JENNA BRISTER
Jenna Brister is a standup comic, storyteller and screenwriter, and an alum of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and The Groundlings. She’s a 5-time Moth Storyslam champion, and was voted “Best Live Act” in the 2019 LA Comedy Festival. Her stories have been featured on the Risk! podcast, Taboo Tales, and season 13 of ABC’s The Bachelorette. Jenna hosts an inspiring true-crime-esque podcast for WONDERY called “I, Survivor,” which ranked #2 on Apple Podcasts, and writes made-for-TV movies for Lifetime and Hallmark channel. She lives in the Holllywood Hills with her dog and cat.
Lauren Capitani
After college Lauren earned an MSJ from Northwestern’s Medill, then worked at Chicago magazine. In Chicago she was part of Second City’s audition-based conservatory. Lauren left Chicago to attend the GSB, and became a management consultant after graduation. Aside from her Masters, Lauren holds a private pilot’s license, PADI certification, and a few marathon finishers’ medals. Later, she became an elementary school teacher, calmed the f- down, and learned how to be happy. She has worked in education in various capacities ever since. Currently, Lauren lives in Boston with her rock-star husband (figuratively, not literally speaking), three daughters, and two dogs. When not managing her kids’ current hybrid education, cooking dinner, or looking for mates to single socks, Lauren works for the GSB as a course facilitator, where she provides written evaluation and executive coaching for a variety of courses.
BILLY HEPFINGER
Billy Hepfinger is an actor, writer, editor, and nascent bread baker living in New York. He’s spent most of the last decade playing ineffectual cops on TV shows like Blue Bloods, Outsiders, and Tommy, or playing ineffectual hicks in things like Manhunt: Lone Wolf and the video game Red Dead Redemption 2. When he’s not on stage or screen, Billy is probably writing; his current projects include a fantasy adventure novel for young readers, an audio drama podcast to be released later this year, several short stories, and an ongoing D&D campaign that critics (read: his wife) call “gripping.” Billy holds a degree in comparative literature from Princeton. In his free time, he loves trivia, making lists, and reading other people’s writing and making it better.
DAVID ISCOE
David Iscoe is a writer, teacher, and comedian who got his start writing videos for The Onion, where he served as senior writer in the video department, as well as a sketch director for UCB Theatre teams and a satire writing teacher at the People’s Improv Theater. He’s also worked as an emergency medical technician, reporter, retail salesman, insurance clerk, editor at a music media startup, high school SAT teacher, and almost, before a pandemic made the job obsolete, a census-taker. Iscoe is currently pursuing an MFA in the latter at Bennington College in Vermont.
DAN KLEIN
Dan Klein is the head of improv in the Department of Theater and Performance Studies at Stanford, a lecturer at the GSB, and on the Faculty at Singularity University. Dan has taught acting and improvisation at the American Conservatory Theater, Academy of Art University, and Dominican University. A former dean of Bay Area Theater Sports (BATS) School, for over a decade Dan delighted audiences as a Mainstage Player with BATS Improv. He is a founding member of the award-winning comedy group Kasper Hauser. Dan earned his degree in Cognition and Creativity from Stanford University. When Dan first started giving talks, he recognized that if everyone reached for their phones, it meant that he was being boring. Now he knows, if everyone reaches for their phones, he just said something profound. There is a fine line between boring and profound. Hold up. Listen to that again: There is a fine line… between boring … and profound. #dankleinwisdom.
Dani Klein
Dani Klein Modisett is the comedian and author of, “Take My Spouse, Please.” (Shambhala Press) about the importance of laughter in long-term marriage. Her first book, “Afterbirth…stories you won’t read in Parents magazine,” (St. Martin’s Press, 2009), was based on the live show she created by the same. She has written for the LA Times, NY, AARP. Parents Magazine, LA Parent, and The Huffington Post. She taught stand up at UCLA and privately for over 10 years. She has coached CEO’s, Congressional candidates and lawyers to use more humor in their communication. In 2018, she launched “Laughter On Call,” a business pairing comedians with seniors, and training healthcare workers how to laugh more in their day. In early 2020 she took all programs virtual and expanded to corporate clients, bringing shared laughter to Fortune500 companies around the world. Dani is a graduate of Dartmouth College and lives in Los Angeles with a husband, two teen boys and Pepe.
JEFF KREISLER
Comedian, Author, Speaker, Dad. Jeff Kreisler is just a typical Princeton educated lawyer turned award-winning comedian, best-selling author, keynote speaker and champion for behavioral economics. His second book, Dollars And Sense: How We Misthink Money and How To Spend Smarter – co-authored with Dan Ariely – was dubbed one of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post (“A brilliant and accessible look at behavioral economics”), Business Insider, Audible.com, The Huffington Post and more. It has been published in 22 countries. Jeff is also Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of PeopleScience.com, a thought-leadership platform for applying behavioral science to the modern marketplace. Jeff uses behavioral science, practical experience and humor to understand, explain and change the world.
Brian Leonard
Brian is a writer, director, and creative director with a strong background in comedy. He was a stand-up comic for 12 years and has appeared on a ton of ‘brick wall’ stand-up comedy shows. The San Jose Mercury News says that Brian is “…one of San Francisco’s most intelligent and funniest comedians”.
His work has been honored by the Chicago Film Festival (Gold Hugo), The Webby Awards, and Addie Awards. He’s written for Ellen DeGeneres and a comedy show for BBC Radio. He’s also had an animated series (‘Silicon Valley’ – and no, not that‘ Silicon Valley’) optioned by Universal Television and served as story consultant for Pixar.
ZLATI MEYER
Zlati Meyer is a writer at Fast Company. She previously worked as a reporter at USA Today, the Detroit Free Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her freelance work has appeared in a variety of publications, including the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor and New York Magazine. Zlati’s resume includes stints teaching journalism and expository writing at colleges in New York City, serving as a staff humorist and co-hosting Kvetching with Mark and Zlati on the college radio station best known for launching Howard Stern’s career. An alumna of Boston University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she’s a fan of hashtag games and hash browns. Follow her on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer
NILS PARKER
A Bay Area native, Nils Parker graduated from Berkeley in 2000 and spent the next five years drinking working himself silly as a paralegal in San Francisco. Fast-forward ten years and today Nils has multiple bestsellers to his credit that combined have more than three million copies in print. Currently, Nils is working on three books, two shows, one film and a partridge in a pear tree. He splits his time between Los Angeles and Milwaukee with his wife who is a Wisconsin native and, despite what you might think, NOT THE BOSS OF HIM.
SPENCER PORTER
Spencer is currently writing and developing an animated television pilot with 20th Century Fox Television and celebrity DJ Dillon Francis titled “Gerald’s World.” He got his start writing for Fox’s “FAMILY GUY”, where he wrote two episodes of the show and served as a staff writer for two seasons. He then wrote and sold a TV comedy pilot to ABC Family titled “Big Mouse”. He wrote for a variety of shows after that, including FX’s “Saint George” starring George Lopez, “The 85th Academy Awards” on ABC, and “We Bare Bears” on Cartoon Network, where he served as Head Writer. Spencer has also participated in round table rewrites for feature films and ghostwritten many speeches for celebrity, corporate, and personal clients, including Seth MacFarlane’s Class Day speech at Harvard University.
KILEY REID
Kiley writes and cries all the time but chill out, she does both of these things in private so it’s totally fine. Her fiction has appeared in December, The Tishman Review, New South, and others, and her short story P. Lawson won first place at the LUMINA Flash Prose Contest. This fall, Kiley will pursue her MFA in Creative Writing as a Truman Capote Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. And just for the record, Kiley thinks it’s funny how you think you can say all these things about her as if she won’t find out about it.
Noel Rosencranz
Immediately after college Noel considered a longtime dream – to be the first ever athlete to play in the NBA, NFL and MLB…and to successfully colonize Mars in the offseason. But lacking training, funding and any semblance of natural ability, he started a business. After eight years running an educational tutoring company and a non-profit, Noel sold his business and moved to LA to write movies (a land where everyone else thinks they are a screenwriter too.). He also studied improvisation and later joined an award-winning improv team, Consenting Adults. He is the founder of A.C.T. Now Coaching (www.actnowcoach.com) and works as an Executive Trainer (leading improv-based workshops at UCLA Anderson, for Stanford Alumni, Coppola Wines, Cedars-Sinai, etc.) and Coach – helping people in business, finance and life. He serves as President of Stanford in Entertainment.
ALEX WEBER
Alex Weber is an International Speaker, Award Winning Performer, and American Ninja Warrior. Alex is also a World Record Holder, US Lacrosse Coach of the Year, and a Partner in Don’t Tell Comedy which sells out Secret Comedy Shows across America.
JILL WEINER
Born in Atlanta, GA, matured in San Francisco, and now residing in New York City, Jill Weiner is a comedian and writer. She recently participated in the Come and Take it Festival in Houston, TX, placed second in the Trial by Laughter comedy festival, and performed at the Boston Comedy Festival. She co-produces and co-hosts a weekly, standing-room-only comedy show in Manhattan called Lap Dance Saloon, and is the first female champion of the New York City based roast battle, Comedy Fight Club. She produces and co-hosts the hilarious and informative podcast, WikiFreakz. Jill performs across the country as well as at New York City’s top comedy clubs. Her standup is dark, yet playful, self-deprecating, silly and smart.
ZACH ZIMMERMAN
Zach Zimmerman is a writer and comedian in Brooklyn. His work has been published in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere. His album “Clean Comedy” debuted on the Billboard Top 10, and he’s been featured in TimeOut New York, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. He’s a Second City Theatricals alum, a Princeton lecturer, and creator of unique, live, interactive experiences.
MARK GANEK
Mark Ganek is currently writing for “Archer” and for the upcoming animated Netflix show “Agent King.” Previously, he was a story editor for Amazon’s “The Tick,” and was nominated for two Daytime Emmys for his writing on VH1’s reboot of “Pop Up Video.” Other credits include TV Land’s “Throwing Shade” pilot, TBS’s “Deon Cole’s Black Box,” Showtime’s “Stephen A!” talk show pilot, and creating and running Current TV’s “The Rotten Tomatoes Show.” Mark was also a member of the U.S. Bobsled team from 1999-2001, which isn’t strictly relevant, but people seem to like hearing about it.
JOSH GRAU
Josh Grau is irresistible. As the Chief Brand Officer at Yext, he gets to try and make finance entertaining. Fintech? Try FUNtech (hey-o!). Before becoming the Gordon Gekko of Silicon Valley, he was at Twitter for roughly 100 years, and before that spent some time at YouTube, where his video uploads have tallied a total of 47 views since 2007. During his Sporty Spice phase he worked at ESPN (probably in catering), as well as a six season run coaching NCAA women’s volleyball. In addition to his work loitering at Stanford, he’s also a lecturer for his alma mater, Northwestern (though he’s often escorted out of the building by security).
BILL GRUNDFEST
While in his private life (left), Bill Grundfest bears a striking resemblance to Channing Tatum, publicly (right) he is a Golden Globe Award winning writer-producer, with three Emmy nominations and a Peabody award. He’s the founder of NY’s Comedy Cellar, which he built from a basement into the most influential comedy showcase in the country, and where he discovered Jon Stewart, Louis CK, and Ray Romano. Bill is also a leading China-Hollywood expert, and the only American to successfully adapt TV/film content for/with Chinese production companies. Yes, it’s as tricky as it sounds and contrary to popular belief, humor can travel!
WILLIAM HALL
William Hall is a co-founder of BATS Improv and a comedy group turned consulting company Fratelli Bologna. He brings the power of engagement and leadership to companies using theater skills. He has spoken at the World Economic Forum, trained performers at Disneyland and was a soldier that blew up at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.