Gold Derby Presents...A Week with Ted Lasso: Brendan Hunt

Brendan Hunt is an American actor, Emmy-nominated writer and playwright based in Los Angeles. He co-created “Ted Lasso” with Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence and Joe Kelly. Among his many TV credits, Brendan most recently recurred in the ABC comedy “Bless this Mess” with Lake Bell and Dax Shepard; he has also appeared on “Community,” “Parks and Recreation” and several episodes of “Key and Peele.” In theater, Brendan has twice been nominated for LA Theater’s Ovation Awards, winning one for Best Actor in a Musical.

A Chicago native and a veteran of sketch and improv comedy, Brendan’s longest tenure with any group was with Amsterdam’s notorious Boom Chicago, where he performed with Sudeikis, Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Ike Barinholtz, Heather Anne Campbell and many more. His solo show about that experience, “Five Years in Amsterdam,” debuted at IO West in Los Angeles, and went on to be performed at UCB LA, UCB NY, Second City ETC, the Edinburgh Fringe and the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.

While living in Amsterdam, Brendan became a massive fan of soccer, eventually writing a weekly soccer column for a Dutch commuter newspaper. This laid the groundwork for his successful Boom Chicago-produced vlog “The Unlikely Fan,” which eventually led to a guest appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

Brendan’s TV writing experience includes a stint as Head Writer for Comedy Central Netherlands’ “Comedy Central News”; as part of the team that wrote the Jack Antonoff mockumentary series “Thank you and Sorry”; and garnered an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for the “Key and Peel Super Bowl Special. His two plays, “Absolutely Filthy” and “The Art Couple,” both had sold-out LA runs. The former is currently optioned to run Off-Broadway in 2020.