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Randy Cohen is an American writer and humorist known as the author of The Ethicist column in ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of '' The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors ...
'' between 1999 and 2011. The column was syndicated throughout the U.S. and Canada. Cohen is also known as the author of several books, a playwright, and the host of the public radio show ''Person Place Thing.''


Career

Cohen graduated from the
University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...
in 1971, with a Bachelor of Arts in music. He received an MFA in music composition from the
California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bo ...
. During this time there he and Rich Gold created the
Serge synthesizer The Serge synthesizer ( Serge Modular or Serge Modular Music System) is an analogue modular synthesizer system originally developed by Serge Tcherepnin, Rich Gold and Randy Cohen at CalArts in late 1972. The first 20 Serge systems (then called " ...
. In 2011, Cohen received the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from the University at Albany. From 1973 to 1977 he played Serge synthesizer and drums with the proto no wave band Jack Ruby. Boris Policeband and George Scott III were also members of the group. He spent several years "writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for leading newspapers and magazines," including ''The New Yorker'', ''Harper's'', and ''The Atlantic''; his first paid, published piece was in 1976 for '' The Village Voice''. In 1981, his book of satiric letters, ''Modest Proposals'', was published by St. Martin's Press. In 1989, his collection of humor pieces, ''Diary of a Flying Man'', was published by Knopf. In 2002 ''The Good, the Bad, & the Difference: How to Tell Right from Wrong in Everyday Situations'' was published by Doubleday. His book ''Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything'' was released by Chronicle Books in August 2012. Cohen was a writer on ''
Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on NBC, the first iteration of the ''Late Night'' franchise. It premiered on February 1, 1982, and was produced by Letterman's production compan ...
'' for 950 episodes over seven years, starting in 1984. He shared in three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for his work on the show. Perhaps his biggest contribution was the invention of Letterman's famous feature, the "Top Ten List." Cohen wrote for ''
TV Nation ''TV Nation'' is a satirical news magazine television series written, co-produced, directed and hosted by Michael Moore that was co-funded and originally broadcast by NBC in the United States and BBC2 in the United Kingdom. The show blended humor ...
'', sharing in a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series in 1995. In 1996, he became the original
head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits. In fictional comedy o ...
for ''
The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk ...
''. Cohen wrote for ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliation (geology), foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcano, volcanic ash (volcanic), ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is t ...
'' starting in 1996. At ''Slate'', he became known for "News Quiz", a satiric reader-participation feature which began in February 1998 and ended in November 2000. He also co-wrote a first-season episode of '' Ed'', first broadcast on February 14, 2001. Cohen wrote The Ethicist column in ''
The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of '' The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors ...
'' between 1999 and 2011. From 2001 to 2005, he also answered listeners' questions on
ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...
for the
National Public Radio 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 n ...
radio news program, ''
All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
''. The ''Times'' ended Cohen's stint as The Ethicist, making his final column Sunday, February 27, 2011. The column continued with the same format but a new byline until early 2015, when it abandoned the question and answer format for a discussion format among a number of persons. Cohen donated $585 to
MoveOn MoveOn (formerly known as MoveOn.org) is a progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. Formed in 1998 around one of the first massively viral email petitions, MoveOn has since grown into one of the largest grassroo ...
.org's voter registration effort in 2004, apparently in violation of ''Times'' policy, which had banned political donations in 2003. The
Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...
, Wash., '' Spokesman-Review'' decided on June 20, 2007, to drop Cohen's column, which had been scheduled to begin running in the paper on the following Saturday, because of his donation. Cohen responded that he saw no ethical violation, because he viewed MoveOn as no more activist than other organizations, such as the
Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...
. Nonetheless, he said he would not make such donations in the future. Cohen wrote a play about the eighteenth century boxing champion Daniel Mendoza. ''The Punishing Blow'' debuted in 2009 at the Woodstock Fringe Festival and ran in 2010 at Manhattan's Clurman Theater. In winter 2012, public radio station
WAMC WAMC is a public radio network headquartered in Albany, New York. The network has 12 broadcast radio stations ( transmitters) and 16 broadcast relay stations ( translators, repeaters). The two flagship stations in the WAMC network are WAMC-FM 9 ...
launched Cohen's new show ''Person Place Thing''. In the show's first season, Cohen interviewed guests
Dick Cavett Richard Alva Cavett (; born November 19, 1936) is an American television personality and former talk show host. He appeared regularly on nationally broadcast television in the United States for five decades, from the 1960s through the 2000s. In ...
,
Jane Smiley Jane Smiley (born September 26, 1949) is an American novelist. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1992 for her novel '' A Thousand Acres'' (1991). Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, Smiley grew up in Webster Groves, Missouri, a s ...
, Susie Essman,
Dave Cowens David William Cowens ( ; born October 25, 1948) is an American former professional basketball player and NBA head coach. At , he played the center position and occasionally played power forward. Cowens spent most of his playing career with the B ...
,
Michael Pollan Michael Kevin Pollan (; born February 6, 1955) is an American author and journalist, who is currently Professor of the Practice Non-Fiction and the first Lewis K. Chan Arts Lecturer at Harvard University. Concurrently, he is the Knight Professo ...
,
John Hockenberry John Charles Hockenberry (born June 4, 1956) is an American journalist and author. He has reported from all over the world, on a wide variety of stories in several mediums for more than three decades. He has written dozens of magazine and news ...
,
Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author. Over the course of a career that spans five decades, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, and jazz. A tw ...
,
Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, film critic, and television personality. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was may ...
, Samantha Bee, RL Stine, and Sir
Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub- 4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres a ...
.


Bibliography

* ''Modest Proposals'' (1981, ), a book of satiric letters * ''Diary of a Flying Man'' (1989, ), a collection of stories and humor pieces * ''The Good, the Bad & the Difference: How to Tell Right from Wrong in Everyday Situations'' (2002, ), a collection of his columns * ''Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything'' (2012, Chronicle Books ), a guide, in Q&A format, to facing everyday moral challenges.


Personal life

Cohen was born in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint ...
and raised in
Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and is ...
, in what he has called a "suburban
reform Jewish Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous searc ...
household." He was formerly married to the writer and activist
Katha Pollitt Katha Pollitt (born October 14, 1949) is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her writing focuses on political and social issues from a left-leaning perspective, including abo ...
, with whom he has a daughter, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen.


References

Specific references: General references:
October 2004 interview with Cohen
from
Gothamist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Rickett ...
.com *December 1999
The Ethicist Who Isn't
a critique of the column from
Reason magazine ''Reason'' is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the ''Chicago Tribune''. History ''Reas ...


External links

*
The Ethicist Archives
at ''The New York Times'' website
''Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen''
* Cohen's 500th (and last) News Quiz. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Randy American advice columnists American ethicists American male non-fiction writers American male screenwriters Emmy Award winners Jewish American writers Living people The New York Times columnists NPR personalities Philosophers from South Carolina Screenwriters from South Carolina University at Albany, SUNY alumni Writers from Charleston, South Carolina Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American Jews