Hayes was born June 26, 1970, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Mary, a director of a non-profit food bank, and Ronald Hayes, a lithographer. He is of Irish descent and was raised Roman Catholic, attending high school in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, at Glenbard West High School. Hayes studied piano performance and conducting at Illinois State University but left before graduating. He worked as a classical pianist and served as a music director at the Pheasant Run Theater in St. Charles, Illinois. He also composed original music for a production of Antigone at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. He participated in The Second City improvisational comedy troupe.
Hayes moved to Los Angeles in 1995, where he found work as a stand-up comedian, stage actor and as an actor in television commercials, including a 1998 Doritos ad featuring model Ali Landry.
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