After a number of years in L.A. playing small parts in "Cheers", "Quantum Leap", "21 Jump Street" and other shows, the tall (6'2"), strapping winningly grinning Bader got a break when director Penelope Spheeris cast him as the heroic but dense and accident-prone biker hero "The Searcher" in a 1993 installment of the broad spoof show, "Danger Theatre". Spheeris soon thereafter gave the actor even greater exposure by prevailing against producers who wanted a bigger name when she cast Bader as Jethro (and his sister Jethrine) in the feature version of the outlandish 1960s sitcom, "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1993). In 1995, Bader was cast as Oswald, one of the lead's somewhat dim-witted friends, on the ABC sitcom "The Drew Carey Show," remaining on the series through its final season in 2004.

After becoming a familiar face on television, Bader landed roles in several projects, most notably the cult hit comedy "Office Space" (1999), "Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back" (2001), "Eurotrip" (2004) and, in perhaps his most laughably loopy role, as fitness guru Rex in the cult favorite "Napoleon Dynamite" (2004). Bader also developed a busy and lucrative side career as a voice actor, lending his distinctive tones to such animated series as "Pepper Ann," Disney's "Hercules," "The Simpsons," "Baby Blues," "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command," "Kim Possible," "Batman Beyond" and "King of the Hill," as well as the feature films "Ice Age" (2002) and "The Country Bears" (2002). Bader did a comic turn as a stylist for bumbling FBI Agent Gracie Hart (Sandra Bullock) in “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous” (2005), the sequel to the unexpectedly successful 2000 comedy “Miss Congeniality.”