Annual programs

Stand-ups Sit-Down

April 12, 2023: Lew Schneider

Lew Schneider’s path to a TV career was pretty typical. He had a history degree from Penn, didn’t want to go to law school or teach so...comedy was the only alternative. After a few stints in front of the camera: game show host, HBO stand-up special, and a couple of sitcoms, he turned to writing. His credits include The New Adventures of Old Christine, American Dad, Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS) which won Emmy Awards and millions of people watched and Men of a Certain Age (TNT) which won a Peabody Award and nobody watched. For the last ten years he as worked as a writer and producer on the ABC comedy The Goldbergs and has directed more than fifty episodes. He has a brand new knee...

April 12, 2022: Emmy Blotnick and Gary Gulman, with host Lew Schneider

Emmy Blotnick is a stand-up/actress/writer based in NY. Blotnick has appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where she was also a staff writer. She was featured in the New York Times as a “Savvy Comic” who shines, and her Comedy Central Half Hour premiered in 2018, followed by the release of her debut comedy album, Party Nights, in 2019. Previously, she was head writer for the Comedy Central series The President Show, and she has been highlighted as one of Comedy Central’s Comics to Watch. Currently, Emmy is a writer on HBO Max’s Pause with Sam Jay.

Over 25 years in comedy, Gary Gulman has established himself as an eminent performer and peerless writer. His latest stand-up special for HBO, The Great Depresh, is a universally acclaimed, tour de force look at mental illness, equal parts hilarious and inspiring. He has made four hour-long specials and has appeared as a stand-up on every single late night show. He has appeared as an actor in Joker and Inside Amy Schumer.

Lew Schneider (C'83) is a writer, producer and director of the ABC comedy, The Goldbergs. Other credits include his own HBO stand-up special, and the primetime shows American Dad, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Men of a Certain Age (which won a Peabody Award but very few people watched), and Everybody Loves Raymond (which won Emmy Awards and more people watched).

April 3, 2019: JUDY GOLD AND LAURIE KILMARTIN, with host Lew Schneider

Judy Gold is a stand-up comedian, actress, television writer, and producer. She won two Daytime Emmy Awards for her work as a writer and producer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show and has had stand-up specials on HBO, Comedy Central and LOGO. She has written and starred in two critically acclaimed, Off-Broadway hit shows: The Judy Show – My Life as a Sitcom (Outer Critics Circle Nomination), and 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (GLAAD Media Award – Outstanding NY Theater, Drama Desk Nomination – Actor).Gold received rave reviews as Gremio in The Public Theater's all female production of The Taming of The Shrew for Shakespeare in the Park. She also co-starred in Off-Broadway's Clinton! The Musical, and Disaster! The Musical. Gold is a regular on Comedy Central's new series This Week At The Comedy Cellar. She has also appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She as been seen on the reboot of Murphy Brown, has recurring roles on Netflix's Friends From College and TBS' Search Party and was on the Showtime series I'm Dying Up Here. She was featured in Woody Allen's series Crisis In Six Scenes on Amazon, and also appears on the hit web-series The Other F Word on Amazon Prime. Other most recent TV appearances include guest-starring roles on Broad City, Louie, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Inside Amy Schumer, Difficult People, 30 Rock, and 2 Broke Girls. From 1999-2010, Judy was the host of HBO's At The Multiplex With Judy Gold. She has written for The New York Times, Huffington Post, CNN.com. She is also a talking head on MSNBC as well as CNN. She is the host of the hit podcast, Kill Me Now, on iTunes. You can find her at JudyGold.com or follow her on twitter & Instagram – @jewdygold.

Laurie Kilmartin is a stand up comedian, late night writer and New York Times bestselling author. Laurie has performed standup on CONAN, Jimmy Kimmel Live and numerous shows on Comedy Central. Her Seeso special, 45 Jokes About My Dead Dad, made Vulture's Top Ten Comedy Specials of 2016, as well as Paste, Splitsider, Interrobang and The Decider. The New York Times pointed to, "sharply written one-liners captured the pain and frustration of caring for a dying loved one." Paste Magazine called it "hilarious... brutal, and cathartic" and Interrobang called it "innovative... twisted and dark.“ Before joining the writing staff at CONAN (2009 to present), Laurie was a staff writer on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Too Late with Adam Carolla and Tough Crown with Colin Quinn. In 2012, Laurie wrote the New York Times bestseller Sh*tty Mom, a parenting book that Time Magazine called “criminally funny.” Laurie has performed at the Edinburgh, Montreal, Bridgetown and Moontower comedy festivals. She's also done shows for the troops in Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait and Diego Garcia. Her podcast with comedian Jackie Kashian, The Jackie and Laurie Show, is big with young comedians and middle aged men. Laurie lives in New York and LA.

April 18, 2018: Bill Wayne Davis and Aparna Nancherla, with host Lew Schneider

Originally from Crossville, TN, Billy Wayne Davis is a stand-up & writer who has performed in 41 states, 4 countries and Texas. He has appeared on Conan, NBC's Last Comic Standing, WTF with Marc Maron, Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, voiced multiple characters on Adult Swim's SquidBillies, hosted a Morgan Spurlock documentary for CMT, named a 2015 Fresh Face by the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, opened for Grammy winning badass Sturgill Simpson's 30 city Living the Dream Tour, and just released his second comedy album with Jack White's label, Billy Wayne Davis: Live at Third Man Records.

Writer, comedian, and actor, Aparna Nancherla is a series regular in the debut season of Comedy Central's Corporate and has reprised her role in season 2 of HBO's Crashing. Other TV credits include Master of None, High Maintenance, Inside Amy Schumer, and I Love You, America with Sarah Silverman. Her TV writing credits include Late Night with Seth Meyers and Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell. She is also an alumna of the NBC Stand Up for Diversity program and currently headlines throughout the world and has been seen at a number of festivals including Comedy Central's Clusterfest, Portland's Bridgetown Comedy Festival, Moontower, SF Sketchfest, DC's Bentzen Ball, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo and Dublin's Vodaphone Comedy Festival. Aparna's been featured on and in NPR, Reader's Digest, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post magazine, XM Radio, and Slate V. She can regularly be seen performing at the Upright Citizen's Brigade's in LA and NYC. Her debut album Just Putting It Out There was released in July 2016 by Tig Notaro's label Bentzen Ball Records and hit the #4 on Billboard Comedy Charts.

April 13, 2017: Dom Irrera and Morgan Murphy, with host Lew Schneider

Trying to analyze what makes a comedian special is typically a fool's errand, but we'll give it a go: With South Philly native Dom Irrera, it seems to be a blend of regular-guy presence and relaxed, effortless delivery-and, of course, what he's delivering is top-notch material, laced with an array of colorful characters and voices. Beyond beautifully-crafted jokes and routines, Dom's also giving the audience one-man sketches and bursts of improv. His credits include starring in his own specials for Showtime, HBO and Comedy Central. Also The Big Lebowski, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond and yes Hey Arnold! Currently Dom curates his hit podcast "Dom Irrera Live From The Laugh Factory" and as of June 5th on the Showtime series "I'm Dying Up Here " produced by Jim Carrey.

Morgan Murphy was born in Portland, OR, but she moved around frequently before settling down in Hollywood. At 18, Morgan started doing stand-up at coffee houses, youth hostels, and laundromats. She landed a writing job on Comedy Central's "Crank Yankers“, which led her to become a writer on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," where she has performed twice as a stand-up. After moving to New York in 2009 to become a writer for the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” Variety named Morgan a Top 10 Comic To Watch in 2010. In September of 2011, Rolling Stone Magazine included her in their “New Wave of Comedy”. Morgan moved back to Los Angeles in 2011 to write for the hit CBS sitcom “2 Broke Girls”. Morgan is currently writing for the new ABC comedy series, “Downward Dog,” about a struggling millennial, Nan, from the point of view of her lonely and philosophical dog, Martin.

April 20, 2016: Johnathan Katz and Amy Miller, with host Lew Schneider

Lew Schneider (C'83) began his career as a stand-up comedian. At a time when any stand-up who could work clean got a shot at television he booked his first on camera job as a Nickelodeon game show host. This lead to two sitcoms and eventually an HBO comedy special and then…nothing. Nothing gave way to years of TV writing on numerous shows including, The New Adventures of Old Christine, American Dad, Men of a Certain Age (for which he got a Peabody Award and no one watched) and Everybody Loves Raymond for which he won two Emmy awards and more people watched. He is now writing, producing and occasionally directing the ABC comedy The Goldbergs on ABC.

Jonathan Katz has been doing Stand-Up for over 30 years. He has appeared on the Tonight Show Late Night with David Letterman and in Movies including Things Change and Daddy Day Care. Jonathan has an Emmy and a Peabody Award for Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, an animated TV show in which he played the title role. For more about Jonathan go to OmniPop.com

Amy Miller is a fast-rising talent on the West Coast and national scene. Originally from Oakland, California Amy found her comedy chops in the Bay Area scene and is still a favorite at the San Francisco Punch Line and Cobb's Comedy Club. After a move to Portland, Amy quickly rose to the top of that scene, winning Portland's Funniest Comedian in Helium Comedy Club's contest, as well as being voted Portland's Funniest 2013 and 2015 in the Willamette Week. Amy was a breakout favorite in Season 9 of Last Comic Standing. Roseanne Barr called her "a star" and a "contender for next alpha female comedian." Keenen Ivory Wayans said she had one of the "fiercest jokes he had ever heard." Amy is currently in Portland being alpha and fierce and getting rained on, but works comedy clubs and festivals around the country, working with headliners from Norm Macdonald to Arsenio Hall to singer Ryan Adams.