Matt McCusker
Philadelphia-area stand-up comedian and novelist who co-hosts Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast with Shane Gillis and plays Max the Cop in the Netflix series Tires.
Comedy · Instagram · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Matt McCusker is a stand-up comedian, novelist and actor from the Philadelphia area, best known as the co-host of Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast with Shane Gillis. On Netflix he has a stand-up special, A Humble Offering (October 2025), and a recurring guest part as Max the Cop in Tires, which TVmaze credits in one episode of each of its three seasons, most recently in August 2026. He is touring theaters in 2026 on The Healing Frequency Tour, and fans call him “The Shaman,” as his tour billing puts it. His Instagram has about 390,000 followers.
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Questions people ask
Who is Matt McCusker?
Matt McCusker is a stand-up comedian, novelist and actor from the Philadelphia area. He co-hosts Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast with Shane Gillis, which PodcastingToday reported in March 2025 as the number one podcast on Patreon at about 5.5 million downloads a month. His Netflix special A Humble Offering came out in October 2025, and he plays a recurring cop in the Gillis sitcom Tires.
Is Matt McCusker in Tires? Is he in Tires season 3?
Yes, in a recurring guest role. He plays Max the Cop, a goofy police officer who rides his bike to the shop, as The Direct described him in May 2024. TVmaze’s episode credits list him in three episodes: season 1, episode 5, “Bikini Car Wash” (May 2024); season 2, episode 7, “Free Fries” (June 2025); and season 3, episode 2, “Secret Shopper,” from the season that premiered on August 13, 2026. Netflix renewed Tires for a fourth season on August 31, 2026, per Deadline. No season 4 cast has been announced as of October 2026.
Why is Matt McCusker not in Tires more? Is he a main cast member?
He is not a series regular, and he has not said anything we could source about wanting a bigger part. What is public: Tires was created by Shane Gillis, Steve Gerben and John McKeever, and trade press list the main cast as Gillis, Gerben, Chris O’Connor, Kilah Fox and Stavros Halkias (Variety, May 2024; What’s on Netflix, May 2026). McCusker has been a guest from the first season, about one episode a season, so people who watch a season without his episode tend to ask where he went.
Why is Matt McCusker called the Shaman?
It is a fan nickname. Venue listings for his 2026 tour, such as The Venetian and Boston’s Boch Center, say he is known as “The Shaman.” We could not find him or the press explaining where it came from, so we will not guess. The billing he picks himself points the same way: a special called A Humble Offering, a tour called The Healing Frequency Tour, and a site that says he now focuses on peace and harmony.
How old is Matt McCusker? What is his real name?
He is 40. Famous Birthdays gives his birthday as January 18, 1986. Matt is short for Matthew: his Instagram handle is @mccuskermatthewj.
Where is Matt McCusker from?
Havertown, Pennsylvania, a suburb just outside Philadelphia, per Famous Birthdays. His tour billing calls him a Philadelphia comedian.
Is Matt McCusker on tour? Is he coming to Boston?
Yes. His 2026 run is The Healing Frequency Tour, booked into theaters. He played Boston’s Shubert Theatre on September 12, 2026 (Boch Center) and Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater on September 26, 2026 (Pabst Theater Group), and he is listed at The Lyric in Baltimore on November 21, 2026. Current dates are on his site.
Does Matt McCusker have a Netflix special or a book?
Both. His Netflix special A Humble Offering premiered in October 2025 and reached the Netflix Top 10, per his tour billing. His first hour, The Speed of Light (2023), is on YouTube with close to 4 million views. His novel is Overlook: A Story About Drugs, Disappointment and The American Dream, a satire about neighbors in a blue-collar town caught up in a missing person case, and his billing says a second book is in the works. He also wrote and voices the animated shorts The Papa John Paradox, launched in August 2025.
What is Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast?
A weekly comedy podcast McCusker co-hosts with Shane Gillis, with free episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and extra episodes on Patreon. Video episodes came to Spotify in March 2025, per PodcastingToday. The public feed was past episode 640 in October 2026, and the show’s YouTube channel has about 874,000 subscribers.
Where can I watch Matt McCusker?
A Humble Offering and Tires are on Netflix. The podcast is on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Patreon. He posts on Instagram @mccuskermatthewj and X @mattwritesbooks, and he also turns up in the web series Gilly and Keeves.
What is Matt McCusker’s net worth? Is he a millionaire?
He does not publish a number and neither do we.
What about Matt McCusker’s family, health or personal life?
Not something we cover.
Who represents Matt McCusker?
His site does not list a manager, agent or booking contact, only a mailing list for show announcements, and tickets run through each venue. Ames Create does not represent him; we cover him because people keep asking whether he is still in Tires and where the Shaman name comes from, and the first half of that is on the record. If that changes, this entry will say so.
Our read
Ames Create does not work with Matt McCusker. This is our view, from a team that works on creator brands for a living.
The format. The podcast is the engine: two old friends talking for an hour or more each week, with McCusker as the one who takes a small idea somewhere strange and calm. That steady, slightly mystic delivery is what the nickname, the special and the tour names all build on, and it carries into stand-up without a change of voice.
Why it travels. A weekly show with a big paying audience produces clips every week, and a Shane Gillis connection puts him in front of Tires viewers, Netflix stand-up fans and Gillis’s own crowd at once. Small recurring parts like Max the Cop work the same way: one episode a season keeps people asking about him.
Brand fit. Comedy-adjacent brands that already buy podcast reads, plus books, audio and live events, fit the way he already works. The material is adult, starting with the novel’s subtitle, so family brands are not a fit.
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Sources: mattmccusker.com, dates and books; Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, its YouTube and Apple Podcasts feed; Famous Birthdays; TVmaze; The Direct, May 2024; Variety, May 2024; The Hollywood Reporter, July 2025; What’s on Netflix, May 2026; Deadline, August 2026; PodcastingToday, March 2025; tour listings at Boch Center, Pabst Theater Group, The Venetian and The Lyric. Follower counts via Social Blade, October 2026.
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