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Anna Drezen

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Anna Drezen
Born
Long Island, New York, U.S.
Occupations
  • Writer
  • actress
  • comedian
Years active2013–present

Anna Drezen is an American writer, actress, and comedian who has written for television comedies like Miracle Workers, Girls5eva, Murderville, and Saturday Night Live, where she served as Head Writer during seasons 46 and 47. She is the creator of the Freeform series Praise Petey.

Personal life

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A native of Long Island, Drezen grew up in Massapequa, New York and has identified herself as "half-Jewish."[1] She graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2010 where she studied drama.[2] She subsequently earned a certificate in Shakespeare in Performance from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[3] Her mother Irene (née Roarke) is a nurse and her father Warren is a pharmacist and the retired Director of Pharmacy at South Oaks Hospital in Amityville, New York;[4][5] he accompanied her to the 2019 Emmy Awards show.[6] Her older brother is comic artist Rich Drezen.[7] She has a dog named Lady Bird, a Chihuahua-Terrier mix named after the former first lady Lady Bird Johnson.[8]

Career

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Drezen is an editor at large of the feminist humor site Reductress and has co-written the book How to Win at Feminism: The Definitive Guide to Having it All—And Then Some! with the site's founders Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo.[9][10] She has also coauthored the book How May We Hate You? with Todd Dakotah Briscoe. The latter book began as a blog inspired by Drezen's time as a hotel concierge in New York City.[9] She has written and performed on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's The Special Without Brett Davis.[11] She was editor and writer at humor website Cracked.com until 2016.[12]

She is a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB). Together with fellow UCB performer Taylor Moore,[13] Drezen hosted the podcast Ten Ideas from 2013 to 2016.[14]

Drezen was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live for the show's 42nd season.[3][15] She was made Supervising Writer for seasons 44 and 45,[16] and since the show's 46th season has served as Head Writer[17][18] alongside Michael Che, Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette. Drezen and the SNL writing staff have been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021.[19]

In 2019, Drezen began hosting the podcast Scary Stories to Tell on the Pod with writer Andrew Farmer,[20] was a guest on Drunk Women Solving Crime,[21] and performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden on 24 September 2019[22]

At the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Drezen premiered Okay, Get Home Safe, a one-woman show inspired by her obsession with true crime podcasts.[23]

Drezen has been a writer on shows like Girls5Eva and Miracle Workers, on which she also appeared as an actor.[24]

In 2021, Freeform ordered an animated series[25] created by Drezen, which she executive produces alongside Greg Daniels, Mike Judge, and Monica Padrick.[26] Annie Murphy, John Cho, Christine Baranski, Kiersey Clemons, Amy Hill, and Stephen Root led the voice cast. The series was produced by 20th Television Animation, with animation by ShadowMachine. She departed SNL after the December 18, 2021 episode in preparation.[27] It premiered on July 21, 2023.[28] In November 2023, it was announced that Freeform had cancelled the series after 1 season.[29]

References

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  1. ^ Drezen, Farmer (31 October 2019). "'The Haunted House' with Paul F. Tompkins!" (Podcast). Forever Dog Podcast Network. Event occurs at 33:20. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  2. ^ "2019 Alumni Primetime Emmy Nominations". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  3. ^ a b ""Saturday Night Live" hires seven new writers for season 42". The Laugh Button. September 15, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  4. ^ "Pharmacy Alumni | Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health". www.mailman.columbia.edu. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  5. ^ "College of Pharmaceutical Sciences Newsletter, Winter 2018" (PDF). mailman.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  6. ^ Drezen, Anna [@annadrezen] (2019-09-23). "And the Emmy for best pharmacist goes to... wow, *again,* my dad, Warren Drezen!!!!pic.twitter.com/vOvbVOns5A" (Tweet). Retrieved 2019-10-03 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ "Rich Drezen". IMDb. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  8. ^ Wiegand, Chris (2019-07-23). "'He humps all the other dogs … I'm his humping accomplice': comedians on their pets". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  9. ^ a b Kosugi, Haruka (March 31, 2018). "Q&A with SNL writer Anna Drezen". The Spectrum. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Rothfeld, Becca (December 2, 2016). "How to Win at Feminism: The Definitive Guide to Having it All—And Then Some! by Beth Newell, Sarah Pappalardo, and Anna Drezen". Bookforum. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  11. ^ Goldstein, Ian (August 25, 2017). "On the Verge: Brett Davis". Vulture. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Miller, Rachel (2016-06-03). "Brooklyn's 50 Funniest People: Anna Drezen". Brooklyn Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  13. ^ "Taylor Moore". www.ucbcomedy.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  14. ^ "Ten Ideas on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  15. ^ Fitzpatrick, Kevin (September 14, 2016). "SNL Season 42 Adds 'BriTANicK,' Jimmy Kimmel Writer and More". ScreenCrush. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  16. ^ "'Saturday Night Live' Adds New Writers for Season 45". 29 September 2019.
  17. ^ White, Peter (September 16, 2020). "'SNL': Jim Carrey Set To Play Joe Biden As NBC Show Adds Three Featured Players & Will Have Limited Audience". Deadline. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
  18. ^ Wright, Megh (October 4, 2020). "Here's the Writing Staff of Saturday Night Live Season 46". Vulture. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  19. ^ "Anna Drezen". Television Academy. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  20. ^ "Scary Stories to Tell on the Pod on Apple Podcasts". 22 December 2021.
  21. ^ "59 Drunk Women Live: With Anna Drezen". acast. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  22. ^ Wright, Megh (2019-09-24). "SNL's Anna Drezen Comes From a Long Line of Murderous Horse Thieves". www.vulture.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  23. ^ Abraham, Amelia (August 22, 2019). "Anna Drezen is the comic and former Reductress editor obsessed with murder". Dazed. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  24. ^ "Anna Drezen". IMDb.
  25. ^ "'SNL's' Anna Drezen, Mike Judge, Greg Daniels Set Star-Studded Animated Comedy at Freeform". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 December 2021.
  26. ^ "Freeform Orders Its First Animated Series with Annie Murphy, John Cho Among Voice Cast". 9 December 2021.
  27. ^ White, Peter (December 23, 2021). "'SNL': Head Writer Anna Drezen Leaving NBC Show To Focus On Freeform's 'Praise Petey'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  28. ^ "Freeform Sets Premiere Dates for 'Cruel Summer,' 'Grown-ish' and 'Praise Petey' (TV News Roundup)". 20 April 2023.
  29. ^ "Praise Petey Cancelled at Freeform". 14 November 2023.
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