Animal House, Seinfeld, Buffy—Mark Metcalf Has Seen It All
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Mark Metcalf is forever linked to one of the most memorable characters in comedy history: the rigid and relentless ROTC officer Douglas C. Neidermeyer in the 1978 film Animal House. Acting opposite John Belushi at the height of his power, Metcalf helped shape a movie that redefined American comedy. But Animal House was only the beginning of a career that would stretch across decades of film and television.
From his scene-stealing appearance as “The Maestro” on Seinfeld to his chilling portrayal of “The Master” on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Metcalf became a familiar face to audiences who loved characters with a few sharp edges. Metcalf joins us to tell his story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:07.2 | This new year swaps someday with today. |
| 0:11.0 | You've already got the idea, so make it real in 26 with a pro-level website. |
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| 0:26.8 | That's go-dady.com to get the lowest-priced website builder, guaranteed. |
| 0:31.0 | Thank you. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history, and everything in between, |
| 0:54.6 | including your stories. Send them to Our American Stories.com. They're some of our favorites. |
| 1:00.4 | Mark Metcalf as an actor often identified as playing the role of an antagonist. He is best |
| 1:06.1 | known for his role as the sadistic ROTC officer Douglas T. Niedemeyermeier in the 1978 comedy Animal House, |
| 1:14.3 | a character he later emulated in the 1984 music videos for the songs We're Not Gonna Take It, |
| 1:20.2 | and I Want a Rock by the heavy metal hair band, Twisted Sister. |
| 1:24.1 | He is also known for playing the role of The Maestro on the hit sitcom Seinfeld. |
| 1:29.4 | Mark Metcalfe sat down with Greg Hangler and shared his story. Here's Mark. |
| 1:35.0 | I was born in Findlay, Ohio, which is the home of Tasty Taters and where Ben Rathesburg |
| 1:41.7 | grew up and lived. In fact, in Hancock County, where Findlay, Ohio is, which is about 75 miles south of Toledo, |
| 1:50.5 | I'm the second most famous person to ever come out of Findlay, Ohio, |
| 1:55.0 | according to the Chamber of Commerce or whoever makes those things up. |
| 1:59.2 | Ben Rathesburg is number one, and I'm number two. |
| 2:02.6 | But that's all right. |
... |
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