Naomi Ekperigin

Naomi Ekperigin is an American comedian, actress and writer. She has written for the television shows Great News and Broad City.[1]

Naomi Ekperigin
Born
Harlem, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationComedian, actress, writer
Notable work
Broad City
Partner(s)Andy Beckerman

Early life

Ekperigin was born and raised in Harlem,[2] with a father from Nigeria and a mother from Detroit.[3] She attended the Dalton School, where she was one of six black students in a class of 118,[2] and graduated from Wesleyan University in 2005.[4] In college, Ekperigin began performing comedy and doing improv.[5]

Career

After graduating from college, Ekperigin spent a year touring with the National Theatre for the Deaf,[5] and she returned to New York in 2007 where she got a start doing stand-up while working a day job at an art magazine.[2][6] When that magazine folded in 2013, Ekperigin found a position working as a writer's assistant for Broad City.[2] She was promoted to staff writer in the show's second season and served as a writer on season 3 as well.

In 2015, Ekperigin was a nominee, with the Broad City writing staff, for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series.[7] Splitsider praised her work as "savvy, smart, funny and politically active"[6] and Essence named her to its list of "8 Black Comediennes Who are 'Ready' for SNL."[8]

In May 2016, Comedy Central announced that Ekperigin would create a half-hour special for the network,[9] taped in New Orleans in June 2016.[10] September 29, 2016, she made her late-night debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Her half-hour special premiered on Comedy Central just two weeks later, October 14 at midnight. Ekperigin also co-wrote a television pilot for Comedy Central with former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams.[11] Ekperigin has also written for Difficult People and written for and appeared on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.[12]

She's been a regular performer on the WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens, standing out as a fan favorite. Other projects include a pilot for TruTV called Inside Caucasia, developed with Ekperigin's fiancé, comedian Andy Beckerman.[2]

In June 2017, she joined the writing staff of the NBC sitcom Great News, starring Briga Heelan, Andrea Martin, and John Michael Higgins. She then went on to write for season 2 of the CBS All Access show No Activity and the HBO limited series Mrs. Fletcher, starring Kathryn Hahn.

References
  1. Czajkowski, Elise. "Naomi Ekperigin - Events in NYC - Arts and Entertainment Guide". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. Tempus, Alexandra (11 February 2016). "'Broad City' Writer and Comedian Naomi Ekperigin Is Your New Favorite Human". Marie Claire. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  3. Regatao, Gisele (September 7, 2013). "One NY Artist: Stand-up Comedian Naomi Ekperigin". WNYC. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  4. Caroline MacNeille (November 3, 2015). "Yahoo! profiles comedian Naomi Ekperigin '05". Wesleyan University. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  5. Eric Silver (February 17, 2016). "Broad City writer Naomi Ekperigin talks breaking into TV and creative uses for drink tickets". Brokelyn. Retrieved 2016-07-18.
  6. Madrid, Monique (27 July 2015). "Confronting Tragedy with Comedy with Naomi Ekperigin". Splitsider. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  7. McNary, Dave (14 February 2016). "WGA Honors 'Big Short,' 'Spotlight,' 'Mad Men' at 68th Awards". Variety. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  8. Ramsey, Franchesca (16 October 2013). "8 Black Comediennes Who Are 'Ready' for SNL". Essence. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  9. Fox, Jesse David (May 9, 2016). "Some Nice News in the World of Women in Comedy". Vulture. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  10. Scott, Mike (May 9, 2016). "Comedy Central stand-up series 'Half Hour' to shoot fifth season in New Orleans". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  11. Andreeva, Nellie (31 March 2016). "Kevin Hart Series, Amy Schumer Projects, Channing Tatum Animated Presentation On Comedy Central's Development Slate". Deadline. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  12. Byrne, Matt (May 11, 2016). "Naomi Ekperigin is funny". Brightest Young Things. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.