Gaby Dunn

Gabriel Shane Dunn (formerly Gaby Dunn; born June 1, 1988) is an American writer, podcaster, actor, and filmmaker.

They majored in Multimedia Journalism, graduating in 2009.

Dunn began performing during their first year at Emerson with the sketch comedy troupe Chocolate Cake City (CCC).

Dunn had wanted to audition for CCC, but was too scared to do so until they were urged to take the audition slot of a former boyfriend who had become sick the day before and could not perform.

Their audition was successful and they became a member of the troupe.

At the time they considered themself a better writer than actor, and working in CCC allowed them to do both, since members were expected to write and perform their own sketches.

During their second year at Emerson, Dunn began a two-year stint as a crime reporter for The Boston Globe.

They worked the 6:30 pm – 2:30 am shift, using a police scanner to monitor potential news items, and then driving to the scene of the crime to write about it.

After their junior year, Dunn worked as an intern at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

In October 2010, Dunn created 100 Interviews, a Tumblr blog in which they intended to publish transcripts of 100 interviews, given over the course of a single year, with a variety of different people.

Interview subjects included a transgender person, a rocket scientist, an Abraham Lincoln expert, and Stephen Colbert.

Their initial inspiration for the project stemmed from their own personal desire to meet different people and hear their stories.

However, Dunn also wanted to offer readers the opportunity to "vicariously meet people" whose lives were different from their own.

Because 100 Interviews was an independent project, Dunn sometimes solicited interviews with candidates in non-traditional and unexpected ways.

Children's horror author R. L. Stine agreed to sit for an interview after Dunn "cold-tweeted" him on Twitter.

After trying and failing to interview Colbert by crashing a $2,000-a-plate dinner gala, Dunn settled for asking him questions during a pre-show Q&A for The Colbert Report.

Dunn's attempts to gain wider exposure for what they called their "diary journalism" were initially met with rejection.

Dunn has been recognized as a success case of the use of social media for self-promotion, particularly via Tumblr, the micro-blogging service and web application platform through which they initially self-published their interviews, and Twitter.

In December 2010, The Village Voice named 100 Interviews the "Best Tumblr" in their annual Web Awards. New York Times culture editor Adam Sternbergh also discovered Dunn via 100 Interviews, and invited them to write for the Times.

Dunn began doing freelance writing for publications including Thought Catalog and GOOD.

In 2012, they began writing a regular column in The New York Times titled "They're Famous! (On the Internet)", which profiled various Internet personalities.

In 2013, Dunn was a staff writer for Thought Catalog.

A collection of their essays for Thought Catolog was published under the title Maybe In Another Universe in 2013.

Since 2014, Dunn has hosted the YouTube comedy show and podcast Just Between Us with fellow former BuzzFeed writer Allison Raskin.

Dunn also hosts the podcast Bad with Money, which launched in 2016 and which primarily focuses on personal finances, while also discussing subjects including poverty and economic oppression.

Their debut young adult novel I Hate Everyone but You, co-authored with Raskin, was published in 2017 and made The New York Times Best Seller list.

Dunn has also published two finance-related books, as well as a graphic novel.

They were formerly a writer, director, and performer for BuzzFeed Video before leaving to focus on ''Just Between Us.

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Dunn attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.

Dunn wrote their debut novel, I Hate Everyone but You, with Allison Raskin and published it on September 5, 2017.

The young adult fiction novel follows two college freshmen and best friends, and is told through emails and text messages exchanged between the two.

It made The New York Times Best Seller list in October of the same year.

Dunn and Raskin published a sequel in July 2019, titled Please Send Help.

In January 2019, Dunn published Bad With Money: The Imperfect Art of Getting Your Financial Sh*t Together, a book based on the podcast.

In June 2022, they published a second finance-related book titled Stimulus Wreck: Rebuilding After a Financial Disaster.

In October 2019, Dunn's published their debut graphic novel, Bury the Lede, which was illustrated by Claire Roe and published by BOOM! Studios.

It is a queer crime thriller that was inspired by Dunn's own experiences working as a young reporter at the Boston Globe.

Dunn became well known as a member of BuzzFeed Video's early cohort of video personalities.

Dunn first appeared in BuzzFeed videos as a performer, later also taking on responsibilities as a writer and producer.