Not many Grinnellians can say that when they graduated, the president of the college told their parents how talented they were. But if you're Ian Roberts '87, that was only the beginning. After graduating from Grinnell, he went on to found the legendary improv and sketch comedy troupe the Upright Citizens Brigade. Over his three decade career in the entertainment industry, he's worked as an actor, writer, and director, as well as showrunner/executive producer of TV Land's "Teachers", and Comedy Central's "Key and Peele" for which he won an Emmy and Peabody Award.
On this episode, host Nicholas Lampietti '25 is joined by special guest-host Nadia Langley '23, a French and History double major from Madison, Wisconsin who's about to enter the job market. Together, they discuss pursuing a career in comedy: from what makes a good scene to following your passions, even when you've racked up tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt.
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This episode features music by Podington Bear (entitled "Now Son") available under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License and Herr Doktor (entitled "Intro") available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.