Jason Woliner

Jason Woliner
Woliner in July 2011
Born	(1980-06-01) June 1, 1980 New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Director, writer, actor
Years active	1989–1996 2014 (actor) 2005–present (director)
Known for	Human Giant Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Jason Woliner is an American director, writer and a former child actor. He is best known for being in the sketch comedy show Human Giant, as a non-performing member who instead worked behind the scenes as director. Woliner won a Golden Globe award for directing Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

Early life and education

Woliner attended Pelham Memorial High School and for higher study at Sarah Lawrence College from 1998 to 2000 before dropping out to pursue a directing career. His first acting credit was at age nine, appearing in Weekend at Bernie's.

Career

After leaving school, Woliner began making films and videos, both on his own and with comedians in New York, which led to the formation of Human Giant. The first three Human Giant videos ("Shutterbugs", "Illusionators", and the "Shittiest Mixtape Boombox Blast") caught the eyes of executives at MTV, who offered the group a pilot. The show ran for two seasons.

He was the non-performing member of the comedy group Human Giant and directed the bulk of their output. After that, he directed, co-wrote, and acted as showrunner on the cult Adult Swim series Eagleheart starring Chris Elliott. Woliner has directed episodes of Fox's The Last Man on Earth, NBC's Parks and Recreation, and Comedy Central's Nathan for You and Jon Benjamin Has a Van, among others. In 2020, he directed Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

He has collaborated with writer-performer Brett Gelman on a series of horror/comedy specials for Adult Swim. The first of these, titled Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends, aired in April 2014, and the second special, titled Dinner with Family with Brett Gelman and Brett Gelman's Family, aired in February 2015. The third special, Brett Gelman's Dinner in America, aired in July 2016. Woliner and Gelman wrote the specials together; Gelman stars and Woliner directed.

In 2020, he directed the comedy film Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, and won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture with Sacha Baron Cohen. In 2023, Woliner directed Paul T. Goldman, a hybrid documentary-comedy series for Peacock.

Filmography

Film

Films directed, written, or produced by Jason Woliner

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer
2006	Other Music	Yes	No	No
2007	An Evening with P. Oswalt	Yes	No	No
2014	Food Club	Yes	Yes	Yes
2020	Borat Subsequent Moviefilm	Yes	No	No

Acting roles by Jason Woliner

Year	Title	Role
1989	Weekend at Bernie's	Bratty Kid
1990	Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift	Matt
1996	Bullet	Young Boy #3 - Buck Teeth
2014	Food Club	Captain Woliner

Special thanks

• Origin Story (2018)
• Mister America (2019)

Television

Television work by Jason Woliner

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Editor	Notes
1989–91	Shining Time Station	No	No	No	No	Matt Jones; 22 episodes
2005–10	Shutterbugs	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	11 episodes
2007–08	Human Giant	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	14 episodes
2009	The Electric Company	Yes	No	No	No	Episode: "Scent of a Human"
	Delocated	No	No	No	Yes	Episode: "Pilot"
	Raaaaaaaandy!	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	3 episodes
2009–10	Parks and Recreation	Yes	No	No	No	3 episodes
2010	Funny or Die Presents	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	6 episodes
	Players	Yes	No	Yes	No	10 episodes
2011	Saturday Night Live	Yes	Yes	No	No	Episode: "Ed Helms/Paul Simon"
	Jon Benjamin Has a Van	Yes	No	No	No	2 episodes
	Eagleheart	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	25 episodes
2012	New Girl	Yes	No	No	No	Episode: "Menzies"
2013	Good Morning Tri-State	Yes	No	No	No	Television short
	Nathan for You	Yes	No	No	No	2 episodes
2014	Dinner with Friends with Brett Gelman and Friends	Yes	Yes	No	No	Television short
	Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories	No	Yes	No	No	7 episodes
2015	The Jack and Triumph Show	No	No	Yes	No	6 episodes
	W/ Bob & David	Yes	No	No	No	4 episodes
	Master of None	No	Yes	Yes	No	10 episodes
2015–18	The Last Man on Earth	Yes	No	No	No	12 episodes
2019	What We Do in the Shadows	Yes	No	No	No	2 episodes
	Trade Show Show	Yes	No	No	No	6 episodes
2023	Paul T. Goldman	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	6 episodes

TV specials by Jason Woliner

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Editor
2009	Patton Oswalt: My Weakness Is Strong	Yes	No	No	Yes
2010	Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening	Yes	No	No	Yes
	MTV Movie & TV Awards	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
2011	Patton Oswalt: Finest Hour	Yes	No	No	No
2012	Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious	Yes	No	No	No

External links

• Jason Woliner at IMDb
• A.V. Club interview with Human Giant
• Human Giant site