Dan Bakkedahl

Being one of seven siblings is bound to sharpen your wits, so Dan Bakkedahl probably has his brothers and sisters to thank for his improv comedy skills. Having spent a year touring with the Repertory Theater of America after graduating from university, Bakkedahl arrived in the live comedy capital of Chicago and forged his reputation at the Improv Olympic as part of the duo Zumpf with Miles Stroth. He was soon performing at The Players Workshop and the famous Second City venue, where he notably scripted much of the troupe's 90th revue, "Doors Open on the Right." In 2005, he replaced Stephen Colbert as a correspondent on Jon Stewart's satire vehicle "The Daily Show," and during his time on the show he did voice work on the video game "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks." Two years later, Bakkedahl decamped to Hollywood, where he made his feature debut as the crank caller in the Jonathan Eliot comedy "Crime Fiction." Guest slots followed in such TV shows as "30 Rock," "The Flight of the Conchords," and "The Office," before he appeared as Rick Sleevning in the 2008 misfiring prank short "My First Kidnapping." The following year, he played Mark in the shopping mall farce "Observe and Report" and Professor Richard Valentine battling for a college deanship in "Welcome to Academia." Subsequently, he has cropped up in episodes of "How I Met Your Mother," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and "United States of Tara," as well as the 2011 short "Marriage Drama With Virginia Madsen."