Rory Scovel

Rory J. Scovel (born August 6, 1980) is an American comedian, actor, and writer.

Rory J. Scovel was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 6, 1980.

He has six siblings.

He played basketball, tennis, and soccer as a child, and has described himself as hyperactive and a class clown.

He attended St. Mary's Catholic School, then Christ Church Episcopal School, from kindergarten through eighth grade.

He graduated from Greenville Senior High School in 1999.

Scovel spent one year attending the University of Central Florida before enrolling at University of South Carolina Upstate, from which he graduated with a communications degree in 2003.

While there, he played Division II soccer.

Scovel first performed comedy in December 2003 at an open mic night in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

He had just graduated from college and was working as a cameraman at a local television station WSPA.

The following year, he moved to Washington D.C., where he performed for three years.

He then moved to New York City, where he performed for three years until he moved to Los Angeles, where he now lives.

In 2006, Scovel participated in the Seattle International Comedy Competition; he made it to the finals.

In 2010, he performed his first set for a late night show on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

The following year, Scovel performed on Conan with comedian Jon Dore using the premise that the show had accidentally booked two comedians; Scovel would go on to perform on and be interviewed by Conan many times in the following decade.

Scovel also released his first stand-up album with Stand Up! Records, Dilation.

He had various small acting and voice acting roles throughout the 2010s, including recurring roles on MTV's Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous, NBC's Undateable, and TBS' Wrecked.

Scovel had a small role in Demetri Martin's indie comedy film Dean.

He released his first stand-up comedy album Dilation in 2011.

Scovel and the record were named by The Huffington Post as one of fourteen in their "Guide To New Comedy Albums of 2011".

In 2012, Scovel was named among the 10 Comics to Watch by Variety magazine.

In April of that year, his set was featured on Comedy Central's The Half Hour.

As an actor, he began his career as part of the main cast on the sitcoms Ground Floor (2013–2015) and Those Who Can't (2016–2019), co-starred in the romantic comedy film I Feel Pretty (2018), and also appeared in and wrote for the comedy series The Eric Andre Show (2012–2016).

In 2013, he performed a show at the performance venue at Third Man Records, Jack White's record label.

The live show was recorded to tape and transferred to vinyl.

There is no digital version of this recording.

Scovel's breakthrough acting role was as Harvard in the TBS sitcom Ground Floor. He was a main character for both seasons of the show, which aired from 2013 to 2015.

Scovel was part of the writing staff for the second and fourth seasons of The Eric Andre Show, which aired in 2013 and 2016, respectively.

He was featured in the show's "New Years Eve Spooktacular" as well as an episode in season two where he played the fictional Chef Rory Scovel.

He has since released the stand-up specials The Charleston Special (2015), Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time (2017), Live Without Fear (2021), and Religion, Sex, and a Few Things in Between (2024).

In 2015, Scovel taped his first hour-long stand-up special at the Woolfe Street Playhouse in Charleston, South Carolina; the special was aptly named Rory Scovel: The Charleston Special.

Following the cancellation of Ground Floor, Scovel joined the main cast of Those Who Can't, which began airing on TruTV in 2016, reprising his role as Principal Quinn from the 2013 Amazon film of the same name.

White would later executive produce Scovel's 2017 special for Netflix.

In 2017, his next special, Rory Scovel Tries Stand-Up for the First Time, was released by Netflix.

Scovel has opened for comedians such as Louis C.K., Nick Swardson, and Daniel Tosh.

He has performed at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival, the FYF Fest in Los Angeles, the Vancouver Comedy Festival, the Del Close Improv Marathon in New York, the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, and the Chicago Improv Festival.

He had a supporting role in the 2017 wide-release comedy The House.

Notably, he starred as the main love interest in the 2018 Amy Schumer comedy film I Feel Pretty.

In November 2018, it was announced that Comedy Central had green-lit an eight-episode scripted television series produced, co-written, and starring Scovel, called Robbie.

In the 2020s, he created and starred in his Comedy Central series Robbie (2020) and starred in the Apple TV+ series Physical (2021–2023).