Allison Silverman (born February 17, 1972) is an American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

and producer, known for her work on

Russian Doll Matryoshka dolls ( ; rus, матрёшка, p=mɐˈtrʲɵʂkə, a=Ru-матрёшка.ogg), also known as stacking dolls, nesting dolls, Russian tea dolls, or Russian dolls, are a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside ano ...

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ''Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' is an American streaming television sitcom created by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, starring Ellie Kemper in the title role. It premiered on March 6, 2015, on Netflix and ran for four seasons, ending on January 25, 20 ...

, and Late Night with Conan O'Brian. She was the head writer and

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

for ''

The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focuse ...

'' until 2009. In 2011, she was an executive producer and writer of ''

Portlandia ''Portlandia'' is an American sketch comedy television series starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, set in and around Portland, Oregon, and spoofing the city's reputation as a haven for eccentric hipsters. The show was produced by Broa ...

''. She is co-creator of the comedy series

Schmigadoon! ''Schmigadoon!'' is an American Musical film, musical Comedy film, comedy television series created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, with all songs written by Paul, who also serves as showrunner. The series airs on Apple TV+ and premiered on July ...

, and was a writer for the television series

At Home with Amy Sedaris ''At Home with Amy Sedaris'' is an American surreal comedy television series that premiered on October 24, 2017, on truTV. Hosted by Amy Sedaris playing various characters, the show focuses on the comedian's love of entertaining, crafts, and cooki ...

The Office ''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries. The original series of ...

, and

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

Early life

Silverman graduated from Buchholz High School in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

in 1990 and from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1994.

Professional career

Silverman has written for ''

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' and ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

''. She has received several

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominations for her work on these three shows, including two wins for her work on ''The Daily Show'' and ''The Colbert Report''. Silverman attended

in the early 1990s, where she was involved in one of the college's

improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...

groups,

The Ex!t Players The Yale Ex!t Players, or the Exit Players, is an improvisational comedy group at Yale University in New Haven, CT, United States. The Exit Players was founded in 1984, making it the oldest improv group on Yale's campus. History The Yale Ex!t Pl ...

. After graduating in 1994 with a degree in Humanities, she made her way to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She performed at Chicago's

iO Theater iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted p ...

(then known as ImprovOlympic), and later at the

Boom Chicago Boom Chicago is an international creative group, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, that writes and performs sketch and improvisational comedy at their theater on the Rozengracht.Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. Silverman won an Emmy and a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

as a member of ''The Daily Shows writing staff before joining ''Late Night'' in 2002. She moved to ''The Colbert Report'' in 2005 shortly after it was picked up to series. Although most of Silverman's work on the ''Report'' was off-camera, she occasionally made appearances on the show, as an audience member, as the voice of the alien woman "Juliax" in a

Tek Jansen Tek Jansen is a fictional character featured on ''The Colbert Report'' and in a comic book series published by Oni Press. Jansen originated as a recurring joke in the form of a supposed self-published science fiction novel on the ''Report'', repor ...

cartoon, and as "Your Soulmate" in the abridged audiobook of ''

I Am America (And So Can You!) ''I Am America (And So Can You!)'' is a 2007 satirical book by American comedian Stephen Colbert and the writers of ''The Colbert Report''. It was released on October 9, 2007, with the audiobook edition released several days earlier. The book ...

'', which she co-wrote. She was a 2009 recipient of NYWIFT's Muse Award, celebrating the achievements of women who work in film and television. She left ''The Colbert Report'' in August 2009. Silverman was a writer and producer on ''

'' from 2015 to 2017. She's also a writer on the

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

musical comedy series

which stars

Cecily Strong Cecily Legler Strong (born February 8, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. Strong is most notable for being a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2012 to 2022. She is also the longest-tenured female cast member in the s ...

. In 2022 it was reported that Silverman is working with writer

George Saunders George Saunders (born December 2, 1958) is an American writer of short stories, essays, novellas, children's books, and novels. His writing has appeared in ''The New Yorker'', '' Harper's'', ''McSweeney's'', and '' GQ''. He also contributed a w ...

on a pilot for the short story series ''

CivilWarLand in Bad Decline ''CivilWarLand in Bad Decline'' is a book of short stories and a novella by the American writer George Saunders. Published in 1996, it was Saunders's first book. Many of the stories initially appeared in different forms in various magazines, incl ...

'', as well as an adaptation of

David Goodwillie David Goodwillie (born 28 March 1989) is a Scottish professional football player. Goodwillie came through the Dundee United youth system and he won the SPFA and SFWA Young Player of the Year awards for the 2010–11 season. His performance ...

's ''Kings County''.

Personal life

Silverman married Adrian Jones in 2009.

Notes

External links

*
A Week-Long Electronic Journal
- A week-long diary kept by Silverman, then a ''Daily Show'' writer, for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

'' in 2001.
Silverman is interviewed on The Sound of Young America
- September 29, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Silverman, Allison 1972 births Living people American comedy writers American women television producers American television writers Exit Players alumni Buchholz High School alumni Writers from Gainesville, Florida American women comedians American women television writers Writers Guild of America Award winners Comedians from Florida Screenwriters from Florida 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers Television producers from Florida