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 a 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.
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. In October 2025, he released his special "FALSE GODS" on his YouTube channel.
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.
Sexual misconduct allegations On July 31, 2020, the Los Angeles Times reported 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. He also released a long form video on Instagram and YouTube vehemently denying all allegations.
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 Year Title Notes 2012 Man Class Online 2016 Never Grow Up Online 2019 Complicated Apes Online 2022 Man Tears Online2025FALSE GODSOnline
Film Year Title Role Notes 1995 Mail Bonding Poet 1998 Driven to Drink Bartender 2002 Live from Baghdad American Hostage No. 2 2003 Deliver Us from Eva Theo Wilson Bad Santa Bar Owner The Goldfish Duncan Poole Old School Avi 2005 D-WAR Dr. Austin 2006 Scary Movie 4 President's Aide 2007 I Do & I Don't Bob 2008 Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control Howard 2009 The Hangover Eddie Palermos The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard. Jason Big Ups 2010 The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It Andy 2011 The Hangover Part II Samir Warrior Himself Division III: Football's Finest Denny Dawson 2013 10 Rules for Sleeping Around Owen Manners 2014 Ride Along Miggs About Last Night Trent Planes: Fire & Rescue Avalanche Voice Cameo Walk of Shame Dealer My Man Is a Loser Paul 2016 Range 15 Guard Callen 2019 Joker Javier No Safe Spaces Himself 2020 Think Like a Dog Agent Callen
Television Year Title Role Notes 1995–1997 MADtv Various Characters 42 episodes 1998 NewsRadio Russ Garrelli 1 episode Oz Jonathan Coushaine 7 episodes 1999 Frasier The ChickenEpisode: "Radio Wars" 2003 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Derrick PfeifferEpisode: "Risk" CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Barry YoderEpisode: "Last Laugh" Sex and the City Howie HalbersteinEpisode: "The Catch" 2004 The West Wing LouisEpisode: "Disaster Relief" Significant Others Bob3 episodes 2004–2006 7th Heaven George "Vic" Vickery9 episodes 2005 Fat Actress Eddie Falcone7 episodes The King of Queens JaredEpisode: "Like Hell" Reba Buzzard Episode: "Invasion" 2006–2009 How I Met Your Mother Bilson6 episodes 2006–2007 Entourage Rob Rubino2 episodes 2008–2014 World's Dumbest... Himself 77 episodes 2009 The Secret Life of the American Teenager Bob Underwood2 episodes 2009–2010 Bank of Hollywood Host 8 episodes 2010CSI: Miami KentEpisode: "Getting Axed"I'm in the Band BleedEpisode: "Bleed Guitarist" 2011–2012 In Plain Sight Mark 8 episodes 2011 Death Valley Capt. Frank Dashell 12 episodes 2012 Californication Cop Episode: "The Ride Along"2014–2017KingdomGaro Kassabian14 episodes2014–2020The GoldbergsCoach Mellor42 episodes 20162 Broke Girls Tony Episode: "And The Booth Babes"2019–2020SchooledCoach Mellor34 episodes
References
External links
Official MADtv site