Baron Vaughn
Baron Vaughn is an actor, born 1980.
Comedy is the training, and it shows in how precisely he lands a line that is not actually a joke. The clearest evidence is Bud Bergstein on Grace and Frankie, a man who is anxious, over-explains everything and would be unbearable if he were not played with such obvious affection. Vaughn keeps him sympathetic for the whole run, which is harder than the writing makes it look.
The other signature job is Tom Servo in the 2017 revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which he plays again in the 2022 entry listed here. Taking over a puppet with that much history is a thankless assignment, because the audience knows the previous voices by heart and will happily tell you so. He solved it by not doing an impression of anybody.
Around those two, the page is a tour of American comedy in the 2010s: Ken on Superstore, legal assistant Leonardo Prince on the USA Network series Fairly Legal, Wallace on Enlisted, a character called Baron on Corporate, sketch work on The Whitest Kids U' Know, Jimmy in Black Dynamite. There is a horror streak in Scare Package, and a straight voice job as Donatello in Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His single scene as a party guest in Cloverfield is the earliest film credit here, which is a very 2008 place for a comedian's screen career to begin.
Movies (10)
TV (8)
Where to start with Baron Vaughn
Bud Bergstein is the way in, so put on Grace and Frankie first. He has the most room of anything here and the show puts him opposite actors who have been doing this for decades. Mystery Science Theater 3000 is the other essential, and if you already know the format you can start there instead; Mystery Science Theater 3000 carries it on.
For the comedian undiluted, The Whitest Kids U' Know is sketch and Corporate is the bleakest workplace comedy on the page. Black Dynamite is the funniest film here by a wide margin, a blaxploitation pastiche that commits completely to the joke. Superstore is a small recurring part in a very good ensemble. Skip Scare Package unless horror anthologies are already your thing.