Jena Friedman | |
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Born | Haddonfield, New Jersey |
Medium | Stand-up, television |
Nationality | American |
Genres | Dark comedy |
Jena Friedman is an American comedian and writer. She is the host of the comedic true-crime series Indefensible [1] on AMC+. She has been a field producer [2] at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has written for Late Show with David Letterman . [3] She is the creator of Soft Focus with Jena Friedman for Adult Swim, the first installment of which premiered in February 2018. [4]
Friedman was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey. She studied anthropology at Northwestern University. After graduation, she worked as a healthcare consultant for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. [5]
She has appeared in 2020 movie Palm Springs , and on TV shows including Conan , The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , and others. [6] [7] [8] [9] She has also been a contributing writer to The New Yorker . [10]
In 2007, she wrote The Refugee Girls Revue, a satire inspired by American Girl dolls. The play earned critical acclaim in the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival [11] and had a successful run Off-Broadway. In 2010, she received a cease-and-desist letter from The New York Times for parodying their wedding videos. The parody, titled Ted and Gracie, has since become a popular web series.
In 2015, Friedman's solo show American Cunt premiered in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to critical acclaim. [12] [13] [14] The magazine Paste named American Cunt one of the 10 Best Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2016. [15] She created Soft Focus with Jena Friedman , a series of Adult Swim specials that she also co-executive produces, directs, and hosts. The specials include interviews with John McAfee, the American software entrepreneur and Presidential hopeful, [16] [17] as well as Gilberto Valle, a New York City police officer who was convicted of a conspiracy to kidnap, cook, and eat women, better known as the "Cannibal Cop". [18] [19] The second installment premiered in January 2019.
In 2020, Friedman contributed to the screenplay of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm , earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. [20] [21] She directed and starred in True Crime Story: Indefensible on Sundance TV in 2021. [22] [23] Her latest comedy special, Ladykiller, premiered on Peacock in September of 2022. [24] [25]
On a May 2023 episode ("EP. 813 — Winkers and Blinkers") of the comedy podcast Comedy Bang! Bang! , Friedman recalled how she was asked to write for the revival of the TV show Roseanne in 2018 after Roseanne Barr had enjoyed a stand-up set by Friedman. [26] [27] On the day she was scheduled to start her new job, Barr went on a racist Twitter rant that resulted in the show being swiftly cancelled. [26]
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Sacha Noam Baron Cohen is an English comedian, actor, writer and producer. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen. At the 2012 British Comedy Awards, Baron Cohen received the Outstanding Achievement Award and accepted the award in-character as Ali G. In 2013, he received the BAFTA Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. In 2018, The Times named him among the 30 best living comedians.
Roseanne Cherrie Barr is an American actress, comedian, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy before gaining acclaim in the television sitcom Roseanne. She won an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on the show.
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Borat Margaret Sagdiyev is a satirical fictional character created and performed by Sacha Baron Cohen. He is supposedly a Kazakhstani television journalist and is the main protagonist of the mockumentary Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), its sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2020), and a main character of Da Ali G Show.
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Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, or simply Borat, is a 2006 mockumentary black comedy film directed by Larry Charles and starring Sacha Baron Cohen. Baron Cohen plays the leading role of Borat Sagdiyev, a fictional Kazakhstani journalist who travels through the United States to make a documentary which features real-life interactions with Americans. Much of the film features unscripted vignettes of Borat interviewing and interacting with real-life Americans who believe he is a foreigner with little or no understanding of American customs. It is the second of four films built around Baron Cohen's characters from Da Ali G Show (2000–2004): the first, Ali G Indahouse, was released in 2002, and featured a cameo by Borat; the third, Brüno, was released in 2009; and the sequel to Borat, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, was released in 2020.
Daniel Gideon Mazer is a British director, screenwriter, producer, and comedian. He is best known as the long-time writing and production partner of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and worked with him on his three unorthodox characters Ali G, Borat, and Brüno. He also co-wrote and co-produced the films based on Baron Cohen's characters such as Ali G Indahouse, Borat, and Brüno.
Jamie Denbo is an American actress, writer, comedian and half of the comedy duo Ronna and Beverly with Jessica Chaffin. She also co-starred in the FX series Terriers and appeared in Spy, The Heat and Ghostbusters (2016).
Jessica Chaffin is an American actress, comedian, and writer best known as part of the comedy duo Ronna and Beverly with Jamie Denbo. She is also known for her recurring roles as Coco Wexler on Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, Marie Faldonado in the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan and appearing in the films Spy and The Heat. She starred as Beth in the NBC sitcom Abby's.
Mathilde "Tig" O'CallaghanNotaro is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album Live was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. The special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated in 2016 at the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. In 2017, the album Boyish Girl Interrupted was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
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United States v. Valle was a criminal case in the Southern District of New York concerning Gilberto Valle, a New York City Police Department officer who had discussed on online fetish chatrooms his fantasies about kidnapping, torturing, raping, killing, and cannibalizing various women he knew, and had used a police database to find the addresses of some. Dubbed the "Cannibal Cop" by the media, Valle was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and, for the use of the police database, violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The presiding judge, however, acquitted Valle on the conspiracy charges notwithstanding the verdict, ruling that the prosecution had not proven that Valle's online communications went beyond "fantasy role-play". On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the judge's judgment of acquittal and further ruled Valle's misuse of the police database did not constitute a violation of the CFAA, thus acquitting him of the lesser charge.
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...The show's second segment ... focus on finding love for ... the 'Cannibal Cop.' ... she helps Valle select a lady by asking them questions like, 'How fast do you run?'....