Kyle Gass

Template:Infobox musical artist Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960)<ref name="tv.apple.com">Template:Cite web</ref> is an American musician and actor, best known for being a member of Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite magazine</ref> He is also a member of Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band.<ref name="NNDB">Template:Cite web</ref>

Early life

File:Kyle Gass Band (ZMF 2017) jm34114.jpg

Gass with the Kyle Gass Band at the Zelt-Musik-Festival 2017 in Freiburg, Germany

Kyle Richard Gass was born in Walnut Creek, California on July 14, 1960, and he has two brothers.<ref name=NNDB /> At 8 years old, he learned to play guitar and flute. Then at 8, he was working on his first television appearance: an ad for 7UP.<ref name="tv.apple.com"/> He attended Las Lomas High School, where he played flute in the marching band and graduated in 1978.<ref name=NNDB /> He studied acting at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, where he met Tim Robbins.<ref name="tv.apple.com"/> In 1982, he joined Robbins' The Actors' Gang and in the early 1990s met and befriended Jack Black in the group.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Acting

Gass first appeared on-screen in a 1988 7-Up Gold commercial, and made his film debut two years later in Brain Dead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He made a cameo appearance in the film Bio-Dome alongside Jack Black, in the Seinfeld episode "The Abstinence" in 1996, in a 1999 episode of the television show Fear of a Punk Planet,Template:Citation needed and in a 2003 episode of Friends, "The One With The Mugging" (S9 E15), as Phoebe's street friend Lowell.Template:Citation needed He appeared in music videos for Good Charlotte's 2002 song "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", the Foo Fighters' 1999 song "Learn to Fly", and I Prevail's 2017 song "Already Dead".Template:Citation needed In 2017, Gass won the Filmquest award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Apartment 212.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Gass has played small roles in many of Jack Black's films (Year One, Kung Fu Panda, Shallow Hal, Saving Silverman, The Cable Guy, etc.). He starred with Jack Black in the movie Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny.

Gass appeared in Jacob's Ladder (1990), appeared as the "couch potato" in The Cable Guy (1996), and as an inept author of children's books in the comedy Elf (2003). He had a cameo role as a singing karaoke cowboy in Wild Hogs (2007). In 2008 he played the porn director in Extreme Movie, Walrus Boy in Wieners, the dirty trucker in the men's room in Sex Drive, and Decatur Doublewide in Lower Learning.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Music

Template:Further In Tenacious D, Gass plays lead guitar and sings backing vocals, and also plays the role of Black's comic foil in most of their comedy routines.

While appearing on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on November 15, 2006,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gass claimed to have been the youngest graduate of the Juilliard School of Music with a degree in classical guitar studies at the age of 13. Juilliard did not have a guitar program in 1973, but began its graduate level guitar program in 1989 under Sharon Isbin, and its undergraduate program in 2007. Earlier, in an article in the Sunday Times on October 29, 2006, Black stated that Gass was the youngest graduate of Juilliard.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On May 13, 2008, Gass was a phone-in guest on the Adam Carolla Show. When Adam Carolla asked him "... And did you go to Juilliard?" Kyle replied "I didn't. I—you know, I made that up as a joke," he continued, "and I thought it would be hilarious, and then I've been hearing about it ever since. Apologies to Juilliard."<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

In 2017, Gass performed the song "Penelope" for Amazon Music's "Love Me Not" compilation album.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2021, Gass announced his first solo tour "Kyle Gass Must Save the World," however it was later cancelled.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Controversy

On July 16, 2024, Jack Black announced the cancellation of the ongoing Tenacious D Australian tour after Gass said, "Don't miss [Trump] next time," on stage two days earlier, referencing a recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Gass made the comment after being presented with a birthday cake for his 64th birthday and was asked by Black to "make a wish".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This also put all future creative plans for the band on hold.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gass apologized on social media, calling his comment "Highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake," that he did not condone violence "of any kind, in any form, against anyone," and described the shooting as a "tragedy."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was subsequently dropped by his longtime talent agent, Michael Greene.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Gass deleted the apology two days later.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Other media

Gass starred in a web show, Guitarings, with John Konesky<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and currently hosts the Did We Do It podcast with Kevin Weisman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He has appeared as a contestant on the TV game show Sale of the Century.

Discography

with Tenacious D

• Tenacious D (2001)
• The Pick of Destiny (2006)
• Rize of the Fenix (2012)
• Post-Apocalypto (2018)

with Trainwreck

• The Wreckoning (2009)

with Kyle Gass Band

• Kyle Gass Band (2013)
• Thundering Herd (2016)

Filmography

Film

Year	Title<ref name="Kyle Gass">Template:Cite web</ref>	Role	Notes
1990	Brain Dead	Anaesthetist
	Jacob's Ladder	Tony
1993	Mike the Detective	Phil
1995	The Barefoot Executive	Joe
1996	Bio-Dome	KG
	The Cable Guy	Couch Potato
1997	Bongwater	Guitarist
1999	Idle Hands	Burger Jungle Guy
	Cradle Will Rock	Larry
2000	Almost Famous	Quince Allen
2001	Saving Silverman	Bar Dude
	The Zeros	Reed / David
	Evolution	Officer Drake
	Shallow Hal	Artie
2002	The New Guy	Mr. Luberoff
2003	Elf	Eugene
2006	Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny	KG
2007	Wild Hogs	Lead Singer
	Monkeys	Uncredited
2008	Kung Fu Panda	KG Shaw (voice)
	Wieners	Walrus Boy
	Dead and Gone	Reverend Grass
	Lower Learning	Decatur Doublewide
	Sex Drive	Trucker
	Extreme Movie	Director
2009	Year One	Zaftig the Eunuch
2010	Barry Munday	Jerry Sherman
2011	High Road	Winter Weirdo
2012	Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!	Lester
2014	Book of Fire	Sal
2015	Circus	Circus
2017	Gnaw (Apartment 212)	Terry
2024	Dear Santa	Liam's Science Teacher

Television

Year	Title<ref name="Kyle Gass"/>	Role	Notes
1996	Seinfeld	Smoker	Episode: "The Abstinence"
1997–2000	Tenacious D	KG	All
1999	Fear of a Punk Planet	Fire Marshal
2000	Manhattan, AZ	Merv	Episode: "Lt. Colonel's Boy"
2001–2002	Undeclared	Eugene	Episode: "Eric Visits Again" and "Eric's POV"
2001	Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Episode: "Sweet for Brak"
2002–2003	Fillmore!	Mr. Collingwood (voice)	2 episodes
2002, 2006	Saturday Night Live	Himself	2 episodes
2003	Friends	Lowell	Episode: "The One with the Mugging"
	Player$	Himself	Episode: "Tenacious D a la Mode"
2004	Cracking Up	Naked Man	Episode: "Panic House"
	Tom Goes to the Mayor	Trapper Kyle	Episode: "Beat Traps"
2005	Living with Fran	Rocker Dude	Episode: "The Concerts"
2006	The Jake Effect	Ceissner	Recurring
2007	The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show	Himself	Episode: "Break Up"
2011	FCU: Fact Checkers Unit	Himself	Episode: "Excessive Gass "
2012	Femme Fatales	Willoughby Flagler	Episode: "Gun Twisted"
2013	2 Broke Girls	Buzz	Episode: "And the Extra Work"
	Ghost Ghirls	Hawk Olsen	Episode: "Spirits of '76: Part 1 & 2"
2014	The Birthday Boys	John Allison	Episode: "Freshy's"
2015	Drunk History	Fred Eaton	Episode: "Los Angeles"
2018	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Dario Moretti	Episode: "Jake & Amy"
	Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto	KG
2018–2019	Speechless	Carl	2 episodes
2022	Hacks	Axel	Episode "The Click"

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2009	Brütal Legend	Kage the Kannonier	Also facial likeness<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Music videos

Year	Video	Role	Label
1999	Learn to Fly (Foo Fighters)	Flight attendant	Roswell Records
2001	Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (Good Charlotte)	Lawyer	Epic Records
2017	Already Dead (I Prevail)	Internet troll	Fearless Records

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• Template:AllMusic