Comedy partnership with Rob Huebel Riggle has a long-standing comedic partnership with comedian
Rob Huebel, with whom he frequently appears at the
Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCBT) and in their former improvisational sketch comedy troupe
Respecto Montalban. Perhaps the duo's best known creation was their long running two-man show
Kung Fu Grip which they performed at UCBT and other comedy venues for many years, and in the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival. Around this time, they began appearing together in several of
Comedy Central and
VH1's "talking head" commentary programs such as
Best Week Ever and
A2Z. They also appeared in
Bravo network's
100 Scariest Movie Moments special in 2004. These appearances got the duo their first exposure to television viewers and made them favorites among VH1 viewers. Riggle, Huebel and most of their castmates from
Respecto Montalban also performed in sketches on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' through the late 1990s and early 2000s. The duo's growing popularity landed them an audition on
Saturday Night Live in the summer of 2004. They auditioned together, though only Riggle ended up making the cut. After spending one season on
Saturday Night Live from 2004 to 2005, Riggle soon joined Huebel and many of his other
Respecto Montalban castmates in
Los Angeles to work on new projects. Soon after, the two landed a holding deal at
NBC in early 2006 to develop a half-hour comedy program, though it never reached production. In September 2006, Riggle joined
The Daily Show as a regular correspondent. Around the same time, Huebel (along with
Respecto Montalban member
Paul Scheer and stand-up comic
Aziz Ansari) started developing
Human Giant, a sketch show for
MTV. Riggle often appeared in the show's sketches, and in its 24-hour live marathon which aired in May 2007. One of Riggle's most memorable appearances was as hired muscle Ham-Bone, who appeared alongside
Aziz Ansari in the season one sketch "Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru". Riggle and Huebel can also be seen on stage at the UCBT in
Doug Benson's documentary
Super High Me.
Saturday Night Live A featured player during the 2004–2005 season, Riggle's first appearance as a
SNL cast member was on the show's 30th-season premiere on October 2, 2004. During the
2008 Olympics, Riggle traveled to
China to tape sketches for
The Daily Show, producing the four-part special feature "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon". Riggle left
The Daily Show on December 10, 2008, in his words "to go fight crime"; however, he appeared at
Bonnaroo 2009—with
John Oliver and
Rory Albanese, one of the show's
executive producers—in a show entitled
An Evening (or Afternoon) with The Daily Show featuring John Oliver, Rob Riggle & Rory Albanese. On August 3, 2010, Riggle made a surprise cameo on
The Daily Show during an interview with
Will Ferrell. While Ferrell and Stewart began discussing Riggle's "lack of talent" and making other disparaging remarks about him, Riggle suddenly walked onto the set to "surprise" them and asked if they were talking about him. His intimidating presence appeared to make Ferrell and Stewart visibly afraid, continuing the running joke that Stewart is afraid of Riggle.
Stand-up comedy Previously, Riggle's live comedy work was mostly
improvisational and sketch-based. Beginning in 2006, he wanted to try something different and decided to create a stand-up act. After working on it in various comedy clubs in New York City, he toured colleges and other comedy clubs, often performing with
John Oliver and other
Daily Show writers. He credits Oliver for encouraging him to try stand-up while they shared an office at
The Daily Show. Riggle hosted an episode of
Comedy Central's stand-up series
Live at Gotham on December 4, 2009, and taped a
Comedy Central Presents special that aired on March 5, 2010.
Other work Riggle played Eddie Reynolds in
Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, a 2004 film starring Rob Corddry, and featuring almost all of the Respecto Montalban group. Later that year Riggle was one of the "Flab Four" on the
Comedy Central mini-series
Straight Plan for the Gay Man, a parody of
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that ran for three episodes. In 2006, Riggle guest-starred as a boat captain named Captain Jack on the "
Booze Cruise" episode of
The Office, and as an anti-euthanasia activist on
Arrested Development. He was also seen as a
NASCAR announcer in the comedy film
Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell. In late 2007, Riggle began appearing as a spokesman in a series of
Budweiser commercials. In 2008 he signed a talent holding contract with
CBS and CBS Paramount Network TV, which included a development deal to create and star in a half-hour comedy series. He also gained a supporting role in
Step Brothers, where he plays a rude co-worker of Brennan's (Will Ferrell). He had memorable supporting roles in the 2009 films
The Hangover and
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, and supporting roles in the 2010 comedies
Going the Distance,
Killers, and
The Other Guys. In 2009, Riggle started a recurring role on the
CBS sitcom
Gary Unmarried, playing Mitch, Jay Mohr's brother from the Marines. In 2010, Riggle and comedian
Paul Scheer wrote and starred in "Designated Driver", a series of sketches for the first season of the
HBO comedy show
Funny or Die Presents. Riggle, Scheer, and Rob Huebel also wrote and starred in a series of sketches called "Death Hunt" in the show's second season in 2011. For the 2010–2011
NFL football season, Riggle recorded a
Monday Night Football introduction and several short comedy bits for the
Kansas City Chiefs to be played at
Arrowhead Stadium in
Kansas City, Missouri. He played the lead in the 2011
CBS sitcom pilot
Home Game, executive produced by
Mark Wahlberg. Riggle is seen in stadium monitors at
Qwest Field during
Seattle Seahawks games, encouraging fans to cheer. In May 2011, Riggle appeared in a two-minute short on
funnyordie.com as the
U.S. Navy SEAL who
killed Osama bin Laden. He plays a humble
US Navy Lieutenant (though the insignia on his uniform displays three solid gold bands, indicating the O-5 rank of a USN commander) who, upon being awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross, pledges absolute discretion, then gets intoxicated at a local bar and boasts unreservedly to a large crowd that he was bin Laden's assassin. From 2011 to 2013, Riggle co-starred as the President of the Navy in the
Adult Swim comedy-action series
NTSF:SD:SUV::. On July 11, 2012, he hosted the 2012
ESPY Awards. In 2012, Riggle had a recurring role as Kevin Jesquire in season two of the
FX comedy series
Wilfred. He also began the recurring role of Gil Thorpe, the real-estate rival of Phil Dunphy (played by
Ty Burrell), on the comedy series
Modern Family, which continued through the show's 11th and final season in 2020. In October 2013, he played Satan in the music video for
Steel Panther's "Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World". In 2014, he was expected to star with
Rob Lowe in the
pilot for the
single-camera comedy The Pro as Bobby Welch, a former professional
tennis player. but the series was not picked up. Riggle appeared as
Frank West in the 2015 film
Dead Rising: Watchtower. In August 2016, Riggle appeared at the
Comedy Central Roast of Rob Lowe. From September 2016, Riggle took over the role of
Colonel Sanders in the
KFC ad campaigns, following other comedians including
Norm Macdonald and
Darrell Hammond. From 2019 to 2021, Riggle co-hosted the miniature golf game show
Holey Moley with
Stephen Curry and
Joe Tessitore. In 2023, Riggle voiced Glorlox, an alien
bounty hunter and recurring character in
My Dad the Bounty Hunter.
Fox NFL Sunday Beginning with the 19th-season premiere of the
Fox NFL Sunday pre-game show on September 9, 2012, Riggle took over the comedy skit and prognosticator portions previously performed by
Frank Caliendo from 2003 to 2011. Riggle did not return to the Fox NFL pre-game show in 2020. ==Personal life==