Michael McDonald (comedian)

Early life

McDonald was born in Fullerton, California. He graduated from St. Juliana Catholic Elementary School in Fullerton, and later went to Servite High School in Anaheim, California, and graduated from the University of Southern California with a business degree. While at USC, he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He worked as a loan officer at a bank in Los Angeles.

After college, a friend took McDonald to see an improv comedy show at Groundling Theater. McDonald quit his job at the bank and enrolled in Groundling's improv program. He was a member of the troupe from 1992 to 1997. During that time, he was also involved in writing and directing films for Roger Corman.

Later on, McDonald would guest star in such shows as Seinfeld (in two episodes playing two different parts), Just Shoot Me!, Family Matters, Scrubs and NewsRadio. He also made brief cameos in all three Austin Powers films. McDonald had a starring role with Will Forte and Nicole Sullivan on the short-lived MTV show Clone High as the voice of Gandhi.

Stand-up comedy

Michael is currently touring at stand up comedy clubs across the country. His stand-up comedy special Michael McDonald: Model Citizen premiered on Showtime on October 9, 2010. Filmed in Orange County at the OC Pavilion, it has been described as "Part stand-up comedy, part one man show, this special is for anyone who – like Michael – finds humor in the strange world all around us."

Cougar Town

McDonald was also a writer, director, and producer of the ABC TV series Cougar Town. He directed a number of episodes of the show, including "Letting You Go", "Everything Man", "When a Kid Goes Bad", "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", and "Don't Come Around Here No More". McDonald also wrote the episode "Wake Up Time".

MADtv

McDonald joined the cast of MADtv in 1998, eventually becoming the longest-standing cast member in the show's history (10 seasons). He performed several recurring characters, including Stuart, Rusty Miller, Marvin Tikvah, Sean Gidcomb, Bible Dude, the Depressed Persian Tow Truck Man, Fightin' Ron, and F. Michael McKrofsky of "Real M*********ing Talk" (replacing Andrew Daly's token white commentator on that sketch).

Much like Darrell Hammond, Phil Hartman, Dan Aykroyd, and Bill Hader on Saturday Night Live, McDonald was the go-to cast member for a litany of impressions, ranging from past and present movie and TV stars to world leaders and American political figures. Some memorable impressions he's done include Bob Barker, John Kerry, Dr. Phil, Bill O'Reilly, Maury Povich, Chris Martin from the band Coldplay, Steve Jobs, Mel Gibson, Chris Hansen, Terry O'Quinn (as John Locke), Ozzy Osbourne, Jean-Benet Ramsey's father John, J. K. Simmons (as Mac McGuff, Juno's father and from his role in Oz), Hugh Laurie (as Gregory House), Hugh Beaumont (as Ward Cleaver), Sarah Jessica Parker (as Carrie Bradshaw), Dr. Drew, Howie Mandel, Simon Cowell, JC Chasez, Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce), Michael Richards, Chris Burke, Charlie Sheen (as Charlie Harper), David Schwimmer (as Ross Geller), Jeff Probst, Tim Gunn (Project Runway), Howard K. Stern, Tommy Lee, Criss Angel, Jeff Foxworthy, Saddam Hussein, Larry David, Barry Gibb, Eddie Vedder, and Brad Garrett.

After 10 years on MADtv, McDonald left the cast, but was a contributing writer and director for the show's final season. McDonald was the last member of the cast to be hired in the 1990s, and the last cast member to have been born in the 1960s, and is the only cast member to have a "best of" clip show special dedicated to him.