David Koechner - Work Since 2007

Work Since 2007

In 2007, Koechner was seen in his first leading role in The Comebacks (which opened on October 19), the first comedy to be released under Fox Searchlight's Fox Atomic division. Koechner played a college football coach with the worst record in the history of the sport vows to turn things around with his new team of ragtag recruits. He described this career opportunity as the "first lead for the right-hander." Veteran actor Carl Weathers played Koechner's rival coach. Though Koechner, who usually writes and improvises his material, had no involvement with the screenplay, he complimented director Tom Brady for taking "great care to make it as smart as he could," adding that it's a sports comedy rather than a spoof.

On January 17, 2007, Comedy Central premiered The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, a sketch comedy series starring Koechner (as T-Bones) and longtime performing partner Dave "Gruber" Allen (as The Naked Trucker). The duo performs their unique brand of off-color songs and introduces pre-taped skits. Many of Koechner's past co-stars have filmed pre-taped cameos including Will Ferrell, Jack Black, Steve Carell, Andy Richter, Dax Shepard, and Paul Rudd. The pre-taped skits give Koechner more screentime than Allen, often letting him showcase his comedic charisma alongside guest stars like Richter and Shepard. Comedy Central ordered eight episodes. In the eight years Koechner & Allen have been playing these characters, there have been several attempts to bring the act to television, but they had trouble figuring how to translate it into a series. Koechner & Allen's first album, Naked Trucker and T-Bones Live at the Troubador, was released March 20, 2007. Koechner starred alongside Luke Wilson in the 2009 indie-comedy Tenure and was a lead in the 2012 horror film Piranha 3DD. Koechner will also return as Champ Kind in a sequel to Anchorman, expected to be released in 2013.

Following the release of Live at the Troubador, Koechner revealed that a T-Bones film is in development with Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Gary Sanchez Productions. Koechner wrote the script with veteran television writer/producer Norm Hiscock, who also wrote for The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show, in addition to past work on Saturday Night Live, The Kids in the Hall, and King of the Hill.

Frequently, Koechner can be seen at the iO West performing with the group Beer, Shark, Mice, alongside Mike Coleman, Pat Finn, Neil Flynn and Peter Hulne. The group's credits include Scrubs, Anchorman, Seinfeld, American Body Shop, How High, My Boys, Ed, Mean Girls, Thank You for Smoking, and Saturday Night Live.