Sam Seder
{{Short description|American actor and talk radio host}}
{{use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sam Seder
| image = Sam Seder, 2025 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Seder in 2025
| birth_name = Samuel Lincoln Seder
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|11|28}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Actor
- political commentator
- media host
- scriptwriter
}}
| education = Connecticut College (BA)
Boston University (incomplete)
| party = Democratic
| spouse = {{marriage|Nicole Cattell||2017|end=div}}
| children = 2
| yearsactive = 1987–present
| website = {{URL|https://majority.fm}}
| notable_works = F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare (2006)
| module = {{Infobox YouTube personality
| embed = yes
| channel_handle = TheMajorityReport
| channel_display_name = TheMajorityReport w/Sam Seder
| years_active = 2010–present
| genres = {{hlist|Politics|news|humor|debate|interview|live call-in}}
| subscribers = 1.78 million
| views = 1.08 billion
| associated_acts = The Michael Brooks Show
| stats_update = May 3, 2025
}}
}}
Samuel Lincoln Seder ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|d|ər}}; born November 28, 1966) is an American actor, progressive{{Cite web |title=The Majority Report |url=https://majorityreportradio.com/ |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=The Majority Report |language=en}} political commentator, and media host. His works include the film Who's the Caboose? (1997) as well as the television shows Beat Cops (2001) and Pilot Season (2004). He also appeared in Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and made guest appearances on Spin City (1997), Sex and the City (2000), America Undercover (2005), and Maron (2015). Since 2010, he has hosted a daily political talk show, The Majority Report with Sam Seder. He also voices Harold Cranwinkle and Hugo, recurring characters on the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers.
{{Progressivism sidebar}}
Personal life
=Early life and education=
Seder was born to a Jewish family in New York City, and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, and is the oldest of three children. His father, J. Robert Seder, is a well-known lawyer in Worcester. Seder earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Religious Studies from Connecticut College and enrolled at Boston University School of Law. Disillusioned by the school's commercialized culture, he dropped out of studying law to pursue a career in comedy. Seder became involved in the Boston comedy scene, associating with Janeane Garofalo, David Cross, Marc Maron and Sarah Silverman, whom he dated. These connections were used in his first film, Who's the Caboose?, which then led to Seder's appearances on comedy TV shows.
=Adult life and independence=
On August 9, 2005, Seder's wife Nicole Cattell gave birth to their first child, daughter Myla Rae.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiG76k6x48w|title=Sam's Daughter ROCKS Global Climate Change Strike|date=September 20, 2019|website=YouTube|access-date=August 3, 2022}} On March 7, 2013, she gave birth to their second child, son Saul.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/samseder/status/442014403026644992|title=Happy First Birthday to my son, Saul. I wish him a happy healthy and "sleep more please" year.|first=Sam|last=Seder|date=March 7, 2014|publisher=Twitter|access-date=August 3, 2022}} On April 27, 2018, Seder announced that the couple were separated. He later announced they had divorced.{{Cite web |last=Seder |first=Sam |date=2022-06-21 |title=post |url=https://x.com/SamSeder/status/1539453747365027840 |archive-date= |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=X}} Seder is a Reform Jew and has no problem with religion in general, but is opposed to religious fundamentalism and theocracy.{{Cite web|url=https://forward.com/culture/702952/sam-seder-debate-trump-christian-nationalism-nazi/|title=Debating a Jew, Trump supporters endorse America's 'European and Christian' identity|last=Fox|first=Mira|publisher=The Forward|quote=Seder is a Reform Jew, he told one of his first opponents; he has no beef with religion. “The problem I have with religious fundamentalists, and really I guess it’s theocrats, is that they want to impose their morality which comes from their religion,” he said. “I don’t think that you have the right to corner what God is telling us is right and wrong, and there’s differences between religions.”|date=March 11, 2025|accessdate=March 12, 2025}}
Career
File:Sam Seder in August 2008.jpg
In March 2004, Seder became co-host of Air America Radio's The Majority Report, alongside Janeane Garofalo until July 2006.
During Mark Green's restructuring plan to transform Air America into a profitable leader in progressive talk radio, called "Air America 2.0", The Sam Seder Show was canceled on April 13, 2007, and replaced by WOR Radio Network late night radio show host Lionel. Seder was relegated to a Sunday show entitled Seder on Sunday. Lionel soon lost two-thirds of Seder's live affiliates and listenership. The final Seder on Sunday was broadcast on June 1, 2008.
Seder also occasionally substituted for Randi Rhodes when Rhodes was on Air America, as well as Mike Malloy on The Mike Malloy Show on the Nova M Radio network. In 2008 he also began a collaboration with Marc Maron on Maron v. Seder, an hour-long video webcast. In January 2009, Maron v. Seder was renamed Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder and aired live from the kitchen in the Air America offices weekdays. Seder and Maron also hosted a post-show chat with viewers after each episode. Air America Media cancelled Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder in July 2009. In 2010, Air America was shut down.
In November 2009, Seder hosted a pilot for NBC of an American version of Have I Got News for You. Three years later, in November 2012, it was announced Seder would again be the host of an American version of the show, this time on TBS.
In November 2010, Seder began an independent online podcast, called The Seder Channel (later renamed The Majority Report w/Sam Seder). The live talk-show format closely matches the previous Air America program, with politically oriented commentary by Seder and co-hosts, and interviews with various guests. Seder offers listeners different tiered levels of access to content around the show via crowdfunding platform Patreon.
In late 2010, Seder began occasionally serving as substitute host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann when Olbermann was on vacation. In December 2010, Seder also became co-host of the nationally syndicated progressive radio interview program Ring of Fire, co-hosted by Farron Cousins and Florida-based attorney Mike Papantonio.
Seder also worked as a political contributor for MSNBC.
The Majority Report was associated with the TYT Network, with which the show partnered, from the 2010 relaunch until 2020, which generally followed its original format but was rebooted as a viewer-funded production. Following those structural affiliation and funding-production changes, the show won a string of international People's Choice Podcast Awards,{{cite web |title=Past Winners, 2005–2017 |url=https://www.podcastawards.com/past-winners |website=Podcast Awards }} in five of the next seven annual competitions (2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2017), for the "News and Politics" award.
In March 2025, Seder appeared in an episode of the Jubilee Media web show Surrounded, in which he challenged 20 Donald Trump supporters to a debate. The video, which had been filmed in January, quickly became viral and gained millions of views within days, with commentary focusing on fringe views espoused by his opponents.{{Cite web |last=Quah |first=Nicholas |date=2025-03-13 |title=Sam Seder Knows His Viral Debate Was 'a Little Bit Disturbing' |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/sam-seder-says-his-viral-debate-was-a-little-disturbing.html |website=Vulture}}{{Cite web |last=Black |first=Michael Ian |date=2025-03-12 |title=The Viral 'Debate' Video That Proves Most MAGA Voters Are a Lost Cause |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-viral-debate-video-that-proves-most-maga-voters-are-a-lost-cause/ |website=The Daily Beast}}
= 2017 tweet controversy =
In 2009, to criticize petitions seeking Roman Polanski's release from rape charges, Seder tweeted "Dont care re Polanski, but i hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/ a great sense of mise en scene". In 2017, Mike Cernovich called attention to the tweet and contacted multiple journalists asking them to write about it. As a result, MSNBC initially decided not to renew Seder's contract despite Seder explaining that the tweet was satire.{{Cite web |last=Kirby |first=Jen |date=2017-12-06 |title=How the alt-right duped MSNBC into firing one of its contributors |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/12/6/16738564/sam-seder-msnbc-firing-alt-right-smear |access-date=2024-08-08 |website=Vox |language=en-US}} Shortly afterward, MSNBC reversed its decision after getting pushback from journalists, and MSNBC's president said the initial decision to part ways had been wrong.
Filmography
= Film =
| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |
| 1997
| Max | Also director and writer |
| 1997
| Gary Snider | Direct-to-video{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115677/|title=The Big Fall|via=IMDb}} |
| 1998
| Kevin Monteiro | |
| 2000
| Ned | |
| 2000
| Endsville | Wood Salesman | |
| 2004
| Beacon Hill | Rafe Coulter | |
| 2008
| The Bad Situationist | Arthur Lieberman | Also director and co-writer{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1562251/|title=A Bad Situationist|date=July 17, 2008|via=IMDb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv-Pe7kRsnc|title=As Heard on WTF with Marc Maron: Who's the Caboose? and Pilot Season.Sam Seder Movies|date=May 7, 2015|via=YouTube}} |
| 2017
| Dressler | |
| 2022
| Hugo Habercore | |
= Television =
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Title !Role !Notes |
| 1995
|Phil |Episode: "Young Americans" |
| 1995
|Greg |Episode: "Best Laid Plans" |
| 1996
|The Show |Tom Delaney |8 episodes |
| 1996
|Boys & Girls |David Waits |Television film |
| 1997
|George / Bogus Temp |2 episodes |
| 1997
|Voice |Episode: "In the City" |
| 1998
|Grown-Ups |Phil |Television film |
| 1999
|The Dick & Paula Celebrity Special |William Clark |Episode: "Merriweather Lewis and Curly Howard" |
| 1999
|Pulp Comics: Louis C.K.'s Filthy Stupid Talent Show |Seth the Jew |Television short |
| 2000
|Lew |Episode: "Sex and Another City" |
| 2002–2004
|Fenton Mulley / Cho / Paula's Father |12 episodes |
| 2004
|Max Rabin |2 episodes |
| 2005
|Bug |Episode: "Patience" |
| 2005–2007
|Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil |Special Father #2 / The Senator |11 episodes |
| 2006
|Mr. Chip Hurley |Episode: "A Stronger O'Grady" |
| 2006
|Cheap Seats: Without Ron Parker |Sir Aglovale |Episode: "Unbelievable Sports 1" |
| 2008
|Principal Jenkins / Douche |2 episodes; voice role |
| 2011–present
|Hugo Habercore / Harold Cranwinkle / Al Genarro |32 episodes |
| 2015
|Sam Seder |Episode: "Patent Troll" |
| 2017
|Vaughn Yenko |Episode: "Stoppable: Requiem for an Airdate" |
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em|refs=
{{cite web|last1=Kludt|first1=Tom|last2=Darcy|first2=Oliver|url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/05/media/sam-seder-msnbc-mike-cernovich/index.html|title= How a joke, and Mike Cernovich, got Sam Seder booted from MSNBC|work=CNNMoney|date=2017-12-05|access-date=2017-12-10}}
{{cite web|last=O'Connor|first=Lydia|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sam-seder-msnbc-fired_us_5a25c064e4b086e4e503ce2f|title=MSNBC Gives In To Disingenuous Right-Wing Smear, Fires Sam Seder|work=Huffington Post|date=2017-12-05|access-date=2017-12-10}}
{{Cite news|last=Bromwich|first=Jonah Engel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/07/business/media/msnbc-sam-seder.html|title= MSNBC Rehires Contributor Sam Seder: 'Sometimes You Just Get One Wrong'|date=2017-12-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-12-10}}
{{cite web |last=Grim |first=Ryan |url=https://theintercept.com/2017/12/07/sam-seder-msnbc-reverses-decision-to-fire-contributor-sam-seder/?comments=1#comments/|title=MSNBC Reverses Decision to Fire Contributor Sam Seder |work=The Intercept |publisher= First Look Media |date=2017-12-07 |access-date=2017-12-10}}
{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/SamSeder/status/309640715703554048|title=My son born at 5:36 AM today. Mommy & baby both healthy!|first=Sam|last=Seder|date=March 7, 2013|publisher=Twitter|access-date=2017-07-21}}
{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT6M-vGpkHY#t=56m43s | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528043041/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT6M-vGpkHY&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=2020-05-28 | url-status=dead|title=I am separated from my wife|first=Sam|last=Seder|date=April 27, 2018|publisher=YouTube|access-date=2019-06-27}}
}}
Bibliography
- {{citation|author1=Seder, Sam|author2=Sherrill, Stephen|title=F.U.B.A.R.: America's Right-Wing Nightmare |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOmo25dxAQAC|year=2006|isbn=978-0-06-186364-6|publisher=HarperCollins}}
- {{citation|title=Wait! Don't Move to Canada: A Stay-and-Fight Strategy to Win Back America|author1=Scher, Bill |author2=Garofalo, Janeane |author3=Seder, Sam|year=2006|isbn= 9781594863967|publisher=Rodale}}
External links
{{Commonscat|Sam Seder}}
- {{homepage|http://majority.fm/}}
- {{Twitter}}
- {{IMDb name|0781268|Sam Seder}}
- {{Rotten-tomatoes-person|sam-seder}}
- {{LinkedIn URL}}
- {{Muck Rack}}
- {{C-SPAN}}
{{The Majority Report}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seder, Sam}}
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