If you’re thinking about pursuing a career in comedy, there are many paths to take and various venues in which to share your craft. Join a conversation among comedians and comedy creators sharing how they have built careers through writing, stand-up, social media, TV and film, and more. Find out what it takes to break into this dynamic business.
Presented with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Macaulay Honors College New Media Lab
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The Center's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Please note: All those entering Macaulay Honors College need to be fully vaccinated with an FDA / WHO authorized vaccine and must show proof of vaccination and government-issued ID upon entrance. “Fully vaccinated” means at least 14 days past the final dose of the vaccine received. All visitors are encouraged to wear an acceptable face covering over their nose and mouth at all times.
SAM CORBIN, WRITER, COMEDIAN, AND PERFORMER; HOST, VOCABARET
Sam Corbin is a New York-based comedy writer, humorist, and performer. Her writing and wordplay appears in The New Yorker, Vulture, Reductress, and in ads across all your screens.
She co-hosts Vocabaret, a variety show for language lovers in the Lower East Side.
MICHELLE DAVIS, COMEDIAN AND WRITER, ZIWE (SHOWTIME); A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW (HBO)
Michelle Davis is a writer and comedian based in New York City. Michelle is currently writing on the SHOWTIME late night variety series ZIWE, where she has starred in multiple sketches that she wrote. Michelle wrote for season 3 of the HBO series, A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW, for which she received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing For A Variety Series - 2022. She is Black, graduated from NYU with a double major in Acting and Politics, and her favorite cycling instructor calls her “fun!” (He also sometimes calls her “Mikaela” and she is too polite to correct him).
MAMOUDOU N'DIAYE, COMEDIAN, TV/FILM WRITER, FILMMAKER, EDUCATOR, DJ
Mamoudou N'Diaye is a Mauritanian-American comedian, tv/film writer, filmmaker, activist/creative consultant for issues of racial justice, climate justice, and mental health, DJ, and a former 7th-grade teacher.
N'Diaye was a winner of 2019's Yes And Laughter Lab for his pilot, Franklin, about the black kid from the Peanuts comic strip. He has written and appeared in the Comedy Central Original ‘They Follow,’ written for Refinery29's After After Party, Bandera’s Exploding Kittens, the second season of Netflix's Space Force, and the ABC drama, Queens. He is currently developing Main Character Syndrome, a half-hour satirical comedy navigating the current state of dating in the age of social media, black masculinity, healing, and therapy, and asexuality, P.S. 666, a half hour comedy about teaching in NYC public schools, and Freeman which is hush hush for now. In the feature space, he’s developing Freelancers, an action heist comedy. In the short space, he's in post on a short series exploring reclaiming your story called the afronihilist and in production on another short about healing called Your Turn.
N’Diaye holds a degree in cognitive behavioral neuroscience from the College of Wooster and is a 2020 Sundance Fellow for his pilot Griot, an animated anthology centering stories in the African diaspora. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Film Independent Amplifier Fellowship (in partnership with Netflix) for his feature project Freelancers. In 2022, N’Diaye was a Sundance Screenwriters Intensive Fellow, also with Freelancers. He can be found in Brooklyn, keeping it wild lowkey, milly rockin to My Chemical Romance, writing his newsletter LOOSIES, and generally living màs.
MODERATOR: MICHAEL HIRSCHORN, CEO, ISH ENTERTAINMENT; EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, THIS WEEK AT THE COMEDY CELLAR
Michael Hirschorn is the multi-Emmy Award winning CEO of Ish Entertainment, which produces scripted and non scripted programming. Ish’s recent documentary, Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America’s Elections (currently streaming on HBO), was lauded by Time Magazine as an “unnervingly persuasive documentary [that shows] just how fragile our democracy really is.” Hirschorn has produced several seasons of This Week at the Comedy Cellar for Comedy Central, and is currently producing projects for Amazon and Peacock, among other outlets. Other recent documentaries include the critically acclaimed Gringo, which premiered at Toronto before airing on Showtime; and the Emmy-winning "The T Word," produced with Laverne Cox.
Previously, he headed programming at VH1, where over a span of four years he doubled ratings, contributing to a more than tripling in revenue for the network. Hirschorn was responsible for thousands of hours of programming, both scripted and non-scripted, and set-up a documentary shingle, VH1 Rock Docs, that produced multiple award-winning documentaries about music and youth culture. DMC: My Adoption Journey won Hirschorn a News and Documentary Emmy in 2007. Additionally, he was an executive producer of The U.S. Versus John Lennon, a theatrical documentary released in the U.S. and internationally by Lionsgate. Additionally, he is a co-founder of GreenlightGo, a marketplace for TV and film production services, and The People PAC, formed in 2016 to combat threats to democracy.