- Born: 1966 in Sacramento, California
- Occupation: Actor, Writer
- Active: 2000s
- Major Genres: Comedy
- Career Highlights: Sleeping Dogs Lie, Run Ronnie Run!, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto
- First Major Screen Credit: Run Ronnie Run! (2002)
Biography
Best known for his trademark deadpan delivery and behind-the-mic evocations of the stoner mentality, Sacramento-born stand-up comedian, character actor, and television mainstay Brian Posehn graduated from Sonoma Valley High School in 1984 before cultivating his schtick at age 21 as a "road comic" in contests across the country and with appearances on MTV's 1/2 Hour Comedy Hour. Many small-screen turns followed, including bit parts on Seinfeld (as Artie, a patient in the episode where Kramer "contracts" gonorrhea) and Friends. In two roles with a slightly higher profile, Posehn joined the Mr. Show sketch comedy troupe on HBO and became a periodic fixture on NBC's Just Shoot Me, as mail clerk Kevin Liotta. Posehn occasionally contributed as well to Comedy Central's Jerky Boys-like puppetcast Crank Yankers.A handful of big-screen roles followed, including that of a store clerk in the yuk-yuk (Jim Carrey-less) comedy sequel Dumb and Dumberer (2003), Jimmy in Rob Zombie's 2005 splatterfest The Devil's Rejects, and a spot as himself in Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic. As an offshoot of Mr. Show, Posehn teamed with Bob Odenkirk and many others to co-author the script of 2002's Run Ronnie Run!, a project intended for the big screen (ala Jackass: The Movie) but disastrously reedited and all but disowned by its creators. Following The Devil's Rejects, Posehn signed on to provide a voice for helmer Mr. Lawrence's second directorial outing (which Rob Zombie scripted), 2007's animated The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. He had some prior experience, via his voice work on a number of animated series, including Mission Hill, 3 South, and several Adult Swim projects.
Something of an underground, counterculture figure, Posehn -- a self-proclaimed "metal head" and comic-book devotee -- is good friends with the gifted Southern California-based comic Patton Oswalt (whom he joined on the Comedians of Comedy tour) and, more tellingly, with Anthrax's Scott Ian (with whom he collaborated on the tongue-in-cheek song, "Metal by Numbers.") Posehn has been married to comic Melanie Truhett since 2004. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
