The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First

I spoke to Sam Reich on this podcast back in the fall of 2020, when he was in his first year running Dropout, the subscription-based streaming platform he founded as a follow-up to CollegeHumor where he had worked for much of his adult life. Four years later, Reich and Dropout are ready to graduate to the big leagues, with one of their shows already selling out Madison Square Garden for a live eve...

Hank and John Green began influencing online viewing long before we tied the word influencer to social media, launching their  Vlogbrothers YouTube channel on Jan. 1, 2007, 17 years, 3.77 million subscribers and almost a billion views ago. Three years later, the brothers founded VidCon, the first and largest global gathering of YouTubers, growing since 2010 to include video pioneers, stars and wou...

At the age of 49 — three decades removed from an FBI drug bust that sent him to prison, and 24 years into his career as an ex-con turned stand-up comedian — Ali Siddiq was still seeking his big break in show business. His debut special, It's Bigger Than These Bars , found him back in a Texas jail performing for inmates, but it came and went on Comedy Central after a few airings in 2018. The follow...

Zoë Coombs Marr is an Australian comedian who won Best Newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2012, then returned four years later to win Best Show in Melbourne and receive a Best Show nomination in Edinburgh in 2016 for Trigger Warning , which she performed in drag character as a misogynistic male comedian named Dave. Coombs Marr brought Dave out of his "coma" in 2023 to comme...

Janine Harouni is a Staten Island native who began her stand-up comedy career in earnest only after moving to London, England, in 2012. Harouni experienced her first viral success as one-third of a sketch group called Muriel whose YouTube fame prompted deals with both the BBC and Quibi, and she's also appeared onscreen in a recurring role on ITV's Buffering and a much more supporting role on the b...

Dave Merheje is an award-winning Canadian stand-up comedian and actor who co-starred in the Hulu series, Ramy, and recently co-starred on the big screen opposite Daisy Ridley in the film, Sometimes I Think About Dying , which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and is available now to buy or stream. As a stand-up, Dave won the Just For Laughs 2011 Homegrown Comic competition, made it to t...

Neal Brennan's first big claim to fame came two decades ago when he co-created, wrote and executive produced  Chappelle's Show with his friend Dave Chappelle (with whom he'd previously collaborated on  Half Baked ). Since then, Chappelle has become both the biggest stand-up comedian in the world and a lightning rod for criticism. Brennan, meanwhile, has released three stand-up comedy specials of h...

Rob Haze is a comedian from Atlanta who currently makes his living in Los Angeles performing stand-up and writing for comedy shows on TV — among his credits are Sherman's Showcase , the ESPY Awards, Kevin Hart's year-in-review specials for Peacock, sketch comedy for Bleacher Report, stand-up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , and most recently, an appearance on the late-night CBS comedy s...

Cara Connors grew up in Chicago but began her comedy career in Toronto, where she studied with The Second City, created and starred in original series for CBC, provided social media humor for the series Workin' Moms , and earned herself a New Faces slot with Just For Laughs. Since moving back to the states and settling down in Los Angeles, Connors has been seen on E! in the series Dating #NoFilter...

Caitlin Peluffo is a New York City-based comedian who played soccer in college and explored a degree and career in the art world before diving into stand-up comedy. A decade later, Peluffo has performed on three different late-night shows on CBS — The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , The Late Late Show with James Corden , and most recently After Midnight with Taylor Tomlinson . She grew up outside...

Bill O'Neill is an actor and clown from Los Angeles whom you may recognize most readily from his frequent appearances in commercials as a Wendy's employee. But O'Neill's career goes back to his early teen years, when he scored a major speaking role in the 2008 film, Drillbit Taylor . A member of L.A.'s burgeoning clown community, he co-starred with his fellow clowns in the 2019 late-night FX serie...

Zach Zucker is a clown-based comedian and actor who splits his time between Los Angeles and London, where he has become known as the ringmaster for Stamptown, a variety show and production company he created that has helped develop and bring other shows from the United States, the U.K. and Europe to the Edinburgh Fringe and beyond. He also teaches clown workshops around Los Angeles. Born in New Yo...

Jason Sáenz is a comedian who grew up in Virginia, began performing improv in D.C., and became a fixture in New York City's comedy scene — where he wrote for a house sketch team at the Upright Citizens Brigade, performed stand-up, and went viral for his "Saenz Signs" —   which eventually got him New Faces at Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival, and a ticket to Los Angeles to work on the MTV show,...

Chris Grace is an actor who grew up in Texas, went to school in North Carolina and started his comedy career in earnest in New York City through The People's Improv Theater. Grace has appeared on TV in many shows, including This Is Us , Broad City , and he enjoyed a recurring role as Jerry on NBC's  Superstore . He starred as Christian Gray in the off-Broadway touring production of 5 0 Shades! The...

Renee Gauthier is a stand-up comedian, writer, and producer based in Los Angeles who came out of her hometown Chicago comedy scene in the early 2000s. Her first big break came when NBC cast her to play Victoria Beckham's personal assistant in the reality series-turned-special, 2007's Victoria Beckham: Coming To America . Gauthier has performed stand-up on Last Call with Carson Daly as well as Stan...

Filmmaker Kristian Mercado has worked with some of the biggest names in music, including Billie Eilish and Bad Bunny. Since 2020, Mercado also has become one of the biggest names comedians turn to to shoot their stand-up comedy specials — starting with Hannibal Buress: Miami Nights , and going on to direct Sam Jay: 3 In The Morning , London Hughes: To Catch A Dick , Ilana Glazer Presents Comedy on...

New York Times comedy critic Jason Zinoman has joined me every year since 2015 for our own traditional December To Remember the year in comedy. On the one hand, I try to pin Zinoman down on who we might vote for if comedy, like sports, awarded an MVP for the Most Valuable Performer.   But we always also get into the meaty issues, themes and headlined the year. So what made 2023 special for comedy?...

Jen D'Angelo is a comedian, actress and screenwriter in Los Angeles. Originally from the Philadelphia area, she graduated from Northwestern before heading to LA and joining the UCB system as a writer and performer. Her stand-up credits include appearances on @midinght, Last Call with Carson Daly , and Adam Devine's House Party . D'Angelo also worked with Devine as a performer, writer, story editor...

Chris Turner is a stand-up comedian and freestyle rapper from England who made his debut as a solo artist at the Edinburgh Fringe with 2014's Pretty Fly , which won the Amused Moose People's Choice award. Turner made his New York City debut five years later with 2019's White Boy — later that year, he uploaded a 6-minute clip of himself improvising a live rap based on audience suggestions at The Co...

Actress and comedian Sasheer Zamata may be most familiar to comedy fans from her four years on Saturday Night Live , but she has kept busy on-screen since then, too — co-starring for two seasons on Hulu's WOKE , and for the past three seasons on ABC's Home Economics . She's also due to co-star alongside Kathryn Hahn in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe series,  Agatha: Coven of Chaos , for Di...

Courtney Pauroso is an LA-based actor, writer and comedian, who traveled the world and the United States as the child of a military family. She co-wrote and appeared in Two Pink Doors , a series of 5-minute shorts for FX, directed by Dr Brown, and has appeared onscreen in projects such as Jackass Forever , Reno 911 , Key & Peele , and 2 Broke Girls . She's also a former member of the Groundlings S...

Jared Freid is a stand-up comedian based in New York City whom you've most likely heard on one of his two highly popular podcasts — U Up?, a dating and relationship series he co-hosts with Jordan Abraham of Betches; and The JTrain Podcast, where he welcomes fellow comedians to help him answer questions and give advice to listeners on all sorts of topics. Since appearing as a New Face at Montreal's...

Martin Urbano is a comedian who grew up in southern Texas on the border with Mexico, but he's based now in New York City, where he has found much of his success since being named a New Face for Montreal's Just For Laughs festival in 2017. That includes performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live and The CW's annual Howie Mandel Gala , and Will Smith's comedy showcase for Roku, This Joka . Urbano was part of...

Kiran Deol is a comedian and actress whose show business career began auspiciously enough when she followed up her college thesis with a documentary short, Woman Rebel, that was shortlisted for the Academy Awards. As an actress, she co-starred in the 2019 NBC sitcom, Sunnyside , and before that, chalked up numerous guest-starring roles on shows such as Modern Family, The Mindy Project, How to Get...

As president and chief distribution officer of Hartbeat Productions, Jeff Clanagan runs Kevin Hart's LOL! Network — which includes radio programs and podcasts on SiriusXM, as well as short-form content, TV shows and movies with partners such as Peacock, Roku, Tubi, and PlutoTV. He's also a producer on projects such as Die Hart, Hart to Heart, Olympic Highlights, So Dumb It's Criminal , and tours s...