Jewish comedian Zach Woods looms large. Literally. According to IMDb, his trademark is “his towering height.” But of course, he also takes up space in Hollywood. Since the 2010s, Zach has been ultrarecognizable for his hilariously awkward style of comedy and roles in “The Office” and “Silicon Valley.”
So, here are 18 things to know about Zach Woods.
1. Zach was born on Sept. 25, 1984 in Trenton, New Jersey to a Jewish family.
2. He’s a Libra!
3. Zach played trumpet as a kid and initially wanted to be a musician when he grew up. Unfortunately, he got braces and they affected his ability to play so much that he stopped.
4. According to Wikipedia, he started performing improv comedy at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade at age 16.
5. He was a member of the UCB improv group The Stepfathers. Other notable members were Bobby Moynihan, Chris Gethard and Jordan Klepper.
6. Zach was the homecoming king at his high school!
@zachwoods Where my 110 pounders at? #homecomingking #hsyearbook #latenight #talkshow #conan #conanobrien
7. He graduated from Pennsbury High School and later from New York University.
8. His sister Nora is a rabbi! She studied at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
9. Jewish comedian Marc Maron saw Zach Woods perform at UCB and it impressed him! They talk about it an episode of WTF, which you can listen to below:
10. Zach is maybe best known for playing Gabe Lewis in “The Office.” Please enjoy some non-stop Gabe:
11. But do you want the best of Gabe from “The Office”? Well, here you go:
12. He has very specific conditions to join a reboot of “The Office.”
“I will only play Erin. That is the only way I would agree, is if they’ll dye my hair red, put some freckles on my face and allow me to be the plucky source of optimism and good feeling in ‘The Office,’” Zach told UPROXX.
13. On “Silicon Valley,” Zach Woods’ character Jared has waking dreams where he’s screaming in German. This plotline might have come from a hilarious experience Zach had in real life. We’ll let him tell it:
14. In case you were wondering, he’s 6 feet, 4 inches tall.
15. Need to know how to survive in the woods? Zach’s got you.
16. Zach has had roles in movies like “In the Loop,” “Spy” and “The Post,” and in TV shows like “Veep,” “Big Mouth” and “The Afterparty.”
17. In his Peacock show “In the Know,” Zach voices NPR’s third most popular host Lauren Caspian. He interviews real-life people like Kaia Gerber and Roxane Gay.
@zachwoods How to walk in heels
18. Interestingly, Lauren is stop-motion puppet!
“The reason we chose stop-motion is because given that it is a show about fragile, slightly breakable, kind of precious little people who are being controlled by forces that are beyond their own awareness, puppetry seemed like a perfect medium to capture that,” Zach explained in an interview.
