If you recognize the actor playing Humperdoo in Preacher, here’s why. First introduced in Preacher season 2, Humperdoo was the big secret Herr Starr and the Grail were hiding from the world - a descendant of Jesus Christ whose bloodline had been protected and hidden for 2000 years. Unfortunately, repeated inbreeding has left Humperdoo with severe mental abnormalities. Unable to converse besides the odd nonsensical word, Humperdoo seems to only take pleasure in tap dancing and expelling his bodily fluids over other people. Naturally, the Grail tout him as the future Messiah.
Clearly seeing the potential issues with appointing Humperdoo as the savior and leader of all creation, Starr turned to Jesse Custer as an alternative but, in Preacher season 3, Jesse and Starr’s partnership came to a head-splitting end, forcing the Grail to go all-in on the Humperdoo plan once again. In a further complication, the real Humperdoo is currently missing after Jesse released both the Messiah and a bunch of faulty Humperdoo clones out into the world. Humperdoo is seemingly set for an increased role in Preacher’s fourth and final season.
For some viewers, Humperdoo’s face may feel eerily familiar, and that’s because the actor playing him is world famous, albeit as a musician, not a TV actor. Humperdoo is played by Tyson Ritter, best known as the frontman of rock band, All American Rejects. Active in the early-mid 2000s, All American Rejects had a string of hits including “Dirty Little Secret,” “Move Along” and “Gives You Hell.” In a neat nod to Ritter’s history, Humperdoo debuts in the Preacher episode “Dirty Little Secret.”
Even at the height of his All American Rejects fame, Ritter was also working as a model and began an acting career in 2007 with an appearance in Hugh Laurie medical drama, House. Ritter has featured in several movie and TV projects in the years since, but Preacher season 4 undoubtedly represents his biggest non-music gig to date.
Humperdoo is a jarring, if quintessentially Preacher-ish, character, but his comedic value is perhaps enhanced by knowing the background of the actor portraying this messy Messiah. The fact that such a ridiculous character with such gross habits is played by a male model and famous rockstar, with legions of doting fans across the world, adds a self-referential irony to Humperdoo that few TV shows could get away with. The casting also speaks somewhat to Ritter’s career outlook. While the All American Rejects frontman is clearly keen to delve deeper into the acting world, he has no financial need to take acting roles, and therefore must see the funny side in playing a character with the social etiquette of the world’s most obnoxious Vegas bachelor party.
