As someone who watches a lot of film and television, Tim Meadows is an actor who I constantly see in the most random places. Which is fine by me, because he not only makes almost every scene better but he also has a way of being the funniest person in that scene. Maybe this is why people hire him so often.

Meadows was born in Highland Park, Michigan in 1961. He got his start performing improv in Detroit before moving to Chicago and joining the Second City, which is where he first met fellow future Saturday Night Live castmate Chris Farley. SNL creator Lorne Michaels actually met with Meadows in 1990, but Meadows wouldn’t get hired as a cast member until 1991, remaining on SNL for ten whole seasons until 2000. During that time he was known for impersonating such celebrities as O.J. Simpson, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Michael Jackson, Sammy Davis, Jr., Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Nelson Mandela, Whoopi Goldberg and Eddie Murphy, but his most prominent SNL character was Leon Phelps the Ladies’ Man, a sketch character who eventually became the star of his own film in 2000 (although no one saw it and everyone who did see it immediately wanted to forget it).

Before starring in The Ladies Man, Meadows appeared in three other films based on SNL sketches: Coneheads (1993), Wayne’s World 2 (1993) and It’s Pat (1994) (which add up to two out of three box office bombs total), but his biggest hit came when he was cast opposite Lindsay Lohan as Principal Duvall in Mean Girls (2004), a role he would reprise in both the 2011 TV film Mean Girls 2 and in the 2024 musical remake.

After that he appeared alongside his fellow SNL castmates Rob Schneider and David Spade in The Benchwarmers (2006), Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan’s Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), the Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups (2010) along with its sequel Grown Ups 2 (2013), Jack & Jill (2011), the Amy Schumer rom-com Trainwreck (2015), the Lonely Island’s mockumentary Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) and the indie satire Dream Scenario (2023) opposite Nicolas Cage.

Although what’s much more likely is that you’ve seen him on television, because ever since he left SNL he has literally appeared in something in either a main role, a recurring role or a guest role every single year from 2001 to the present. Among his most prominent TV roles were Republican commentator P.K. Winsome on The Colbert Report from 2006 to 2014, Bill’s longtime friend Paul DuFrayne on The Bill Engvall Show (2007-09), Principal Theodore Martin in the syndicated sitcom Mr. Box Office (2012-15), Mike the Mailman in Bob’s Burgers (2012-present), school teacher Mr. Glascott in The Goldbergs (2013-23) who he would reprise as Principal Glascott in the Goldbergs spin-off Schooled (2019-20) and billionaire Quail Eegan in Digman! (2023-present) as well as smaller roles in shows like Strangers with Candy, The Office, Everybody Hates Chris, Reba, According to Jim, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Suburgatory, 30 Rock, The Venture Bros., Inside Amy Schumer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Detroiters, BoJack Horseman, Miracle Workers, Space Force, Girls5eva, Central Park, Poker Face, The Mandalorian, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Beavis and Butt-Head, Big City Greens, Krapopolis, Life & Beth, The Simpsons and Peacemaker.

All the while, Meadows continues to go back to his roots by doing the thing that got his career launched: performing improv across the country, including on the UCB and ImprovOlympic stage where I’m sure he delights audiences with the same energy and skill set that made me a fan of his. Which is no small feat because the first time I ever saw him was as the evil reality TV host from the largely unremarkable Even Stevens Movie, and that was the only thing I knew him from for a long time. It was only later that I realized he had a background as a cast member on SNL and that he was more than just an annoying Disney Channel villain. If you can go from something like that to making me like you, you definitely have talent.