Hooray For Us! Adam Pally Is Our Next Great Leading Man

Now is a great time to go ahead and let your mom know who Adam Pally is, because that dude is thisclose to becoming a household name. A string of recent movies prove what comedy nerds have been yapping about for years (and with good reason): Pally is a true leading man.

Most people did a quick Google search on him back in 2011 when Happy Endings premiered, wondering how they’d never seen a guy this funny in anything before. As Max, a total bro who just happened to be gay, Pally was able to tease us with the amount of talent he was in possession of. While Max was mostly a goofball with a never-ending supply of quips, he was also afforded episodes that displayed his ability to play romantic guy, true friend, and all-knowing wingman.

Clearly Mindy Kaling knew what was up, because she scooped him up the second Happy Endings was cancelled. On The Mindy Project, Pally continues to serve as a cheerleader and confidant to Mindy’s character in a way that has viewers clamoring for an equally fun platonic friend in their own lives. Pally has also had roles in A.C.O.D. and The To Do List, so, check — he knows how to play nice and also shine within an ensemble.

This week sees the release, in theaters and VOD, of Joshy, a Sundance fave featuring Pally and several of his previous UCB buddies. Pally plays Ari, best bud to Joshy (Thomas Middleditch), a guy who goes through with a guys’ weekend, even though it is no longer serving as the bachelor party it was meant to be. Nick Kroll and Jenny Slate also star, with the latter bringing out the sweet romantic side of Pally he’s only recently been able to show off.

Because the thing about Pally is that he’s average until he’s not. He looks like a guy you went to high school with, but he’s clearly funnier than anyone on the football team or in your chemistry class. He seems like a guy your friend used to date, except that with Pally you totally do get it. He’s not a Channing Tatum, a guy it’s easy to find annoying and be suspicious of the fact that he is as funny as he is on screen — we’ve got enough of those. With Pally, you expect laughs. What you don’t expect is for him to make you cry or evoke that feeling that pops up sometimes when you have to ask yourself, “Wait, do I like my guy friend more than a friend after all?” Pally serves as a fantastic reminder that sometimes you want the fantasy in a body of someone relatable. He’s the kind of guy that remains infinitely watchable to both men and women, which has got to be, like, one of the top 3 most important qualities of a leading man.

Early in his career, Pally could’ve been pegged as the schlubby clown, and sure, he can do that. But the path he’s traveled down so far has been wildly more interesting. Lately, it’s felt like more of a stretch for him when he’s not playing a guy who is sensitive and fairly assured. Pally wins more as a guy who is caring, rather than comedic — we’re just in luck that he’s able to do both. Director of Joshy, Jeff Baena agreed, saying, “He’s been in everything I’ve done so far, he was in my first thing, he was in the thing I did right after Joshy, and I’m always planning on working with him. I think Pally has a sensitivity and an intelligence that he oftentimes doesn’t get a chance to display. I love working with him and I always want to. I think Joshy, and to some extent, Night Owls, will hopefully help to open it up for people to understand that he’s more capable of just having witty quips. He’s a real actor.”

Pally has done an excellent job of choosing smaller projects lately, as Joshy demonstrates, as do two films currently available on Netflix. Slow Learners finds Pally opposite Sarah Burns, two people who can’t truthfully say they are getting laid on the reg, but with each other’s help, they try their best to turn that around. Night Owls opens with Pally getting lucky until he’s really unlucky. Opposite Rosa Salazar, an actress with whom he shares an electric chemistry, Pally confidently carries a film that is nearly every genre mixed into one. The story takes place over one very long night, in a plot that could’ve been hard to sympathize with were it not for the heart Pally brings to the screen. It’s the surest example of Pally’s depth and promise for even more interesting projects heading his way.

That includes Making History, the new Fox show coming up in 2017, where he co-stars with Yassir Lester as two nerdy current day dudes that are total ballers once they time travel back a few hundred years. The show sounds like it will provide the opportunity for Pally to do what he does best: what he’s feeling. His versatility will be the key to keeping him so in-demand and adored by new audiences along the way. On behalf of Channing Tatum and leading men everywhere, Adam Pally, we welcome you to the club.

[Watch Night Owls on Netflix]