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Allison Silverman

Allison Silverman
Born (1972-02-17) February 17, 1972 (age 52)
Gainesville, Florida
Occupation
  • Comedy writer
  • producer
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYale University
PeriodContemporary
Notable worksRussian Doll
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Schmigadoon!
The Colbert Report
The Daily Show

Allison Silverman (born February 17, 1972)[1] is an American comedy writer and producer, known for her work on Russian Doll, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She was the head writer and executive producer for The Colbert Report until 2009.[2] In 2011, she was an executive producer and writer of Portlandia. She is co-creator of the comedy series Schmigadoon!, and was a writer for the television series At Home with Amy Sedaris, The Office, and The Daily Show.

Early life

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Silverman graduated from Buchholz High School in Gainesville, Florida in 1990 and from Yale University in 1994.[3]

Professional career

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Silverman has written for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. She has received several Emmy nominations for her work on these three shows, including two wins for her work on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

Silverman attended Yale University in the early 1990s, where she was involved in one of the college's improvisational comedy groups, The Ex!t Players.[4] After graduating in 1994 with a degree in humanities, she made her way to Chicago. She performed at Chicago's iO Theater (then known as ImprovOlympic), and later at the Boom Chicago theater in Amsterdam.[5] In Chicago, Silverman got her start writing at a company called Jellyvision for a trivia game called You Don't Know Jack. While in Chicago, Silverman was hired as a writer for the television show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which prompted her to move to New York. Shortly afterward she was hired as a writer for The Daily Show.[6]

Silverman won an Emmy and a Peabody Award as a member of The Daily Show's writing staff before joining Late Night in 2002. During this period, Silverman was notably the only female writer on staff for both The Daily Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.[7] She moved to The Colbert Report in 2005 shortly after it was picked up to series. Although most of Silverman's work on the Report was off-camera, she occasionally made appearances on the show, as an audience member, as the voice of the alien woman "Juliax" in a Tek Jansen cartoon, and as "Your Soulmate" in the abridged audiobook of I Am America (And So Can You!), which she co-wrote. Silverman's contributions to The Colbert Report would win the show a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award, and multiple Emmy nominations. Stephen Colbert has said that she has "the mind of Jonathan Swift had he mated with the Cookie Monster."[8]

She was a 2009 recipient of NYWIFT's Muse Award,[9] celebrating the achievements of women who work in film and television. She left The Colbert Report in August 2009.[10]

In 2011 Silverman was a writer for the comedy series Portlandia, and served as co-executive producer for the show's next season in 2012.[1] In an interview, Carrie Brownstein reflected about the encouragement that she received from Silverman on the first season of Portlandia:

"I try to sort of model what she did for me in my own life, which was just to listen, to understand that there is that fear when you first enter a room—a figurative or literal room—where you're kind of forced to speak in a different register. I really am so grateful for her generosity and kindness."[11]

In March 2011, Silverman was a writer and contributor on the radio program This American Life in an episode titled "Oh You Shouldn't Have".[12]

Between the years of 2011–2013, Silverman was a writer on The Office, before she began working as executive producer on the comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.[1] She was a writer and producer on the show from 2015 to 2017.[13] She was also a writer on the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! which stars Cecily Strong.[14]

Silverman was a writer and producer on both first and second seasons Russian Doll series, which premiered in 2019 and 2022, respectively. Silverman was named a finalist for the 2019 Ray Bradbury Award for Dramatic Presentation for her work on the episode "The Way Out",[15] as well as receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for the episode "A Warm Body".

In 2022 it was reported that Silverman is working with writer George Saunders on a pilot for the short story series CivilWarLand in Bad Decline,[16] as well as an adaptation of David Goodwillie's Kings County.[17]

Personal life

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Silverman married Adrian Jones in 2009.[18]

Filmography

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Television

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Filmography
Year Title Writer Producer Notes Ref.
2000 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Yes No [1]
2000–2008 The Daily Show Yes No Winner – 2000 Peabody Award
Winner – 2001 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program (Writer) 		[1]
2002–2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Yes No Nominated – 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program (Writer) [1]
2005–2009 The Colbert Report Yes Executive Nominated – 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, Or Comedy Program (Head Writer)
Nominated – 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Supervising Producer)
Winner – 2007 Peabody Award
Nominated – 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Co-Executive Producer)
Nominated – 2007 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, Or Comedy Program (Writer)
Winner – 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program
Nominated – 2008 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Executive Producer)
Nominated – 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Executive Producer)
Winner – 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program
Nominated – 2010 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Executive Producer) 		[1]
2011 Portlandia No Yes Winner – 2011 Peabody Award [1]
2011–2013 The Office Yes No [1]
2015–2017 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Yes Executive Nominated – 2015 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Co-Executive Producer)
Nominated – 2016 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Co-Executive Producer)
Nominated – 2017 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Co-Executive Producer) 		[1]
2019 At Home with Amy Sedaris Yes No [1]
2019–2022 Russian Doll Yes Executive Nominated – 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series (Executive Producer)
Nominated – 2019 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program (Writer)
Nominated – 2019 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series 		[1]
2021 Schmigadoon! Yes Yes [1]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Allison Silverman at IMDb
  2. ^ "EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALLISON SILVERMAN TO LEAVE "THE..." Comedy Central Press. Archived from the original on December 28, 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  3. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (October 26, 2007). "Colbert Report": Meet the showrunner-in-chief Archived 2007-11-02 at the Wayback Machine. On The Air. Accessed on December 6, 2007.
  4. ^ Dempsey, Rachel (February 5, 2007). Yale alumni move up in the world of comedy Archived 2007-10-12 at the Wayback Machine. Yale Daily News. Accessed on December 6, 2007.
  5. ^ Schleier, Curt (May 12, 2007). The Silverman Report[permanent dead link]. The Jewish Week. Accessed on December 7, 2007.
  6. ^ "BA #294: Allison Silverman | the Box Angeles podcast". Box Angeles | a Mike 'Box' Elder podcast & website. 2019-11-25. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  7. ^ Carter, Bill (2009-11-12). "Among Late-Night Writers, Few Women in the Room". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-23.
  8. ^ Sipher, Devan (2009-03-07). "Allison Silverman and Adrian Jones". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  9. ^ "Our Muse, Penny Marshall". New York Women in Film & Television. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  10. ^ Carter, Bill (24 August 2009). "'Colbert Report' Executive Producer Is Leaving the Show". Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Carrie Brownstein : People : Museum : Washington State Jewish Historical Society". www.wsjhs.org. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  12. ^ "Oh You Shouldn't Have". This American Life. 2011-03-04. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (17 August 2016). "Fox Developing Comedy with 'Kimmy Schmidt' Producer & 'Baskets' Creator (EXCLUSIVE)". Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  14. ^ Paul, Cinco [@cincopedia] (January 31, 2020). "I'm making a show called Schmigadoon. It's starring Cecily Strong. It's a musical. I wrote it w/ @KDaurio @allisonsilvermn @julieklausner @thekategersten & Bowen Yang. And I think you're gonna like it" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. ^ Liptak, Andrew (2020-05-31). "Announcing the 2019 Nebula Awards Winners!". Tor.com. Retrieved 2023-01-17.
  16. ^ "Big things are happening for author George Saunders. You could say that he tries not to notice". Chicago Tribune. 24 October 2022.
  17. ^ "'Russian Doll': Netflix Sets Season 2 Premiere". 7 March 2022.
  18. ^ Sipher, Devan (7 March 2009). "Allison Silverman and Adrian Jones - Weddings and Celebrations". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
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