Ryan Ken

Last updated
Ryan Ken
Born1991or1992(age 32–33) [1]
South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, comedian
Years active2020–present

Ryan Ken is an American writer, actor, and comedian. They are best known for their sketch comedy videos posted to Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Ken's work has been recognized by Vulture , The Hollywood Reporter , NPR, and the Los Angeles Times . They have won two Primetime Emmy Awards and a WGA Award as a staff writer on Last Week Tonight .

Contents

Early life and education

Ken was born and raised in South Carolina. [2] They performed in their first theatrical production in elementary school. Although Ken enjoyed the experience, they instead chose to focus on training as a violinist. [3]

They received their master's degree in arts administration from the Art Institute of Chicago. [2]

Career

Ken gained prominence in 2020 for their sketch comedy videos that they created as an outlet for anxiety resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] Shared to Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, many of the videos satirize current events or pop culture with commentary on sociopolitical topics like race, gender, and sexuality. [1] Past videos have included a scenario about the lunch break on the set of a movie about slavery, [4] a neighbor listening to the titular characters argue in Malcolm & Marie , [5] "73 Questions with Mitch McConnell" in the style of the Vogue videos, [3] and an actor auditioning to play the gay friend in a 90s sitcom. [1] Malcolm Venable of Shondaland.com described the videos as "less about jokes and more about blowing up the toxic codes we've ignored or endured without interrogating them." [2]

They gained wider notoriety after Tina Knowles reposted their Malcolm & Marie parody video on Instagram. [1] In 2021, Ken's work was recognized by outlets including Vulture, The Hollywood Reporter , Los Angeles Times , and Linda Holmes of NPR . [6] [7]

Ken co-hosts the podcast Let Me Back Up with Jennie Crichlow. [1]

In 2022, they joined the writing staff of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver . [8]

Personal life

Ken is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. [2] They are queer. [1]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef
2022 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Won [9]
2023 Writers Guild of America Awards Comedy/Variety Talk SeriesWon [10]
2024Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Writing for a Variety SeriesWon [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shonda Rhimes</span> American television producer and writer

Shonda Lynn Rhimes is an American television producer and screenwriter, and founder of the production company Shondaland. Inducted into the Television Hall of Fame and NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, Rhimes became known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the medical drama Grey's Anatomy (2005–present), its spin-off Private Practice (2007–2013) and the political thriller Scandal (2012–2018), becoming the first woman to create three television dramas that have achieved the 100 episode milestone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Schur</span> American television producer and writer

Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer, writer, director, and actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series The Office, and co-created Parks and Recreation with Office producer Greg Daniels. He created The Good Place, co-created the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and was a producer on the series Master of None. He also played Mose Schrute on The Office. In 2021, he was one of three co-creators of the Peacock comedy series Rutherford Falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Oliver</span> British and American comedian and television host

John William Oliver is a British and American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. Oliver started his career as a stand-up comedian in the United Kingdom. He came to wider attention for his work in the United States as Senior British Correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 2006 to 2013. Oliver won three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing for The Daily Show and he became the guest host for an eight-week period in 2013. He also co-hosted the comedy podcast The Bugle with Andy Zaltzman, with whom Oliver had previously worked with on the radio series Political Animal. From 2010 to 2013, Oliver hosted his stand-up series John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show on Comedy Central. He has also acted on television, most prominently in a recurring role as Dr Ian Duncan on the NBC sitcom Community, and in films, including voice-over work in The Smurfs (2011), The Smurfs 2 (2013), and the 2019 remake of The Lion King. He became a US citizen in 2019.

Travon Free is an American comedian, actor and writer. He has written for Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The Daily Show on Comedy Central, and Any Given Wednesday with Bill Simmons on HBO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josh Gondelman</span> American writer and comedian

Joshua Lyons Gondelman is an American author, comedy writer, producer, and stand-up comedian. He was a supervising producer and writer for Desus & Mero on Showtime. He was previously a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He is also known for co-creating the parody Twitter account @SeinfeldToday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loren Gray</span> American social media personality (born 2002)

Loren Gray Beech is an American social media personality, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for the Musical.ly career she began in 2015, and was the most-followed creator from March 31, 2019 to March 25, 2020 on the latter's successor, TikTok. She was signed to Virgin Records until February 2021, when she became an independent artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NPC (meme)</span> An insult that implies a person lacks critical thinking

The NPC, derived from non-player character, is an Internet meme that represents people who do not think for themselves or do not make their own decisions; those who lack introspection or intrapersonal communication. The meme gained further viral status on TikTok, with the surge of "NPC Streamers". Recently the NPC character has gain popularity in the memecoin cryptocurrency market. The NPC Wojak memecoin website explains the currency in details. In terms of politics, it's often been used by those with anti-establishment views to describe those who fail to question authority, "groupthink", or a stance that would display conformity and obedience. The NPC meme, which graphically is based on the Wojak meme, was created in July 2016 by an anonymous author and first published on the imageboard 4chan, where the idea and inspiration behind the meme were introduced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charli D'Amelio</span> American social media personality (born 2004)

Charli Grace D'Amelio is an American social media personality. She was a competitive dancer for over a decade before starting her social media career in 2019, when she began posting dance videos on the video-sharing platform TikTok. She quickly amassed a large following and subsequently became the most-followed creator on the platform in March 2020 until she was surpassed by Khaby Lame in June 2022. With over 151 million followers, she is the second-most-followed-person on TikTok, as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addison Rae</span> American social media personality (born 2000)

Addison Rae Easterling is an American media personality, actress, and singer-songwriter. Rae rose to fame on the video sharing app, TikTok. She amassed over 88 million followers, making her the fifth most-followed individual on the platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie D'Amelio</span> American social media personality (born 2001)

Dixie Jane D'Amelio is an American singer and social media personality known for her videos on TikTok. She is the elder sister of Charli D'Amelio. As of November 2022, she has over 57.5 million followers and 3.3 billion likes on TikTok, 24.2 million followers on Instagram, and 7.04 million subscribers and 619.12 million views on YouTube, where she also hosts a talk show called The Early Late Night Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tabitha Brown (actress)</span> American actress and internet celebrity (born 1979)

Tabitha Bonita Brown is an American actress and social media personality. She creates online video content incorporating veganism, humor and motivational speaking. Brown has over 5 million followers on TikTok and over 4.2 million followers on Instagram as of March 2023. She has been described by HuffPost as "America's Mom" and her content has been characterized by critics as being "comforting" and "calming". She is the host of the Food Network’s first plant-based cooking competition It’s CompliPlated and host of the Emmy winning YouTube children’s show Tab Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Triller (app)</span> American social networking service

Triller is an American video-sharing social networking service. The service allows users to create and share short-form videos, including videos set to, or automatically synchronized to music using artificial intelligence technology. Triller was released for iOS and Android in 2015, and initially operated as a video editing app before adding social networking features.

Lilliane Catherine Diomi, known professionally as ppcocaine, is an American social media personality and rapper. She is perhaps best known for her song "3 Musketeers" that gained popularity on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brittany Broski</span> American social media personality (born 1997)

Brittany Alexis Tomlinson, known professionally as Brittany Broski, is an American social media personality, YouTuber, and comedian. She initially gained fame after a video of her tasting kombucha for the first time went viral on TikTok in 2019. She signed to United Talent Agency later that year and has since hosted the TikTok-produced podcast For You (2021), the pop culture-focused podcasts Violating Community Guidelines (2022–2023) with Sarah Schauer and The Broski Report (2023–present), and the YouTube talk show Royal Court (2023–present). She has frequently been referred to as one of TikTok's biggest stars and noted for her meme-focused humor.

Please Don't Destroy is an American comedy group in New York City consisting of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, who began collaborating as students at New York University. The group was founded in 2017 and based on an act titled Please Don't Destroy My Farm. The troupe performed monthly comedy shows, appeared at the New York Comedy Festival and produced sketch videos posted to YouTube. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they began creating shorter videos for TikTok and Twitter.

Boman Martinez-Reid, also known as Bomanizer, is a Canadian creator of TikTok comedy videos. His videos parody reality television by featuring his own family and friends getting into overly dramatized fights and feuds about small, everyday matters.

Vinny Thomas is an American actor, writer, and comedian. He is best known for his viral videos on Twitter and TikTok. His work has been recognized by Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, USA Today, and Just for Laughs. He is a cast member on the Apple TV+ comedy series Platonic.

Ali Barthwell is an American writer. She reviews television for Vulture and is a staff writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, for which she won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libs of TikTok</span> Far-right and anti-LGBT X (formerly Twitter) account

Libs of TikTok is a handle for various far-right and anti-LGBT social-media accounts operated by Chaya Raichik, a former real estate agent. Raichik uses the accounts to repost content created by left-wing and LGBT people on TikTok, and on other social-media platforms, often with hostile, mocking, or derogatory commentary. The accounts promote hate speech and transphobia, and spread false claims, especially relating to medical care of transgender children. The X account, also known by the handle @LibsofTikTok, has nearly 3 million followers as of February 2024 and has become influential among American conservatives and the political right. Libs of TikTok's social-media accounts have received several temporary suspensions and a permanent suspension from TikTok.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blackburn, H. Drew (22 February 2021). "Ryan Ken, the Person Behind That Viral Malcolm & Marie Video, Uses Comedy as a Healing Tool". GQ. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Venable, Malcolm (2021-09-17). "The Blossoming of Ryan Ken". Shondaland. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  3. 1 2 3 Finley, Taryn (12 August 2021). "Ryan Ken's Radical Comedy Is Just What We Need". HuffPost. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  4. Sun, Rebecca (2021-11-01). "The 6 Social Media Comics Hollywood Is Watching (or Should Be)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  5. "Sick of 'Malcolm & Marie' bickering? So is their neighbor in this funny parody". Los Angeles Times. 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  6. Holmes, Linda (2021-12-30). "50 wonderful things from 2021: The performances, moments, and laughs we'll remember". NPR. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  7. Kelly-Clyne, Luke; Techler, Graham (2021-06-30). "The Best Comedy Shorts of June 2021". Vulture. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  8. "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (2014-) ratings". Rating Graph. Retrieved 2022-04-17.
  9. "Last Week Tonight With John Oliver". Television Academy. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  10. "2023 Writers Guild Awards Nominees". awards.wga.org. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
  11. "See the full list of 2023 Emmy winners: 'Succession,' 'The Bear,' 'Beef,' more". EW.com. Retrieved 2024-01-16.