We know Ed Helms has made it, because he’s been entrusted to take over a beloved, 32-year-old comedy franchise this summer. He’s the new lead of the Vacation series, filling the shoes of original star Chevy Chase and carrying the torch as Griswold son Rusty. And this isn’t the only movie reboot you’ll find him headlining, as Helms is also set to replace the late Leslie Nielsen for a new incarnation of The Naked Gun.

In honor of his rise to A-list status, we’re celebrating the actor with the following 10 (mostly musical) things about him we love.

Vacation isn’t his first link to Lindsey Buckingham

When Helms hosted Saturday Night Live in 2011, he got to show off his banjo skills during an installment of “What’s Up with That?” Also performing in the same sketch was Lindsey Buckingham, who wrote and performed the Vacation theme song “Holiday Road.” Actually, there were two Lindsey Buckinghams.

He wrote an Oscar-qualifying song

Not only did Helms actually sing and play the piano for a memorable music number in The Hangover, but he also cowrote the tune with director Todd Phillips. Titled “Stu’s Song,” the hilarious track was listed as eligible for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Original Song, but unfortunately it did not receive the nomination.

He’s actually pitch perfect

Like his character Andy Bernard on The Office, Helms was a member of an a cappella group in college. As a student at Oberlin in the mid-‘90s, he sang with the Obertones. Check out all of his musical moments from the sitcom as proof he never lost that vocal talent.

He’s in a bluegrass band

In addition to incorporating his music talent into movie and TV roles, Helms also has a band on the side called the Lonesome Trio, formed when he was at Oberlin. Twenty years later, they’ve just released an album. Watch them perform one of its tracks, “Pigeon’s Foot”:

He pretended to be in Mumford & Sons

Along with Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Will Forte, Helms portrayed a member of the folk rock group Mumford & Sons for their music video “Hopeless Wanderer.” Specifically, he had the part of piano and accordion player Ben Lovett.

He does impressions

Ben Lovett isn’t the only person Helms can mimic. Check out his spot-on impression of newsman Tom Brokaw:

And here he is doing Al Gore (whom he also impersonated for Family Guy):

And here he is doing a singing Stephen Hawking for an early comedy album from the ‘90s:

He got his big break interviewing impersonators

You probably have forgotten, but Helms first became well known as a correspondent for The Daily Show. In his first appearance, on April 29, 2002, he covered a convention for Abraham Lincoln impersonators.

He started out helming music videos

Long before he was famous, Helms made an appearance in another music video, for the 1999 song “Futureworld” by postrock group Trans Am. And he was the video’s director, too. Not only that, but he helped design Trans Am’s earlier album The Surveillance.

He worked poolside as a kid

As hard as it is to believe, we know that Helms was a lifeguard in high school thanks to an early stand-up bit he did for Comedy Central in 2002:

And we know he also, more fittingly, worked at the pool’s concession stand thanks to this animated anecdote for mtvU:

He fought the Lorax, and the Lorax won

In 2012, Helms made the wonderful choice

To take on a part involving only his voice

For a movie of The Lorax by one Dr. Seuss

He played the Once-ler, whom he’ll now introduce: