Greg Behrendt

Greg Behrendt

Gregory Behrendt, born July 21, 1963, is an American comedian, talk show host, author, and musician whose public work has moved between stand-up clubs, television writers’ rooms, advice books, and music. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater, though he had first enrolled as a business major and planned to play rugby. That shift toward performance set the direction for a career built on timing, directness, and a sharp ear for how people talk about love, confusion, and disappointment.

After college, Behrendt moved to San Francisco, where he joined an improvisational troupe and became part of the city’s comedy and improv scene. He performed with Crash and Burn, a group whose members included Margaret Cho, and came up alongside comics such as David Cross, with whom he roomed for years, and Patton Oswalt. He later appeared on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. His stand-up special Greg Behrendt is Uncool debuted on Comedy Central in January 2006, and his comedy albums include Greg Behrendt Is Uncool, That Guy From That Thing, and Why Are You In Here?.

Behrendt became best known to a wider audience through his work as a script consultant for the HBO sitcom Sex and the City. In that role, he offered script notes from the perspective of a straight man to a writing team made up of women and gay men. That work led to his co-authoring, with Liz Tuccillo, the 2004 self-help book He’s Just Not That Into You, a New York Times bestseller. The book was later adapted by Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films and Warner Bros. into the film He’s Just Not That Into You, which premiered February 6, 2009.

His advice writing continued with books co-written with his wife, Amiira Ruotola-Behrendt, including It’s Called a Breakup Because It’s Broken and It’s Just a Date: How to Get ’em, How to Read ’em, and How to Rock ’em. He also released It’s Just a Date! in the UK. On television, he hosted the daily daytime self-help talk show The Greg Behrendt Show, which premiered September 12, 2006 and aired its last new episodes in February 2007. His program Greg Behrendt’s Wake-Up Call was made for ABC during the 2006–07 television season and began airing in January 2009 on SoapNet.

The sources of Behrendt’s voice are easy to trace: theater training, improv rooms, stand-up stages, television collaboration, and personal experience. He is married to writer and marketing expert Amiira Ruotola, and they have two daughters, Mighty Luna and Bella True. He is a recovering alcoholic. In 2015, he announced that he was battling cancer and had undergone three rounds of chemotherapy, later stating that he had a form of lymphoma. His ebook See You on the Way Down: Catch You on the Way Back Up! addresses his battles with cancer and addiction. He also plays guitar in his surf and rockabilly instrumental band, The Reigning Monarchs.

Behrendt’s appeal has often come from plain speech. Whether onstage, in a writers’ room, or in books about dating and breakups, he has been associated with saying the hard thing in a way that feels blunt but useful. He started the podcast Walking the Room with Dave Anthony, appeared at the 2010 Melbourne Comedy Festival’s Great Debate, and, as of 2026, works on cruise ships around the world telling jokes, with Royal Caribbean since 2023. His words still matter to readers because they meet embarrassment, romance, recovery, and pain without much ceremony.