Ike Barinholtz

Some Lesser Known Facts About Ike Barinholtz

• Once, during a media conversation, Ike Barinholtz said that his parents were liberal and had a great sense of humour.

• He grew up in a home full of laughter and fun.

• In high school at the Latin School of Chicago, Ike Barinholtz played with the team that won the 1994 state Scholastic Bowl championship.

• He then competed in the 1994 Texaco Star National Academic Championship at Rice University.

  

• Before starting his comedy career, Ike Barinholtz worked as a busboy, a telemarketer, and for the Chicago Transit Authority after dropping out of college.

• He left college because he didn’t like it and was not performing well.

• Ike Barinholtz once shared in the media that he was inspired to pursue comedy after attending a show at The Vic Theatre in 2012.

• He then took comedy classes at The Second City, ImprovOlympic, and Annoyance Theatre before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

• After that, Ike Barinholtz spent two years in Amsterdam, where he performed with the well-known comedy group Boom Chicago alongside Jordan Peele, Josh Meyers, and Nicole Parker.

• He hosted an event called the ‘Worst of Boom Night’ during the 10th anniversary of Boom Chicago, where they performed their worst material from past shows.

• In 2002, Ike Barinholtz started appearing as a featured performer in the 8th Season of MADtv. In the next season, he was promoted to repertory performer.

  

• He often teamed up with Josh Meyers in comedy sketches on Saturday Night Live. Later, he also performed sketches with Bobby Lee.

  

• Some of his popular characters were Dutch, an Abercrombie & Fitch model, and Principal Lankenstein from the Coach Hines sketches.

• Ike Barinholtz did impressions of many celebrities, such as Abraham Lincoln, Alex Trebek, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ashton Kutcher, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, and Vin Diesel.

• In 2007, he chose not to renew his contract for the 13th season and left the show MADtv.

• He said in the media that he felt restless and disagreed with some of the decisions made by the owners of the show.

• He then went on to appear in many television shows, including Family Guy (2008), The Pete Holmes Show (2013), What Just Happened??! with Fred Savage (2019), History of the World, Part II (2023), and Running Point (2025).

  

• In 2009, Ike Barinholtz performed at the Chicago Improv Festival with Jordan Peele, and in 2012, he performed again at the festival with his brother Jon.

• His time at Boom Chicago helped him build his comedy career. It connected him with other talented performers and also gave him stage experience.

  

• Ike Barinholtz is the co-founder of The Lindbergh Babies, a comedy group which was led by Del Close, who taught famous comedians like John Belushi, Bill Murray, Mike Myers, and Chris Farley.

• In 2012, he appeared in the television show Eastbound & Down Season 3, which aired on HBO. He played the role of Ivan Dochenko, a Russian rival to the main character Kenny Powers.

• In 2014, Ike Barinholtz was cast in the comedy film Neighbours with Seth Rogen, and also in its sequel in 2016.

• In 2016, he lent his voice to the character A.J. in the video game Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

• That same year, he played the role of a prison guard named Griggs in the film Suicide Squad.

  

• He often works with comedian Dave Stassen, his friend from high school. They wrote a television show called Mega Winner together in 2012, and Barinholtz starred in it.

• They also wrote the 2016 film Central Intelligence together.

• He then went on to appear in many films such as Neighbours (2014), Sisters (2015), Suicide Squad (2016), Blockers (2018), and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).

  

• In 2017, Ike Barinholtz appeared as Degrasso, a coworker at a hedge fund, in the television series Friends from College, which streamed on Netflix.

• He played the role of Morgan Tookers in the television show The Mindy Project, which aired from 2012 to 2017 on Hulu and Fox. He also worked as a writer and story editor on the show.

• In 2018, while filming the film Blockers, he had an accident. He broke two bones in his neck, called cervical vertebrae, while performing a falling stunt.

  

• That same year, he directed his first film, The Oath. He helped write The Oath and acted in it too.

  

• In 2021, he lent his voice to the character Two-Face (Harvey Dent) in a comedic radio drama podcast series, Batman: The Audio Adventures.

• In 2022, Ike Barinholtz was in the main cast of the Apple TV+ mystery comedy series The Afterparty.

  

• In 2022-23, he competed in the reality show Celebrity Jeopardy!, which aired on ABC. He won the championship after beating Patton Oswalt and Wil Wheaton in the finals.

• Ike Barinholtz won $1,000,000 for his charity, Pacific Clinics, and became the first celebrity champion to join the Tournament of Champions because of new rules.

• In 2024, he won his quarterfinal match against Ray Lalonde and Melissa Klapper, but lost in the semifinals.

  

• In August 2024, Ike Barinholtz and his father, Alan, appeared on the celebrity episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on ABC. He won the top prize of one million dollars for his chosen charity, the ASL Program at Los Encinos School.

  

• In July 2025, it was announced that Barinholtz would portray Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino’s film Artificial, a comedy-drama about the leadership crisis at OpenAI.

• In 2025, he was nominated for an Emmy award for a supporting role in the film The Studio.

• Ike Barinholtz is an animal lover and has a pet dog named Dingo. He often shares pictures of his pet on social media.

  

• He is often spotted enjoying alcoholic beverages on various occasions.

  

• Ike Barinholtz likes to cook ground beef and grill bread. He steams eggs using a pasta pot.