Described by
The New York Times as a "
John Belushi-like madman", McCarthy began performing standup comedy after graduating from
Fordham University where he was the
mascot,
The Ram, from 1999 to 2001. He then studied
improvisation at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York. Before becoming a performer, he appeared as a contestant on an episode of
Cash Cab, which aired on June 26, 2006. In 2008, he starred in a
St. Patrick's Day commercial for
Guinness. The next year he portrayed The Cable Guy in a series of
Verizon FiOs commercials. McCarthy co-founded the sketch video group Front Page Films with fellow comedians and creators, including frequent collaborator
Pete Holmes. FPF made sketches, commercials and viral videos for
Doritos,
Crunch Fitness,
CollegeHumor, and
Comedy Central. McCarthy also starred in many shorts for
CollegeHumor. Numerous Front Page Film videos were featured on
Atom.com and Comedy Central's
Tosh.0. In 2010, McCarthy hosted
Action Pack on
AMC with Nick Stevens. An avid
pro wrestling fan, from 2011 to 2012 and 2016-2018 McCarthy worked as a creative writer for the
WWE. In 2013, McCarthy began recording episodes of the
We Watch Wrestling Podcast with fellow stand-up comedians Vince Averill and Tom Sibley and producer Rob Sibley. From October 2013 through June 2014, McCarthy was a series regular and writer on
The Pete Holmes Show on
TBS following
Conan. ==Stand-up comedy==