Anna Drezen

Last updated
Anna Drezen
Born
Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • Writer
  • actress
  • comedian
Years active2013–present

Anna Drezen is an American writer, actress, and comedian who has written for television comedies like Miracle Workers , Girls5eva , Murderville, and Saturday Night Live , where she served as Head Writer during seasons 46 and 47. She is the creator of the Freeform series Praise Petey .

Contents

Personal life

A native of Long Island, Drezen grew up in Massapequa, New York and has identified herself as "half-Jewish." [1] She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2010 where she studied drama. [2] She subsequently earned a certificate in Shakespeare in Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. [3] Her mother Irene (née Roarke) is a nurse and her father Warren is a pharmacist and the retired Director of Pharmacy at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, New York; [4] [5] he accompanied her to the 2019 Emmy Awards show. [6] Her older brother is comic artist Rich Drezen. [7] She has a dog named Lady Bird, a Chihuahua-Terrier mix named after the former first lady Lady Bird Johnson. [8]

Career

Drezen is an editor at large of the feminist humor site Reductress and has co-written the book How to Win at Feminism: The Definitive Guide to Having it All—And Then Some! with the site's founders Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo. [9] [10] She has also coauthored the book How May We Hate You? with Todd Dakotah Briscoe. The latter book began as a blog inspired by Drezen's time as a hotel concierge in New York City. [9] She has written and performed on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's The Special Without Brett Davis . [11] She was editor and writer at humor website Cracked.com until 2016. [12]

She is a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB). Together with fellow UCB performer Taylor Moore, [13] Drezen hosted the podcast Ten Ideas from 2013-2016. [14]

Drezen was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live for the show's 42nd season. [3] [15] She was made Supervising Writer for seasons 44 and 45, [16] and since the show's 46th season has served as Head Writer [17] [18] alongside Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette. Drezen and the SNL writing staff have been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. [19]

In 2019, Drezen began hosting the podcast Scary Stories to Tell on the Pod with writer Andrew Farmer, [20] was a guest on Drunk Women Solving Crime, [21] and performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden on 24 September 2019 [22]

At the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Drezen premiered Okay, Get Home Safe, a one-woman show inspired by her obsession with true crime podcasts. [23]

Drezen has been a writer on shows like Girls5Eva and Miracle Workers, on which she also appeared as an actor. [24]

In 2021, Freeform ordered an animated series [25] created by Drezen, which she executive produces alongside Greg Daniels, Mike Judge, and Monica Padrick. [26] Annie Murphy, John Cho, Christine Baranski, Kiersey Clemons, Amy Hill, and Stephen Root led the voice cast. The series was produced by 20th Television Animation, with animation by ShadowMachine. She departed SNL after the December 18, 2021 episode in preparation. [27] It premiered on July 21, 2023. [28] In November 2023, it was announced that Freeform had cancelled the series after 1 season. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Poehler</span> American actress and comedian (born 1971)

Amy Poehler is an American actress and comedian. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy troupe Upright Citizens Brigade. The group moved to New York City in 1996, where their act became a half-hour sketch-comedy series on Comedy Central in 1998. Along with other members of the comedy group, Poehler is a founder of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Daniels</span> American writer, producer, and director (born 1963)

Gregory Martin Daniels is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for Saturday Night Live and The Simpsons, adapting The Office for the United States, and co-creating Parks and Recreation and King of the Hill. Daniels attended Harvard University, where he befriended and began collaborating with Conan O'Brien. His first writing credit was for Not Necessarily the News, before he was laid off because of budget cuts.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 20 Season of television series

The twentieth season of Saturday Night Live, an American sketch comedy series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between September 24, 1994, and May 13, 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Schneider</span> American writer, actress, and comedian

Sarah Schneider is an American writer, actress, and comedian. She got her start in entertainment as a writer and actress for the comedy website CollegeHumor before becoming a writer for the television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where she worked from 2011 to 2017, including a season as co-head writer alongside writing partner Chris Kelly. She has received eight Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for her work on SNL.

Donald Roy King is an American television director, producer, writer, and actor. He served as the director for Saturday Night Live from 2006 until 2021. He has "directed more hours of live network television than anyone else in the history of television," according to Michael Chein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streeter Seidell</span> American comedian, writer, actor, and TV host

Streeter John Seidell is an American comedian, writer, actor, and TV host. Seidell was part of the cast of CollegeHumor's online sketches. His video series Prank Wars was viewed tens of millions of times, which eventually led to a TV-series called Pranked on MTV with fellow CollegeHumor editor, Amir Blumenfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aidy Bryant</span> American actress and comedian

Aidan Mackenzy Bryant is an American actress and comedian. Bryant is most notable for being a cast member on the NBC late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live for ten seasons, joining the show for its 38th season in 2012, and leaving at the end of its 47th season in 2022. For her work on the series, she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, including two nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Che</span> American comedian

Michael Che Campbell is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Che is best known for his work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he has served as co-anchor on Weekend Update alongside Colin Jost, and the two were co-head writers from 2017 until 2022. Che and Jost co-hosted the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 41 Season of television series

The forty-first season of the NBC comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 3, 2015, during the 2015–2016 television season. The season premiered on October 3, 2015, with host & musical guest Miley Cyrus and concluded on May 21, 2016 with host Fred Armisen and musical guest Courtney Barnett.

<i>Saturday Night Live</i> season 42 Season of television series

The forty-second season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 1, 2016, during the 2016–2017 television season, with host Margot Robbie and musical guest The Weeknd, and concluded on May 20, 2017, with host Dwayne Johnson and musical guest Katy Perry. The season removed two commercial breaks per episode in order to increase programming time. Episode 18 on April 15, 2017, was the first episode ever to be broadcast live in all four time zones within the contiguous United States. Until this episode, the show aired live only in the Eastern and Central time zones, and was tape-delayed in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

<i>Reductress</i> American feminist satire website

Reductress is an American satire website that parodies the style, tone, and perspective of media targeted towards women, especially women's magazines. Founded in 2013 by comedians Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo, the site has received praise from reviewers for its satirical pieces including advice columns, news stories, and listicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ego Nwodim</span> American comedian and actress (born 1988)

Egobunma Kelechi Nwodim is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Nwodim has been a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live since 2018, beginning with the show's 44th season.

Bowen Yang is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Yang was hired to join the writing staff of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in September 2018, ahead of its 44th season, and a year later was promoted to on-air cast status for SNL's 45th season, becoming its first Chinese-American, third openly gay male, and fourth-ever cast member of Asian descent. He made history becoming the first SNL featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2021. He was promoted to repertory status before the 47th season. He co-hosts a comedy pop-culture podcast, Las Culturistas, with Matt Rogers.

The forty-fifth season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on September 28, 2019, during the 2019–20 television season with host Woody Harrelson and musical guest Billie Eilish, and concluded on May 9, 2020 with host Kristen Wiig and musical guest Boyz II Men. This season featured the return of Eddie Murphy as host, on December 21, 2019, for the first time in 35 years. Murphy's episode was the most watched episode since 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe Fineman</span> American actress and comedian (born 1988)

Chloe Fineman is an American actress and comedian. She became a featured player on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live starting in its 45th season in September 2019, and was promoted to repertory status in 2021 at the beginning of season 47.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Dismukes</span> American comedian (born 1995)

Andrew Vincent Dismukes is an American comedian, actor, and writer. Dismukes was hired as a writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in 2017, ahead of its 43rd season. He was then hired to join the cast as a featured player in 2020 for its 46th season, and became a repertory player during its 48th season in 2022.

The forty-seventh season of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live premiered on October 2, 2021, during the 2021–22 television season with host Owen Wilson and musical guest Kacey Musgraves, and concluded on May 21, 2022 with host Natasha Lyonne and musical guest Japanese Breakfast. For the first time, the season's first five episodes and the remainder from episode ten onward were live-streamed on the streaming service Peacock in addition to its coast-to-coast live television broadcast.

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.

<i>Praise Petey</i> American comedy television series

Praise Petey is an American animated sitcom created by Anna Drezen for Freeform, which aired from July 21 until August 18, 2023. In November 2023, the series was canceled after one season.

References

  1. ↑ Drezen, Farmer (31 October 2019). "'The Haunted House' with Paul F. Tompkins!" (Podcast). Forever Dog Podcast Network. Event occurs at 33:20. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. ↑ "2019 Alumni Primetime Emmy Nominations". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  3. 1 2 ""Saturday Night Live" hires seven new writers for season 42". The Laugh Button. September 15, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Pharmacy Alumni | Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health". www.mailman.columbia.edu. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  5. ↑ "College of Pharmaceutical Sciences Newsletter, Winter 2018" (PDF). mailman.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  6. ↑ Drezen, Anna [@annadrezen] (September 23, 2019). "And the Emmy for best pharmacist goes to... wow, *again,* my dad, Warren Drezen!!!!pic.twitter.com/vOvbVOns5A" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-10-03– via Twitter.
  7. ↑ "Rich Drezen". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  8. ↑ Wiegand, Chris (2019-07-23). "'He humps all the other dogs … I'm his humping accomplice': comedians on their pets". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  9. 1 2 Kosugi, Haruka (March 31, 2018). "Q&A with SNL writer Anna Drezen". The Spectrum . Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  10. ↑ Rothfeld, Becca (December 2, 2016). "How to Win at Feminism: The Definitive Guide to Having it All—And Then Some! by Beth Newell, Sarah Pappalardo, and Anna Drezen". Bookforum . Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  11. ↑ Goldstein, Ian (August 25, 2017). "On the Verge: Brett Davis". Vulture . Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. ↑ Miller, Rachel (2016-06-03). "Brooklyn's 50 Funniest People: Anna Drezen". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  13. ↑ "Taylor Moore". www.ucbcomedy.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  14. ↑ "Ten Ideas on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  15. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (September 14, 2016). "SNL Season 42 Adds 'BriTANicK,' Jimmy Kimmel Writer and More". ScreenCrush. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  16. ↑ "'Saturday Night Live' Adds New Writers for Season 45". 29 September 2019.
  17. ↑ White, Peter (September 16, 2020). "'SNL': Jim Carrey Set To Play Joe Biden As NBC Show Adds Three Featured Players & Will Have Limited Audience". Deadline. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  18. ↑ Wright, Megh (October 4, 2020). "Here's the Writing Staff of Saturday Night Live Season 46". Vulture. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Anna Drezen". Television Academy. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  20. ↑ "Scary Stories to Tell on the Pod on Apple Podcasts". 22 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "59 Drunk Women Live: With Anna Drezen". acast. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  22. ↑ Wright, Megh (2019-09-24). "SNL's Anna Drezen Comes From a Long Line of Murderous Horse Thieves". www.vulture.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  23. ↑ Abraham, Amelia (August 22, 2019). "Anna Drezen is the comic and former Reductress editor obsessed with murder". Dazed . Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Anna Drezen". IMDb .
  25. ↑ "'SNL's' Anna Drezen, Mike Judge, Greg Daniels Set Star-Studded Animated Comedy at Freeform". The Hollywood Reporter . 9 December 2021.
  26. ↑ "Freeform Orders Its First Animated Series with Annie Murphy, John Cho Among Voice Cast". 9 December 2021.
  27. ↑ White, Peter (December 23, 2021). "'SNL': Head Writer Anna Drezen Leaving NBC Show To Focus On Freeform's 'Praise Petey'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  28. ↑ "Freeform Sets Premiere Dates for 'Cruel Summer,' 'Grown-ish' and 'Praise Petey' (TV News Roundup)". 20 April 2023.
  29. ↑ "Praise Petey Cancelled at Freeform". 14 November 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.