Uptown at Night
PAST PERFORMERS
Spring 2026
Sara Benincasa
Sara Benincasa is a comedian, author and actress. Her essay collections include Real Artists Have Day Jobs and Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom. She’s also published two novels, Great and D.C. Trip, and adapted two books for the screen. Earlier this year, she won an American Society of Magazine Editors Award for “An Agoraphobe Goes to the Grocery Store,” which ran in the New York Times Magazine; the Times says she’s “utterly hilarious!”
Alexandra Petri
Alexandra Petri, the long-time humor columnist at The Washington Post and now at The Atlantic, is a master of holding the powerful to account with her wit. Winner of the 2025 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book, AP’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up), she’s also an award-winning playwright. To paraphrase Dave Barry, despite stiff competition from Congress, she’s “the funniest person in Washington.”
Jon Glaser
Jon Glaser is an actor, comedian and Emmy-winning writer who created, co-wrote and starred in the TV shows Delocated, Neon Joe Werewolf Hunter, and Jon Glaser Loves Gear. He was also a long-time writer/performer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. His album Soothing Meditations For The Solitary Dog is available from Pretty Good Friends Records, and his book My Dead Dad Was In ZZ Top is available from Harper Perennial.
Ledia Xhoga
Ledia Xhoga is a writer whose work encompasses literary fiction, short stories and comedic plays. Her debut novel, Misinterpretation, was long listed for the 2025 Booker Prize; it also received a New York City Book Award and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Debutiful called it “a gorgeously written book that combines humor and suspense.” Her comedic plays are distinguished by their spirit-lifting effects.
Bruce Handy
Bruce Handy began his prolific career at Spy, the iconic and much-missed humor magazine. He was also an Emmy- nominated writer at Saturday Night Live. Currently a Vanity Fair contributing writer, his essays, reviews and humor pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker and others. He’s the author of six books, and Publisher’s Weekly has described his writing as “spirited, perceptive, and just outright funny.”
Irene Westfall on Keyboard
Irene Westfall is a music director and pianist. Her credits include Associate Conductor on the Book of Mormon tour and pianist for Ruby Karp's hilarious one-woman show "I Don't Trust Adults" at Soho Playhouse. A Wesleyan University graduate, she’s also played in many theatrical productions, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Legally Blonde, The Addams Family, and Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore.
Fall 2024
Amy Chua
Amy Chua’s influential 2011 memoir, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom, was a runaway international best seller. A distinguished professor at Yale Law School, she is also known for her groundbreaking nonfiction books that explore culture, law, parenting and global politics. Here writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others. She recently published her first novel, The Golden Gate.
Alan Zweibel
Alan Zweibel, the legendary comedian and writer, began his career with Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. He has won multiple Emmy and Writers Guild of America awards for his television work and a Tony Award for his Broadway play 700 Sundays (co-created with Billy Crystal). His novel The Other Shulman won the Thurber Prize for American Humor; his memoir Laugh Lines recounts his remarkable career as America’s inimitable funny man.
John Kenney
John Kenney is the author of two novels, Talk to Me and Truth in Advertising, which won the Thurber Prize for American Humor. His books of humorous poetry include Love Poems for Anxious People, Love Poems for People with Children, and Love Poems for Married People, a New York Times bestseller. He has also worked for many years as a copywriter and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.
Brian Fitzsousa on Keyboard
Brian Fitzsousa is a pianist with the Metropolitan Opera. A composer and music director, he coaches and performs with opera, musical, cabaret and pop singers. He directs music and performs at venues including Joe’s Pub, and Rockwood Music Hall. A graduate of NYU and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he received fellowships from the European American Musical Alliance and the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism.
Ann Leary
Ann Leary’s hilarious new essay collection, I’ve Tried Being Nice, is the latest book by the New York Times bestselling author, whose other books include The Foundling, The Children, Outtakes from A Marriage, and a memoir, An Innocent, A Broad. Her novel The Good House was adapted as a motion picture starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline. She has written for numerous publications including Ploughshares, NPR, Real Simple and The New York Times.
Fall 2022
Patricia Marx
Patricia Marx, the first woman elected to the Harvard Lampoon, now writes for The New Yorker, where her comic pieces about shopping and fashion are iconic. A former Saturday Night Live writer, she is also author of several books, including two Thurber Prize finalists. She has taught humor writing at Princeton, NYU and Columbia and received a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship. Her latest book, with Roz Chast, is titled You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time: Rules for Couples.
Laurie Rosenwald
Laurie Rosenwald is a writer, painter, designer, and animator. Her animations include David's Diary, an app created with the humorist David Sedaris, and her drawings have appeared in The New Yorker and in The New York Times. “How to Make Mistakes on Purpose,” her popular workshop, has been held for many companies, including Starbucks and Google. Her most recent book is titled “All the Wrong People have Self Esteem.”
Sybil Sage
Sybil Sage was one of the first women to write television comedy, starting with episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Maude, Alice, and Barney Miller, and later for Magnum P.I. and Northern Exposure. She has also written for print publications, including The New York Times. Sybil still writes comedy material for Lily Tomlin and has presented her own humor pieces at New York City venues, including In Your Face New York.
James Harvey on Keyboard
A musical comedian, composer and playwright, James created the one-man show, The Bald Faced Truth: Comedy Songs by James Harvey. His darkly comedic musical, The Crack in the Ceiling, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Overall Excellence in a Musical.
Dwayne Perkins
Dwayne Perkins’ comedy special, Take Note, debuted on Netflix to rave reviews, and his Comedy Central TV show was voted one of the top 25 comedy specials of all time. A Brooklyn native now based in Los Angeles, he has also appeared on the Conan and Jay Leno shows and has headlined at comedy clubs in New York, Los Angeles, and around the world. Dwayne has also been named one of Rolling Stone’s “Five Comics to Watch"
Fall 2021
Joan Juliet Buck
Well known for her illustrious career as a writer and fashion editor - she’s the only American woman to have edited Paris Vogue - Joan Juliet Buck also has a vivacious humorous streak. Her Moth stories are so funny that she has twice been included in national Moth storytelling tours. Her articles and profiles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, American Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Her latest book is her memoir, The Price of Illusion.
Tom Perrotta
Tom Perrotta’s exquisite sense of humor is at the heart of his fiction, which includes best selling novels and comic short stories. Two of his novels, Election and Little Children, were made into Oscar-nominated films, and his novel, The Leftovers, was adapted into a critically acclaimed Peabody Award-winning HBO series. His other books include Bad Haircut, The Wishbones, Joe College, The Abstinence Teacher, Nine Inches and Mrs. Fletcher. Described as “an American Chekov” by The New York Times, he is now a screenwriter and producer as well as a much-loved fiction writer.
Sloane Crosley
Sloane Crosley’s humorous essay collections include The New York Times best sellers, I Was Told There’d Be Cake (a 2009 Thurber Prize for American Humor finalist), How Did You Get This Number, and Look Alive Out There (a 2019 Thurber Prize for American Humor finalist). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, and others. She is featured in The Best American Nonrequired Reading and in The Library of America’s 50 Funniest American Writers. Her new novel, Cult Classic will be out from FSG in June 2022.
James Harvey on Keyboard
A musical comedian, composer and playwright, James created the one-man show, The Bald Faced Truth: Comedy Songs by James Harvey. His darkly comedic musical, The Crack in the Ceiling, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Overall Excellence in a Musical.
Patty Kiernan
Patty Kiernan is a recent convert to comedy and she’s off to an amazing start, with appearances at the New Talent Showcases of the Gotham Comedy Club, the West Side Comedy Club and Caroline’s. Her comedy performances build on her previous career as an actor, which she launched in her first acting job at the precocious age of twelve. She has appeared in numerous movies, including After Midnight and American Southern, and on the TV series, Another World. The multi-talented New Orleans native is also the author of an award-winning screenplay.
Spring 2019
Emmy Blotnick
A Comedy Central “Comic to Watch,” Emmy’s first half-hour special aired on Comedy Central last year. She recently recorded her first stand-up comedy album and is currently writing for CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Her credits also include appearing on Conan O’Brien late-night show, head writer for The President’s Show on Comedy Central, and writing stints for @midnight with Chris Hardwick, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, and the Roast of Rob Lowe. On the comedy festival circuit, she has appeared at SF Sketchfest in San Francisco, Riot LA and the New York Comedy Festival.
Jim Shepard
Jim has written five story collections, including Like You'd Understand, Anyway, a finalist for the National Book Award and Story Prize winner. His seven novels include The Book of Aron, which won the Sophie Brody Medal for Jewish Literature, the PEN/New England Award for Fiction, and the Clark Fiction Prize. He’s also won the Library of Congress/ Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction and the ALEX Award from the American Library Association. He teaches at Williams College.
Jocelyn Chia
Winner of the Ladies of Laughter Competition in 2016, Jocelyn was a finalist in the New York’s Funniest competition in 2017 at Carolines. She made her Comedy Central debut last year and has appeared on AXS TVs Gotham Comedy Live, hosted by William Shatner. The bi-continental standup comedian splits her time between New York and Singapore. She has received the Asian American Television and Film Festival’s Rising Star Award for Comedy. She has also performed at the Boston Comedy Festival and at colleges including NYU and Harvard and is a two-time winner of Moth Storyslams.
James Harvey on Keyboard
A musical comedian, composer and playwright, James created the one-man show, The Bald Faced Truth: Comedy Songs by James Harvey. His darkly comedic musical, The Crack in the Ceiling, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Overall Excellence in a Musical.
George Lombardi, M.D.
A most unusual humorist, Dr. George Lombardi is an international man of medicine who also shines as a favorite storyteller on the Moth. He is a distinguished internist and an expert in infectious diseases. In addition to his New York City practice, he is affiliated with the New York Presbyterian Hospital. His practice consists of saints and sinners, as his story will reveal.
Fall 2019
Lisa Birnbach
Lisa's classic New York Times bestseller The Official Preppy Handbook became tongue-in-cheek reference guide for a generation. An award-winning journalist, she has written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and other magazines, and has written 21 additional books. She was a correspondent on CBS's The Early Show. The Lisa Birnbach Show, a daily radio program won Gracie Awards for Outstanding Talk Show and Outstanding Humor Show. Her podcast is Five Things that Make Life Better."
Chip Kidd
The legendary designer of book jackets for Alfred A. Knopf (33 years and counting), Chip is also an award-winning writer. His first novel The Cheese Monkeys, was a national bestseller; he also wrote Go: A Kidd's Guide to Graphic Design. A recipient of the National Design Award for Communications, he reveals his art and philosophy in two TED Talk videos viewed by over 4.4 million people: The Art of First Impressions, in Design and Life and Designing Books Is No Laughing Matter. OK, It Is.
Annabelle Gurwitch
An actress and author of four books, including the New York Times bestseller I See You Made an Effort, Annabelle is also a finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. Her book Fired! became a Showtime Comedy Special. She has written for The New Yorker, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. A former host of Dinner & a Movie on TBS, she was a regular contributor to NPR. Her latest book is Wherever You Go, There They Are.
David Litt
The "comic muse" and speechwriter for President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2016, David is the author of Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years, a New York Times best-selling memoir and an Esquire Best Book of 2017. Since leaving the White House, he has written for the Onion, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Vanity Fair, the Atlantic, Esquire, GQ, and the New York Times. His second book, Parties on the Fault Line, will be published by Ecco Press in Summer 2020.
Maeve Higgins
Maeve is an Irish comedian and author of the best-selling memoir Maeve in America: Essays by a Girl from Somewhere Else. A contributing Op-Ed writer for the New York Times, she also hosts the hit podcast Maeve in America: Immigration IRL and cohosts the StarTalk podcast and TV show on National Geographic. She has appeared on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer and has performed in comedy venues worldwide. She created the audio series Aliens of Extraordinary Ability.
James Harvey on Keyboard
A musical comedian, composer and playwright, James created the one-man show, The Bald Faced Truth: Comedy Songs by James Harvey. His darkly comedic musical, The Crack in the Ceiling, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Overall Excellence in a Musical.
Spring 2018
Jenny Allen
Jenny Allen's humor pieces appear in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and others, and in the anthology The 50 Funniest American Writers, edited by Andy Borowitz. She wrote and performs I Got Sick Then I Got Better, which she has presented at the New York Theater Workshop and around the country. She is also a Moth contributing storyteller. Her new book is Would Everybody Please Stop.
Tyler Fischer
Tyler Fischer is a comedian who has performed on America’s Got Talent and in top comedy clubs nationwide. An actor as well, he’s had guest-star roles on NBC’s Chicago Med and co-stars on TV Land’s Younger. He is also an internet star whose hilarious YouTube videos have garnered over seven million views and are regularly featured in the Huffington Post, Elite Daily, and on the Today show.
Karen Bergreen
Karen Bergreen, a standup comedian, writer and former lawyer, has appeared on Comedy Central and on ABC’s The View. She recently filmed a pilot for CBS. A Harvard graduate, she also performs regularly in the city’s comedy clubs, including Gotham Comedy Club, The Comic Strip, and the Broadway Comedy Club. Her latest book is a novel, Perfect is Overrated.
John Snyder
John Snyder's magical memoir Hill of Beans: Coming of Age in the Last Days of the Old South was named a Best of 2012 book by Kirkus Reviews. He is also an inventor with seven patents, a sculptor, and a former Executive Director of Morgan Stanley. In addition, he has written two Off-Broadway plays and produced an industrial film that won first place at the New York Film Festival.
Jane Condon
Jane Condon won NBC’s Last Comic Standing Audience Favorite award (NY) and was the grand prize winner in the Ladies of Laughter contest nationwide. She has appeared on The View and the Today show and at Caroline’s Comedy Club. Her one-person Off-Broadway show, Janie Condon: Raw & Unchained!, received rave reviews. She recently co-authored her first cartoon book, Chardonnay Moms.
Henry Koperski on Keyboard
Henry Koperski is a composer, writer, and music director who writes for stage and screen. He has performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and other venues worldwide, including two solo shows in New York City. He has also appeared on The Late Show and The Tonight Show. The New York Times called him “the connective tissue” of the NYC music/comedy scene.
Fall 2018
Henry Alford
The one and only “investigative humorist,” Henry Alford is an acclaimed funny man and journalist who has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times and Vanity Fair for two decades. He also wrote for Spy, the iconic satiric humor magazine, from 1988 to 1994. Henry’s books include Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That?, about modern manners, and Big Kiss, which won a Thurber Prize for American Humor. His latest book, about dancing, And Then We Danced, was published in June; Vanity Fair called it "sublime."
Martin Dockery
A storyteller extraordinaire, Martin Dockery has spent the last decade performing comedic, full-length storytelling shows in theaters throughout the US, UK, Canada and Australia. He's performed at fringe theater festival worldwide, winning countless "Best of Fest" awards. He's also performed at The Melbourne Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Fringe, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and headlined the London Storytelling Festival. Dockery holds an MFA in playwriting from Columbia. In November he will perform his play, "Inescapable," Off-Broadway at The Soho Playhouse.
Karen Chee
A comedy writer and performer, Karen Chee writes Shouts for The New Yorker and has contributed to McSweeney's, Reductress, Catapult and others. She also does stand-up and recently opened for Ronny Chieng at Caroline's on Broadway. She graduated from Harvard, where she studied History and Literature and performed with the improv troupe the Immediate Gratification Players. Winner of the first Erma Bombeck Humorist-in-Residency award, she was named one of 20 comedians to see in New York City in 2018.
C.S. Hanson
C.S. Hanson’s hilarious plays have been performed at the Cherry Lane, Theatre for the New City, NY Fringe Festival, among others, and in Miami, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Montreal. A Tennessee Williams Scholar at the 2010 Sewanee Writers’ Conference, she has received commissions from the Experimentals at LaMama and America-In-Play, where she was an Artist Associate. Her latest work, TV in My Bones, was recently presented Off-Broadway by Tribe Players.
Meghan Daum
My Misspent Youth, Meghan Daum's first book, is a cult classic collection of humorous essays. Her new book, The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion, won a 2015 PEN Center USA Award. She has written for many publications, including The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and The Los Angeles Times. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, Daum teaches in the MFA Writing Program at Columbia University's School of the Arts.
James Harvey on Keyboard
A musical comedian, composer and playwright, James created the one-man show, The Bald Faced Truth: Comedy Songs by James Harvey. His darkly comedic musical, The Crack in the Ceiling, was presented at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and the New York International Fringe Festival, where it received the award for Overall Excellence in a Musical.
Spring 2017
Roz Chast
A beloved New Yorker cartoonist for almost 40 years, Roz Chast chronicles the anxieties, superstitions, furies, and surreal imaginings of modern life. David Remnick, the magazine’s editor, calls her “the magazine’s only certifiable genius.” She is the author of Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant, a 2014 New York Times’ Best Book of the Year, and numerous children’s books, including collaborations with Steve Martin and Calvin Trillin. Her new book is Going into Town: A Sort-of Guide to the City (NYC). (This event was co-sponsored with the New York Society Library.)
Winter 2017
Michael Arkin
Michael Arkin began his impressive acting career performing theater on the streets of his native Brooklyn as a member of Everyman Co. With a B.A. in Theater from Wesleyan, he has played principal roles on TV (Law & Order), in film (Fatal Attraction) and on stages across the U.S. Active in actors’ organizations, he has served on the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild.
Carmen Maria Machado
Carmen Maria Machado’s most recent book, Her Body and Other Parties, was named a Finalist for the National Book Award, a New York Times critic's choice for 2017, and a Best Book by the Washington Post, the LA Times, PBS Books, and many others. Her humorous stories and commentary have appeared in the New Yorker, Granta, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from The Iowa Writers Workshop.
Matt Mercier
Matthew Mercier, a two-time Moth Story Slam champion, is a writer and storyteller who recently completed his first novel. He holds an MFA in fiction from Hunter College. His stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and have been broadcast on the Moth Radio Hour. Mercier has performed at The Story Collider, The Liar Show, and on The Moth Mainstage in Brooklyn and in Nantucket.
Sarah Fearon
Sarah Fearon is a comedienne, award-winning playwright, writer and actress (The Comedian, The Departed). She has performed her original comedy at the Gotham Comedy Club, Stand Up New York, Caroline’s, and The Metropolitan Room. Her TED Talks NYC recently won first place in the Players Theater Short Play Festival. She also regularly performs as an extra on Saturday Night Live.
Nancy McCabe Kelly
Nancy McCabe Kelly and Bruce Jarchow, improv comedic actors, met performing at Chicago’s famed Second City. Jarchow’s film and TV appearances include Seinfeld, Coach, and Continental Divide. The couple’s latest production, “Been There, Still There,” was performed in New York and in Chicago, where they received TimeOut’s Critic’s Choice award for being “funny, tender and funny again.”
Henry Koperski on Keyboard
Henry Koperski is a composer, writer, and music director who has written for stage and screen. He has performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and many other venues worldwide, including two solo shows in New York City. He has also appeared on The Late Show and The Tonight Show. The New York Times called him “the connective tissue” of the NYC music/comedy scene.
Dorothea Benton Frank
A New York Times bestselling author, Dorothea Benton Frank tells tales of her native South Carolina Low Country from the vantage point of her New York area life. Her first novel, Sullivan’s Island, debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. An amazingly prolific writer and storyteller, she recently published her 18th novel titled Same Beach, Next Year.
Bruce Jarchow
Nancy McCabe Kelly and Bruce Jarchow, improv comedic actors, met performing at Chicago’s famed Second City. Jarchow’s film and TV appearances include Seinfeld, Coach, and Continental Divide. The couple’s latest production, “Been There, Still There,” was performed in New York and in Chicago, where they received TimeOut’s Critic’s Choice award for being “funny, tender and funny again.”
