Biff Wiff has died. Although a veteran working actor of many years, Wiff is most memorable to modern audiences for small but eye-catching parts in a number of recent oddball comedies, popping up for a scene or two in Jury Duty, Everything Everywhere All At Once, or FX’s Dave. But he will be most beloved by many for his appearances on Tim Robinson’s I Think You Should Leave, in which he played the Netflix sketch show’s vulgar, gun-toting version of Santa Claus, star of popular (fake) action movie Detective Crashmore. Wiff’s death was reported by his representatives, who posted the news on social media on Friday.
By his own account, Wiff came by his Santa bona fides honest: The son of a Baptist minister, he began performing in Christmas parades and other Santa gigs early, amidst other artistic pursuits. (In a 2021 Uproxx interview—apparently the first media interview he’d ever done—Wiff noted that his stage name came from a musical improv troupe he performed in in San Diego, and stated that he had no intention of ever revealing his birth name to press.) Although a working actor for many years (he’s one of the few people to have a credit in both the original, and the rebooted, versions of Night Court) Wiff’s casting prospects actually seemed to get better as he got older: From 2000 on, his C.V. fills out significantly, especially once comedy casting directors apparently caught on to the kind of energy he could bring to a one-shot, and even one-scene, part: Review, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and other big-name comedies all made use of Wiff’s distinctive look and vibe.
Most PopularFor many, though “Crashmore” was their crash course in Wiff’s whole deal: As a version of Santa who is both a) very bad at starring in action movies, and b) extremely pretentious (à la Steven Seagal) about starring in said action movies, it’s a very odd premise for a sketch, relying pretty much entirely on Wiff’s deliveries. His deliberately flat reads of lines like “Eat fucking bullets, you fuckers, you fucking suck” are the big, ear-catching bits of the sketch, but he’s just as good in the interview portions as a deeply affronted Santa who doesn’t want to talk about giving presents—but who can nevertheless get caught up in the minutiae of which behaviors do and do not justify getting put on the naughty list. Wiff’s role in the show’s second season was memorable enough that he was brought back for its third, embracing the “Shirt Brothers” life opposite star Tim Robinson.
His profile significantly raised, Wiff followed ITYSL with some of the biggest roles of his career, appearing in Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once as one of the unhinged customers at Michelle Yeoh’s laundromat, and starring opposite Jake Johnson in his directorial debut Self-Reliance. Johnson was especially effusive about Wiff’s gifts as a performer, praising his ability to give real-feeling performances that were also lifted up with humor and charm.
In more recent years, health issues impacted Wiff’s ability to perform: In 2023, he launched a GoFundMe to help pay for treatment for cancer. But he also continued to appear in public: In May of 2024, he appeared at Netflix’s Netflix Is A Joke festival, showing up on an I Think You Should Leave segment to show off an unaired sketch he starred in for the series. Robinson commemorated his work with Wiff on his social media today, posting a photo and a clip of them together on his Instagram Story.
More from A.V. Club