Dana Gould began his professional comedy career at the age of seventeen. Between Comedy Central, HBO and Showtime, Dana has six solo stand-up comedy specials to his credit. He has appeared on THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, CONAN, and MARON. As an actor, Dana has had memorable turns on SEINFELD, PARKS AND REC, is one of the few actors to play his live-action self on FAMILY GUY and THE SIMPSONS. He was a cast member of Frank Darabont’s 1940’s crime drama MOB CITY, in addition to numerous roles in films such as 2016’s cult horror anthology SOUTHBOUND. He’s also been featured on horror anthology CREEPSHOW and the television show BLACK MONDAY
Dana was a writer/performer on the original BEN STILLER SHOW and maintains an equally active career as a writer. After creating the pilot WORLD ON A STRING (with Jay Kogen), he co-created MTV’s late, lamented SUPER ADVENTURE TEAM with his old Ben Stiller office-mate Rob Cohen. Dana then joined the staff of THE SIMPSONS, where he was a Co-Executive Producer and performed several voices for the show. He was also a producer on NBC’s PARKS AND REC.
Dana is the creator and executive producer of the IFC horror-comedy STAN AGAINST EVIL starring John C. McGinley. STAN AGAINST EVIL premiered in October of 2016 to strong reviews and stronger ratings. STAN AGAINST EVIL ran for three seasons on IFC and is currently on Hulu.
In addition, Dana adapted Rod Serling’s early, original, draft of the screenplay for PLANET OF THE APES as a graphic novel for Boom! Comics. Dana can be found portraying movie star simian Doctor Z in his original series “HANGING WITH DOCTOR Z”. Set in a golden age of talk shows, “Hanging with Doctor Z” features Dana, in full make up by Andy Schoneberg, as the eccentric 1970s era talk show host Doctor Z interviewing current celebrity guests as themselves. Season 2 premieres Feb 2022.
Despite all this, stand-up remains a focal point of Dana’s career, and he continues to perform regularly across the country. His monthly podcast, THE DANA GOULD HOUR, frequently resides in iTunes’ top ten comedy downloads. In 2017, Dana released MR. FUNNY MAN on Kill Rock Stars, a predominantly indie music label. MR. FUNNY MAN, Dana’s first comedy album since 2015’s I KNOW ITS WRONG, debuted on iTunes comedy chart at #1. Most recently, Dana and Bobcat Goldthwait collaborated on the documentary concert film JOY RIDE. Directed by Goldthwait, the film captures the duo onstage and off as they carefully navigate highways and their decades-old contentious friendship, reflecting upon their careers and relationship with comedy along the way. It received high praise and a 100% fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating upon its release and is now available for streaming.
Dana also draws from his lifelong interest in the stranger-than-fiction stories behind the scenes of the movies and television shows we all grew up on