedians
- 20th-century Canadian male actors
- 21st-century American comedians
- 21st-century Canadian male actors
- Canadian male comedians
- Canadian male film actors
- Canadian male television actors
- Canadian male voice actors
- Canadian impressionists (entertainers)
- Canadian people of Italian descent
- Living people
- Male actors from British Columbia
- Male actors of Italian descent
- People from Delta, British Columbia