Jason Woliner is an American director, writer and a former child actor who directed the 2020 movie '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''. He was the non-performing member of the comedy group

Human Giant ''Human Giant'' is a sketch comedy show, starring writer/performers Aziz Ansari, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer, and directed primarily by Jason Woliner. The show ran for two seasons on MTV. In interviews, the group has mentioned that they were o ...

and directed the bulk of their output. After that, he directed, co-wrote, and acted as showrunner on the cult

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

series '' Eagleheart'' starring Chris Elliott. Woliner has directed episodes of Fox TV's '' The Last Man on Earth'',

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's '' Parks and Recreation'', and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

's '' Nathan for You'' and '' Jon Benjamin Has a Van'', among others.

Early life and acting career

Woliner was born in

The Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New York ...

, and began acting when he was four years old, having been discovered performing in a "father/son magician team" (alongside his father, Alan, who did children's birthday parties under the name "Amazing Alan The Magical Rabbit"). He appeared in over thirty television commercials and as "Matt", a series regular during the first season of

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

Shining Time Station ''Shining Time Station'' is an American children's television series jointly created by British television producer Britt Allcroft and American television producer Rick Siggelkow. The series was produced by Quality Family Entertainment (the Ame ...

''. On Broadway, he performed in the play '' Conversations with My Father'' and he played the role of "Bratty Kid" in the cult film ''

Weekend at Bernie's ''Weekend at Bernie's'' is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Ted Kotcheff and written by Robert Klane, loosely based on the 1959 novella '' The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell'' by Jorge Amado. The film stars Andrew McCarthy and ...

''. Woliner attended Pelham Memorial High School and for higher study at Sarah Lawrence College from 1998 to 2000 before dropping out to pursue a directing career.WTF With Marc Maron Episode 455: Jason Woliner
/ref>

Directing career

After leaving school, Woliner began making films and videos, both on his own and with comedians in New York, which led to the formation of "Human Giant". The first three Human Giant videos ("Shutterbugs", "Illusionators", and the "Shittiest Mixtape Boombox Blast") caught the eyes of executives at MTV, who offered the group a pilot. The show ran for two seasons. He has collaborated with writer-performer

Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...

on a series of horror/comedy specials for

. The first of these, titled '' Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends'', aired in April 2014, and the second special, titled '' Dinner with Family with Brett Gelman and Brett Gelman's Family'', aired in February 2015. The third special, '' Brett Gelman's Dinner in America'', aired in July 2016. Woliner and Gelman wrote the specials together; Gelman stars and Woliner directed. In 2020, he directed the comedy film '' Borat Subsequent Moviefilm''.

Filmography

Film

Acting roles Special thanks * ''Origin Story'' (2018) * '' Mister America'' (2019)

Television

TV specials

References

External links

*
A.V. Club interview with Human Giant

Human Giant site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woliner, Jason Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters American male child actors American male comedians American male film actors American television writers American male television writers American television directors Comedians from New York City Film directors from New York City Male actors from New York City Screenwriters from New York (state) Writers from the Bronx