Tom Stern

Tom Stern is an American actor, director, writer, producer and musician.

Education Stern grew up in Pleasantville, New York and attended Byram Hills High School in Armonk, New York, and then went to film school at Tisch School of the Arts New York University (NYU) from 1983–87, where he met Alex Winter. which was noticed by an executive at Columbia Pictures in 1986. After graduating the pair went to Hollywood and directed IMPACT video magazine, which feature artists and performers such as Bill Hicks, Survival Research Laboratories, Public Enemy, Robert Williams, Jane's Addiction, and another short film with Butthole Surfers. []

Hollywood In 1987 Stern and Winter drove to Hollywood and sent a copy of Squeal of Death to Sam Raimi, whose film Evil Dead 2 was an inspiration to them. Raimi responded enthusiastically. He and his partner Rob Tapert optioned an anthology comedy feature film script from Stern and Winter. The pair then worked on a number of short films and music videos for bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Ice Cube.

Stern and Winter teamed up with writer Tim Burns on The Idiot Box, with Stern and Winter also co-starring and co-directing.

Immediately following The Idiot Box, Stern, Winter and Burns co-wrote the 1993 film Freaked with Stern and Winter also serving as co-directors. Freaked starred Winter, Randy Quaid, Keanu Reeves, Bobcat Goldthwait and Mr. T.

Stern also co-wrote the screenplay to An American Werewolf in Paris, the sequel to the 1981 film An American Werewolf in London, with Burns and Anthony Waller.

Stern and Burns also collaborated on The Chimp Channel.

Stern has worked with Jimmy Kimmel's production company Jackhole Productions on shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Man Show as segment director, and Crank Yankers as director and supervising producer. In addition, Stern appeared as an actor and worked as a writer for Trey Parker and Matt Stone's presidential parody, That's My Bush!, as co-executive producer, served as director and writer for The Andy Milonakis Show, and was one of the creators and producers of the Comedy Central travel show parody Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust.

Stern was also writer/director/producer on a live action SpongeBob SquarePants special titled SpongeBob Appreciation Day: Patchy's Beach Bash!, starring Tom Kenny, Jon Heder, Rob Riggle, Meghan Trainor and Anthony Davis which premiered on Nickelodeon on January 4, 2020. Stern was also recently showrunner/director on two Netflix shows: Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History and The Toys That Made Us. His short film Adams, which he produced, directed and adapted from the George Saunders story, stars Patton Oswalt and Fred Armisen, and recently won Best Comedy at the HollyShorts Film Festival, where the jury included Anthony Russo and Matthew Modine. Other recent shows directed by Stern include Comedy Central's rebooted Crank Yankers, Fox's What Just Happened with Fred Savage, and Disney+'s Earth to Ned.

Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt Starting in 2020, Stern began production on an official documentary about Texas punk band Butthole Surfers. Stern’s history with the band goes back to 1986, when he first filmed the band at CBGBs. The film was titled Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt.

Directed and produced by Stern, the movie chronicles the history of the band and its members via use of interviews and multi-media forms such as animation and puppetry. The film features interviews with the band itself as well as fans and contemporaries such as Dave Grohl, Richard Linklater, Flea, Eric Andre, David Yow, Dean Ween, Josh Freese, and Cris Kirkwood.

The film premiered on March 12, 2025 at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas at SXSW 2025. The movie received overwhelmingly positive reviews and received SXSW’s Best of Texas award.

Filmography Year Title Director Producer Writer Notes 2025 Butthole Surfers: The Hole Truth and Nothing Butt 2024 Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie 2020–2021 Earth to Ned 2019-2021 Crank Yankers 2017 The Toys That Made Us 2017 Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History 2015 2 Broke Girls 2014 Hollywood Hillbillies 2012 Urban Tarzan 2012 Joe Schmo: The Full Bounty 2012-2013 Stevie TV 2011 Marc Saves America 2010 1000 Ways to Die 2008 Alligator Boots 2007 Harden High Also creator 2007 Saul of the Mole Men 2005 The Andy Milonakis Show 2003 Gerhard Reinke's Wanderlust 2003 Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2001 That's My Bush! 2000–2003 The Man Show 1999 The Chimp Channel 1997 An American Werewolf in Paris 1993 Freaked Also actor 1991 The Idiot Box Also actor 1988 Bar-B-Que Movie 1985 Squeal of Death Also actor

Music videos Butthole Surfers – "Cherub" (live at CBGB, February 12, 1986) Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Taste the Pain" (1990) (co-directed by Alex Winter) Ice Cube – "Who's the Mack" (1990) (co-directed by Alex Winter) Human Radio – "Me and Elvis" (1990) (co-directed by Alex Winter) Extreme – "Decadence Dance" (1990) (co-directed by Alex Winter) Marilyn Manson – "Dope Hat" (1995) Spork – "Naked Invasion" (1996) ANJ – "Gorbachev" (2008)