| Jena Friedman | |
|---|---|
 Friedman at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe | |
| Born | Haddonfield, New Jersey |
| Medium | Stand-up, television |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Dark comedy |
| Children | 1 [1] |
Jena Friedman is an American comedian and writer. She is the creator of Soft Focus with Jena Friedman for Adult Swim, the first installment of which premiered in February 2018. [2]
Friedman was born and raised in a Conservative Jewish home in Haddonfield, New Jersey, where she had a bat mitzvah and went to Hebrew school through 10th Grade, [3] and Haddonfield Memorial High School. [4] She studied anthropology at Northwestern University.
After graduation, she worked as a healthcare consultant for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. [5]
In 2007, Friedman 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 [6] 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. [7] [8] [9] The magazine Paste named American Cunt one of the 10 Best Stand Up Comedy Specials of 2016. [10] 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, [11] [12] as well as Gilberto Valle, a New York City police officer who was convicted of a conspiracy to kidnap, cook, and eat women, known as the "Cannibal Cop". [13] [14] The second installment premiered in January 2019.
She has been a field producer [15] at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has written for Late Show with David Letterman . [16]
Friedman appeared in 2020 movie Palm Springs , and on TV shows including Conan , The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , and others. [17] [18] [19] [20] She has also been a contributing writer to The New Yorker . [21]
In 2020, Friedman contributed to the screenplay of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm , with the writing team receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. [22] [23] She directed and starred in True Crime Story: Indefensible on Sundance TV in 2021. [24] [25]
Friedman is the host of the comedic true-crime series Indefensible [26] on AMC+.
Her latest comedy special, Ladykiller, premiered on Peacock in September of 2022. [27] [28]
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. [29] [30] 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. [29]
In April 2025, Friedman gave a TED talk, The Jokes AI Won't Tell. [31]
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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?'....
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