Sam Reich (inset) grew up in Cambridge, just outside of Harvard Square, the son of two academically accomplished professors (His dad, Robert Reich, served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, and his mom, Clare Dalton, taught law at Northeastern and Harvard). But young Sam didn’t embrace academia, and instead bounced from school to school (Buckingham Browne & Nichols; Cambridge Rindge and Latin; Walnut Hill School in Natick). “My educational experience is pretty spotty. . . . This bird was not meant to be caged,” he joked. “The formal education thing didn’t really work out so well for me, which is ironic in so far as my family is very academic and I grew up just outside of Harvard.”
But the 31-year-old found his calling in comedy. He’s currently the head of video at CollegeHumor.com, and president of Big Breakfast, CollegeHumor’s offshoot production company. He’s also the executive producer of “Adam Ruins Everything,” a fast-paced, fact-based investigative comedy series that explores such topics as “Why Funerals Are a Total Ripoff” and “Why Your Credit Card Is Never Secure.”
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The show that began as a web series (one of the first episodes, titled ‘Why Engagement Rings Are a Scam,’ was posted on Valentine’s Day in 2014) now airs on TruTV.
“We’re now into our second season,” said Reich, who promises the next season will be more daring than the first (alas, he couldn’t divulge many details). “I’m really excited about it.”
The second season of “Adam Ruins Everything” is scheduled to premiere on Aug. 23.