Amber Ruffin

Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979)[1] is an American comedian, writer, actress, and television host.[2] She has been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014. When she joined the show, she became the first black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States.[3] She hosts her own late-night talk show The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock.

Amber Ruffin
Ruffin in 2018
Born
Amber Mildred Ruffin

(1979-01-09) January 9, 1979
Omaha, Nebraska U.S.
Occupation
  • Comedian
  • writer
  • actress
Years active2001–present
Spouse(s)
Jan Schiltmeijer
​
(m. 2010)​

Early life and education

Ruffin was born in Omaha, Nebraska.[1] In 1996, she graduated from Benson High School.[4][5] Ruffin is the youngest of five children. As a child, Ruffin learned Signing Exact English to communicate with a neighbor of hers who was deaf.[6]

Career

In 2001, Ruffin began performing in local theater productions and improv in Omaha.[2] While performing with her improv troupe at an event in Chicago, Ruffin met comedian and owner of iO Theater Charna Halpern. Halpern encouraged Ruffin to move to Chicago, as she believed Ruffin would "have a full-time job, doing comedy, within the year".[7] In 2008, after finishing her classes at iO, Ruffin moved to Amsterdam to work as a writer and performer on the improv comedy troupe Boom Chicago Amsterdam.

After returning to the United States, Ruffin performed as part of The Second City in both Denver and Chicago, where she first met future Late Night co-writer Jenny Hagel. In 2011, she moved to Los Angeles, where she joined the YouTube comedy group RobotDown, featuring Jessica Lowe, Carlo Corbellini, and Davey Vorhes, and appeared on an episode of Key & Peele.[2][8] She also joined the nationally recognized sketch & musical comedy troupe Story Pirates, where she performed sketches based on stories written by kids. Ruffin was also a member of Sacred Fools Theater Company,[9] where she performed a serialized version of "King of Kong: A Musical Parody," a two-woman show parodying the documentary The King of Kong; the musical was co-written with co-star Lauren Van Kurin and directed by fellow Boom Chicago alum Brendan Hunt with music by David Schmoll.[10] "King of Kong" subsequently appeared at the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival,[11] where it won Best Overall Musical 2014, and the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival (with Hunt subbing for an unavailable Ruffin),[12] where it won Best Musical & Outstanding Songwriting. The show returned to Sacred Fools in September 2016 for a performance attended by parody target Billy Mitchell himself.[13]

In 2013, Saturday Night Live received backlash for not having any Black women on the cast.[14] Ruffin auditioned for the show in 2014 alongside Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Gabrielle Dennis, Nicole Byer, Simone Shepherd, and Bresha Webb.[15][16] Ruffin was unsuccessful in her audition. A few days later, Seth Meyers called to ask her to be a writer on his new late night show. Ruffin has been a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers since the show's start in 2014.[2][17] In addition to writing, she also appears in several recurring segments on the program including: "Amber Says What?", "Amber's Minute of Fury", "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" (with fellow writer Jenny Hagel) and "Point, Counterpoint".[18] Near the beginning of the George Floyd protests, Ruffin opened a week's worth of shows by retelling her experiences with police officers and police brutality.[19] Meyers also interviewed Ruffin as a guest for the show's 1,000th episode.

When not writing for Late Night, Ruffin wrote for the Comedy Central show Detroiters and was a regular narrator on the Comedy Central show Drunk History. In 2017, Ruffin developed a single-camera comedy show, Going Dutch, but the series was not ordered.[20][21][22] She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in the category "Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series" in 2017.[23]

In February 2018, Ruffin hosted the 70th Writers Guild of America awards ceremony.[24]

In 2019, NBC ordered a pilot presentation for Ruffin's single-camera comedy series Village Gazette.[22] The same year, Ruffin was a writer for the first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO.

On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Ruffin would host her own late-night talk show on NBC's streaming service Peacock titled The Amber Ruffin Show.[25] The show premiered on September 25, 2020. The show breaks away from the typical late night structure, foregoing guests and focusing instead on topical sketches.[26]

Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar co-authored a book, titled You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism, which was released on January 12, 2021.[27][28][29]

Personal life

In 2010, Ruffin married Jan Schiltmeijer,[30][31] a native of the Netherlands. They met while Ruffin was working in Amsterdam with Boom Chicago.[32]

Filmography
  • 2012: RobotDown (TV Series) – producer, writer (5 episodes), actor in various parts (6 episodes)
  • 2012: Key & Peele (TV Series) – Party Wife (1 episode: Episode #2.9)
  • 2012–2013: Animation Domination High-Def (TV Series short) – various, Misty (voice) (3 episodes)
  • 2014: Wish It Inc. (TV Series) – Shari (12 episodes)
  • 2014: 66th Primetime Emmy Awards (TV Special) – written by
  • 2014–present: Late Night with Seth Meyers (TV Series) – written by (175+ episodes)
  • 2015: Above Average Presents (TV Series) – Nurse (1 episode: "Unique Hospital: The Surgery Results")
  • 2017–2018: Detroiters (TV Series) – written by (3 episodes); Molly (2 episodes)
  • 2018: 75th Golden Globe Awards (TV Special) – writer
  • 2019: Tuca & Bertie (TV Series) – Dakota (voice) (1 episode: "The New Bird")
  • 2019: Drunk History (TV Series) – Barbara Cooke (1 episode: "Legacies")
  • 2019: You're Not a Monster (TV Series) – Mermaid / Gremlin (2 episodes)
  • 2019: 76th Golden Globe Awards (TV Special) – writer
  • 2019: A Black Lady Sketch Show (TV Series) – writer (6 episodes)
  • 2020: Escape from Virtual Island (Audible Original - Audio Comedy) (TV Series) – Faith (voice) (11 episodes)
  • 2020: Village Gazette (TV Movie) – executive producer, writer, Amber
  • 2020: The Amber Ruffin Show - host

Bibliography
  • 2021 You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism (Grand Central Publishing, co-written with Lacey Lamar)

Honors

References
  1. "40 Under 40: Amber Ruffin, 39 Writer/ Performer, Late Night With Seth Meyers". Crain's New York Business. March 25, 2018.
  2. Mertes, Micah (February 25, 2014). "Omaha comic writing for 'Late Night with Seth Meyers'". Omaha World-Herald.
  3. Dries, Kate (January 10, 2014). "Meet the First Black Woman to Write for a Network Late Night Show". Jezebel.
  4. Markel, Katrina (October 30, 2018). "Appropriately Inappropriate". Omaha Magazine.
  5. Monroe, Waverle (July 11, 2018). "Local comedian remembers her roots, comes home for Fourth of July". KETV. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  6. "Amber Ruffin - New Hollywood". Spotify. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  7. "Amber Ruffin - Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best". Spotify. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  8. Metz, Nina (January 8, 2014). "More Chicago on Seth Meyers' show". Chicago Tribune.
  9. "SACRED FOOLS - Members & Staff (archival page, 10-23-14)". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013.
  10. "SERIAL KILLERS - King of Kong: The Musical".
  11. "About the Artists listing for King of Kong at the 2014 New York Fringe".
  12. "Hollywood Fringe listing - "King of Kong: A Musical Parody"".
  13. "Sacred Fools - "King of Kong: A Musical Parody"".
  14. Weisman, Aly (October 17, 2013). "'SNL's' Kenan Thompson Refuses To Dress In Drag Until The Show Hires A Black Woman". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  15. @gabrielledennis (December 2, 2013). "With my girls @Breshawebb @simoneshepherd @TiffanyHaddish & other funny ladies I got to meet at our #SNL showcase :)" (Tweet). Retrieved September 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
  16. "Amber Ruffin - Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best". Spotify. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  17. Rockett, Darcel (October 6, 2017). "Amber Ruffin gives us 'Late Night' laughs while forging her own path". Chicago Tribune.
  18. "Amber Ruffin Says What!?" (National Public Radio)
  19. Wright, Megh (June 3, 2020). "Amber Ruffin Opens Up About Her Experiences With Racist Police". Vulture. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  20. Wagmeister, Elizabeth (September 26, 2016). "Seth Meyers Developing Two Scripted Comedies at NBC". Variety.
  21. Andreeva, Nellie (October 23, 2017). "'Late Night's Amber Ruffin To Co-Write & Star In NBC Comedy Based On Her Life From Lorne Michaels & Seth Meyers". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  22. Wright, Megh (February 1, 2019). "Amber Ruffin Has a New Seth Meyers–Produced Comedy in the Works". Vulture.
  23. Lauder, Thomas Suh (January 24, 2017). "Who's been nominated, who are the winners (WGA)". Los Angeles Times.
  24. McNary, Dave (December 4, 2017). "Amber Ruffin to Host Writers Guild Awards in New York". Variety. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  25. https://deadline.com/2020/09/peacock-first-look-wilmore-the-amber-ruffin-show-1234576384/
  26. Garron, Taylor (September 4, 2020). "Let Amber Ruffin Be Your Guide". Vulture. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  27. You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey. August 4, 2020.
  28. YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED TO LACEY | Kirkus Reviews.
  29. "Amber Ruffin's hilariously horrifying book about everyday racism shows this is indeed who we are". Salon. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  30. Amber Ruffin. Verified Twitter account. September 10, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2018
  31. Jan Schiltmeijer Instagram account. August 31, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018
  32. Ruffin, Amber (February 23, 2018). Angelo, Megan (ed.). "The First Time My White Husband Witnessed Someone Discriminate Against Me for the Color of My Skin". Glamour.
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