Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, writer, television producer, and television host. He is known for hosting The Soup and portraying Jeff Winger on the NBC/Yahoo! sitcom Community. He has appeared in the films Spy Kids: All the Time in the World (2011) and Ted (2012). He also starred in the CBS sitcom The Great Indoors.
McHale was born in Rome, Italy, where his father, Jack McHale, worked as Dean of Students at Loyola University Rome Center. His mother, Laurie, is from Vancouver, Canada, and his father is from Chicago, Illinois. Of Irish and Norwegian descent, he was raised Catholic in Seattle, Washington, and for a brief amount of time in Haddonfield, New Jersey, located near Philadelphia. McHale lived in New Jersey for two years before settling back to his native Washington state. He attended Mercer Island High School.
McHale received a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Washington in 1995. While at the University of Washington, McHale very briefly belonged to the Theta Chi Fraternity.