Josh Gondelman

Joshua Lyons Gondelman (born January 15, 1985) is an American author, comedy writer, producer, and stand-up comedian.

He was a supervising producer and writer for Desus & Mero on Showtime.

He was previously a writer on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

He is also known for co-creating the parody Twitter account @SeinfeldToday.

Gondelman grew up in Stoneham, Massachusetts, to parents Ellion Lyons and David Gondelman.

He grew up in a Jewish family.

Gondelman graduated from Stoneham High School in 2003.

He graduated from Brandeis University in 2007, where he double majored in creative writing and English and minored in Spanish.

When he was 19 years old, Gondelman began doing standup comedy in Boston.

He did stand-up in Boston for seven years and occasionally returns.

After college, he worked as a pre-school teacher and taught elementary school Spanish.

In 2010, he won the Laughing Skull Comedy Festival in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2011, Gondelman moved to New York City, where his then-girlfriend lived, to pursue stand-up comedy.

During this time he also began doing freelance writing.

Everything's The Best, his debut album, came out in 2011.

He co-wrote his first major story, "Both Sides of a Break Up", with his ex-girlfriend; it was published in New York Magazine in 2012.

In December 2012, Gondelman created the Twitter account "SeinfeldToday", along with Jaclyn Moore, formerly of BuzzFeed.

The account posted humorous tweets reimagining Seinfeld characters in modern-day situations.

In 2013, he wrote a story for Esquire describing his experience running in a Tough Mudder race in which he was sponsored by Wheaties in exchange for monetary compensation from General Mills and Zeus Jones.

He has also written for McSweeney's, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.

At the 6th annual Shorty Awards in 2014, the account won an award in the "#Fakeaccount" category.

In 2014, Gondelman was hired by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as the web producer for the show's first season, and became a staff writer for the second season.

In October 2015, a book co-authored by Gondelman and Joe Berkowitz entitled You Blew It!: An Awkward Look at the Many Ways in Which You've Already Ruined Your Life, was published.

As a stand-up comedian, he has opened for John Oliver, Jen Kirkman and Pete Holmes, and also performs regularly at New York City venues.

Eve Peyser has said that during his stand-up, Gondelman "radiates humility and a relatable, everyday awkwardness alongside fierce confidence and wit."

As of October 2015, the last time the account was active, it had more than 900,000 followers.

His second album, Physical Whisper, was released on March 18, 2016.

In March 2016, he made his late-night television debut on Conan.

In 2016, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for his work on the show.

He and the writing team of Last Week Tonight won this same award in 2017, as well as a Writers Guild of America Award in 2017.

He made his network television debut in January 2018 on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

Gondelman also was a stand-up consultant for the final season of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel."

In 2019, Gondelman left Last Week Tonight to become a senior staff writer and producer on Desus & Mero after the series moved to Showtime.

Since 2019, Gondelman has been a regular panelist on the NPR show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!.

In March of 2023, Gondelman was the guest host filling in for Peter Sagal while Sagal was on paternity leave.

Gondelman is married to Maris Kreizman, the creator of the blog and book Slaughterhouse 90210. They live in Brooklyn with Bizzy, a senior pug.