Matt Besser was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on September 22, 1967. He attended Amherst College. After college he toured the Midwest doing stand up. He then took improvisation classes with Del Close at Chicago’s Improv Olympic Theater. In 1991 he joined up with Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts to form a Improv comedy group called the Upright Citizens Brigade. In 1997 UCB were offered a TV show at Comedy Central. After a few years the show was canceled and Matt went on to creating a improv theater with fellow UCB members in New York City.