Photo: Gage Skidmore / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Joel McHale occupies a rare niche in comedy: the smirking insider who bites the hand that feeds him and somehow keeps getting fed. Hosting The Soup for over a decade, he sharpened a brand of media satire that felt both merciless and affectionate, and Community's Jeff Winger let him weaponize that same charm into one of sitcom history's great reluctant heroes. What I admire most is his durability — writer, voice actor, host, leading man — he keeps reinventing the delivery without ever softening the wit. Born in Rome and schooled in Washington, he is proof that sarcasm, done with warmth, can be a career-long art form.
Overview
Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television presenter. He is best known for hosting The Soup (2004–2015) and his role as Jeffrey "Jeff" Winger on the NBC sitcom Community (2009–2015). He has performed in the films Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011), Ted (2012), and The Happytime Murders (2018).
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Joel McHale
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョエル・マクヘイル
- Reading
- じょえる・まくへいる
- Born
- November 20, 1971 (age 54)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Scorpio / Boar
- Origin
- Rome, Province of Rome, Italy
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- actor / voice actor / writer / screenwriter / film actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Mercer Island High School
- University
- University of Washington
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Actor — see all → · Voice actor — see all → · More people from Italy →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.