Adam Conover (born 1982 or 1983) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and television host. He created and hosted the half-hour truTV show Adam Ruins Everything, based on the CollegeHumor series of the same name. He was also the host of the American version of The Crystal Maze on Nickelodeon. In 2022, Conover's limited series The G Word with Adam Conover debuted on Netflix. Conover serves on the board of the Writers Guild of America West. He also hosts the podcast Factually! With Adam Conover. He has voiced "A Ryan Secrest Type" as well as other characters on BoJack Horseman.
Adam Conover was born in Smithtown, New York, and grew up in nearby Wading River, on the North Shore of Long Island. His parents are David O. Conover, a marine biologist, and Margaret Conover (née Howard), a botanist. His younger sister, Emily, is a science reporter who holds a Ph.D. in particle physics. Conover has described himself as "the only member of the family without a Ph.D." As a teen, he designed webpages and taught himself HTML.
In 2000, he graduated from Shoreham-Wading River High School, where he became interested in performing arts. As a teenager, he was part of a music band called Bocoach. He then attended Bard College, where, in 2002, he became an active member of the sketch comedy group Olde English. In 2004, he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Bard College.
Career
In 2012, Conover began working as a sketch comedy writer and performer for the website and YouTube channel CollegeHumor, where he eventually created the web series that would go on to become Adam Ruins Everything on TruTV. The first episode of the TruTV show, which aims to reveal untold truths and to dispel common misconceptions, premiered in September 2015. Conover has said his character in the show is a comedic interpretation of the person he worries he once was or is. As he told The New York Observer, "It's the reaction I've gotten my whole life: that I learn something and try to tell people in conversation, but when I tell them, they are annoyed."
In 2020, Conover hosted the American adaptation of the British family game show The Crystal Maze for Nickelodeon. In November, he made a cameo appearance as his character from Adam Ruins Everything in The Eric Andre Show. In December, he announced that Adam Ruins Everything was no longer in production and that he was planning a new Netflix series about the federal government, called The G Word with Adam Conover. The show premiered in May 2022 and ran for six episodes.
Conover serves on the board of the Writers Guild of America West, and he sat on the 2023 WGA contract negotiating committee.
In 2025, Conover released a video promoting the cryptocurrency project World Network. He subsequently released an apology video, said he would not accept any further money from World, and called World's Orb "the creepiest tech product Silicon Valley has ever produced".
Personal life
Conover was once a roommate of BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg in New York City, who introduced him to his former partner, illustrator Lisa Hanawalt. Conover had a 15-year relationship with Hanawalt. Conover quit drinking in early 2018. However, according to his 2026 stand-up special Adam Conover: Big Divorce Energy, he has since taken it up again. In the same special, he said he had joined the dating app Feeld and that he marked his sexual orientation as heteroflexible.
Political views
In 2020, Conover was an outspoken supporter of Nithya Raman, who challenged and beat David Ryu for the Los Angeles City Council. As an activist for Housing First policies, Conover performed stand-up to fundraise for the campaign and canvassed in support of Raman.
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