Joe Randazzo (born March 28, 1978) is an American
comedy writer,
stand-up comedian
Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up.
Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...
, and
improvisational comedian. He is a former
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
of the satirical newspaper, ''
The Onion''.
In addition to performing stand-up, Randazzo has been a guest host of the improv comedy show
ASSSSCAT
The Upright Citizens Brigade is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Walsh, Adam McKay, ...
3000 at
New York City's
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. An avid user of
Twitter
and a critic of
Internet memes,
Randazzo was nominated for a 2009
ECNY Award for Outstanding Performance in the Field of
Tweeting.
Randazzo has appeared on
NPR's
This American Life,
's
Charlie Rose
Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP.
Rose also co-an ...
,
and
MSNBC's
Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...
.
Randazzo was awarded the ''Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse through the Arts'' by the
College Historical Society of
Trinity College Dublin in 2012.
Early life and education
Randazzo is from
Penacook, New Hampshire. He earned a bachelor's degree in
broadcast journalism from
Emerson College
Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...
, and worked for
NPR in
Boston shortly thereafter.
Career
After moving to New York, Randazzo met
Carol Kolb of ''The Onion'' while performing improv comedy at the
Magnet Theater
The Magnet Theater is an improvisational comedy theatre and improv school in New York City.
The Magnet Theater was founded in March 2005 by Armando Diaz, Ed Herbstman and Shannon Manning. Diaz, Manning and Herbstman were friends from Chicago, w ...
.
In 2016, He helped write ''
Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie'', which was a parody of
Donald Trump's autobiographical novel
of the same name.
Randazzo left his job at Manhattan Fruitier, a fruit basket company, in March 2006 to join the editorial staff of ''The Onion''.
He was a writer and section editor of ''The Onions 2007 book ''
Our Dumb World
''Our Dumb World'' is a parody of the standard desk atlas created by the staff of ''The Onion'' and published by Little, Brown and Company on October 30, 2007. It is The Onion's first book of entirely original content since 1999's '' Our Dumb Centu ...
'', a parody of the standard desk atlas, and was promoted to editor in 2008.
In Randazzo's tenure, ''The Onion'' published the compilation ''
Our Front Pages'', was fictitiously sold to a Chinese conglomerate,
and openly campaigned for a
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
.
Randazzo, who lives in
Brooklyn, will have reportedly left ''The Onion'' when they moved their editorial offices to
Chicago.
Books
* ''Our Front Pages: 21 Years of Greatness, Virtue, and Moral Rectitude from America's Finest News Source (Onion Presents).'' ''The Onion'', Scribner, 2009.
* ''Our Dumb World.'' ''The Onion'', Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
References
External links
The Joe Randazzo AssociationTwitter: @RandazzoJ* BigThin
InterviewStand-up at Chicago Underground Comedy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randazzo, Joe
1978 births
American stand-up comedians
Living people
Writers from New Hampshire
Emerson College alumni
Members of the Democratic Socialists of America
People from Concord, New Hampshire
21st-century American comedians
Comedians from New Hampshire