Wyatt Cenac

Writer, actor, comedian Wyatt Cenac was born in New York, but raised in Dallas, Texas. His comic sensibilities were formed watching "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-1992) and he began performing stand-up while attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After three seasons writing on "King of the Hill" (Fox, 1997-2010), Cenac became a writer and correspondent for "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central, 1996-). After his time on "The Daily Show," Cenac continued to write and perform both stand up and on television. After his father, a New York City cab driver, was murdered in a robbery attempt, Cenac's mother moved the family to Dallas. Although raised in Dallas, Cenac spent a good amount of time in New York City visiting relatives when he was growing up. He attended high school at the Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, before heading to UNC Chapel Hill. He had his first stand-up sets at Goodnights Comedy Club in nearby Raleigh. Cenac spent some time in the trenches before his break. He was a writer on "King of the Hill" for three seasons, and acted in a number of short films and unsuccessful pilots. One of the pilots was the notorious 2008 HBO pilot that starred Kanye West in a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (HBO, 2000-) improv comedy style show. Also in 2008, Cenac was considered for a role on "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975-), primarily so he could play then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, but the role ultimately went to SNL veteran Fred Armisen. In 2008, Cenac also began one of the most productive collaborations of his career as a writer and correspondent on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." His first piece as correspondent was a studio bit with host Jon Stewart. Cenac, ostensibly a political correspondent, was completely bored by the 2008 Democratic primary season because it wasn't nearly as exciting as "Lost" (ABC, 2004-2010). Here, Cenac was free to hone and craft his political rhetoric and his laid-back non-confrontational style. Many of Cenac's pieces slyly reveal the inherent racism in the subjects he's interviewing as well as highlighting the stresses that gentrification can put on minority communities. As a member of "The Daily Show" writing staff, Cenac won three Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing - Variety Series, in 2009, 2011, and 2012. After 2011, Cenac left "The Daily Show," although he did come back for a few episodes. Instead, Cenac focused on his stand-up and made appearances in a handful of TV shows and films. Cenac hosted the long-running stand-up comedy show "Night Train" at Littlefield in Brooklyn. 2011 saw the release of Cenac's first comedy special, "Wyatt Cenac: Comedy Person." The show aired on Comedy Central, gaining a big boost from Cenac's built-in audience at the network. In 2012, he appeared in Mike Birbiglia's film "Sleepwalk With Me", and in 2014 appeared in Marc Maron's TV show "Maron" (IFC, 2013-16) and lent his voice to the animated series "Bojack Horseman" (Netflix, 2014-). Pushed by the desire to film another comedy special, Cenac decided to do it his own way and wrote, directed, and produced the show at Brooklyn's intimate Union Hall, then sold it to Netflix, who distributed the show, "Wyatt Cenac: Brooklyn" in 2014.