Ophira Eisenberg (born 1972) is a Canadian American comedian, writer, and actress. She is from Calgary,

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

. She has been living in New York City since 2001 and obtained American citizenship in April 2021. Eisenberg hosted the weekly

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

and

WNYC WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that ...

trivia, puzzle, and game show ''Ask Me Another'', with the "one-man house band"

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...

. In 2013, she appeared on the '' Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. She also appeared on

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 programmin ...

's ''Premium Blend'' and ''Fresh Faces of Comedy'', as well as

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 2 ...

'' ''All Access'', the E! Channel, 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 ...

, the Discovery Channel,

TV Guide Channel The American cable television, cable and satellite television network Pop (American TV channel), Pop was originally launched in 1981 as a barker channel service providing a display of localized electronic program guide, channel and program listings ...

's '' Standup in Stilettos'', and the AXS Network.

Career

Stand-up comedy and storytelling

Eisenberg performs regularly in New York City. She frequently hosts and tours with ''

The Moth The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring ...

'', a storytelling show, and is featured on one of their Audience Favorites CDs. She was featured in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' "Telling Tales With a Tear and a Smile," '' New York'' magazine's "Ten New Comedians That Funny People Find Funny", ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' "The 50 Best Bits That Crack Up Pro Comics", selected by '' Backstage'' magazine as one of "10 Standout Stand Ups Worth Watching" in their Spotlight on Comedy Issue, and hailed as a "Highly Recommended Favorite" by ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' magazine. She was a

MAC Awards The MAC Awards, established in 1986, are presented annually to honor achievements in cabaret, comedy and jazz. They are administered by the non-profit Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC), founded in 1983, and voted on by the MAC member ...

(Manhattan Association of Clubs and Cabarets) Finalist for Best Female Comic in 2009.

Writing

Her debut memoir, ''Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy'' was released 2 April 2013. She has also been featured in a number of anthology books, including: ''I Killed: True Stories of the Road from America's Top Comics'' alongside

Dennis Miller Dennis Michael Miller (born November 3, 1953) is an American talk show host, political commentator, sports commentator, actor, and comedian. He was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1991, and he subsequently hosted a stri ...

Joan Rivers Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...

, Chris Rock, and Jerry Seinfeld; ''Rejected: Tales of the Failed, Dumped, and Canceled''; and '' Heeb Magazine''s ''Sex, Drugs and Gefilte Fish'' (2010).

Acting

Her acting credits include ''The Overlookers'' (winner of Best Picture at the Canadian Film Festival and Best Feature Film at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival), Showtime's '' Queer as Folk'', and CBS's ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. She was also in the original Toronto Fringe production of ''

The Drowsy Chaperone ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a Canadian musical with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and a book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story concerns a middle-aged, asocial musical theater fan who, feeling "blue", decides to p ...

'' in 1999, which later became a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning

Broadway show Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

Personal life

Eisenberg lives in an apartment in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City, with her husband, Jonathan Baylis (a writer-producer-editor and comic creator of So Buttons Comix) and their son Lucas. She is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and a

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...

survivor.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenberg, Ophira 1972 births Actresses from Calgary Canadian people of Jewish descent Canadian stand-up comedians Canadian women comedians Jewish Canadian actresses Jewish Canadian comedians Jewish Canadian writers Living people NPR personalities Writers from Calgary Jewish women writers Jewish female comedians Comedians from Alberta