Diedrich Bader

Karl Diedrich Bader (born December 24, 1966) He is best known for his comedic and voice acting roles. He has appeared as a series regular in television sitcoms The Drew Carey Show, American Housewife and Outsourced, along with recurring roles in Better Things and Veep. His film credits include The Beverly Hillbillies, Office Space (1999) and Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

He has had a prolific voice-over career, playing characters such as Hoss Delgado in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Zeta in The Zeta Project, Tank Evans in the films Surf's Up and Surf's Up 2: WaveMania, Dr. Meridian/Mandroid in Transformers: EarthSpark, and provided the voice of Bruce Wayne / Batman in multiple animated films and television series, beginning in 2008 with Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Early life and education Karl Diedrich Bader was born in Alexandria, Virginia, on Christmas Eve, 1966, the son of Gretta Bader (; 1931–2014), a sculptor, and William B. Bader (1931–2016), a foundation executive and political activist. His patrilineal great-grandfather was Edward L. Bader, who served as the mayor of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is of German and Scottish descent.

When Bader was two years old, his family moved to Paris. As a child, Bader performed impersonations of Charlie Chaplin, which he later described as an early influence on his comedic sensibility. He returned to the U.S. to attend Groveton High School. He graduated from T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Career

After a few guest roles on popular television series such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Quantum Leap, Diagnosis: Murder, and Cheers, Bader's first major role was in the 1993 series Danger Theatre, playing The Searcher. He moved into cinema acting for the 1993 film version of The Beverly Hillbillies, and returned to television, playing Oswald on The Drew Carey Show starting in 1995. He appeared in the 1999 film Office Space as Peter's neighbor Lawrence, and in the 2004 film Napoleon Dynamite as Rex, the owner of a Taekwondo dojang. He performs in the 2004 film Eurotrip as a thief. In 2010, Bader took the role of Charlie on the television series Outsourced.

As a voice actor, he has voiced various characters in animated features, television series and video games, such as Ice Age, The Simpsons, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, South Park and The Penguins of Madagascar. In 2012, he reprised his role as Rex in the animated TV series Napoleon Dynamite. He played the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri in Disney's Space Buddies. Bader has lent his voice to several different Batman cartoons, portraying both heroes and villains: Batman Beyond, The Zeta Project, The Batman, and starring as the title character Bruce Wayne / Batman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Harley Quinn. Bader also voices Guy Gardner in Green Lantern: The Animated Series.

His other voice credits include JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time, Judah Mannowdog in BoJack Horseman, the android Zeta in The Zeta Project, and Fiskerton in The Secret Saturdays.

In 2016, Bader starred in the "It's the Obvious Choice" series of Time Warner Cable television commercials and starred as Greg Otto in ABC sitcom American Housewife from 2016 to 2021. From 2014 to 2019, Bader had a recurring role on HBO sitcom Veep. From 2016 to 2022, Bader has had a recurring role as Sam's best friend, Rich, on Better Things.

Personal life Bader has been married to actress Dulcy Rogers since May 1997.

Bader supported Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson during the 2016 United States presidential election. In 2020, he endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, after initially voting for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In 2024, he endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Filmography

Live-action Film Year Title Role Notes 1988 Longarm Randy Television film 1988 Desert Rats Mort Television film 1989 The Preppie Murder Peter Television film 1990 Arduous Man Short film 1993 The Beverly Hillbillies Jethro Bodine / Jethrine Bodine 1994 Teresa's Tattoo Higgins 1996 The Assassination File Scott McDonough Television film 1999 Office Space Lawrence 2000 Certain Guys Ronald 2000 Couple Days... A Period Piece Josh 2001 Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back Miramax Security Guard Gordon 2002 The Country Bears Officer Cheets 2003Evil Alien Conquerors My-ik 2004 Napoleon Dynamite Rex 2004 EuroTrip Mugger 2004 Dead & Breakfast Chef Henri 2005 Untitled Oakley & Weinstein Project Lt. Peter Fontaine Television film 2005 Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous Joel 2006 Cattle Call Glenn Dale 2007 Cook Off! Del Crawford 2007 Sunny & Share Love You Mr. Jami 2007 Balls of Fury Randy Daytona's Concubine Companion 2008 Skip Tracer Parker Tuffey Television film 2008 Meet the Spartans Traitoro 2009 Space Buddies Yuri Direct-to-video 2009 Calvin Marshall Fred Deerfield 2010 Vampires Suck Frank Crane 2012 Atlas Shrugged: Part II Quentin Daniels 2012 Sassy Pants Dale Pinto 2013 Playdate Mitchell Direct-to-video 2013 The Starving Games President Snowballs 2013 I Know That Voice Himself Documentary 2014 Muffin Top: A Love Story Michael Nicholson 2015 All She Wishes Patrick O'Dea 2019 Phoenix, Oregon Kyle 2019 Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Relentless Security Guard Cameo 2022 The Blackening Officer White 2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Grizzled Narrator 2023 Shazam! Fury of the Gods Mr. Geckle Cameo 2024 The 4:30 Movie Damocles 2024 Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story Hank Higman Television film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1989 Star Trek: The Next Generation Tactical Crewman Episode: "The Emissary" (credited as Dietrich Bader) 1989 Living Dolls Episode: "Martha Means Well" 1990–1991 Cheers Waiter, Paul 2 episodes (credited as Dietrich Bader) 1990 21 Jump Street Paul Edward Novack Episode: "Last Chance High" 1990 Quantum Leap Dillon Episode: "Rebel Without a Clue" (credited as Dietrich Bader) 1991 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Frank Schaeffer 2 episodes (credited as Dietrich Bader) 1993 Danger Theatre The Searcher 7 episodes 1995 Diagnosis Murder Lincoln Cutter Episode: "The New Healers" 1995 Frasier Brad Episode: "The Innkeepers" 1995–2004 The Drew Carey Show Oswald Lee Harvey 233 episodes 2004–2005 Center of the Universe Tommy Barnett 12 episodes 2007 7th Heaven Theodore Alan "Al" Bonaducci Episode: "Nothing Says Lovin' Like Something from the Oven" 2007 Monk Chance Singer Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Naked Man" 2007 Curb Your Enthusiasm Simon Episode: "The TiVo Guy" 2008 Reno 911! Tommy Hawk Episode: "Bounty Hunter Tommy Hawk" 2008 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Bud Parker Episode: "Two and a Half Deaths" 2009 Drop Dead Diva Wallace Haft Episode: "The Chinese Wall" 2009 CSI: Miami Myles Martini Episode: "Dead on Arrival" 2009–2010 Bones Andrew Hacker 3 episodes 2010 Medium Fred Rovick Episode: "Will the Real Fred Rovick Please Stand Up?" 2010 Chuck Del Episode: "Chuck Versus the Beard" 2010–2011 Outsourced Charlie Davies 22 episodes 2011 Psych Eli Episode: "The Tao of Gus" 2012 NTSF:SD:SUV Riddle Terrorist Episode: "Sabbath-tage" 2012–2013 The Exes Paul 4 episodes 2013 Save Me Elliot Tompkins 7 episodes 2013 Arrested Development Gunner Episode: "Modern Marvels" 2013 Baby Daddy Winston Douglas Episode: "Never Ben in Love" 2013 Raising Hope Gary Episode: "Murder, She Hoped" 2014 Two and a Half Men Dirk Episode: "Dial 1-900-Mix-A-Lot" 2014–2019 Veep Bill Ericsson 21 episodes 2015 The Goldbergs Lou Episode: "The Lost Boy" 2016–2021 American Housewife Greg Otto 103 episodes 2016–2022 Better Things Rich 12 episodes 2017 Bill Nye Saves the World Smallpox Episode: "Do Some Shots, Save the World" 2017 Playing House Simon Episode: "Reverse the Curse" 2019 Young Sheldon Batman Episode: "Teenager Soup and a Little Ball of Fib" 2020 Space Force General Rongley 3 episodes 2021 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You Now! Batman Special 2023 Lucky Hank Tony Conigula Main cast 2025Running PointAssistant Coach Tony SpagnoliEpisode: "The Streak" 2026High PotentialBrad LatmoreEpisode: "Turn, Up the Heat"

Web Year Title RoleNotes 2017 Kevin Pollak's Chat Show Himself Episode: "324"

Voice roles Film Year Title Role Notes 1999 Bartok the Magnificent Vol Direct-to-video 2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins Warp Darkmatter, Agent Z Direct-to-video 2022 The Boss Baby: Back in the Crib Junior Fancy Jr. 2023–2025 Hamster & Gretel The Imposter, additional voices Recurring role 2024–present Rock, Paper, Scissors Chad Brockchad Recurring role 2024–present Krapopolis Sludge Monster/Frankensludge, Various 3 episodes 2024 Batman: Caped Crusader Harvey Dent / Two-Face 8 episodes