Derek Matthew Waters (born July 30, 1979) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and director. He is best known for his work on the television series ''
Drunk History
''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show' ...
'' (2013–2019), which earned him eight
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
nominations.
Early life
Waters was raised in Lutherville, Maryland. Waters is dyslexic, and was in special education in school. As a child, he aspired to be a professional baseball player, but didn't make his high school team, and so became a
Little League
Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization He attended Towson High School in
Towson, Maryland
Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 55,197 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unin ...
, graduating in 1998. The following year, he went to Second City in
Toronto, Canada
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
After moving to Los Angeles, he worked at Tower Video, a job he liked since he had never been exposed to independent movies before. He has performed sketch comedy in Los Angeles since 2000, and for many years was part of the comedy duo Derek & Simon with
Simon Helberg
Simon Maxwell Helberg (born December 9, 1980) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Howard Wolowitz in the CBS sitcom ''The Big Bang Theory'' (2007–2019), for which he won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Su ...
. The two starred together in the web series ''Derek & Simon: The Show'' on the comedy website Super Deluxe, which they created with comedian
Bob Odenkirk
Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...
. They made two short films "Derek & Simon: The Pity Card" (co-starring
Zach Galifianakis
Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969) is an American actor and comedian. He appeared in '' Comedy Central Presents'' special and presented his show '' Late World with Zach'' on VH1.
Galifianakis has starred in films including ''T ...
and Bill Hader) and "Derek & Simon: A Bee and a Cigarette" (co-starring Casey Wilson and Emily Rutherfurd) and had a pilot deal with HBO in 2005.
In 2003, he co-starred in the ABC series '' Married to the Kellys''.
Waters has appeared on television programs such as ''
The League
''The League'' is an American sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, Illinois, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football leag ...
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' is an American sitcom created by Rob McElhenney and developed by McElhenney and Glenn Howerton that premiered on August 4, 2005 on FX and later FXX beginning with the ninth season in 2013. It stars Charlie ...
Maron
Maron, also called Maroun or Maro ( syr, ܡܪܘܢ, '; ar, مارون; la, Maron; grc-gre, Μάρων), was a 4th-century Syrian Syriac Christian hermit monk in the Taurus Mountains whose followers, after his death, founded a religious Chris ...
'', ''
Happy Endings
A happy ending is a type of plot conclusion.
Happy Ending or Happy Endings may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Happy Ending'' (film), a 2014 Bollywood film
* ''Winter Passing'', a 2005 American film released in the UK in 2013 as ''Happy ...
The Sarah Silverman Program
''The Sarah Silverman Program'' is an American television sitcom, which ran from February 1, 2007, to April 15, 2010, on Comedy Central starring comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, who created the series with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. ''The Sa ...
weasel
Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender ...
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 program ...
series ''
Drunk History
''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show' ...
''. The show originally started as a series of shorts for
Funny or Die
Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a re ...
. The show has won multiple awards, such as the jury prize in short filmmaking at the Sundance Festival and was nominated for seventeen Primetime Emmy Awards, garnering Waters seven nominations.
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born February 5, 1948) is an American-British screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor, and comedian. Guest is most widely known in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood for having writte ...