The Comic's Comic Presents Last Things First

Mike Farah was the first producer hired at Funny or Die, and he has been a vital part of the upstart digital production studio since 2008, when Funny or Die was still known only as an online comedy video platform. The company has produced the critically-acclaimed Brockmire for IFC, Emmy-nominated Billy on the Street, the Peabody award-winning American Vandal for Netflix, the Emmy-nominated Sarah Silverman series I Love You, America for Hulu, and the feature films, Between Two Ferns: The Movie for Netflix, and Impractical Jokers: The Movie for Warner Bros. In the fall of 2022, they'll present Pickled, a celebrity pickleball tournament hosted by Stephen Colbert for CBS and Paramount+, as well as WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story, a feature film biopic spoof that premieres on Roku. As CEO since 2016, Farah sat down with me in his Hollywood offices to take a look back at all the twists and turns in Funny or Die's history.

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Tenacious D. Flight of the Conchords. The Lonely Island. We have plenty of examples of goofy guys getting together and making mirthy music. Where do the Wolves of Glendale fit in? Eric Jackowitz and Ethan Edenburg both came out of South Florida rock bands, and after performing for the Todd Glass podcast, formed a comedy band called The Cooties who were New Faces at Montreal's Just For Laughs in 2017 and performed on Conan before fizzling out. Eric and Ethan then added Tom McGovern, a former dueling piano player from New York City who performed on the 2021 season finale of American Idol. The trio formed Wolves of Glendale, who already featured in the 2022 Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival. They met up with me before a gig at El Cid in Los Angeles to talk about where they've been and where they're heading next.

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Subhah Agarwal is a bicoastal writer and stand-up comedian who grew up outside of Chicago, where she first started hitting open mics while still in high school. Subhah has written for Comedy Knockout on TruTV, The Jim Jefferies Show on Comedy Central, and Arsenio Hall's live 2022 talk show for Netflix. She made her late-night TV debut telling jokes on NBC's A Little Late with Lilly Singh, and acted in shows such as Westworld and General Hospital. She has released her first comedy album, "Dog Show," via Blonde Medicine, and sat with me to talk about explaining her comedy career to her immigrant parents, breaking out of the open mic scene, writing for other comedians, and finding her own voice.

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Yvonne Orji first came to our attention as Molly, Issa's best friend on Issa Rae's HBO series, Insecure.

The Nigerian-born actress and comedian hasn't let the end of Insecure keep her down, though. Since the series wrapped at the end of 2021, Orji has put out her first book, "Bamboozled by Jesus," hosted the Yearly Departed comedy special for Amazon Prime Video, hosted the International Emmy Awards, and hosted a reality dating show for HBO Max, My Mom, Your Dad. Orji sat down with Decider to talk about her second HBO stand-up comedy special, Yvonne Orji: A Whole Me, what's changed in her life in the two years since her first special, Momma, I Made It!, how she's able to separate her work from her worth, and how casting other actresses in her special is good for everyone.

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Forty years after his first screen credit as Modell in the Barry Levinson film, Diner, Paul Reiser is enjoying a career renaissance, co-starring in the biggest series on both Netflix and Amazon in Stranger Things and The Boys. Now in his 60s, Reiser has returned to his first love, stand-up comedy, embarking on a nationwide tour in the fall of 2022. Reiser sat down with me to talk about stand-up then and now; rebooting Mad About You and then now co-starring in a Hulu comedy about reboots, called Reboot; making passion projects that might not get seen nowadays thanks to streaming platform algorithms; making Beverly Hills Cop movies with Eddie Murphy, and how it all comes back to The Comic Strip in the end. Or doesn't.

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Liz Miele started doing stand-up at 16, got profiled by The New Yorker at 18, and earned her first TV credit on Comedy Central by 22. Miele has produced and starred in multiple web series, and written a book, "Why Cats Are Assholes" which came out in 2021. She has released four comedy albums, and the video versions of two of them have racked up millions of views apiece on YouTube. In September 2022, she released her newest special, The Ghost Of Academic Future, also on YouTube. Miele sat down with me to talk about being an early adapter of technology and taking risks as a comedian, launching her own tech startup, and adapting to how you never know what or when something might go viral thanks to ever-changing algorithms.

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Jinkx Monsoon is a comedian and singer best known for becoming the first performer to win two seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, first in season 5 in 2013, followed by the all-winner all-star edition in 2022, where she was crowned "Queen of All Queens." She began touring annually over the holidays in 2018 with fellow Drag Race star BenDeLaCreme, and you can watch The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special on Hulu. Jinkx has released multiple albums, been the subject of two documentaries, and has appeared on TV shows such as Blue Bloods and AJ and the Queen. In 2022, Jinkx filmed her first solo comedy special for Comedy Dynamics at the Tribeca Film Festival, and is the creator, writer and star of the sketch comedy series, Sketchy Queens, debuting on WOWPresents Plus in September 2022. Jinkx joined me over Zoom to talk about the evolution of her life and career, and what comes next.

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Michelle Ortiz was born in Los Angeles but studied all over the world, including the Moscow Art Theatre School, and classical opera in Germany. A participant in both the ABC and CBS diversity showcases, Ortiz broke through first as a cast member on the reboot of MADtv for The CW — where she impersonated the likes of Kim Kardashian, Melania Trump, Sofia Vergara, Jennifer Lopez, and Dora the Explorer. Ortiz also has appeared on I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, Mom, Life in Pieces, Gentefied, and When Nature Calls with Helen Mirren. In 2022, Ortiz has a new chance to shine as Maggie in the Hulu comedy series, This Fool. Ortiz sat down with me to discuss how she found her way in the world and in comedy.

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Alice Fraser first studied law in Sydney, Australia, but found comedy and the Footlights while getting her Master's degree in rhetoric at Cambridge, and honed her stand-up skills in New York City's open mics and comedy clubs before returning to Australia as a comedian. You've likely heard Fraser's voice before if you're a fan of The Bugle. She also hosts a weekly spin-off podcast, The Gargle — and in the first year of the COVID pandemic, she wrote and performed a daily satirical news podcast, The Last Post, set in an alternate dimension. She's also co-hosted best-selling documentary audiobooks on Audible, and her 2020 stand-up special, Savage, was released as an Amazon Original on Prime Video. Fraser sat down with me between shows in her 2022 Edinburgh Fringe run of her latest hour, Chronos. We had an enjoyable and educational discussion about the harsh economics of stand-up comedy, whether you're taking your show to the Fringe or just trying to pay the bills and support a family.

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The creator and star of HBO's "A Black Lady Sketch Show," Robin Thede and her crew already have enjoyed 13 Emmy nominations and one Emmy win heading into the 2022 awards ceremony, as well as 2020 honors from the TV Critics Association for outstanding sketch/variety series. Thede grew up in Iowa, studied broadcast media at Northwestern and made a brief stop at The Second City before going Hollywood. She scored supporting roles in short-lived sketch shows for Mike Epps and Affion Crockett, but much of Thede's early success came behind the camera as a writer — for the BET Awards, Real Husbands of Hollywood and The Queen Latifah Show. Thede broke through as the first black woman to serve as head writer in late-night TV for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, then got her own late-night show, The Rundown, on BET. When that show abruptly ended, it opened the door for Thede to take her talents to HBO, where she not only has shone brightly, but also helped pave the way for success with past and present fellow castmates such as Quinta Brunson and Ashley Nicole Black. Thede sat with me to talk about all of that and more.

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