Jessi Klein

For the American singer-songwriter, see Jess Klein.
Jessi Klein
Jessi Klein at the 74th Annual Peabody Awards for Inside Amy Schumer, in 2015
Birth nameJessi Ruth Klein
Born (1975-08-18) August 18, 1975 (age 49)
New York City, New York, U.S.
MediumWriting, television, stand-up comedy, acting
EducationVassar College (BA)
GenresObservational comedy, satire, political satire, sarcasm
Subject(s)American culture, sex, everyday life, human behavior, American politics, pop culture
Spouse
Michael Engleman
​
(m. 2014)​
Children1

Jessi Ruth Klein[1] (born August 18, 1975) is an American writer, actress and stand-up comedian from New York City.[2] Klein has regularly appeared on shows such as The Showbiz Show with David Spade and VH1's Best Week Ever and has performed stand-up on Comedy Central's Premium Blend. She provided commentary for CNN in the debates of the 2004 presidential election. A self-proclaimed "geek", Klein has appeared on the television specials for My Coolest Years: Geeks on VH1 and Rise of the Geeks on E!. Klein also provided the voice of Lucy in the animated pilot for Adult Swim's Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil.

Klein previously worked as a director of development for Comedy Central. Some of the shows she helped develop for the network were Chappelle's Show and Stella. She was the head writer and executive producer of Inside Amy Schumer.

Career

In 2004, Klein appears twice in the Season 2 "Wayne Brady Show" episode of Chappelle's Show: first, in the boardroom to inform Dave of how replaceable he is on the show, and later she along with Neal Brennan are gassed by Chappelle "in the wings" just before Chappelle confronts Wayne Brady to take his show back.

In 2009, she wrote and co-starred in Michael and Michael Have Issues on Comedy Central. She also worked as a writer on Saturday Night Live during the 2009-2010 season.

Klein's Comedy Central Presents special aired on March 4, 2011.

Klein made her first-time appearance as a panelist on NPR's comedy-news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! on June 25, 2011.[3] She was the first female guest host of the program on March 11, 2017.[4]

She was an executive producer and writer for Inside Amy Schumer on Comedy Central since its debut, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series in 2015 for her work on the show.[5] She was not a writer on its fifth season. She was also a consulting producer on the series "Transparent" in 2016.

Klein released her debut book in July 2016, You'll Grow Out of It,[6][7][8][9] which became a New York Times best seller. Klein's second book, I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood, was released in April 2022.

Klein has served as a consulting producer for the Netflix series animated sitcom Big Mouth since 2017, and provides the voice for one of the series' main characters, Jessi Glaser.[10]

Selected works

Books

  • Klein, Jessi (2016). You'll Grow Out of It. Grand Central Publishing.
  • Klein, Jessi (2022). I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood. Harper.

Essays and reporting

  • Klein, Jessi (May 23, 2016). "The bath : a polemic". Personal History. The New Yorker. Vol. 92, no. 15. pp. 36–37.

References

  1. ^ "How Was Your Week with Julie Klausner: Tavi Gevinson, Jessi Klein "Crazy Person F.I.T." Episode 68". howwasyourweek.libsyn.com. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  2. ^ Plante, Stephie Grob. "How a nice Jewish girl became comedy's 'dirty nerdy'". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Bill Clinton Plays Not My Job". NPR.org. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  4. ^ "'Wait Wait' For March 11, 2017: With Not My Job Guest Neal Brennan". NPR.org. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Jessi Klein".
  6. ^ Silman, Anna (July 13, 2016). "This Book by Amy Schumer's Head Writer Is Better Than Therapy". The Cut. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  7. ^ Lies, Erica (August 10, 2016). "5 Reasons to Read Jessi Klein's You'll Grow Out of It". Paste. Archived from the original on 2018-01-09. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  8. ^ Felsenthal, Julia (July 12, 2016). "Jessi Klein Didn't Mean to Write a Book". Vogue. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  9. ^ Crosley, Sloane (2016-07-06). "This Book of Essays by the Head Writer of 'Inside Amy Schumer' Is Hilarious". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
  10. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (2016-06-13). "Netflix Orders 'Big Mouth' Animated Series From Nick Kroll & Andrew Goldberg". Deadline. Retrieved 2016-08-31.