FOX’s “The 1% Club” Goes 100% Joel McHale with New Host and New Season

FOX Television Network today announced that Joel McHale — star of its hit comedy Animal Control and culinary sleuth series Crime Scene Kitchen — has been named the new host of its popular entertainment format The 1% Club, which has been renewed for a second season. The hit series of the popular international format is produced by BBC Studios Los Angeles Productions and Magnum Media. It originally premiered on Prime Video last season in the U.S. and Canada and will now move exclusively to FOX for its new season airing in 2025-26.

“Joel’s outstanding comedic timing and hosting charm already make him a standout talent here at FOX, and now — building on The 1% Club‘s strong first year on the network — we’re bringing his unrivaled energy, irreverence, and charisma to Season Two,” said Michael Thorn, President of FOX Television Network. “We look forward to expanding on our successful relationship with Joel and continuing our partnership with the incredible production teams at BBC Studios and Magnum.”

“I am 1,000,000% excited to be partnering with FOX to host The 1% Club,” said Joel McHale. “I absolutely love the show and love the game play to the 10?? and guarantee my hair, makeup, and wardrobe will look great at least 68% of the time.”

“99% of us are unfortunately not as funny as Joel McHale, which makes him the perfect host for The 1% Club. His unmatched approach to comedy is innately unpredictable and will take audiences on a thrill-ride as they watch him in action with our contestants, striving to put their wits to the test,” said Ryan O’Dowd, President of Unscripted, BBC Studios, Los Angeles Productions. “The 1% Club has proven to be a massive global hit, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to partner with Rob Wade, Michael Thorn, and the talented and passionate team at FOX who believe in this show and in our shared vision for this new season.”

The 1% Club is a unique, compelling, and funny entertainment show that tests the nation’s intelligence, based on a scientific survey. It’s a chance to test how your brain works through a series of questions that all have a right answer but can also lead to a series of entertaining wrong answers along the way. Whether you’re a contestant vying for the cash prize or a viewer playing with your friends and family, answer enough questions correctly, and you could earn yourself a place in the 1% Club: an elite group of people who can honestly say they’ve outwitted 99% of the population.

The 1% Club is executive produced by Ryan O’Dowd and Krystal Whitney for BBC Studios Los Angeles Productions; and Dean Nabarro and Andy Auerbach for Magnum Media. Wes Kauble serves as the showrunner.

The 1% Club, created by Dean Nabarro and Andy Auerbach at Magnum Media and distributed by BBC Studios, has proven to be a break-out sensation, delivering strong ratings worldwide and returning for multiple seasons in key territories. Following the original top U.K. series produced for ITV, BBC Studios achieved global success launching the hit series format in the U.S. and 11 other global markets: Netherlands, Australia, Germany, France, Israel, Spain, Turkey, Mexico, Greece, Ukraine and Hungary.

Joel McHale is repped by UTA, Ziffren Brittenham and Johnson Shapiro Slewett Kole.

About Joel McHale

Joel McHale is an actor, comedian, and television host. Most recently, McHale stars in and executive produces FOX’s hit comedy series Animal Control, where he plays Frank – an opinionated, curmudgeonly ex-cop and Animal Control officer — in the upcoming Season Three. He will appear in the upcoming Yellow Jackets Season Three in February 2025 on Paramount+ with Showtime and returns for Season Three of FX’s The Bear. McHale will also reprise his role as Jeff Winger in the upcoming Community movie on Peacock, based on the hit comedy series of the same name, which ran for five seasons on NBC with the sixth and final season airing on Yahoo! Joel also continues to host and executive produce FOX’s competition baking show Crime Scene Kitchen and E!’s reality competition series, House of Villains, which brings 10 of reality television’s most infamous villains under one roof to compete for the title of America’s Ultimate Supervillain. McHale hosted The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale on Netflix, a half-hour topical series that took a sharp, absurdist look at pop culture and news from across the globe. In 2015, he wrapped the twelfth and final season of E! Network’s The Soup, in which he satirized pop culture and current events.

He previously starred in CW’s DC Universe series Stargirl, The Great Indoors on CBS, Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet with Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, Paramount+’s reboot of Twilight Zone and FOX’s revival of The X-Files. He also hosted ABC’s show Card Sharks. Other starring feature roles include the dark romantic comedy Happily; thriller Becky; crime comedy The Happytime Murders; Netflix’s A Stupid & Futile Gesture, opposite Will Forte, in which he played Chevy Chase, his former Community co-star; Queenpins; A Merry Friggin’ Christmas opposite Robin Williams; the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced supernatural thriller Deliver Us From Evil; the Warner Bros’ romantic comedy Blended alongside Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore; Seth MacFarlane’s comedy smash Ted; David Frankel’s The Big Year; Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant; and What’s Your Number starring Chris Evans and Anna Faris. In 2020, Joel co-hosted FOX’s New Years Eve special alongside his fellow Community co-star Ken Jeong. They also hosted a podcast, The Darkest Timeline, together. In 2014, McHale hosted the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington D.C. He also hosted the 2015 ESPYS on ABC.

Born in Rome and raised in Seattle, Washington, McHale was a history major at the University of Washington and a member of their championship football team. He also graduated with an MFA from the Actor’s Training Program.

McHale resides in Los Angeles with his wife and two sons.