2 Dope Queens
Phoebe Robinson is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actress whom Vulture.com, Essence, and Esquire have named one of the top comedians to watch. She has appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers and Last Call with Carson Daly; Comedy Central’s Broad City, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and @midnight with Chris Hardwick; as well as TBS’s Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. Robinson’s writing has been featured in The Village Voice and on Glamour.com, TheDailyBeast.com, VanityFair.com, Vulture.com, and NYTimes.com. She was also a staff writer on MTV’s hit talking head show, Girl Code, as well as a consultant on season three of Broad City. Most recently, she created and starred in Refinery29’s web series Woke Bae and, alongside Jessica Williams of The Daily Show, she is the creator and costar of the hit WNYC podcast 2 Dope Queens as well as the creator and host of the new WNYC podcast Sooo Many White Guys. Robinson lives and performs stand-up in Brooklyn, NY, and you can read her weekly musings about race, gender, and pop culture on her blog, Blaria.com (aka Black Daria).
Jessica Williams is a talented comedian, writer and performer who has garnered the attention of television audiences with her influential voice, perspective, and wit around pop culture conversations in media.
Williams can next be seen in The Incredible Jessica James, opposite Chris O'Dowd. Written and directed by Jim Strouse, the film centers on an aspiring playwright (Williams) in New York who strikes up a friendship with a guy (O’Dowd) while on the rebound from a break-up. It premiered at the closing night of the Sundance Film Festival—Williams received rave reviews, with Variety calling her a “force of nature” and The Wrap proclaiming “a movie star is born.” It will be released by Netflix.
In April 2016, Williams launched a podcast, 2 Dope Queens, with her best friend and fellow comedian Phoebe Robinson. Based on their live comedy show in Brooklyn, the podcast tackles the struggles of two twenty-something women shaking things up as they discuss everything from sex to romance to hair issues and of course living in NYC. Season 3 will premiere on Tuesday, April 4th and will release a new episode every other week.
In 2015, Williams starred opposite Jermaine Clement and Regina Hall in the Sundance Film Festival selection, People Places Things. The comedy centers on the story of Will Henry, a graphic novelist who struggles to raise his two young daughters in the wake of a recent breakup. In the film, Williams plays the role of ‘Kat,’ one of Will’s art students who works to play matchmaker between her mother and teacher.
In 2012 Williams joined the cast of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show as the first African American woman and youngest correspondent to date. Williams led numerous comedic yet thought-provoking segments on hot button topics such as police brutality, transgender rights, sexism in politics and race. While on the show, she brought a candid and thoughtful approach to satirical news programming and secured a powerful voice in comedy. Williams announced her departure from the show in June 2016 after four years with the late-night series.
Williams’ other television credits include HBO’s hit series Girls, where she starred as ‘Karen,’ Hannah Horvath’s work friend in season three. In 2006, the actress made her television debut as series regular ‘Vida Atwood’ on the Nickelodeon comedy-drama Just for Kicks, which follows a young girls’ soccer team in New York City.
Prior to her success on The Daily Show, Williams gained experience as a writer and performer with the Los Angeles Upright Citizens Brigade. Honing her craft for stand-up and improv, she was honored to be featured on Variety’s annual “Top 10 Comics to Watch” list in 2012.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Williams attended California State University Long Beach and graduated in 2012. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.