Trivia: Whether appearing on camera or simply stepping in front of the microphone to voice one of countless animated characters, actor/writer/producer and director Jay Johnston had a way of bringing the laughs to every project he worked on. While Johnston's career got off to a respectable start thanks to walk-on roles in Ellen and Just Shoot Me, it was the multi-faceted funnyman's involvement with Mr. Show that truly served to launch his career. Later, in between roles in such features as Jack Frost, Bicentennial Man, Not Another Teen Movie, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Johnston kept busy with appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Malcolm in the Middle. By the time Johnston assumed the role of Officer Taylor on Arrested Development, he was widely considered one of the comedy world's best-kept secrets. A role in the 2006 comedy Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny found Johnston helping to bring the self-proclaimed "Greatest Band in the World" to the big screen, with a recurring role on The Sarah Silverman Program following in quick succession. In 2007, Johnston signed on as writer/producer/voice star of the cynical, clay-animated religious satire Moral Orel -- which took direct aim at such kitchy religious propaganda as Davey and Goliath.

Trivia: Comedian Jenny Slate graduated from Columbia University before making waves in New York as one half of the comedy team Gabe & Jenny. After making a memorable appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Slate went on to join the 2009 cast of Saturday Night Live, where she made a serious impression by accidentally using an expletive on live television. Slate was let go at the end of the season (seemingy because of her on-air slip), but she bounced back quickly with the short film Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which she created with her then-husband. The film gained a following online and gave Slate some favorable press after her SNL incident. Since then, she has carved out an impressive TV career with both guest and recurring arcs on shows like Parks and Recreation and House of Lies and doing voice-over work on shows like Bob's Burgers. In 2014, Slate starred in Obvious Child, her first starring role, and recieved a Critics' Choice Award for her work.

Trivia: Was born in a Jewish family.Has 2 younger siblings.Grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts.Dropped out of law school.Host of The Majority Report and Ring of Fire Radio.

Trivia: One of the longest-running cast member in the history of Saturday Night Live, easygoing funnyman Tim Meadows crafted some of the series' most enduring characters in his nine-year stint on the popular late-night comedy staple. Whether sipping Courvoisier as self-proclaimed Ladies' Man Leon Phelps or posing clueless questions to irritable guests as early morning talk show host Lionel Osborne, Meadows and his memorable collection of characters endured even during the more critically panned years of SNL and proved an important component of keeping the show on its feet during those dark days. Born in Highland Park, MI, and raised in Detroit, Meadows studied radio and television broadcasting at Wayne State University before performing improvisational comedy at the Soup Kitchen Saloon in nearby Ferndale. Quickly finding his stride on-stage, Meadows relocated to Chicago where he would join the ImprovOlympia team and later become associated with the Second City troupe. Gaining a loyal following during his three-year stint with the legendary comedy troupe, Meadows was soon courted by SNL producer Lorne Michaels and in 1991, he achieved the dreams of comics nationwide when he joined the SNL cast as a featured player. Nominated for an Emmy the same month he made the transition to cast member status two years later, Meadows was fired from the show in 1994 only to be hired back at the insistence of Michaels. Although he did little film or television work during his SNL years, Meadows prepared for his own departure from the series by appearing in the features of such former cast members as Dan Aykroyd (Coneheads [1993]), Mike Myers and Dana Carvey (Wayne's World 2 [also 1993]), and Julia Sweeney (It's Pat [1994]). Predictably, Meadows' segue into his post-SNL career began with the quickly dismissed Ladies Man feature, though he continued to grace the small screen with roles in such sitcoms as The Michael Richards Show and Leap of Faith.As the 2000's continued, Meadows began to carve out a niche for himself with memorable and funny supporting roles in a variety of comedies like The Even Stevens Movie, The Benchwarmers, and, quite notably, as the Carpal Tunnel suffering high school principle in 2004's Mean Girls. In 2007, he appeared as fictional rock star Dewey Cox's drummer in the musical biopic parody Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. He appeared in the 2008 Will Ferrell vehicle Semi-Pro, the 2011 Adam Sandler project Jack and Jill, and took a leading part in the sequel Mean Girls 2.

Trivia: Actress Megan Mullally was born in Los Angeles in 1958, to a family with show business roots -- her father, Carter Mullally Jr., was an actor who became a contract player with Paramount Pictures during the 1950s. In 1965, with Carter's career on the wane, Mullally's parents pulled up roots and moved to Oklahoma City, OK, where her family had become quite wealthy raising livestock. Megan picked up the performing bug from her father, and developed a passionate interest in music and especially dance. By the time Megan was a high school student, she'd performed as a featured soloist with the Ballet Oklahoma troupe in Oklahoma City, and during summer vacations she studied with George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City. Her interest in classical dance eventually grew into a desire to act, and while attending Northwestern University, she began appearing in student theater productions. After graduating, Mullally moved to Chicago, where she immersed herself in the city's rich and varied local theater scene. In 1983, she won her first film role, playing a hooker in Risky Business, and in 1986 she relocated to Los Angeles after being cast on a television series, The Ellen Burstyn Show. However, the series proved short-lived, and Mullally was soon busying herself with guest spots on a number of different shows. Mullally continued to work in the theater, and in 1994 fulfilled a longtime dream when she scored a role in the Broadway revival of Grease. The next year, she earned a high-profile role in another noted Broadway musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (playing opposite Matthew Broderick), while continuing to work in television projects. Mullally's dedication and focus finally paid off in 1998, when she was cast as Karen Walker, a self-centered former socialite-turned-office assistant on the popular situation comedy series Will and Grace. A major ratings success, Will and Grace catapulted Mullally into the spotlight, and she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and an American Comedy Award for her work on the show. When not busy with Will and Grace, Mullally continues to pursue other projects, playing featured roles in the films Everything Put Together and Monkeybone and starring in a one-woman musical, Sweetheart, in which she shows off her talents as a singer. (Mullally has also released an album of songs from the show, which she produced herself.)Mullally would continue her successful career on Broadway while enjoying the long running success of Will and Grace, and would go on to appear in other successful TV series as well, like In the Motherhood, Party Down, Childrens' Hospital, and Parks and Recreation.

Trivia: Though her resumé encompasses dozens of supporting roles, more viewers -- many more -- know supporting actress Pamela Adlon (née Segall) through her prolific voice work than by her visage. Like Nancy Cartwright, this spunky and versatile brunette actress is perhaps most familiar for giving breath to a male animated character: that of Bobby Hill, the sweet-natured preteen son of redneck Hank Hill, with dreams of becoming a prop comic, on Mike Judge's family-oriented animated sitcom King of the Hill (1997). Adlon kick-started her career on a low yet memorable note, as Dolores Rebchuck, kid sister of "T-Bird" Paulette Rebchuck (Lorna Luft) in the clunker Grease 2 (1982). Roles in mostly forgettable features such as The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins (1984) and Gate II: Return to the Nightmare (1992), followed through the '80s and '90s, as did guest-starring appearances on sitcoms including The Jeffersons and Night Court. Adlon's fortunes began to improve with the Cameron Crowe-directed Gen-X favorite Say Anything... (1989) and with a vocal turn in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992) that paved the way for her work on King four years later. She and the rest of the cast remained with King of the Hill for many seasons, a testament to that program's enduring popularity. Alongside King, Adlon delivered a fine comic portrayal as Kim, wife of Louis C.K.'s character, on the sitcom Lucky Louie. That series folded after one season, but Adlon soon found her way back to premium cable, with the recurring role of Marcy Runkle, wife talent agent Charlie Runkle (Evan Handler) -- whose star client and best friend was writer Hank Moody (David Duchovney) -- on the successful Showtime dramedy Californication, which premiered in 2007.

Trivia: The professional reputation of some actors and performers is inextricable from that of a larger ensemble to which they belong. Comedian/actor/screenwriter Aziz Ansari epitomizes this idea. Ansari shot to fame in the mid- to late 2000s as a member of the three-person comedy troupe responsible for The Human Giant -- a weekly, SNL-style collection of outrageous and irreverent comedy sketches that the group wrote and performed on MTV.Ansari is -- like Jay Chandrasekhar and a few other comics to emerge during the early 2000s -- of Tamil Indian heritage. Ansari grew up and attended university in rural South Carolina, then studied business at New York University. As a student, Ansari took classes with the famed Upright Citizens Brigade and mounted solo standup comedy gigs at Manhattan-area clubs. After a brief stint working on an Internet advertising business, Ansari discovered that he was earning enough with his standup efforts to focus on this full-time. His association with the Brigade ultimately led to a regular gig as emcee of "Crash Test," a weekly standup comedy showcase at the UCB Theatre, and -- in time -- to the creation of the Human Giant series.In 2009 Ansari landed a regular part on NBC's well-respected Amy Poehler-led sitcom Parks & Recreation. He parlayed that shows success into small parts in comedies like Judd Apatow's Funny People, Jody Hill's Observe & Report, and Get Him to the Greek. This led to his biggest role to that point as the best friend of a slacker forced to rob a bank in 30 Minutes or Less.In 2012 he contributed his vocal talents to Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Trivia: Appeared in commercials as a child. Played John Goodman's son on a Saturday Night Live sketch when he was 12 years old. Performed in an off-Broadway musical before beginning his comedy career. Took classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York City. Created and cohosted a variety show called Creation Nation in 2003, where he first debuted his Billy on the Street character. Starred in a talk-show pilot, which also featured Joan Rivers, but it was never picked up. Nominated for a Daytime Emmy award for Best Game Show Host in 2013.

Trivia: Square-jawed comedic actor Bill Hader emerged as an onscreen presence in the mid- to late 2000s, both as a regular player on the hallowed Saturday Night Live and as an occasional performer in movies such as the animated Doogal (2004) and the Owen Wilson vehicle You, Me and Dupree (2006). Hader rose to higher billing with his guffaw-inducing turn in the frat-boy comedy Superbad (2007), playing a seriously irresponsible cop and the partnered with Seth Rogen. He was the brother to Jason Segel's character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, had a brief but memorable cameo right at the beginning of Pineapple Express, and played a sycophantic assistant to Tom Cruise's monstrous Hollywood mogul in Tropic Thunder, all in 2008. The next year he had a huge hit voicing a character in the animated smash Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and earned good reviews for his work in Adventureland. He appeared in the sci-fi comedy Paul in 2011. Hader continued to appear in supporting and cameo roles in films, appearing in an impressive nine films in 2013 (many of them voice roles, including Monsters University and reprising his role in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2), before annoucing he was leaving Saturday Night Live. Once leaving SNL, he stretched his acting legs by starring opposite Kristen Wiig in the dramedy The Skeleton Twins in 2014.

Trivia: Actor Nick Offerman honed an immediately identifiable image -- that of a rugged, imposing presence with an unmistakably menacing onscreen aura, occasionally tempered by nuttiness -- and parlayed it into a long string of offbeat characterizations. After guest spots on such prime-time series as ER and Gilmore Girls, and bit parts in features including Treasure Island (1999), Groove (2000), and November (2003), Offerman graduated to lead status with a decidedly wacky triple role in Martin Hynes' road movie The Go-Getter (2007). That same year, audiences could also catch Offerman via his small supporting role as a cop in Goran Dukic's jet-black comic romance Wristcutters: A Love Story. Meanwhile, Offerman also signed for one of the lead roles -- as an auto mechanic -- on the satirical Comedy Central series American Body Shop (2007). In 2009 he was cast as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, and this turned out to be his breakthrough role. He parlayed that success into appearances in films like The Men Who Stare at Goats, All Good Things, Casa de me Padre, and the big-screen comedy version of 21 Jump Street.

Trivia: Carl Reiner knew he wanted to be an actor -- preferably a Shakespearean actor -- from the time he was wearing knee pants. Trained in New York's Works Progress Administration Dramatic Workshop, he spent the war years touring with Maurice Evans' G.I. Hamlet, appearing with another young hopeful, Howard Morris. After the war he accumulated scores of stock company and Broadway credits, then in 1948 made his television debut in the short-lived series Fashion Story. While starring in NBC's 54th Street Revue, he was hired as one of the regulars on Your Show of Shows, appearing on a weekly basis with Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, and old pal Howie Morris. During the scripting sessions for Show of Shows, Reiner became friends with a bombastic staff writer named Mel Brooks, with whom he improvised a number of wild stream-of-consciousness comedy bits which would eventually crystallize as the classic "2000 Year Old Man" routines. An Emmy winner for his work on the various Sid Caesar programs, he entered films as a character actor in 1959. That same year, he wrote, produced, and starred in the pilot episode for a proposed series about a comedy writer named Rob Petrie, titled Head of the Family. The network executives liked the concept, but vetoed Reiner as the star; swallowing his pride, he retooled the property with another leading man, and that's how the Emmy-winning Dick Van Dyke Show was born. During the series' five-year run, Reiner made innumerable cameo appearances on the program, most memorably as Rob Petrie's mercurial TV-comedian boss Alan Brady. In 1967 he made his film directorial debut with Enter Laughing, an adaptation of his own semi-autobiographical 1958 novel (the book had already been transformed into a Broadway play with Alan Arkin as star). Reiner's later directing assignments included The Comic (1967), a bittersweet farce based on the lives of Stan Laurel, Harry Langdon, and Buster Keaton; the black comedy cult favorite Where's Poppa? (1970); the whimsical fantasy Oh, God (1977); and a popular series of Steve Martin vehicles, among them The Jerk (1978) and Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). His film output decreased in number and quality in the l980s and 1990s, though critics enjoyed his offbeat 1989 working-class comedy Bert Rigby, You're a Fool and his 1997 Bette Midler starrer That Old Feeling. In 1995, he earned yet another Emmy award for his revival of the Alan Brady character on a memorable episode of TV's Mad About You. And though Reiner appeared to retire from directing following That Old Feeling, he still maintained a notable presence in film and television with roles in Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven and it's two sequels, House M.D., Hot in Cleveland, and Parks and Rec.Carl Reiner is the father of directors Rob Reiner and Lucas Reiner; his wife Estelle has enjoyed a latter-day career as a night club singer and as a cameo performer in her son Rob's films (she's the lady who says, "I'll have what she's having!" in When Harry Met Sally).

Trivia: Intended to be a puppeteer in college, but dropped out to study comedy, including a stint with Boom Chicago in Amsterdam; while on a cast swap with Second City in Chicago in 2002, met his future comedic partner Keegan-Michael Key. Before the premiere of Key & Peele on Comedy Central in 2012, overlapped with Key for several seasons in the cast of MADtv. Unsuccessfully auditioned to play Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live in 2008 (the role went to Fred Armisen), but would earn acclaim for impersonating the president on Key & Peele in 2012. Like Key, has a black father and a white mother, a biracial status that provides a unique cultural sensitivity and informs much of their comedy.

Trivia: Born December 1st, 1970, former Saturday Night Live cast member Sarah Silverman made her film debut in the 1997 Who's the Caboose. She then had a supporting role as a friend of Mary in Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly's 1998 comedy smash There's Something About Mary. Following a part in Chris O'Donnell's The Bachelor, which also starred Renee Zelwegger, Brooke Shields, and James Cromwell, Silverman secured a deal with Columbia Tri-Star to create a vehicle for herself based on her one-woman show, Susan Plays Cheese. She received further exposure on various TV talk shows, as well as in the pages of Esquire Magazine's "breasts" issue and a fashion layout in Mirabella. She appeared in the comedies Screwed and Heartbreakers, and had a memorable role as the driven girlfriend in Richard Linklater's School of Rock. 2005 was a stellar year for Silverman on the big screen. In addition to writing and starring in Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is Magic, she was widely considered to have one of the very best appearances in the documentary The Aristocrats. She followed that up the next year with a part in Todd Phillips' School for Scoundrels. From 2007 to 2009, Silverman played herself in The Sarah Silverman Program, and edgy sitcom that earned the comedienne a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. Despite a devoted fan following, Comedy Central cancelled the show after three seasons. In 2008, Silverman appeared semi-regularly on Jimmy Kimmel Live for a series of raunchy sketches involving Matt Damon, and made several appearances on the USA Network's television series Monk. After making a cameo as herself in The Muppets in 2011, Silverman went a different direction by taking on a dramatic role in Take This Waltz, a film following a married couple whose relationship begins to crumble when one half of the pair forms an emotional bond with a neighbor. She next logged a series of voice roles, including Vanellope, a glitchy video game character in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph (2012) and a recurring role on Bob's Burgers. In 2014, she appeared in A Million Ways to Die in the West and began a guest arc on Masters of Sex.