Are our future overlords coming from a distant galaxy or built in a basement lab? Join us for an out-of-this-world comedy debate as extraterrestrials take on artificial intelligence. Beam yourself in for a night of sci-fi silliness and futuristic fun! This installment features Emmy Blotnick (English Teacher), Raanan Hershberg (After Midnight), Michael Cruz Kayne (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert), Kenice Mobley (The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon), James Mwaura (Newcomers), and Blythe Roberson (How to Date Men When You Hate Men). Hosted by Negin Farsad (Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!).
The popular comedy debate series invites two teams of funny folks from the worlds of stand-up and late-night television to tackle topics of great importance to pop culture, such as which pet is superior—cats or dogs—and is it better to be comfortable or fashionable? The verbal sparring and all-around absurdity only stop when the audience decides the winner.
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Past Performers include Elna Baker, Maria Bamford, Michael Ian Black, Guy Branum, Wyatt Cenac, Ronny Chieng, Jo Firestone, John Fugelsang, Janeane Garofalo, Jon Glaser, Ilana Glazer, Josh Gondelman, Dave Hill, Maeve Higgins, Mehran Khaghani, Julie Klausner, Hasan Minhaj, Aparna Nancherla, Kristen Schaal, Baratunde Thurston, Kevin Townley, Michael Showalter, Dan Soder, Bowen Yang, Sasheer Zamata, and many more.
Performers subject to change.
Emmy Blotnick is a stand-up comedian and writer based in New York. Her writing credits include @midnight, The President Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Pause with Sam Jay, History of the World: Part II, In the Know, and The Roast of Kevin Hart. Blotnick has performed stand-up live at venues coast to coast, including the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival and the Comedy Cellar in New York, and on screen on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Conan, and her half-hour special on Comedy Central. Blotnick has been featured as a panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, and served as producer and writer for the series English Teacher.
Raanan Hershberg is a stand-up comedian whose screen credits include The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and After Midnight. His hour-long special Jokes from the Underground was included on the Best Comedy of 2022 list from The New York Times, and his most recent special, Morbidly Jewish, premiered on YouTube earlier this year. Hershberg is a regular at the Comedy Cellar in New York City and performs live across the country.
Michael Cruz Kayne is an award-winning (Peabody, WGA) and award-losing (Emmy, Drama Desk, and many more) comedian, actor, and writer. Among his credits are Severance, High Maintenance, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert His one-man show, Sorry For Your Loss, was named among the Best of Audible and recommended by The New York Times. He is Filipino and Jewish and has a lovely family and eczema.
Kenice Mobley made her late night debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and appeared in Netflix Is a Joke: The Festival. As a writer, her credits include the BET Awards and the sketch comedy series By Us For Us. Mobley has hosted the podcasts Complexify for ViceNews, Love About Town, and Make Yourself Cry for Planet Scum. She regularly performs live on stage worldwide and on the air for SiriusXM, and her debut comedy album, Follow Up Question, was named one of Paste Magazine’s best comedy albums of 2022.
James Mwaura is a stand-up comedian and writer. He was named a New Face in Comedy at the 2025 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, and has performed at San Francisco Sketchfest, Big Sky Comedy Festival, San Francisco Punchline, Cobb's Comedy Club, and Broadway Comedy Club, among other clubs and festivals from coast to coast. On screen, he has been featured on the LMAOF and Newcomers comedy showcases. Mwaura currently performs at the weekly Stuy Guys comedy show and other New York City venues.
Blythe Roberson is a comedy writer and author of America the Beautiful? and How to Date Men When You Hate Men. She has contributed to The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Onion, Kinfolk, Esquire, ClickHole, and VICE Magazine, among other publications, as well as NPR’s Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! Roberson has been featured on numerous radio shows and podcasts, including Everyone & Their Mom, The Scientists, Book Club, All of It with Alison Stewart, Seek Treatment, The Manwhore, and Twenty Sided Podcast.
HOST
Negin Farsad is the host of the podcast Fake the Nation and a regular panelist on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! She is the director of the films Nerdcore Rising and The Muslims Are Coming!, and her romantic comedy, 3rd Street Blackout, is streaming on Peacock. She was selected as a TEDFellow for her work in social justice comedy and can be seen in Birdgirl, Not Okay, and Hillary Clinton’s Apple TV+ show, Gutsy. Farsad’s debut memoir, How to Make White People Laugh, was nominated for the Thurber Prize for Humor.
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