Jessi Ruth Klein (born August 18, 1975) is an American writer, actress and stand-up comedian from
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 ...
.
Klein has regularly appeared on shows such as ''
The Showbiz Show with David Spade'' and
VH1's ''
Best Week Ever'' and has performed stand-up on
Comedy Central's ''
Premium Blend''. She provided commentary for
CNN in the debates of
the 2004 presidential election. A self-proclaimed "
geek", Klein has appeared on the
television specials for ''My Coolest Years: Geeks'' on VH1 and ''Rise of the Geeks'' on
E!. Klein also provided the voice of Lucy in the animated pilot for
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...
's ''
Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil''.
Klein previously worked as a director of development for
Comedy Central. Some of the shows she helped develop for the network were ''
Chappelle's Show'' and ''
Stella''. She was the head writer and executive producer of ''
Inside Amy Schumer''.
Career
In 2004, Klein appears twice in the Season 2 "Wayne Brady Show" episode of
Chappelle's Show: first, in the boardroom to inform Dave of how replaceable he is on the show, and later she along with
Neal Brennan are
gassed by
Chappelle "
in the wings" just before Chappelle confronts
Wayne Brady to take his show back.
In 2009, she wrote and co-starred in ''
Michael and Michael Have Issues'' on
Comedy Central. She also worked as a writer on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' during the
2009-2010 season.
Klein's ''
Comedy Central Presents'' special aired on March 4, 2011.
Klein made her first-time appearance as a panelist on
NPR's comedy-news quiz show ''
Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' on June 25, 2011. She was the first female guest host of the program on March 11, 2017.
She was an executive producer and writer for ''Inside Amy Schumer'' on Comedy Central since its debut, and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series in 2015 for her work on the show. She was not a writer on its fifth season. She was also a consulting producer on the series "Transparent" in 2016.
Klein released her debut book in July 2016, ''You'll Grow Out of It'', which became a New York Times best seller. Klein's second book, ''I'll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife and Motherhood'', was released in April 2022.
Klein served as a consulting producer for the Netflix series
animated sitcom
An animated sitcom is a subgenre of a television sitcom that is animation, animated instead of being filmed live-action, and is generally made or created for adult animation, adult audiences in most cases. ''The Simpsons'', ''SpongeBob SquarePan ...
''
Big Mouth'' between 2017 and 2025, and provided the voice for one of the series' main characters, Jessi Glaser.
Selected works
Books
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Essays and reporting
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Jessi
1975 births
Living people
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American screenwriters
21st-century American women writers
Actresses from New York City
American comedy writers
American sketch comedians
American stand-up comedians
American television actresses
American television writers
American voice actresses
American women comedians
American women screenwriters
American women television producers
American women television writers
Comedians from New York City
Jewish American actresses
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish American comedians
Jewish women comedians
Jewish American screenwriters
Screenwriters from New York (state)
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Stuyvesant High School alumni
Television producers from New York City
Television producers from New York (state)
The New Yorker people
Vassar College alumni
Writers Guild of America Award winners