Andrew Schulz
Andrew Cameron Schulz (born October 30, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster recognized for his boundary-pushing humor and independent approach to content distribution.[1] [2]
Schulz gained initial prominence through hosting MTV2's Guy Code and its spin-offs from 2011 to 2016, where his sharp observational and insult comedy resonated with audiences seeking unfiltered takes on male culture and social dynamics.[1]
He co-hosts the popular Flagrant podcast with Akaash Singh, featuring candid discussions on current events, and The Brilliant Idiots with Charlamagne tha God, blending raunchy satire with cultural commentary, amassing millions of downloads across platforms.[3] [4]
In stand-up, Schulz has released self-produced specials like Infamous (2022), which garnered tens of millions of YouTube views by bypassing traditional gatekeepers, and Netflix specials including Schulz Saves America (2020) and Life (2025), emphasizing high-energy crowd work, ethnic satire, and critiques of political correctness.[5] [6][7]
His style, characterized by gleeful irreverence and precise provocations, has driven sold-out tours and disrupted industry norms, though it has sparked feuds with figures like Jimmy Kimmel and Kendrick Lamar over perceived hypocrisies in cultural critiques, underscoring tensions between free expression and selective outrage in comedy.[8][9][10]
Early Life
Family Background and Childhood
Andrew Cameron Schulz was born on October 30, 1983, in New York City.[1] His father, Larry Schulz, was a native New Yorker of German and Irish descent and an Army veteran who, along with Schulz's mother, operated a dance studio focused on preserving swing dancing traditions.[11] [12] Schulz's mother, Sandra Cameron Schulz, immigrated from Scotland to the United States at age 23 after leaving school at 15; she became a three-time U.S. ballroom dance champion and later a U.S. citizen.[13] [14] The couple's involvement in professional dancing shaped aspects of family life, including running instructional studios.[11] He grew up in the East Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan and attended local New York City public schools.[2] Schulz has one brother, Greg.[15]Education and Early Influences
Schulz attended Baruch College Campus High School in Kips Bay, Manhattan, graduating in the early 2000s.[16] [17] He subsequently enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.[14] [12] Schulz's early comedic influences stemmed from exposure to Black comedians including Patrice O'Neal, Bernie Mac, and Eddie Murphy, as well as programming like Def Comedy Jam, alongside hip-hop radio during his formative years in New York City.[11] These elements shaped his initial interest in performance, leading him to experiment with stand-up during his college years through open-mic sessions, often tied to his restaurant management job at the time.[18] Upon returning to New York in the mid-2000s after graduation, he pursued comedy more systematically at local clubs.[19]Comedy Career
Stand-up Beginnings and Development
Schulz began performing stand-up comedy as a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he managed a restaurant and debuted at open mic nights held there around 2006.[18] Upon returning to New York City following graduation, he integrated into the competitive local scene in the mid-2000s, regularly appearing at venues like the Comedy Cellar, which he later identified as his primary home club.[20] These early sets focused on honing raw material through trial-and-error in front of live audiences, a process he credited with building resilience amid inconsistent bookings and hecklers.[21] By the late 2000s, Schulz had cultivated a presence in New York's club circuit, performing multiple times weekly to test and iterate jokes on topics ranging from urban life to interpersonal dynamics.[19] Lacking early breakthroughs from television networks despite years of consistent output, he emphasized self-reliance, gradually shifting toward crowd-responsive improvisation that distinguished his style from scripted peers.[8] This period of development, spanning over a decade of unpaid or low-paid gigs, underscored his commitment to unfiltered humor over polished accessibility, as evidenced by his rejection of network deals that demanded content sanitization.[22] Schulz's progression involved meticulous rewriting of material post-performance, often discarding 80-90% of sets that failed to elicit strong reactions, a method he described as essential for authenticity in an era of algorithm-driven comedy.[23] By the early 2010s, this iterative approach had solidified his footing among working comedians, enabling paid headlining spots and laying groundwork for independent ventures amid industry gatekeeping.[24] His early career trajectory highlighted a causal link between volume of stage time—estimated at thousands of hours in small rooms—and the emergence of his confrontational, audience-engaged persona, prioritizing empirical feedback over theoretical appeal.[25]Major Specials and Touring Success
Schulz released his debut Netflix special, Schulz Saves America, on December 17, 2020, featuring commentary on social and political topics.[1] After rejecting editorial notes from Amazon, he independently produced and released Infamous on September 25, 2022, initially via his website before making it freely available on YouTube, where it generated over $1 million in presales.[26][5] His latest special, Life, filmed at the Beacon Theatre and centered on experiences with IVF and impending fatherhood, premiered on Netflix on March 4, 2025.[27] The Infamous tour, supporting the special, drew over 100,000 attendees across North American dates and concluded with two sold-out shows at the 6,000-seat Radio City Music Hall in New York City.[28] Subsequent tours showcased escalating venue sizes, including Madison Square Garden performances announced in November 2023 that sold out within 90 minutes, leading to an added second night.[29] The Life tour further demonstrated demand, selling out Toronto's Scotiabank Arena for two consecutive nights in 2024 and attracting more than 26,000 fans combined.[30]Live Performances and Crowd Work Style
Andrew Schulz's live performances emphasize extensive audience interaction, with crowd work forming a core element of his stand-up routine. Unlike traditional sets reliant on pre-written material, Schulz often dedicates significant portions of his shows to improvising based on audience responses, probing personal details to generate spontaneous humor. This approach creates unpredictable, high-energy exchanges that adapt in real time to the venue's dynamics.[31] In August 2019, Schulz released "The Crowd Work Special" exclusively on YouTube, a 30-minute compilation consisting entirely of unscripted interactions from his live appearances, devoid of prepared jokes. The special showcases his technique of escalating banter into extended roasts, targeting topics like relationships, professions, and audience attire, often resulting in viral clips. Annual compilations, such as "Top 14 Crowd Work Moments of the Year (2019 BEST OF COMPILATION)" and its 2021 counterpart, each amassing over 8 million views on his channel, further illustrate this style's popularity through highlights of confrontations with hecklers and improvised storytelling.[32][33][34] Schulz's crowd work is characterized by rapid-fire delivery, unapologetic provocations, and a focus on real-time adaptability, enabling him to disarm or amplify audience reactions for comedic effect. Notable examples include physically engaging a heckler with a hug during a set and dissecting couples' dynamics in the front row, as featured in tour footage from "The Life Tour." This method sustains engagement in larger venues, contributing to sold-out shows and added dates, such as a fourth performance in San Francisco and a second in Miami during the 2024 leg. His international tours, including "Views From the CIS," extend this interactive format to diverse audiences, reinforcing his reputation for thriving on live unpredictability.[35][36][37]Media and Entertainment Ventures
Television and Film Roles
Andrew Schulz first rose to prominence in television through his work on MTV2's Guy Code, a panel discussion series that premiered on November 17, 2011, and ran for four seasons until 2015, where he served as a host and contributor alongside comedians like Lil Duval and Chris Distefano, covering topics on male etiquette and humor.[38] He also hosted or appeared in related MTV2 spinoffs, including Guy Court (2014), Girl Code (2014–2015), and The Hook Up (2015), which extended the format to courtroom-style debates and female perspectives on relationships.[39] These roles established Schulz as a staple in unscripted comedy programming, leveraging his improvisational style for viral clips and audience engagement.[40] In scripted television, Schulz starred in the IFC series Benders in 2015, playing one of five childhood friends reuniting as adults amid personal crises, though the show was canceled after one season due to low ratings.[41] He made guest appearances in HBO's Crashing (2017–2018), portraying himself in Pete Holmes' semi-autobiographical comedy about a comedian crashing with peers post-divorce.[42] Additional TV credits include roles in Hulu's There's... Johnny! (2017), Amazon's Sneaky Pete (2015–2019), and the Netflix series Tires (2024), where he appeared as Andy in the workplace comedy led by Shane Gillis.[43] Schulz also featured in the upcoming video game adaptation Street Fighter (scheduled for 2026), cast as Dan Hibiki.[40] Schulz's film roles have been primarily supporting parts in comedies. In Write When You Get Work (2018), he played Mitchell Mullen Vega, a corporate antagonist in this indie drama about workplace revenge.[1] He portrayed Angelo, a boisterous family member, in the holiday comedy Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019).[41] Subsequent appearances include Cousin Avi in the Netflix romantic comedy You People (2023), directed by Kenya Barris, and Tj in the White Men Can't Jump remake (2023).[43] In 2024, he appeared as Chip Collins in The Underdoggs, a sports comedy produced by Snoop Dogg and directed by Charles Stone III, and as Ronnie in the rom-com Upgraded.[42] He is also set to play Hector in the Western thriller The Thicket (2024), alongside Peter Dinklage and Juliette Lewis.[1] These roles often draw on Schulz's comedic persona, emphasizing quick-witted, irreverent characters.[44]Web Series and Digital Content
Schulz co-created and starred in the web series The Apartmentship alongside Dan Frigolette, portraying the dynamics between two Manhattan apartment renters and their neighbors in a series of comedic sketches released on YouTube.[21] In 2009, he wrote and appeared in Rise of the Radio Show, a Funny or Die web series featuring interactions with veteran comedian Dave Attell, marking one of his early forays into online sketch comedy.[42][45] Schulz leveraged digital platforms for direct-to-audience distribution of his comedy specials, releasing The Crowd Work Special on YouTube on August 26, 2019, which highlighted his improvisational audience interactions filmed during live performances.[32] His 2022 special Infamous was initially offered via pay-per-view on his website before being made freely available on YouTube on September 25, 2022, amassing millions of views and demonstrating a model of independent digital release bypassing traditional networks.[5] On Netflix, Schulz produced the four-part digital special Schulz Saves America, which premiered on December 17, 2020, and addressed polarizing social and political topics through unscripted, crowd-sourced segments filmed in various U.S. cities.[7][1] These projects underscore Schulz's strategy of utilizing web and streaming platforms to maintain creative control and engage audiences directly, often prioritizing unfiltered content over advertiser-friendly formats.[39]Podcasting Empire
Andrew Schulz co-hosts the comedy podcast Flagrant alongside Akaash Singh, which debuted in 2017 under the initial title "Flagrant 2."[46] The show features unfiltered discussions on current events, pop culture, and personal anecdotes, often incorporating irreverent humor and guest appearances from comedians, athletes, and public figures such as Peter Attia.[3] By 2025, Flagrant had produced over 559 episodes, maintaining a weekly release schedule that underscores its consistency and listener retention.[47] It holds a 4.4-star rating from more than 33,000 reviews across platforms and ranks among the top 150 podcasts in U.S. listener surveys, reflecting substantial audience engagement without reliance on traditional media syndication.[47][48] ![Akaash Singh, co-host of Flagrant][float-right]Schulz's other major podcast venture, The Brilliant Idiots, launched in April 2014 with Charlamagne tha God, focusing on topical debates delivered through provocative and often contradictory exchanges.[4] The format emphasizes raw, unscripted commentary on politics, entertainment, and social issues, distinguishing it from more structured broadcasts by prioritizing spontaneous banter over polished production.[49] Earning a 4.6-star rating from over 11,000 reviews, the podcast has sustained relevance through Schulz's growing profile, though it releases less frequently than Flagrant.[4] Both shows operate independently, leveraging YouTube and streaming platforms for distribution, which has enabled Schulz to bypass gatekeepers and monetize via ads, merchandise, and live events tied to podcast content.[50] These podcasts form the core of Schulz's audio empire, amplifying his stand-up persona through viral clips and cross-promotion with his comedy tours.[51] Their success stems from a commitment to boundary-pushing discourse in an era of content moderation, attracting millions of views on ancillary video uploads while avoiding corporate oversight that might dilute edge.[25] In 2025 industry assessments, Schulz was recognized as a key talent in podcasting for sustaining dual high-profile series amid competitive fragmentation.[50]