Joel Edward McHale is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer and television host. He is known for hosting The Soup and portraying Jeff Winger on the NBC/Yahoo! sitcom Community. He has appeared in the films Spy Kids: All the Time in the world and Ted. He also starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom The Great Indoors and in 2019, started hosting a reboot of Card Sharks. Take a look below for 28 more fun and fascinating facts about Joel McHale.

1. McHale was born in Rome, Italy, where his father, Jack McHale, worked as Dean of Students at Loyola University Rome Center.

2. His mother, Laurie, is from Vancouver, Canada, and his father is from Chicago, Illinois.

3. Of Irish and Norwegian descent, he was raised Catholic.

4. He grew up on Mercer Island, Washington, and briefly in Haddonfield, New Jersey, near Philadelphia, before returning to his native Washington state.

5. He attended Mercer Island High School.

6. McHale received a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Washington (1995) and briefly belonged to Theta Chi.

7. He was recruited to be on the rowing team but later joined the football team.

8. Though most of his teammates received athletic scholarships, McHale was a walk on playing tight end for two years.

9. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington.

10. He is a fan of the Seattle Seahawks.

11. McHale was part of the Almost Live! cast, a local sketch-comedy television show produced by Seattle’s KING-TV.

12. From 1993 to 1997, he was a member of the improv comedy group at Unexpected Productions, participating in Theatersports! at the Market Theater located in Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

13. After earning his master’s degree in acting, McHale moved to Los Angeles and landed small roles in Diagnosis: Murder, CSI: Miami, and Will & Grace.

14. He played a TV reporter in the biopic Lords of Dogtown.

15. He guest-starred as a cast member on the NBC improv comedy show Thank God You’re Here during the pilot episode and had a guest role on an episode of Pushing Daisies.

16. McHale also appeared in Spider-Man 2 in a small role as Mr. Jacks, a bank manager.

17. McHale married Sarah in 1996. They have two sons.

18. They live in Hollywood Hills, California.

19. McHale is also a fan of the LA Gladiators and Rupaul’s Drag Race.

20. McHale played the lead role in the CBS sitcom The Great Indoors, which began airing in the Fall of 2016.

21. In 2018, McHale was cast in the recurring role of Chris on the second season of the Netflix horror-comedy series Santa Clarita Diet.

22. In December 2018, it was announced that McHale was cast as Sylvester Pemberton, the Golden Age Starman in the upcoming DC Universe series Stargirl.

23. On April 8, 2019, TVLine reported that McHale would host a revival of the game show Card Sharks for ABC.

24. In January 2018, it was announced that he would be receiving his own talk show on Netflix in February. The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale combines celebrity guests, pre-taped sketches and video clips in a half-hour series that focuses on pop culture and news from around the world.

25. McHale was the host at the 2014 White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.

26. He hosted the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards and the 2015 ESPY Awards.

27. In 2016, he appeared as an occasional co-host alongside Kelly Ripa in the ABC morning show Live! with Kelly.

28. McHale hosted the 43rd People’s Choice Awards on January 18, 2017 and the 2017 Webby Awards on May 15, 2017.