Mooney was born the youngest in a family of three boys in San Diego, California, to parents Linda (née Kozub) and Brian Mooney.[8][9] Linda is a former reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Brian is an environmental consultant and planner.[10] He has two older brothers, Sean and Ryan.
In 2007, Mooney, Bennett, Rutherford and Dave McCary formed the sketch comedy group Good Neighbor, uploading video content on the YouTube channel GoodNeighborStuff.[16] Bennett and McCary joined Saturday Night Live alongside Mooney in 2013 (as a performer and director, respectively), and Rutherford was hired as a writer the following year.[17] In 2014, Good Neighbor was featured on NewMediaRockstars' Top 100 Channels, ranked at No. 98.[18]
Saturday Night Live
Mooney auditioned to join Saturday Night Live in the summer of 2012 but was rejected; he successfully auditioned the following year, joining the cast during the show's 39th season.[19] On September 28, 2013, he debuted as a featured player.[20] At the start of the season 41, Mooney was upgraded to repertory status.[21]
Mooney brought some of his YouTube characters to the show, including his person-on-the-street interviews, the 4/20 Weed-Smoking Guy, Chris Fitzpatrick, Todd from Inside SoCal, and Bruce Chandling.
Mooney starred in and co-wrote the film Brigsby Bear, which premiered in 2017 at the Sundance Film Festival. He co-wrote the film with Kevin Costello over a two to three-year period, drawing inspiration from his own life, his interest in 1980s children's television shows and cartoons, and his experience making short films with Costello and McCary in middle school.[5] McCary directed the film.[25]
In December 2021, the adult cartoon comedy Saturday Morning All Star Hits!, co-created, co-written, and executive produced by Mooney, was released on Netflix. He also stars in several roles. The eight-episode series is directed by Dave McCary and animated by Ben Jones. Mooney and Jones created the show based on a mutual love of Saturday-morning cartoon blocks from their childhoods in the 1980s and 1990s.[26]
On March 23, 2023, it was announced that Mooney would direct the disaster comedy Y2K for A24.[27] The movie debuted at the South by Southwest Festival on March 9th, 2024 and was released on December 6, 2024.[28]
Personal life
In 2021, Mooney married actress Kate Lyn Sheil.[29] In December 2023, Mooney revealed that he and his wife had welcomed a daughter.[30]
Mooney is a self-described collector and owns a VHS collection that he started working on as a child. Through connections made while working on SNL, he has been able to get several VHS tapes autographed by the actors who have starred in them, including a Beetlejuice VHS signed by both Michael Keaton and Alec Baldwin.[31]