Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979) is an American comedian. She hosts her own late-night talk show titled ''

The Amber Ruffin Show ''The Amber Ruffin Show'' is an American comedy late-night talk show. Produced by Universal Television and Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions and starring Amber Ruffin, it features a mix of sketches and monologues. The series was ordered for nin ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. She has been a writer for ''

Late Night with Seth Meyers ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' is an American late-night news and political satire talk show hosted by Seth Meyers on NBC. The show premiered on February 24, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. Airing weeknights a ...

'' since 2014. When she joined the show she became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States. In January 2021, she co-authored a book with her sister Lacey Lamar titled ''You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism'' which made the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. They released a second book, ''The World Record Book of Racist Stories'', in 2022. In 2022, Ruffin and her writing partner Jenny Hagel, co-founded their production company Straight to Cards under their overall deal with

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

Early life and education

Ruffin was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

. She graduated from Benson High School in 1996. Ruffin is the youngest of five children. As a child Ruffin learned

Signing Exact English Signing Exact English (''SEE-II'', sometimes Signed Exact English) is a system of manual communication that strives to be an exact representation of English vocabulary and grammar. It is one of a number of such systems in use in English-speaking co ...

to communicate with a deaf neighbor.

Career

In 2001, Ruffin began performing in local theater productions and improv in Omaha. While performing with her improv troupe at an event in

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

, Ruffin met comedian and owner of

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 ...

Charna Halpern Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is an American comedian who is co-founder of the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community ...

. Halpern encouraged Ruffin to move to Chicago saying she believed Ruffin would "have a full-time job, doing comedy, within the year". In 2008 after finishing her classes at iO, Ruffin moved to Amsterdam to work as a writer and performer on the improv comedy troupe Boom Chicago Amsterdam. After returning to the United States, Ruffin performed as part of

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...

in both

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and Chicago, where she first met future ''Late Night'' co-writer Jenny Hagel. In 2011, she moved to

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 world' ...

; joined the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

comedy group ''RobotDown'' featuring

Jessica Lowe ''Wrecked'' is an American sitcom that was created by Jordan Shipley and Justin Shipley for TBS. The series is about a group of people stranded on an island, after their airplane crashed in the ocean and is a parody of '' Lost''. The 10-episode ...

, Carlo Corbellini, and Davey Vorhes; and appeared on an episode of ''

Key & Peele ''Key & Peele'' (abbreviated to ''K&P'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele for Comedy Central. Both Key and Peele previously worked on '' Mad TV.'' Each episode of the show consists ...

''. She also joined the nationally recognized sketch and musical comedy troupe

Story Pirates Story Pirates is an arts education organization based in New York City and Los Angeles. Originally known as the Striking Viking Story Pirates, the group collects written works from students and youth and adapts these stories for the stage. Kid-wr ...

, where she performed sketches based on stories written by kids. Ruffin was also a member of

Sacred Fools Theater Company The Sacred Fools Theater Company is a Los Angeles-based theatre company and nonprofit organization. Founded in January 1997, it's a member organization of the LA Stage Alliance. For 18 years the company resided at 660 N. Heliotrope in The Heliotr ...

performing a serialized version of ''King of Kong: A Musical Parody'', a two-woman show parodying the documentary ''

The King of Kong ''The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters'' is a 2007 American documentary film about competitive arcade gaming directed by Seth Gordon. It follows Steve Wiebe in his attempts to take the high score record for the 1981 arcade game ''Donkey Kong ...

''. The musical was co-written with co-star Lauren Van Kurin and directed by fellow Boom Chicago alum

Brendan Hunt Brendan Hunt is an American actor and writer known for roles in the films ''We're the Millers'' (2013) and ''Horrible Bosses 2'' (2014) as well as voicing two characters in the video game ''Fallout 4'' (2015). He is a co-creator of the Apple TV+ ...

, with music by David Schmoll. ''King of Kong'' appeared at the 2014

New York International Fringe Festival The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, was a fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It took place over the course of a few weeks in October, spread on more than 20 stages across sev ...

winning Best Overall Musical 2014, and the 2015

Hollywood Fringe Festival The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Hollywood, California. Most indoor venues for the festival are in and around Hollywood Theatre Row, a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Founder Ben Hill ...

(with Hunt subbing for an unavailable Ruffin), where it won Best Musical & Outstanding Songwriting. The show returned to Sacred Fools in September 2016 for a performance attended by parody target Billy Mitchell himself. In 2013, ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' received backlash for not having any Black women on the cast. Ruffin auditioned for the show in 2014 alongside

Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...

, Leslie Jones,

Gabrielle Dennis Gabrielle Dennis is an American actress and comedian, known mostly for her work in cable television series ('' The Game'', '' Blue Mountain State'', '' The Underground''). Dennis starred in the Fox medical drama ''Rosewood'' alongside Morris C ...

Nicole Byer Nicole Byer (born August 29, 1986) is an American comedian, actress, and television host. She is known as the host of the Netflix comedic reality bake-off series ''Nailed It!'' (2018–present), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award no ...

, Simone Shepherd, and

Bresha Webb Bresha Webb (born Breshae Renee Webb; May 6, 1984) is an American actress. She starred as Imunique Jefferson in the TV One comedy series '' Love That Girl!'' from 2010 to 2014. She later has appeared in films ''Meet the Blacks'' (2016), ''Acrimo ...

. Ruffin was unsuccessful in her audition. A few days later Seth Meyers called to ask her to be a writer on his new late night show. Ruffin has been a writer on ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' since the show's start in 2014. In addition to writing she also appears in several recurring segments on the program including: "Amber Says What?", "Amber's Minute of Fury", "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" (with fellow writer Jenny Hagel), and "Point, Counterpoint". When the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...

began, Ruffin opened a week's worth of shows by retelling her experiences with police officers and

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

. Meyers interviewed Ruffin as a guest for the show's 1,000th episode. When not writing for ''Late Night'', Ruffin wrote for the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

show '' Detroiters'' and was a regular narrator on the Comedy Central show ''

Drunk History ''Drunk History'' is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. They and Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's exec ...

''. In 2017, Ruffin developed a

single-camera The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single camera, is a method of filmmaking and video production. The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema i ...

comedy show, ''Going Dutch'', but the series was not ordered. She was nominated for a

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

award in the category "Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series" in 2017. In February 2018, Ruffin hosted the 70th Writers Guild of America awards ceremony. In 2019, NBC ordered a pilot presentation for Ruffin's single-camera comedy series ''Village Gazette''. In the same year Ruffin was a writer for the first season of '' A Black Lady Sketch Show'' on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, 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 ba ...

. On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Ruffin would host her own late-night talk show on NBC's streaming service

titled ''

''. The show premiered on September 25, 2020. The show breaks away from the typical late night structure, foregoing guests, and focusing instead on topical sketches. The show was nominated for a

award in the category "Comedy/Variety Sketch Series" in 2021. The show was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the

73rd Primetime Emmy Awards The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2020, until May 31, 2021, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The award ceremony was held live on September 19, 2021, ...

. Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar co-authored a book, titled ''You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism'', which was released on January 12, 2021, and was placed on the ''New York Times'' Best Seller list. In February 2021, it was announced that Ruffin was set to co-write the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of '' Some Like It Hot'' alongside Matthew Lopez. In September 2022, it was revealed that Ruffin would be the voice actor of Purple, the new spokescandy for

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

Personal life

Ruffin married Dutch painter Jan Schiltmeijer in 2010.

Filmography

* 2010: ''

Ox Tales ''Ox Tales'', also known as , is an anime television series produced by Telecable Benelux B.V. in association with Saban Entertainment and animated by Telescreen Japan. It was a co-production between Japan and the Netherlands based on a Dut ...

'' — Voice actor (2nd English dub) * 2012: ''RobotDown'' (TV Series) – Producer, Writer (5 episodes), Actor in various parts (6 episodes) * 2012: ''

'' (TV Series) – Party Wife (1 episode: Episode #2.9) * 2012–2013: ''

Animation Domination High-Def Animation Domination High-Def (also called Animation Domination HD, Fox ADHD, and ADHD) was a late-night programming block broadcast by Fox. Originally premiering on July 21, 2013 as a spin-off of ''Animation Domination'', the block originally fo ...

'' (TV Series short) – various, Misty (voice) (3 episodes) * 2014: ''Wish It Inc.'' (TV Series) – Shari (12 episodes) * 2014: ''

66th Primetime Emmy Awards The 66th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2013 until May 31, 2014, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Monday, August 25, 2014, at the Noki ...

'' (TV Special) – Written By * 2014–present: ''

'' (TV series) – written by (175+ episodes) * 2015: ''Above Average Presents'' (TV Series) – Nurse (1 episode: "Unique Hospital: The Surgery Results") * 2017–2018: '' Detroiters'' (TV series) – Written By (3 episodes); Molly (2 episodes) * 2018: ''

75th Golden Globe Awards The 75th Golden Globe Awards honored film and American television of 2017, and was broadcast live on January 7, 2018, from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. PST / 8:00 p.m. EST by NBC. This Golden ...

'' (TV Special) – Writer * 2019: ''

Tuca & Bertie ''Tuca & Bertie'' is an American animated sitcom created by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt for Netflix. It began streaming on May 3, 2019. It stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, with a supporting cast including Steven Yeun, John Early, Richard E. Gra ...

'' (TV series) – Dakota (voice) (1 episode: "The New Bird") * 2019: ''

'' (TV series) – Barbara Cooke (1 episode: "Legacies") * 2019: '' You're Not a Monster'' (TV Series) – Mermaid / Gremlin (2 episodes) * 2019: ''

76th Golden Globe Awards The 76th ceremony of the Golden Globe Awards honored the best in film and American television of 2018, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Produced by Dick Clark Productions and the HFPA, the ceremony was broadcast live on Jan ...

'' (TV Special) – Writer * 2019: '' A Black Lady Sketch Show'' (TV Series) – Writer (6 episodes) * 2020: ''Escape from Virtual Island'' (Audible Original - Audio Comedy) (TV Series) – Faith (voice) (11 episodes) * 2020: ''Village Gazette'' (TV Movie) – Executive producer, Writer, Actress * 2020–present: ''

'' - Host, Writer * 2022: '' Would I Lie to You? (US)'' (TV Series) - Herself (1 episode: "Babysitting Lemurs") * 2022: ''

Girls5eva ''Girls5eva'' is an American musical comedy television series created by Meredith Scardino that premiered on May 6, 2021, on Peacock. The series centers on four women who were part of a girl group named Girls5eva, which was briefly popular aroun ...

'' - T.K. (1 episode) * 2022: '' Gutsy'' - Herself (Episode TBA)

Bibliography

* *

Honors

*2018: ''

Crain's New York Business Crain Communications Inc is an American multi-industry publishing conglomerate based in Detroit, Michigan, United States, with 13 non-US subsidiaries. History Gustavus Dedman (G.D.) Crain, Jr. ( Gustavus Demetrious Crain, Jr.; 1885–1973), pre ...

'', 40 Under 40 *2021: ''New York Times'' Best Seller, Hardcover Nonfiction *2021: ''Time''100 Next

References

External links

''The Amber Ruffin Show''
on

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffin, Amber 1979 births 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American women writers African-American female comedians African-American women writers African-American screenwriters American comedy writers American expatriates in the Netherlands American television talk show hosts American television writers American women comedians Comedians from Nebraska Late Night with Seth Meyers Late night television talk show hosts Living people Writers from Omaha, Nebraska African-American television talk show hosts 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American writers Screenwriters from Nebraska 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women