Sam Hyde

Biography

Samuel Whitcomb Hyde (born April 16, 1985) is an American comedian and a co-founder of the sketch comedy group Million Dollar Extreme (MDE), alongside Nick Rochefort and Charls Carroll. Born in Massachusetts and raised in Connecticut, Hyde graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in filmmaking. MDE gained notoriety on YouTube for their provocative, anti-sketch style and public pranks, including trolling staged performances at conventions and comedy clubs that pushed social boundaries and courted controversy. Widespread public attention followed one such satirical TEDx talk. Hyde and MDE created the television series Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace, which aired on Adult Swim in 2016. The show featured surreal, boundary-pushing sketches that contained antisemitic dog whistles, violence, and misogyny and quickly became polarizing, drawing both a dedicated fan base, especially amongst the alt-right, and significant criticism for its controversial content. The series was cancelled after one season, which Hyde attributed to his vocal support for Donald Trump, though others cited the show's offensive material as the primary reason for its termination. He now is a host of the reality series Fishtank. Hyde is the subject of a recurring internet hoax in which he is falsely identified as the perpetrator of various mass shootings and terrorist attacks by online trolls, and he has played along with this hoax. His career has been defined by his willingness to provoke outrage through his transgressive style, by his political messaging and his financial support for far-right figure Andrew Anglin.