Comedy • Politics • Drink Specials
Debate season is upon us again, with Obama and Romney finally going head to head. Excited to watch the back-and-forth but worried Wolf Blitzer will put you to sleep? Join 92YTribeca for live debate coverage that will keep you awake, informed and in tears (of laughter we promise).
Kick off the evening with a pre-debate conversation with host Lizz Winstead (The Daily Show) and her guests: MSNBC's Krystal Ball and Richard Wolffe, Frank Conniff (Mystery Science Theater 3000) and Baratunde Thurston (The Onion).
Then grab some popcorn and watch the first presidential debate of the season with Lizz, Frank and Baratunde as they give the blow-by-blow, along with live commentary from their razor-sharp cohorts at WitStream, the 24/7 comedy news source. We'll have WitStream's curated feed right next to the debate, so you'll see live tweets from the best comedy writers across the country. The candidates may stick to their talking points, but we'll make it funny!
Co-presented with WitStream® and Huffington Post Comedy.
Brief Bios
As co-creator and former head writer (and correspondent) of The Daily Show and co-founder of Air America Radio, Lizz Winstead has helped changed the very landscape of how people get their news. One of the top political satirists in America, she has been recognized by The New York Times, The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly's 100 Most Creative People issue and has made numerous television appearances, including on The Rachel Maddow Show and Real Time with Bill Maher. Winstead writes for The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and The Huffington Post, blogs and tweets. She is the author of Lizz Free Or Die: Essays and the off-broadway hit Wake Up World, called, "the funniest thing I have seen in years," by Rachel Maddow. Winstead is also a founder of A Is For, a reproductive rights organization working to raise awareness and engage women on the issues of women’s reproductive health.
Krystal Ball co-hosts MSNBC's The Cycle and was the 2010 Democratic Party nominee for Congress in Virginia's 1st congressional district. Ball is a political commentator who has appeared on Fox, CNN and CNBC and is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.
Frank Conniff is a comedy writer and performer most well-known for his work writing for the Peabody award-winning Comedy Central series Mystery Science Theater 3000, where he also played “TV’s Frank,” the bumbling yet lovable mad scientist sidekick. He has also been a writer, producer and actor on the tv series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and has written and produced for The Drew Carey Show, among others. In addition, he was a writer and producer for the Air America Radio network, where he provided material for on-air personalities Rachel Maddow, Marc Maron, Lizz Winstead, Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo and Randi Rhodes.
Baratunde Thurston is a politically-active, technology-loving comedian from the future. He co-founded the black political blog, Jack and Jill Politics and served as Director of Digital for The Onion. He has written for Vanity Fair, hosted Popular Science’s Future Of on Discovery Science and appears on cable news regularly to say smart things in funny ways. Then-candidate Barack Obama called him "someone I need to know." Baratunde travels the world speaking and advising and performs standup regularly in NYC. He resides in Brooklyn, lives on Twitter and has over 30 years experience being black. His first book, How To Be Black, is a New York Times best-seller.
Richard Wolffe is a journalist, MSNBC commentator and author of the Barack Obama books Renegade: The Making of a President and Revival: The Struggle for Survival Inside the Obama White House. Wolffe covered the entire length of Barack Obama's presidential campaign for Newsweek, traveling with the candidate and his innter circle from his announcement through election day. He appears frequently on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Hardball with Chris Matthews and has been featured as a political commentator on Meet the Press and TODAY and writes regularly for The Daily Beast.
WitStream® is a new kind of comedy brand, delivering a steady stream of up-to-the-minute comedy headline news to audiences in real time across media platforms. WitStream is the only curated, live comedy news ticker providing an endless flow of hilarious commentary 24/7. WitStream’s content is available via its website, mobile devices, syndication, digital out-of-home networks and sometimes even live. It is the nexus of an exclusive group of established comedians, professional writers and all-around brilliant humorists, from famous comedians to the people who bring you Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and more. WitStream.com and the free WitStream app (available on iTunes) help audiences break through the clutter of online comedy to find what’s really funny about what’s happening, NOW. For more information visit WitStream.com and check out its new look and feel in October 2012.