Sam Reich
Samuel Dalton Reich is an American media executive, writer, producer, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his work with Dropout, of which he is now majority owner and 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.
Early life
Reich was born on July 22, 1984, to Robert Reich, a lawyer who would later be appointed Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, and Clare Dalton, a law professor at Northeastern University. He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His brother, Adam Reich, is a sociology professor at Columbia University.Career
In 2000, Reich dropped out of Buckingham Browne & Nichols School as a result of clinical depression and in order to pursue acting. Shortly thereafter, he moved to New York and founded the comedy group Dutch West, which focused on making comedy videos for the Internet. After being discovered by CollegeHumor in 2006, he was hired as Director of Original Content. He was then promoted to President of Original Content along with the premiere of The CollegeHumor Show on MTV in 2009.In 2014, Reich founded Big Breakfast, CollegeHumor's offshoot production company, and moved CollegeHumor's video team to Los Angeles. The company has since produced Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV; Middle of the Night Show on MTV; Time Traveling Bong on Comedy Central; The Britishes on DirecTV; I Want My Phone Back on Comcast's Watchable; Bad Internet and Rhett and Link's Buddy System on YouTube Red.
With CollegeHumor, he collaborated on music videos with "Weird Al" Yankovic and United States First Lady Michelle Obama.
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. At the time that IAC sold CollegeHumor, Reich asked fans to support the company by purchasing subscriptions to the streaming service. 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". 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, to coincide with the streaming service.
Personal life
Since 2010, Reich has been married to actress and writer Elaine Carroll, whom he met during summer camp in 2000. Together, they have collaborated on the web series Very Mary-Kate. In 2024, Reich stated that he and Carroll "both identify as like, a little queer".Filmography
Awards
- Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media Category.
- Named a multi-channel network 40 Under 40.
| Year | Award | Work |
| 2008 | Aspen Rooftop Comedy Award for Best Series | The Michael Showalter Showalter |
| 2008 | ECNY for Best Short | "Minesweeper: The Movie" |
| 2010 | People's Voice Webby for Best Series | Jake and Amir |
| 2010 | Webby for Best Animation | "Pixar Intro Parody" |
| 2010 | 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" |
| 2012 | Webby for Best Short | "Siri Argument" |
| 2013 | Telly Bronze Award | "Mitt Romney Style," "Dora the Explorer Trailer," "Save Greendale" |
| 2013 | Telly Silver Award | "Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends" |
| 2013 | Webby for Best Short | "Gay Men Will Marry Your Girlfriends" |
| 2014 | Telly Bronze Award | "GPS Prank," "HBO Should Show Dongs" |
| 2014 | Webby for Best Remix | "Music Videos Without Music" |
| 2014 | Webby for Best Short | "Batman vs. the Penguin" |
| 2015 | Ursa Major Award for Best Short | "Furry Force" |
| 2015 | Telly Bronze Award | "Music Videos without Music" |
| 2015 | Telly Silver Award | "Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam," "If Google Was a Guy" |
| 2015 | People's Voice Webby for Best Writing | "If Google Was a Guy" |
| 2015 | People's Voice Webby for Best Short | "If Google Was a Guy" |
| 2015 | Webby for Best Writing | "If Google Was a Guy" |
| 2015 | Webby for Best Short | "If Google Was a Guy" |
| 2015 | Telly Bronze Award | "FOIL" |
| 2015 | Streamy for Best Cover Music Video | "FOIL" |
| 2015 | Webby for Best Music Video | "FOIL" |
| 2016 | Telly Silver Award | "Go to College Rap" |