After college, Walsh took
improvisational comedy classes in Chicago, where he became a regular performer at the
Annoyance Theater and
ImprovOlympic, and studied under
Del Close. In 1991, he met comedian
Matt Besser, with whom he began performing stand-up comedy. Along with
Matt Besser,
Amy Poehler, and
Ian Roberts, he is a founding member of the
Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy troupe and played "Trotter" in the troupe's sketch comedy series, which ran for three seasons on
Comedy Central. Before the show, the UCB comedy foursome had already been doing improv shows at their theatre in New York, which used to be a burlesque house before they remodeled it to become a theatre. To date, they have founded four successful Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theaters located in New York at UCB Chelsea and The East Village UCB, and Los Angeles with UCB Franklin and UCB Sunset. Besides his sketch work with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Walsh is also known for his memorable supporting roles in popular comedy films in recent years including
Old School,
Starsky & Hutch,
Be Kind Rewind,
Ted, and
Keeping Up with the Joneses. Walsh also wrote and starred in the cult indie-comedy
Martin & Orloff. Walsh was a correspondent on
The Daily Show from 2001 to 2002, and made regular appearances in comedy sketches on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' and
MTV's
Human Giant as well as starring in the Comedy Central
mockumentary series
Dog Bites Man in the summer of 2006. Walsh has the distinction of having appeared in several
Todd Phillips comedy films, most often playing characters aptly named "Walsh". In 2010, Walsh created the improvised comedy series
Players for
Spike TV. Walsh (creator, writer, director and executive producer of the show) stars in the series alongside his Upright Citizens Brigade partner
Ian Roberts, as two brothers who run a sports bar together. The show aired for one season, concluding on August 14, 2010. Walsh hosted the podcast
Bear Down with comedian
Scot Armstrong (screenwriter of
Old School) where they discuss their favorite football team the
Chicago Bears and do sports-themed comedy bits such as fake call-ins and in-character interviews. The podcast has also featured appearances by comedians such as
Horatio Sanz,
Ian Roberts,
Joe Nunez, and Matt Price. In 2010, Walsh had recurring roles on the
NBC comedy series
Outsourced and on the
HBO comedy series
Hung. In 2012, he began co-starring as Mike McLintock in the HBO series
Veep, for which he was nominated for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2016 and 2017. During that year, Walsh portrayed
J. R. R. Tolkien in
The Dead Authors Podcast. Walsh directed his first feature film
High Road, an indie-comedy he co-wrote with Josh Weiner. The film was released on March 6, 2012. Walsh co-wrote his second film,
A Better You, with
Brian Huskey, who also stars in the film. In the movie
Into the Storm, Walsh stars as Pete Moore, who is the driver of the
Tornado Intercept Vehicle nicknamed "Titus." He appeared in the MyCareer mode in the basketball simulation game
NBA 2K17. ==Filmography==