Gary Kordan is an American

production designer In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...

and

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

. He was nominated for an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

for his work on the fifth and final season of

Key & Peele ''Key & Peele'' (abbreviated to ''K&P'') is an American sketch comedy television series that ran from 2012 to 2015. It was created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central; each had previously worked on ''Mad TV.'' Each episod ...

Career

In 2016, Kordan won an Art Directors Guild Award and was nominated for a Primetime

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award catego ...

for his work on the hit series

starring Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele. Additionally, he was the first

Production Designer In film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Work ...

on the West Coast to design an

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

series

Betas ''Betas'' is an American television series produced by Amazon Studios. The show stars Joe Dinicol and Karan Soni as "dating app" developers in Silicon Valley who are looking for an investor. Amazon offered the first three episodes of ''Betas'' ...

and the second designer overall for Amazon Studios. In addition to the entire 54-episode run of the

and

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

winning

, some of Kordan's production design credits include: The Prank Panel starring

Johnny Knoxville Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971), known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show ''Jackass (franchise), ...

Eric André Eric Samuel André (born April 4, 1983) is an American comedian, actor, television host, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known as the creator, host, and co-writer of the Adult Swim surreal comedy series '' The Eric Andre Show'' (2012� ...

and

Gabourey Sidibe Gabourey Sidibe ( ; born May 6, 1983) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the 2009 film '' Precious'', a role that earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, in addition to nominations for the Golden Globe ...

(ABC),

Kenan Kenan (also spelled Qenan, Kaynan, Caynam or Cainan) (; ; ) is an Antediluvian patriarch first mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The '' Sefer ha-Yashar'' describes Cainan, the possessor of great astrological wisdom, which h ...

starring

Kenan Thompson Kenan Thompson (; born May 10, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' since Saturday Night Live season 29, 2003, making him the longest-tenured cast member in the ...

and

Don Johnson Don Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor and singer-songwriter. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series '' Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emm ...

(NBC),

Miracle Workers A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

starring

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...

and

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi (,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself. It is not uncommon for people to pronounce his name or instead. ; born December 13, 1957) is an American actor. He is known for his work as an acclaimed character actor. Mul ...

(Max),

Downward Dog Downward Dog Pose, Downward-facing Dog Pose, or Downdog, also called Adho Mukha Svanasana (; ), is an inversion asana in yoga as exercise. It is often practised as part of a flowing sequence of poses, especially Surya Namaskar, the Salute to t ...

(ABC), Ghosted starring Adam Scott and Craig Robinson (FOX), Jordan Peele's Weird City (YouTube),

Crank Yankers ''Crank Yankers'' is an American television sketch comedy show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, with on-screen re-enactments by puppets. The sh ...

(Comedy Central),

Time Traveling Bong ''Time Traveling Bong'' is an American miniseries created and written by Ilana Glazer, Paul W. Downs, and Lucia Aniello. The series, starring Glazer and Downs and directed by Aniello, aired on Comedy Central as a "three-night event" with each e ...

starring Broad City's Ilana Glazer (Comedy Central), The Meltdown with Jonah & Kumail (Comedy Central),

@midnight ''@midnight with Chris Hardwick'' (shortened to and formerly exclusively titled ''@midnight'') is an American late night Internet-themed panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, that aired Monday through Thursday nights between October 21, ...

(Comedy Central),

Workaholics ''Workaholics'' is an American adult television sitcom created and predominantly written by Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck, all of whom star in the series. ''Workaholics'' initially aired on Comedy Central from ...

starring Blake Anderson, Adam Devine and Anders Holm, Reggie Watts: Spatial (Netflix),

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, he co-created and co-starred in the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. He also co-created ...

's Netflix special "For Drummers Only", The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn & Open Mike Eagle (Comedy Central), Melissa McCarthy's Nobodies, the feature film What Now? starring

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. The accolades he has received include the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor and nominations for two Grammy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards. After winning se ...

(Universal), Just Add Magic, Betas (Amazon Prime), Patton Oswalt: Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time (Epix), Teachers (TV Land), Those Who Can't (TruTV), Just Add Magic: Mystery City (Amazon Prime), For The Cultura (Quibi) and 2022 Emmy Nominee for Outstanding Art Direction, The Barbarian and the Troll (Nickelodeon). He also co-created and executive produced E!'s

Number 1 Single ''#1 Single'' is a reality-based show that aired on E! Entertainment Television in the United States. The eight-segment program premiered on January 22, 2006 and ended its run on March 19, 2006. Synopsis In this reality-based series, all of ...

with

Lisa Loeb Lisa Anne Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites'', the first number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 10 ...

(E! Entertainment), directed two music videos for the alternative rock band

Veruca Salt Veruca Salt is an American alternative rock band founded in Chicago in 1992 by vocalist-guitarists Nina Gordon and Louise Post, drummer Jim Shapiro, and bassist Steve Lack. They are best known for their first single, " Seether", which was rel ...

and wrote jokes for

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...

, one of his many professional and personal collaborations with the comedy legend. Gary spent the fall and winter of 2002 in Paris as a writer for the massive reality hit

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

dating show Dating game shows are game shows that incorporates a variety of matchmaking systems and services in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants, who are usually selected more for the ...

Joe Millionaire ''Joe Millionaire'' is an American reality television series broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox). The series premiered on January 6, 2003, and concluded with the finale of its second season on November 24, 2003. Both seasons followed ...

(FOX), its finale beating the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

ratings with 42.6 million viewers. In 2017 he followed Ike Turner with a camera, documenting the final months of his life which resulted in hours of footage, some of which was used in the critically acclaimed HBO Documentary 'Tina'. In front of the camera, Kordan produced and hosted two public access shows on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, both resulting in a cult following, co-hosted Treasures In Your Home, a nightly live eBay style talk show that very often surpassed

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

in many markets, and in 2000 was the red carpet arrivals host for the first 'X-Men' film on

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

. Kordan's life in art and comedy began at a very early age, drawing portraits and caricatures of everyone he knew and working as a doorman at the legendary Catch A Rising Star comedy club. He went on to study Fine Arts and Illustration at

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and during his junior year landed full-time job working for

on her daytime talk show,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

The Joan Rivers Show ''The Joan Rivers Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Joan Rivers. The show ran for four seasons, from September 5, 1989, to December 26, 1993. History The show aired for five seasons and ended in December ...

. It was there, and because of Joan's encouragement, Gary began his career in the art department. Gary is a member of the Art Directors Guild Local 800, a Daytime Emmy Judge, a member of the Television Academy Peer Group Executive Committee, Moderator of the first ever Television Academy Peer Circle Program, appeared on numerous Comic-Con and WonderCon panels and resides in Los Angeles with his photographer wife, Justine Ungaro. Together they owned 'Muse, Studio City', a creative home to photo, film and music video shoots, commercials, retail pop-ups, fundraisers and too many parties to count. Notable events included intimate concerts by Lisa Loeb, Letters To Cleo, Steve Kilby (The Church), Amanda Kramer (The Psychedelic Furs), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh), Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), Campfire Cassettes, Kay Hanley (Letters To Cleo), 'Rex Manning Day' featuring bands and actors from the film 'Empire Records', Olivia Sanabia (Just Add Magic), Alex Wassabi, David Poe, Joey Santiago (Pixies) and Danny Zucker & Timothy Simons (Veep) reading 'Trump Tweets'. Fundraisers at 'Muse, Studio City' raised money for the

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

Relief, the Puerto Rico Hurricane, Music Cares, Cookies For Kids Cancer and Valley Community Fundraisers among many others. Classes offered included Calligraphy, Hair Braiding, Loom Weaving, The Art of Paper Flowers, and Watercolor Lettering. In 2022, Justine and Gary moved 'Muse, Studio City' from its Ventura Blvd. location and launched three photo and film studios with stylish standing sets, including a storefront/ event space in Los Angeles all under the new name 'StuSpaceLA'.

Awards

In 2015, Kordan was nominated for an Art Directors Guild Award for his work on Key & Peele. In 2016, he was nominated once again for Key & Peele and won. In 2016 Kordan was nominated for an

for his work on the final season of Key & Peele. Most recently, Gary was nominated for a 2022

for The Barbarian and the Troll for Outstanding Art Direction.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Official Website

Interview with Gary Kordan by Mannie Holmes on ''Variety''

Interview with Gary Kordan by Matthew Grobar on ''Deadline''

‘Kenan’ production designer Gary Kordan on striving to ‘redefine the genre of comedy’ [EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW]

Production Designer Gary Kordan Moonlights as Venue Impresario With Wife Justine Ungaro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kordan, Gary American production designers People from New Brunswick, New Jersey School of Visual Arts alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people