James Urbaniak

James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American actor. As a character actor, is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: Henry Fool (1997), Fay Grim (2006) and Ned Rifle (2014), Robert Crumb in American Splendor (2003), Grant Grunderschmidt on Review (2014–2017), and Arthur Tack on Difficult People (2015–2017). Urbaniak also voiced Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim's animated series The Venture Bros. (2003–2023).

Urbaniak was born in Bayonne, New Jersey and lives in Los Angeles, California. He is of Polish descent.

Urbaniak's first media appearance occurred in 1983 when, at the age of 20, he went onstage from the audience of Late Night with David Letterman to try his hand at a monologue joke that Letterman had flubbed.

One of his first noteworthy roles was in the avant-garde playwright/director Richard Foreman's The Universe, for which Urbaniak won an Obie. He has also been acclaimed for his acting in the films Henry Fool and American Splendor, in the latter of which he played legendary cartoonist R. Crumb. He was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his role in Thom Pain (based on nothing). He provides the voice for main character Dr. Thaddeus Venture on The Venture Bros. as well as the Doctor's brother Jonas Venture Junior and the super-villain Phantom Limb.

Urbaniak played a pizza guy in the famous "Whassup?" television commercials for Budweiser. The commercial was especially prominent on commercial television networks in the United Kingdom, where it became a cultural phenomenon. He also portrayed the moderator in "Human Centipede Anonymous", a Funny or Die short depicting three men who grapple with their past as a human centipede.

Urbaniak appeared on Ken Reid's TV Guidance Counselor podcast on May 13, 2015.

From 2015 to 2017, Urbaniak played Arthur Tack for all three seasons of the critically-acclaimed Hulu comedy series Difficult People, opposite Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner.

In 2017, Urbaniak played Dr. Kincaid in the film Wonderstruck, directed by Todd Haynes. Also in 2017, he played the Maaldorian Doctor on the hit series Supergirl.