Jerry Minor
Jerry Minor is an actor, born 1969.
If you have watched American alternative comedy at any point since the mid nineties, you have watched Jerry Minor. Born in Memphis in 1969, he came up through sketch, credited simply as Various on Mr. Show with Bob and David, then spent time at Saturday Night Live and worked through the strange middle layer of cable comedy: Crossballs: The Debate Show, The Man Show, Primetime Glick and the British import Trigger Happy TV.
What he does is harder than it looks. Minor is almost always the sanest person on screen, the one reacting at normal human volume while the scene detonates around him, and that role is the load bearing wall of this kind of comedy. Jerry the Janitor on Community is the compact version: a handful of appearances, no punchlines of his own, and he is funny in every one of them. The same applies to Mighty Joe Jon on Delocated, Walter on Lucky Louie, Jamie Laing on Eastbound & Down and Chris Darden on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
The network sitcom years fill out the rest: Aubrey Williber on Carpoolers, Principal Davis on The Grinder, Eric on Dr. Ken, Murphy on Mulaney, Steve on American Auto and Mr. Morton on Abbott Elementary. He voices Denzel Jackson on Brickleberry and Scootie on Farzar, and appears in films mostly in single scenes: Tino's Bassist in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its companion feature Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, the shopkeeper in Son of the Mask, Lt. Drier in Walk of Shame and a scout in Junebug.
Movies (9)
TV (19)
- Community (2009)
- Abbott Elementary (2021)
- Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015)
- Comedy Bang! Bang! (2012)
- Key & Peele (2012)
- The Man Show (1999)
- Eastbound & Down (2009)
- Dr. Ken (2015)
- Mr. Show with Bob and David (1995)
- American Auto (2021)
- Brickleberry (2012)
- The Grinder (2015)
- Primetime Glick (2001)
- Carpoolers (2007)
- Mulaney (2014)
- Farzar (2022)
- Crossballs: The Debate Show (2004)
- Delocated (2009)
- Lucky Louie (2006)
Where to start with Jerry Minor
Mr. Show with Bob and David is the foundation, and it is still the best sketch comedy America has produced. Minor arrives late in its run and fits immediately, which tells you what his instincts are.
For the sitcom version, Community is the efficient sample. Jerry the Janitor gets a few minutes across the whole series and every one of them is a small, precise joke about being the only reasonable person in the building.
Delocated is the deep cut and the funniest thing on this list if your comedy runs cold and cruel. Eastbound & Down and Lucky Louie are the other two shows that use him properly.
Abbott Elementary is the current one and the friendliest place to start if the rest sounds abrasive. Brickleberry covers the animated work, and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy is where most people have seen him without noticing.