Zach Sherwin (born July 1, 1980) is an American comedian, rapper, writer, and actor best known for writing for and performing in the ''

Epic Rap Battles of History ''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format ...

'' YouTube series, as well as writing for ''

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series that premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW and ran for four seasons, ending on April 5, 2019. The series was created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloo ...

'' on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

. He specializes in comedic rap. He previously performed with The Late Night Players, and under the stage name MC Mr. Napkins.

Early life and education

Sherwin was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio and southwest Missouri. His mother was a rabbi, and he continues to identify as

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. He attended college at

Brandeis University Brandeis University is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational institution sponsored by the Jews, Jewish community, Brandeis was established on t ...

and graduated in 2002. At Brandeis, Sherwin became an Ethics Center Student Fellow (known as the Sorensen Fellowship since 2009) while interning at Ikamva Labantu in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

. While in college, Sherwin started a sketch comedy group, The Late Night Players. His fellow members included Andrew Slack and Seth Reibstein, founders of the

Harry Potter Alliance Fandom Forward (formerly The Harry Potter Alliance) is a nonprofit organization that was initially run by ''Harry Potter'' fans but that has since expanded to include members of various fandoms. It was founded by Andrew Slack in 2005 to draw ...

, and Aaron Kagan.

Career

Sherwin continued to perform with The Late Night Players after graduating from Brandeis until the group's dissolution in 2007. The group was the subject of a documentary directed by Joshua Goren which screened at the November 2006 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival. Sherwin began to perform solo as MC Mr. Napkins in Boston from 2007 until giving up the name completely in 2013 in a video posted to his YouTube channel. As a solo comedian, Sherwin has performed multiple times at

The Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...

. He has appeared in multiple shows at UCB. Sherwin appeared on the debut episode of

Cameron Esposito Cameron Anne Young Anastasia Esposito (born October 17, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, and podcaster known for her show '' Take My Wife'', as well as her stand-up comedy and her podcast, ''Queery''. Esposito substantially focuses on topics ...

's ASpecialThing-produced stand-up comedy podcast ''Put Your Hands Together''. Sherwin was one of the original performers involved with the

YouTube series. As of January 2022, he has appeared in eleven episodes, having portrayed

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theor ...

Emmett Brown Emmett Lathrop Brown, Ph.D., commonly referred to as Doc Brown, is a list of fictional scientists and engineers, fictional scientist character (arts), character in the Back to the Future (franchise), ''Back to the Future'' franchise. In the worl ...

, Sherlock Holmes,

Ebenezer Scrooge Ebenezer Scrooge () is the protagonist of Charles Dickens's 1843 novella '' A Christmas Carol''. At the beginning of the novella, Scrooge is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The tale of his redemption by three spirits (the Ghost of ...

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high ...

Wayne Gretzky Wayne Douglas Gretzky ( ; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed "the Great One ...

Egon Spengler Egon Spengler, PhD is a fictional character from the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. He appears in the films ''Ghostbusters'', ''Ghostbusters II'', and '' Ghostbusters: Afterlife'', in the animated television series '' The Real Ghostbusters'' and '' ...

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—es ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

Alexander The Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

, and

John Wick ''John Wick'' is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned. The franchise began with the release o ...

. Along with co-creators Peter Shukoff and

Lloyd Ahlquist Lloyd Leonard Ahlquist (born January 18, 1977), better known by his online alias EpicLLOYD, is an American internet personality best known for the YouTube video series '' Epic Rap Battles of History'', along with Peter Shukoff ("Nice Peter"). Ah ...

, Sherwin has acted in, and written for, episodes in every season of the series. In 2014,

won a

Streamy Award The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing. The formal ...

for Best Writing. In 2015, the series was nominated for the same award. In 2016, the series was nominated for Streamy Awards for Best Collaboration and Best Writing. Since 2015, Zach Sherwin has written for the CW series

. He co-wrote the songs "JAP Battle", "JAP Battle (Reprise)", "I Give Good Parent", and "So Maternal". The first season of the series was nominated for multiple awards and holds a 96% positive rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

. Sherwin auditioned for

Season 11 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribu ...

in 2016. His performance in the Judge Cuts round was televised, however he did not proceed to the Quarterfinals round. Sherwin writes, produces, and hosts a series of live

crossword puzzle A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the a ...

comedy shows entitled "The Crossword Show", in which three panelists race to solve a crossword puzzle on stage. The shows include comedy raps, videos, and humorous facts prepared for each clue. The format is similar to

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Notable guest solvers have included

Mayim Bialik Mayim Chaya Bialik ( ; born December 12, 1975) is an American actress, game show host, and author. From 1991 to 1995, she played the title character of the NBC sitcom ''Blossom''. From 2010 to 2019, she played neuroscientist Amy Farrah Fowler on ...

Pete Holmes Peter Benedict Holmes (born March 30, 1979) is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and podcaster. Musings on spirituality and religion are frequent themes in his works. Holmes gained recognition in the early 2010s as a stand-up comic, ...

Rachel Bloom Rachel Leah Bloom (born April 3, 1987) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She is best known for co-creating and starring as Rebecca Bunch in The CW musical comedy-drama series '' Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' (2015� ...

Lisa Loeb Lisa Loeb (; born March 11, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with the number 1 hit song " Stay (I Missed You)" from the film '' Reality Bites,'' the first number 1 single for an artist ...

, Josh Gondelman, and

Aparna Nancherla Aparna Nancherla (born August 22, 1982) is an American comedian and actress of Indian descent. She has appeared on '' Inside Amy Schumer'' and has written for ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' and '' Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell''. Nancherla ...

Personal life

Sherwin lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. He is a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. ...

Discography

Studio albums

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherwin, Zach American television writers Living people American comedy musicians Brandeis University alumni Jewish rappers Male actors from Cleveland Male actors from Missouri Rappers from Cleveland Musicians from Springfield, Missouri Writers from Springfield, Missouri Writers from Cleveland American male television writers 1980 births Screenwriters from Ohio 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American comedians America's Got Talent contestants