Karl Diedrich Bader (born December 24, 1966) He is best known for his comedic and voice acting roles. He has appeared as a series regular in television sitcoms The Drew Carey Show, American Housewife and Outsourced, along with recurring roles in Better Things and Veep. His film credits include The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), Office Space (1999) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004).
He has had a prolific voice-over career, playing characters such as Hoss Delgado in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Zeta in The Zeta Project, Tank Evans in the films Surf's Up and Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, Dr. Meridian/Mandroid in Transformers: EarthSpark, and provided the voice of Bruce Wayne / Batman in multiple animated films and television series, beginning in 2008 with Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
Early life and education
Karl Diedrich Bader was born in Alexandria, Virginia, on Christmas Eve, 1966, the son of Gretta Bader (; 1931–2014), a sculptor, and William B. Bader (1931–2016), a foundation executive and political activist. His patrilineal great-grandfather was Edward L. Bader, who served as the mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is of German and Scottish descent.
When Bader was two years old, his family moved to Paris. As a child, Bader performed impersonations of Charlie Chaplin, which he later described as an early influence on his comedic sensibility. He returned to the U.S. to attend Groveton High School. He graduated from T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Career
thumb|upright|Bader at the 2010 Comic-Con
After a few guest roles on popular television series such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap, Diagnosis: Murder, and Cheers, Bader's first major role was in the 1993 series Danger Theatre, playing The Searcher. He moved into cinema acting for the 1993 film version of The Beverly Hillbillies, and returned to television, playing Oswald on The Drew Carey Show starting in 1995. He appeared in the 1999 film Office Space as Peter's neighbor Lawrence, and in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite as Rex, the owner of a Taekwondo dojang. He performs in the 2004 film Eurotrip as a thief. In 2010, Bader took the role of Charlie on the television series Outsourced.
thumb|150px|Bader in 2011
As a voice actor, he has voiced various characters in animated features, television series and video games, such as Ice Age, The Simpsons, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, South Park and The Penguins of Madagascar. In 2012, he reprised his role as Rex in the animated TV series Napoleon Dynamite. He played the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri in Disney's Space Buddies. Bader has lent his voice to several different Batman cartoons, portraying both heroes and villains: Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, The Batman, and starring as the title character Bruce Wayne / Batman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Harley Quinn. Bader also voices Guy Gardner in Green Lantern: The Animated Series.
His other voice credits include JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, Judah Mannowdog in BoJack Horseman, the android Zeta in The Zeta Project, and Fiskerton in The Secret Saturdays.
In 2016, Bader starred in the "It's the Obvious Choice" series of Time Warner Cable television commercials and starred as Greg Otto in ABC sitcom American Housewife from 2016 to 2021. From 2014 to 2019, Bader had a recurring role on HBO sitcom Veep. From 2016 to 2022, Bader has had a recurring role as Sam's best friend, Rich, on Better Things.
Personal life
Bader has been married to actress Dulcy Rogers since May 1997.
Bader supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson during the 2016 United States presidential election. In 2020, he endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, after initially voting for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In 2024, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Filmography
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Live-action
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1988 || Longarm || Randy || Television film
|-
| 1988 || Desert Rats || Mort || Television film
|-
| 1989 || The Preppie Murder || Peter || Television film
|-
| 1990 || Arduous Man || || Short film
|-
| 1993 || The Beverly Hillbillies || Jethro Bodine / Jethrine Bodine ||
|-
| 1994 || Teresa's Tattoo || Higgins ||
|-
| 1996 || The Assassination File || Scott McDonough || Television film
|-
| 1999 || Office Space || Lawrence ||
|-
| 2000 || Certain Guys || Ronald ||
|-
| 2000 || Couple Days... A Period Piece || Josh ||
|-
| 2001 || Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back || Miramax Security Guard Gordon ||
|-
| 2002 || The Country Bears || Officer Cheets ||
|-
|2003
|Evil Alien Conquerors
|My-ik
|
|-
| 2004 || Napoleon Dynamite || Rex ||
|-
| 2004 || EuroTrip || Mugger ||
|-
| 2004 || Dead & Breakfast || Chef Henri ||
|-
| 2005 || Untitled Oakley & Weinstein Project || Lt. Peter Fontaine || Television film
|-
| 2005 || Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous || Joel ||
|-
| 2006 || Cattle Call || Glenn Dale ||
|-
| 2007 || Cook Off! || Del Crawford ||
|-
| 2007 || Sunny & Share Love You || Mr. Jami ||
|-
| 2007 || Balls of Fury || Randy Daytona's Concubine Companion ||
|-
| 2008 || Skip Tracer || Parker Tuffey || Television film
|-
| 2008 || Meet the Spartans || Traitoro ||
|-
| 2009 || Space Buddies || Yuri || Direct-to-video
|-
| 2009 || Calvin Marshall || Fred Deerfield ||
|-
| 2010 || Vampires Suck || Frank Crane ||
|-
| 2012 || Atlas Shrugged: Part II || Quentin Daniels ||
|-
| 2012 || Sassy Pants || Dale Pinto ||
|-
| 2013 || Playdate || Mitchell || Direct-to-video
|-
| 2013 || The Starving Games || President Snowballs ||
|-
| 2013 || I Know That Voice || Himself || Documentary
|-
| 2014 || Muffin Top: A Love Story || Michael Nicholson ||
|-
| 2015 || All She Wishes || Patrick O'Dea ||
|-
| 2019 || Phoenix, Oregon || Kyle ||
|-
| 2019 || Jay and Silent Bob Reboot || Relentless Security Guard || Cameo
|-
| 2022 || The Blackening || Officer White ||
|-
| 2022 || Weird: The Al Yankovic Story || Grizzled Narrator ||
|-
| 2023 || Shazam! Fury of the Gods || Mr. Geckle || Cameo
|-
| 2024 || The 4:30 Movie || Damocles ||
|-
| 2024 || Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story || Hank Higman || Television film
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1989 || Star Trek: The Next Generation || Tactical Crewman || Episode: "The Emissary" (credited as Dietrich Bader)
|-
| 1989 || Living Dolls || || Episode: "Martha Means Well"
|-
| 1990–1991 || Cheers || Waiter, Paul || 2 episodes (credited as Dietrich Bader)
|-
| 1990 || 21 Jump Street || Paul Edward Novack || Episode: "Last Chance High"
|-
| 1990 || Quantum Leap || Dillon || Episode: "Rebel Without a Clue" (credited as Dietrich Bader)
|-
| 1991 || The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air || Frank Schaeffer || 2 episodes (credited as Dietrich Bader)
|-
| 1993 || Danger Theatre || The Searcher || 7 episodes
|-
| 1995 || Diagnosis Murder || Lincoln Cutter || Episode: "The New Healers"
|-
| 1995 || Frasier || Brad || Episode: "The Innkeepers"
|-
| 1995–2004 || The Drew Carey Show || Oswald Lee Harvey || 233 episodes
|-
| 2004–2005 || Center of the Universe || Tommy Barnett || 12 episodes
|-
| 2007 || 7th Heaven || Theodore Alan "Al" Bonaducci || Episode: "Nothing Says Lovin' Like Something from the Oven"
|-
| 2007 || Monk || Chance Singer || Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man"
|-
| 2007 || Curb Your Enthusiasm || Simon || Episode: "The TiVo Guy"
|-
| 2008 || Reno 911! || Tommy Hawk || Episode: "Bounty Hunter Tommy Hawk"
|-
| 2008 || CSI: Crime Scene Investigation || Bud Parker || Episode: "Two and a Half Deaths"
|-
| 2009 || Drop Dead Diva || Wallace Haft || Episode: "The Chinese Wall"
|-
| 2009 || CSI: Miami || Myles Martini || Episode: "Dead on Arrival"
|-
| 2009–2010 || Bones || Andrew Hacker || 3 episodes
|-
| 2010 || Medium || Fred Rovick || Episode: "Will the Real Fred Rovick Please Stand Up?"
|-
| 2010 || Chuck || Del || Episode: "Chuck Versus the Beard"
|-
| 2010–2011 || Outsourced || Charlie Davies || 22 episodes
|-
| 2011 || Psych || Eli || Episode: "The Tao of Gus"
|-
| 2012 || NTSF:SD:SUV || Riddle Terrorist || Episode: "Sabbath-tage"
|-
| 2012–2013 || The Exes || Paul || 4 episodes
|-
| 2013 || Save Me || Elliot Tompkins || 7 episodes
|-
| 2013 || Arrested Development || Gunner || Episode: "Modern Marvels"
|-
| 2013 || Baby Daddy || Winston Douglas || Episode: "Never Ben in Love"
|-
| 2013 || Raising Hope || Gary || Episode: "Murder, She Hoped"
|-
| 2014 || Two and a Half Men || Dirk || Episode: "Dial 1-900-Mix-A-Lot"
|-
| 2014–2019 || Veep || Bill Ericsson || 21 episodes
|-
| 2015 || The Goldbergs || Lou || Episode: "The Lost Boy"
|-
| 2016–2021 || American Housewife || Greg Otto || 103 episodes
|-
| 2016–2022 || Better Things || Rich || 12 episodes
|-
| 2017 || Bill Nye Saves the World || Smallpox || Episode: "Do Some Shots, Save the World"
|-
| 2017 || Playing House || Simon || Episode: "Reverse the Curse"
|-
| 2019 || Young Sheldon || Batman || Episode: "Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib"
|-
| 2020 || Space Force || General Rongley || 3 episodes
|-
| 2021 || Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! || Batman || Special
|-
| 2023 || Lucky Hank || Tony Conigula || Main cast
|-
| 2025
|Running Point
|Assistant Coach Tony Spagnoli
|Episode: "The Streak"
|-
| 2026
|High Potential
|Brad Latmore
|Episode: "Turn, Up the Heat"
|}
Web
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 2017
| Kevin Pollak's Chat Show
| Himself
| Episode: "324"
|}
Voice roles
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1999 || Bartok the Magnificent || Vol || Direct-to-video
|-
| 2000 || Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins || Warp Darkmatter, Agent Z || Direct-to-video
|-
| 2022 || The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib || Junior Fancy Jr. ||
|-
| 2023–2025 || Hamster & Gretel || The Imposter, additional voices || Recurring role
|-
| 2024–present || Rock, Paper, Scissors || Chad Brockchad || Recurring role
|-
| 2024–present || Krapopolis || Sludge Monster/Frankensludge, Various || 3 episodes
|-
| 2024 || Batman: Caped Crusader || Harvey Dent / Two-Face || 8 episodes
|}