Sam Reich

Samuel Dalton Reich^{[citation needed]} (/raɪʃ/ RYSH; born July 22, 1984) is an American media executive, writer, producer, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his work with Dropout (formerly CollegeHumor), of which he is now the CEO, including hosting the series Game Changer and its spin-off Make Some Noise, as well as his work on TruTV's Adam Ruins Everything.^[1]

Sam Reich
Reich in 2024
Born	(1984-07-22) July 22, 1984 (age 40) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupations	Producer director writer actor CEO of CHMedia (2020–present)
Spouse	Elaine Carroll
Parent(s)	Robert Reich Clare Dalton
Website	samreich.com

Career

In 2000, Reich dropped out of Buckingham Browne & Nichols School as a result of clinical depression and in order to pursue acting.^[2] Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and founded the comedy group Dutch West, which focused on making comedy videos for the Internet.^[3][4] After being discovered by CollegeHumor in 2006, he was hired as Director of Original Content.^[5] He was then promoted to President of Original Content along with the premiere of The CollegeHumor Show on MTV in 2009.^[6]

Reich in 2009

In 2014, Reich founded Big Breakfast, CollegeHumor's offshoot production company, and moved CollegeHumor's video team to Los Angeles.^[7] The company has since produced Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV;^[8] Middle of the Night Show on MTV;^[9] Time Traveling Bong on Comedy Central;^[10] The Britishes on DirecTV;^[11] I Want My Phone Back on Comcast's Watchable;^[12] Bad Internet^[13] and Rhett and Link's Buddy System on YouTube Red.^[4]

With CollegeHumor, he collaborated on music videos with "Weird Al" Yankovic^[14] and former United States First Lady Michelle Obama.^[15]

On January 8, 2020, it was announced that Reich was acquiring CollegeHumor from IAC which was transformed to the entity of CHMedia. This included the streaming service Dropout.^[16][17] At the time that IAC sold CollegeHumor, Reich asked fans to support the company by purchasing subscriptions to the streaming service.^[18] In 2020, Kate Knibbs of Wired commented that "Reich is beloved within the CollegeHumor community—WIRED spoke with more than a dozen former employees, and the praise was unanimously effusive, rare for someone who just laid a bunch of people off".^[19] Reich oversees the content created in Dropout and hosts some of the shows including Game Changer and Make Some Noise.

In 2023, Reich announced that the CollegeHumor brand name would be retired and rebranded to Dropout.^[20]

Personal life

Reich was born on July 22, 1984,^[21] the son of Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, and Clare Dalton, a retired law professor at Northeastern University.^[1] His brother, Adam Reich, is a sociology professor at Columbia University.^[22][23]

Reich is married to actress and writer Elaine Carroll,^[24] whom he met during summer camp in 2000.^[25] Together, they have collaborated on the web series Very Mary-Kate.^[26]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Network	Notes
2006–present	CollegeHumor Originals	Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Actor	CollegeHumor	Digital Series
2006–2008	Street Fighter: The Later Years	Executive Producer, Director, Writer	CollegeHumor	Digital series, 9 episodes
2007–2015	Jake and Amir	Executive Producer, Director, Actor	CollegeHumor	Digital Series
2006–2009	Prank War	Executive Producer	CollegeHumor	Digital series, 8 episodes
2009	The CollegeHumor Show	Executive Producer, Director, Writer, Actor	MTV	Television series, 6 episodes
2011–2012	Troopers	Executive Producer, Director, Actor	CollegeHumor	Digital series, 13 episodes
2010–2013	Very Mary-Kate	Executive Producer, Director, Writer	CollegeHumor	Digital series
2013	Precious Plum	Executive Producer, Director, Writer	CollegeHumor	Digital series, 13 episodes
2014	The Britishes	Executive Producer, Director, Writer	DirecTV	Television series, 8 episodes
2015	Middle of the Night Show	Executive Producer	MTV	TV series, 9 episodes
2016	I Want My Phone Back	Executive Producer	Watchable	Digital series, 10 episodes
2016	Time Traveling Bong	Executive Producer	Comedy Central	Television series, 3 episodes
2016	Bad Internet	Executive Producer	YouTube Red	Digital series, 10 episodes
2016	Rhett and Link's Buddy System	Executive Producer	YouTube Red	Digital series, 9 episodes
2014–2019	Adam Ruins Everything	Executive Producer, Actor	TruTV	Television series, 27 episodes
2018–present	Dimension 20	Executive Producer, Player	Dropout	Digital series
2019–present	Game Changer	Executive Producer, Director, Host	Dropout	Digital series, 60 episodes
2022–present	Make Some Noise	Executive Producer, Director, Host	Dropout	Digital series, 38 episodes
2022	Dirty Laundry	Himself	Dropout	Season 1: "Who Shot a Softcore Porn?"
2024	Thousandaires	Himself	Dropout	Season 1: "Be Humble, Keep It Vague, and Repeat"
2024	Adventuring Academy	Himself	Dropout	Season 5: "Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck"

Awards

• Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media Category.^[27]
• Named a multi-channel network 40 Under 40.^[28]

Year	Award	Work	Ref(s).
2008	Aspen Rooftop Comedy Award for Best Series	The Michael Showalter Showalter
	ECNY for Best Short	"Minesweeper: The Movie"
2010	People's Voice Webby for Best Series	Jake and Amir
	Webby for Best Animation	"Pixar Intro Parody"
	People's Voice Webby for Best Short	"Web Site Story"
2011	People's Voice Webby for Best Humor Website	CollegeHumor
2012	People's Voice Webby for Best Short	"Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Star Wars"
	Webby for Best Short	"Siri Argument"
2013	Telly Bronze Award	"Mitt Romney Style," "Dora the Explorer Trailer," "Save Greendale"
	Telly Silver Award	"Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends"
	Webby for Best Short
2014	Telly Bronze Award	"GPS Prank," "HBO Should Show Dongs"
	Webby for Best Remix	"Music Videos Without Music"
	Webby for Best Short	"Batman vs. the Penguin"
2015	Ursa Major Award for Best Short	"Furry Force"
	Telly Bronze Award	"Music Videos without Music"
	Telly Silver Award	"Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam," "If Google Was a Guy"
	People's Voice Webby for Best Writing	"If Google Was a Guy"
	People's Voice Webby for Best Short
	Webby for Best Writing
	Webby for Best Short
	Telly Bronze Award	"FOIL"
	Streamy for Best Cover Music Video
	Webby for Best Music Video
2016	Telly Silver Award	"Go to College Rap"

References

1. Sweeney, Emily (June 29, 2016). "Sam Reich is all about funny business". The Boston Globe. ISSN 0743-1791. OCLC 66652431. Archived from the original on November 28, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
2. Sam Reich (February 12, 2016). "Career Advice From a High School Drop-out CEO". Article. Fastco Create. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
3. "Dutchwest TV". Webpage. Dutchwest TV. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
4. Cheong, Wayne (April 22, 2024). "ESQnA with Sam Reich, CEO of Dropout and Host of Game Changer". Esquire Singapore.
5. Spike Friedman (June 3, 2016). "Sam Reich on the Business of Staying Funny Online". Interview Transcript. Forbes. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
6. "The CollegeHumor Show". Webpage. ProductionBeast. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
7. Bradford Evans (January 27, 2014). "CollegeHumor Moves from NY to LA, Starts New Production Company". Article. SplitSider. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
8. Denise Petski (December 7, 2016). "TruTV Rewnews 'Adam Ruins Everything', 'The Carbonaro Effect'; Greenlights Two New Series". Article. Deadline. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
9. Sahil Patel (April 21, 2015). "MTV Orders Late-Night Comedy Show from CollegeHumor's Big Breakfast". Article. VideoInk. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
10. Jenni runyan (January 6, 2016). "Comedy Central Greenlights "Time Traveling Bong," A Three-Episode Limited Series from "Broad City's" Ilana Glazer, Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs". Press Release. Comedy Central. Archived from the original on January 9, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
11. Nellie Andreeva (October 23, 2014). "DirectTV Picks up 'Downton Abbey' Parody Series 'The Britishes' From Electus Digital". Article. Deadline. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
12. "I Want My Phone Back". Webpage. IMDB. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
13. Rae Votta (May 26, 2016). "CollegeHumor's 'Bad Internet' is a Dark, Dystopian Look at the Future". Article. The Daily Dot. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
14. CollegeHumor (July 16, 2014). "Exclusive "Weird Al" Yankovic Music video: FOIL (Parody of "Royals" by Lorde)". YouTube video description. YouTube. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
15. CollegeHumor (December 10, 2015). "Go To College Music Video (with FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA!)". YouTube Video Description. YouTube. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
16. Flynn, Kerry (January 8, 2020). "CollegeHumor sold to longtime exec, lays off nearly all 100-plus staff". CNN. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
17. "IAC to Sell CollegeHumor, Which Will Cut Most of Its Workers". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. January 8, 2020. Archived from the original on May 22, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2020.
18. "Long story short, I need your support now more than ever. The #1 way you can support me is to stay subscribed to Dropout. We have six months' worth of content still to release: Dimension 20, Um, Game Changer, Breaking News, and more". Twitter. Retrieved July 21, 2023.
19. "CollegeHumor Helped Shape Online Comedy. What Went Wrong?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
20. Squires, Bethy (September 26, 2023). "Dropout's Playbook for Surviving an Unforgiving Internet". Vulture. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
21. @samreich (July 22, 2023). "39 😊" (Tweet). Retrieved July 12, 2024 – via Twitter.
22. "Department of Sociology at Columbia University". Webpage. Columbia University. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
23. Lins (1995). Newsmakers: the people behind today's headlines : 1995 cumulation, includes ... – Louise Mooney Collins, Gale Research Inc – Google Books. Gale Research. ISBN 9780810357457. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
24. Jessica Goldstein (December 6, 2011). "'Very Mary-Kate' a hit on the Internet". Article. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
25. "Bio". Sam Reich's Blog. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017 – via Tumblr.^{[non-primary source needed]}
26. Jessica Goldstein (December 6, 2011). "'Very Mary-Kate' a hit on the Internet". Article. The Washington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
27. "Sam Reich, President of Original Content, CollegeHumor, 27". Slideshow. Forbes. Retrieved January 30, 2017.
28. Kent Gibbons (May 21, 2014). "'40 Under 40' class of 2014 Named". Article. Multichannel News. Retrieved January 30, 2017.

External links

• Official website
• Sam Reich at IMDb
• Webby Awards Winners
• Telly Awards Winners