Naomi Ekperigin | |
|---|---|
 Ekperigin in 2022 | |
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Wesleyan University |
| Occupation(s) | Comedian, actress, writer |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Spouse | Andy Beckerman |
Naomi Ekperigin is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, and producer. She has written for the television shows Great News and Broad City. She has acted on the television shows Corporate, Search Party, Central Park, and Mythic Quest. [1]
Ekperigin was born and raised in Harlem,[2] with a father from Nigeria and a mother from Detroit.[3] She attended the Dalton School, where she was one of six black students in a class of 118,[2] and graduated from Wesleyan University in 2005.[4] In college, Ekperigin began performing comedy and doing improv.[5]
After graduating from college, Ekperigin spent a year touring with the National Theatre for the Deaf,[5] and she returned to New York in 2007 where she got a start doing stand-up while working a day job at an art magazine.[2][6] When that magazine folded in 2013, Ekperigin found a position working as a writer's assistant for Broad City.[2] She was promoted to staff writer in the show's second season and served as a writer on season 3 as well.
In 2015, Ekperigin was a nominee, with the Broad City writing staff, for the Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series.[7] Splitsider praised her work as "savvy, smart, funny and politically active"[6] and Essence named her to its list of "8 Black Comediennes Who are 'Ready' for SNL."[8]
In May 2016, Comedy Central announced that Ekperigin would create a half-hour special for the network,[9] taped in New Orleans in June 2016.[10] September 29, 2016, she made her late-night debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Her half-hour special premiered on Comedy Central just two weeks later, October 14 at midnight. Ekperigin also co-wrote a television pilot for Comedy Central with former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams.[11] Ekperigin has also written for Difficult People and written for and appeared on Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.[12]
She was a regular performer on the WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens. Other projects include a pilot for TruTV called Inside Caucasia, developed with Ekperigin's partner, comedian Andy Beckerman.[2]
In June 2017, she joined the writing staff of the NBC sitcom Great News, starring Briga Heelan, Andrea Martin, and John Michael Higgins. She then went on to write for season 2 of the CBS All Access show No Activity and the HBO limited series Mrs. Fletcher, starring Kathryn Hahn.
She has a recurring role in the Apple TV+ show Mythic Quest as Carol, the beleaguered HR person at a video game company. She was promoted to main role in season 3.