By Bob Yearick
Asked to name the actor he most admires, Neil Casey, Wilmington’s Swiss Army Knife gift to the entertainment world, offers an answer that shows he’s no longer the no-doubt starry-eyed kid who graduated from the University of Delaware in 2003.
“Stephen Root,” he says.
Who is Stephen Root, you ask? Well, among dozens of roles, Root played the tormented Milton Waddams in the film Office Space; the manipulative hitman handler Monroe Fuches in the HBO dark comedy series Barry; and the superstitious fisherman Wyck Crawford in the recently completed first season of Apple TV’s record Emmy-winning (See sidebar, pg. 23) comedy/horror series Widow’s Bay, in which Casey plays Kurt, owner of the town’s rundown inn.
It speaks to Casey’s going-on-three-decades of show business experience that he didn’t pick any of the big names he has worked with — names like Larry David, Amy Schumer, Matthew Rhys, Amy Poehler — but instead opted for the veteran character actor Root, who won Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series on Sept. 14 (see sidebar). It suggests that the 45-year-old writer/actor/director/producer has been around long enough to appreciate craftsmanship, not just star power.
Casey, who grew up in Wilmington’s Forty Acres neighborhood and graduated from Salesianum School, honed his acting chops at the Wilmington Drama League, whose Lea Boulevard stage was also graced by such local luminaries as Aubrey Plaza and John Gallagher Jr.
Kathy Buterbaugh, production manager for WDL, keeps in touch with Casey and Plaza and remembers them as pranksters who won best actor and best actress awards in 2000.
Buh-bye, Computer Science
Casey fully committed to the entertainment world during his sophomore year at UD, when he did an academic 180, switching majors from computer science — which he had a scholarship for — to English and drama. He joined and eventually became president of the campus improv comedy troupe Rubber Chickens.
In a 2016 story in the UD alumni magazine, Casey said his tenure with the Chickens was “a really special time with really talented, cool people,” and credited the experience for kick-starting his professional career.
He was soon driving to New York to perform and study comedy at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB), which was founded by Poehler, among others.
After earning his degree in three years, he became a full-time New Yorker, performing, directing, and even instructing at UCB, and living the typical peripatetic existence of the show biz newbie trying to find firm footing and permanent housing.
His first place, shared with a friend, was next to a train track in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn — a two-bedroom apartment where he slept on an air mattress.
The SNL Experience
“I moved at least every couple of years, and I lived everywhere,” Casey says. “I lived on the Lower East Side; I lived in Astoria, Queens, for a long time with two other roommates in a house that was falling apart; I lived near Penn Station — not the most glamorous part of Manhattan; I lived in Hell’s Kitchen, and I lived in Bushwick (in Brooklyn).”
In 2012, he scored a one-year stint as a writer for Saturday Night Live, creating sketches for a cast that included Seth Meyers, Cecily Strong, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, and Keenan Thompson. By 2013, he was writing for the Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer. He earned Primetime Emmy nominations for both gigs.
Having established a reputation as both writer and performer, Casey moved to Los Angeles in 2014. A year later, he was picked for the role of villain Roman North in the female-centric reboot of Ghostbusters. This was his first breakthrough movie after having appeared in shorts and indie films, including something called Secret Santa Buttplugs. In 2015, he also became a series regular on Yahoo’s comedy Other Space.
In fact, 2015 proved to be a high-water mark in the Casey oeuvre. When Schumer hosted the MTV Movie Awards that year, she brought him along as head writer. He had written for comedy shows before, but that was his first head writing assignment. He also wrote for that season’s Kroll Show on Comedy Central, and appeared as a cable news pundit during the 2015 season of Veep on HBO.
Also in 2015, he landed a fortuitous role as a golf club waiter on an episode of David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, another HBO hit.
Ad-Libbing with Larry
Casey has again been on a roll in 2026, applying his talents as writer, producer, and actor on Widow’s Bay, where he was among the producers nominated among the show’s 19 Emmy nods. On HBO, he appeared in the seventh and final episode of Larry David’s Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness as one of two physicians attempting — but failing — to save the life of President William Henry Harrison.
Casey’s work in Curb’s 2017 season helped him land the role in Pursuit, where his improv experience stood him in good stead.
“When you work with Larry David,” Casey explains, “it’s mostly unscripted, ad-lib. You’re just given an outline of the scene with bullet points.”
The former Blue Hen/Rubber Chicken quickly fell into the rhythm of the scene, in which he and David banter about the words “tending” and “attending” as they relate to a physician.
“It was a lot of fun working with him,” Casey says, calling David “generous” in setting up other actors for punch lines, and “complimentary” to fellow performers while also retaining that famous acerbic wit.
Widow’s Bay, on the other hand, is tightly scripted. Casey is currently working on writing and producing for the show’s next season, which he expects to air early in 2028. And he’s scheduled to be back as innkeeper Kurt.
While his work with David and on Widow’s Bay are certainly among his career highlights, Casey says writing for SNL was an incomparable experience. “There’s nothing like coming up with an idea on Monday, then rehearsing it on that stage on Thursday and Friday, then having 10 million people watch it on Saturday,” he says. “Nothing compares to the pace of that schedule, and just the raw talent in that building is world class — the cast, the crew, writing, sound, lighting, set design, everything.
“It’s comedy boot camp. After that, nothing is too difficult to take on.”
Marveling at the special experiences that were routine at SNL, he says, “it became very normal to go to the after party and just make small talk with somebody from the band, or somebody from, say, Alabama Shakes. Or Jude Law.”
Although rarely in awe of the celebrity guest hosts, he was star-struck by two: Paul McCartney and, surprisingly, Big Bird. “At one of my first shows, I came around the corner and there was Big Bird, and that experience was a bit surreal,” Casey remembers.
Back to SNL for Aubrey
He returned to SNL for a week in 2023 when Wilmington homegirl Plaza hosted and asked him to write her monologue. He also contributed to that episode’s “Weekend Update” and conceived and co-wrote “Black Lotus,” a sketch spoofing HBO’s White Lotus, in which Plaza starred during the 2022 season.
“I’ve done a lot of work with Aubrey,” Casey says. He also stays in touch with other Delaware actors like Gallagher, Keith Powell, and Seth Kirschner.
“The Delaware fraternity group chat exists,” Casey says, “and it’s always nice when any of us get to work together.”
He maintains strong Wilmington ties. He serves on the Salesianum Board of Trustees and flies in to attend quarterly meetings in person — so as not to be “a floating head on a screen.”
Casey usually spends some time during the summer vacationing on the Outer Banks with his parents, Tim and Dianne, and other family members; and he also returns home for most Christmases.
Gastronomically, he cuts a wide local swath that includes Toscana, Catherine Rooney’s, Buckley’s Tavern, Yatz’s Subs & Steaks, and La Fia Bistro. “And I mourn the loss of Gallucio’s,” he says.
Casey says he’s “very grateful that Widow’s Bay has found an audience and that Apple’s fully behind it.” He’s looking forward to using his arsenal of talents to keep it popular.
And while the public knows him as an actor, his writing has earned him two of his three Emmy nods, and that’s where he sees his future. “I admire people like the great Stephen Root who really make a career of being an actor and put themselves out there auditioning all the time,” he says, “but writing has really been a career for me.”
“That said,” Casey adds, “I’m always happy if someone wants to point a camera at me.”
Casey among Winners in Widow’s Bay Sweep
Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, on which Neil Casey plays the town’s innkeeper, won 14 Emmys for the 2026 season, the highest single-season total in Emmy history. It capped off the Sept. 14 awards show by capturing the Outstanding Comedy Series title, thus sweeping the Comedy category.
Casey took home his first statuette as one of 12 producers for the show, whose other awards included: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for Casey’s favorite actor, Stephen Root; Matthew Rhys for Outstanding Lead Actor; Kate O’Flynn, Outstanding Supporting Actress; Hiro Murai, Directing; and Katie Dippold, Writing.
The show, which received 19 nominations, scored eight awards earlier in September at the Creative Arts Emmys.
This was Casey’s first win and the third time he had been nominated for a Primetime Emmy. His other nods were in the Writing category, in 2013 for Saturday Night Live and 2014 for Inside Amy Schumer.
Above: Widow’s Bay Emmy winners pose with their statuettes following the Sept. 14 ceremony. Neil Casey is far right, and his favorite actor, Stephen Root, is third from right. Photo by Randy Shropshire/NBC.
The copy editor of Out & About, Bob Yearick retired from DuPont in 2000 after 34 years as an editor and writer. Since “retiring,” Bob has written articles for Delaware Today, Main Line Today and other publications. His sports/suspense novel, Sawyer, was published in 2007. His grammar column, “The War on Words,” is one of the most popular features in O&A. A compilation of the columns was published in 2011. He has won the Out & About short story contest as well as many awards in the annual Delaware Press Association writing contest.