Lizz Winstead (born July 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, abortion rights activist, and podcast host. A native of

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, Winstead is the co-creator of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' along with Madeleine Smithberg, and served as head writer and one of the original correspondents. Winstead is the founder and chief creative officer of Abortion Access Front, a nonprofit made up of “activists, writers and producers and comedians that uses humor to destigmatize abortion” and fight against anti-abortion forces nationwide.

Early life

Winstead was the youngest child born into a conservative

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota.

Career

Winstead made her standup comedy debut in 1983 in Minneapolis at the Brave New Workshop. She was a national headlining comedian appearing on shows like

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's ''Women of the Night'' and the Aspen Comedy Festival. She wrote and performed for early

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

shows like ''Women Aloud'', and produced the syndicated talk series ''

The Jon Stewart Show ''The Jon Stewart Show'' is a late night talk show that was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. The program premiered on MTV in 1993 as a 30-minute daily offering and became one of the network's more popular shows. Through a series of events that ...

'', starring the future ''Daily Show'' host. She also created

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...

's '' Snap Judgment'' and served as the consulting producer on the pilot of '' The Man Show''. During her time at ''The Daily Show'' she helped staff the program with signature talents like

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

, Beth Littleford, Brian Unger, and

Lewis Black Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion and cultural trends. He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis Black's ...

. After ''Daily Show'' host

Craig Kilborn Craig Lawrence Kilborn (born August 24, 1962) is an American television host, actor, comedian, and sports commentator. Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's '' SportsCenter'' f ...

publicly made offensive remarks about Winstead, she left the show in January 1998. Winstead has appeared on various shows on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

and

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

. In 2002, she and Brian Unger created, wrote and co-hosted '' O2Be'', a satire of network morning programs that was broadcast on the Oxygen network. In 2003, she co-founded and served as the program director at Air America Radio. Until March 2005, she was also co-host of ''Unfiltered'' on Air America Radio, along with

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow ( ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. She hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event ...

and

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

. In 2006, she served as the executive producer of the '' Weekends with Maury and Connie'' program on MSNBC. The show was canceled later that year and in the last episode

Connie Chung Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich (née Chung; born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist who has been a news anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks American Broadcasting Company, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her m ...

performed a musical number with lyrics by Winstead that was called "Thanks for the Memories." Since 2007, she has produced and hosted a live show in New York City called ''Shoot the Messenger'', a

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

wrap-up of the week's news as seen through the eyes of six-hour morning show ''Wake Up World'', and featuring interviews with such media notables as

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupatio ...

Susie Essman Susan Essman (born May 31, 1955) is an American comedian, actress, producer and writer. She is best known for her role as Susie Greene on ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' (2000–2024), as the voice of Mittens in '' Bolt'' (2008), and as Bobbi Wexler o ...

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American comedian and actor. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 20 ...

and

Anne Meara Anne Meara (September 20, 1929 – May 23, 2015) was an American comedian and actress. Along with her husband Jerry Stiller, she was one-half of the prominent 1960s comedy team Stiller and Meara. Their son is actor, director, and producer Ben S ...

. On May 10, 2012, her first book, ''Lizz Free or Die'', was published by Riverhead Hardcover; it is a collection of autobiographical essays on her life. In 2015, she founded Lady Parts Justice League, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that changed its name in 2019 to Abortion Access Front to become more inclusive to people of all genders who need reproductive care. Abortion Access Front is dedicated to using humor to expose anti-abortion forces, support abortion providers, and expand access to abortion in all 50 states. Winstead co-hosts the Abortion Access Front podcast “Feminist Buzzkills Live!”, which “break down the weekly news from patriarchy’s evil trilogy of misogyny, white supremacy, and anti-abortion extremism.” On July 17, 2022, a month after

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

was overturned, Winstead and Abortion Access Front along with 60 partners launched Operation Save Abortion, an ongoing campaign beginning with a daylong virtual training session for thousands of new abortion rights activists nationwide. Winstead told Cosmopolitan: “They’ll learn about all the different ways they can channel their outrage into action, they’ll come away knowing this fight requires every single one of us, and they’ll know exactly where their special talents fit into that equation.” According to Winstead, over 10,000 people participated on the first day. Operation Save Abortion maintains an activist toolkit and calendar to help new abortion activists stay involved.

References

External links

* *
Shoot the Messenger site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winstead, Lizz 1961 births Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American memoirists 21st-century American women writers American talk radio hosts American television personalities American television writers American women columnists American women comedians American women memoirists American women radio hosts American women television personalities American women television writers Comedians from Minneapolis HuffPost writers and columnists Screenwriters from Minnesota American television show creators American satirical television show creators American satirists American women satirists Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota