David Koechner - born David Michael Koechner on August 24, 1962 in Tipton, Missouri, USA - is an actor and comedian. He has a recurring role as Greg Sutter.
Early Life and Career[]
Koechner was born in Tipton, Missouri, the son of Margaret Ann (née Downey) and Cecil Stephen Koechner. He is one of six children; he has two brothers, Mark and Joe, and three sisters, Mary-Rose, Cecilia and Joan. His father ran a business that manufactured turkey coops (Koechner has stated that "If you see a turkey going down the road in a big truck, most likely its coop is from Tipton..."). He was raised in a Catholic family, and is of German, English, and Irish descent. Koechner studied Political Science at Benedictine College and the University of Missouri, before he eventually decided to pursue a career in improvisational comedy and moved to Chicago. After studying at Chicago's ImprovOlympic, under famed improvisation instructor Del Close, Koechner joined The Second City comedy troupe in Chicago, graduating in 1994.
In 1995, Koechner landed a year-long stint on Saturday Night Live, joining the show with fellow Second City friends Nancy Walls and Adam McKay. During his time at SNL, he befriended guest-writer David 'Gruber' Allen, and fellow castmate Will Ferrell. Some of Koechner's recurring skits included Bill Brasky, the British Fops (playing Fagan, opposite Mark McKinney), Gary Macdonald (the fictional younger brother of Weekend Update anchor/SNL castmember Norm Macdonald, based on "Jokey", a character he originated at Second City), Will Ferrell's "Get Off the Shed" sketches (playing his neighbor, Tom Taylor), and Gerald "T-Bones" Tibbons. On the show, Koechner also impersonated several celebrities, including Burt Reynolds, Mike Ditka, Charlie Sheen, Robert Shapiro, Willard Scott, Oliver Stone, Phil Gramm, David Kaczynski, and Pat Buchanan. After his one season on SNL, Koechner joined the 1996–97 sketch cast of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where he was perhaps best remembered in the NBC Gargoyles recurring sketches, pairing Koechner with Conan regular Brian McCann as two obnoxious Gargoyle statues often perched outside Conan's desk window. In the late 1990s, Koechner took several minor acting roles in films such as Wag the Dog, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Man on the Moon.
Personal Life[]
Koechner is married to Leigh Koechner and has five children. His oldest is his son Charlie, followed by his daughter Margot, and twins Sargent and Audrey, born June 2, 2006. His fifth child, Eve, was born on January 11, 2011. Koechner has the names of his wife and children tattooed on his right upper-arm.
Koechner performs regularly in Los Angeles at both the ImprovOlympic West theater in the show Beer Shark Mice, and at Largo, the nightclub where the Naked Trucker Show plays regularly. David Koechner supported the 2004 US Presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry, performing at a June 6, 2004 Hollywood fundraiser for the senator, where The Naked Trucker & T-Bones opened up for Tenacious D. Koechner cites Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, The Replacements, Uncle Tupelo and its off-shoots (Wilco and Son Volt) as some of his musical favorites. He also strongly admires Creedence Clearwater Revival, whom he has described as "the American Beatles."