Lizz Winstead (born August 5, 1961) is an American comedian, radio and television personality, and blogger. A native of
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, Winstead is the co-creator of ''
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 ...
'' along with
Madeleine Smithberg
''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 ...
, and served as head writer.
Early life
Winstead was the youngest child born into a conservative
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
family in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
, Minnesota.
Career
Winstead made her standup comedy debut in 1983 in Minneapolis at the
Brave New Workshop
The Brave New Workshop (BNW), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota was founded by Dudley Riggs in 1958 and is the longest running sketch and improvisational comedy theater in the US. BNW continues the tradition, of writing, producing, and performing as ...
. She was a national headlining comedian appearing on shows like
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 ...
's ''Women of the Night'' and the
Aspen Comedy Festival
The Comedy Festival, formerly known as the US Comedy Arts Festival, was a comedy festival that ran from 1995 to 2008. The festival included stand-up comedy performances, appearances by the casts of television shows, and has a film component calle ...
. She wrote and performed for early
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 ...
shows like ''Women Aloud'', and produced the syndicated talk series ''
The Jon Stewart Show
''The Jon Stewart Show'' is a late night talk show that was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. The program premiered on MTV in 1993 as a 30-minute daily offering and became one of the network’s more popular shows.
Through a series of events that ...
'', starring
the future ''Daily Show'' host.
She also created
Court TV
Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...
's ''
Snap Judgment'' and served as the consulting producer on the pilot of ''
The Man Show
''The Man Show'' is an American comedy television show on Comedy Central that aired from 1999 to 2004. It was created in 1999 by its two original co-hosts, Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, and their executive producer Daniel Kellison. The pilot wa ...
''.
During her time at ''The Daily Show'' she helped staff the program with signature talents like
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
,
Beth Littleford
Elizabeth Anna Halcyon Littleford is an American actress, comedian and television personality. She was one of the original correspondents on ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1996 to 2000. Littleford has also appeared in the shows ''I'm i ...
,
Brian Unger
Brian Douglas Unger
(born 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator.
Biography
Born in Dayton, Ohio to Richard ("Rich") Unger and Eleanor ("Ellie") Oprea, Unger grew up in Granville, Ohio. He graduated from Granvill ...
, and
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, or any other cultural trends.
He hosted the Comedy Central series ''Lewis ...
.
After ''Daily Show'' host
Craig Kilborn
Craig Lawrence Kilborn (born August 24, 1962) is an American comedian, sports and political commentator, actor, and television host. Kilborn began a career in sports broadcasting in the late 1980s, leading to an anchoring position at ESPN's ''Spo ...
publicly made offensive remarks about Winstead, she left the show in January 1998.
Winstead has appeared on various shows on
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
and
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
as well as a panelist on shows such as ''
Politically Incorrect
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
'', ''
Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn
''Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn'' is a comedic talk show which aired on Comedy Central from 2002 to 2004. The show featured host Colin Quinn and a panel of comedian guests, discussing politics, current events, and social issues.
Show history and ...
'' and the
public-access television
Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...
cable TV/
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
program ''
Mental Engineering
''Mental Engineering'' was a public television series where show creator and host John Forde leads a panel discussion featuring critical and humorous analysis of TV commercials. The show originated as a public-access television cable TV program ...
'' (where she was notably featured in an episode that aired following
Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...
in 2002). In 2002, she and
Brian Unger
Brian Douglas Unger
(born 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator.
Biography
Born in Dayton, Ohio to Richard ("Rich") Unger and Eleanor ("Ellie") Oprea, Unger grew up in Granville, Ohio. He graduated from Granvill ...
created, wrote and co-hosted ''
O2Be
''O2Be'' is an American comedy television series starring Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger. The series premiered September 22, 2002, on Oxygen. The program is a parody of daytime television with Winstead and Unger as hosts of their own talk show.
Cas ...
'', a satire of network morning programs that was broadcast on the
Oxygen network
Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...
.
In 2003, she co-founded and served as the program director at
Air America Radio
Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an radio in the United States, American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010.
The network was founded as a left ...
. Until March 2005, she was also co-host of ''Unfiltered'' on
Air America Radio
Air America (formerly Air America Radio and Air America Media) was an radio in the United States, American radio network specializing in progressive talk radio. It was on the air from March 2004 to January 2010.
The network was founded as a left ...
, along with
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Anne Maddow (, ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. Maddow hosts ''The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special eve ...
and
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...
. Since May 2005 she has been a contributing blogger at ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''.
In 2006, she served as the executive producer of the ''
Weekends with Maury and Connie
''Weekends with Maury and Connie'' is an MSNBC television news series featuring light-hearted take on news of the week.
It was hosted by talk show host Maury Povich and his wife, television news anchor Connie Chung. Beginning in early 2006, it ap ...
'' program on MSNBC. The show was canceled later that year and in the last episode
Connie Chung
Constance Yu-Hwa Chung (born August 20, 1946) is an American journalist. She has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow ...
performed a musical number with lyrics by Winstead that was called "Thanks for the Memories." Since 2007, she has produced and hosted a live show in New York City called ''Shoot the Messenger'', a
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
wrap-up of the week's news as seen through the eyes of six-hour morning show ''Wake Up World'', and featuring interviews with such media notables as Rachel Maddow,
Andy Borowitz
Andy Borowitz (born January 4, 1958) is an American writer, comedian, satirist, and actor. Borowitz is a ''The New York Times''-bestselling author who won the first National Press Club award for humor. He is known for creating the NBC sitcom ''Th ...
,
Ted Rall
Frederick Theodore Rall III (born August 26, 1963) is an American columnist, syndicated editorial cartoonist, and author. His political cartoons often appear in a multi-panel comic strip, comic-strip format and frequently blend comic-strip and e ...
,
Kurt Andersen
Kurt Andersen (born August 22, 1954) is an American writer and was the host of the Peabody-winning public radio program ''Studio 360'', a production of Public Radio International, ''Slate'', and WNYC.
Early life and education
Andersen was bo ...
,
Paul Rieckhoff
Paul (P.J.) Rieckhoff is an American writer, social entrepreneur, activist and veteran of the United States Army and the Iraq War. He is the president oRighteous Media Incand the host of thIndependent Americans podcast Prior to that, he was the ...
, and
Mark Crispin Miller
Mark Crispin Miller (born 1949) is a professor of media studies at New York University. He has promoted conspiracy theories about U.S. presidential elections, the September 11 attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting as well as misinf ...
.
On May 10, 2012, her first book, ''Lizz Free or Die'', was published by Riverhead Hardcover; it is a collection of autobiographical essays on her life. In 2012, she founded
Lady Parts Justice, an organization dedicated to raising awareness of legislative attempts to block women's reproductive freedoms.
On May 20, 2013, she received public backlash after sending tweets joking about a
tornado that struck outside of Oklahoma City.
‘Daily Show’ co-creator Lizz Winstead sparks outrage with Oklahoma tornado joke about conservatives
FoxNews.com 05-21-2013
References
External links
*
*
Shoot the Messenger site
Lady Parts Justice site
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winstead, Lizz
1961 births
American bloggers
21st-century American memoirists
American talk radio hosts
American women radio presenters
American television personalities
American women television personalities
American television writers
HuffPost writers and columnists
Living people
Writers from Saint Paul, Minnesota
American women comedians
21st-century American women writers
Comedians from Minnesota
Screenwriters from Minnesota
21st-century American comedians
American women memoirists
American women television writers
American women columnists