2019 40 Under 40 Yearbook: Jeff Houghton, 40

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Then: Field representative, Community Blood Center of the Ozarks; Actor, The Skinny Improv
Now: Host, “The Mystery Hour”

After spending a year in Los Angeles to pursue an acting career in 2010-11, Jeff Houghton returned to the Queen City to help make late-night talk show “The Mystery Hour.” It now airs on 10 television stations in eight states.

“I call it the ‘reverse Brad Pitt’ – moved from LA to Springfield to get on TV,” he says, noting the show was boosted by its 2015 viral video “Instagram Husband.” It currently has over 6.8 million views on YouTube.

“I think I’d be very pleasantly surprised if I talked to my 2010 self that we’ve been managing to pull it off all these years,” he says of the show that has filmed more than 160 episodes over eight seasons.

Houghton also takes on many corporate and nonprofit hosting gigs around the country when not filming his show at the Gillioz Theatre.