“Shaun writes the kind of smart comedy I like to use in my opening monologue.” – Jay Leno
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Stand-up comedian Shaun Eli has rightfully been called one of America’s smartest comics. Whether it’s a story about dining with a vegetarian or successfully fighting a parking ticket, master storyteller Shaun Eli shows you that there’s hilarity in the ordinary if you approach life with a comedic warp. Job interviews? Serving on a NYC criminal jury? How about the Ten Commandments? For just about anything he’s experienced Shaun has a hilarious story at the ready.
With a sense of humor that’s both cheerful and universal Shaun has headlined shows on five continents. His jokes have been quoted everywhere from the New York Post to Readers Digest to Healthcare Finance News. In both Reform Judaism magazine and the Christian Science Monitor, where he was the subject of the cover story. He’s been featured on CareerBuilder.com and CNN, in local papers like the Scarsdale Inquirer and the Asbury Park Press and in the college papers the Yale Daily News and the Daily Pennsylvanian. Even in The Journal of Irreproducible Results, a scientific humor magazine. Yes, there is one. And his group The Ivy League of Comedysm was the subject of a front-page story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
More than just smart, funny and clever, Shaun is determined to express his opinion passionately, not surprising for someone who wrote his first satirical essay at age ten. When profiled in Fortune magazine “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno quoted one of Shaun’s jokes, citing it as an example of the type of “smart comedy” he’s happy to include in his opening monologue. Jay and other late-night hosts used Shaun’s topical material in their monologues for almost two decades.
Outside the world of comedy Shaun was a world-class athlete in two obscure sports (rowing and dragon-boat racing), worked as a lifeguard instructor and is an instrument-rated pilot. He is also an award-winning economic forecaster who once sold his car to a hitchhiker.
Shaun is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. You can watch his videos and read some of his writings, including satirical political essays and hundreds of jokes he’s written for late-night television, on his web site BrainChampagne.com where his slogan “Brain Champagne: Clever Comedy for Smart Mindssm” rings true.
Your iPhone does not impress me
Sometimes the biggest laughs are when you talk about somewhere else
At a charity fund-raising show
(improvising when something goes wrong gets applause 20 sec. into the show)
Health and other benefits of comedy
Putting a stupid Supreme
Court decision to good use
Invest in your happiness. Come to a comedy show!sm
Additional comedy videos
Videocast: The Ivy League of Comedy
Video podcast: Each week I interview/chat with a comedian or two or others from the comedy industry.
Clean comedian Shaun Eli performs worldwide- call or email to ask about hiring him for your corporate function, industry conference, charity event, private party, community group, service organization, theatre or comedy club.
Some kind words about Shaun and his comedy:
“Shaun was SUPER. Not only did he do a phenomenal job emceeing our corporate function but with his corporate background he completely understood our complicated business and what we needed from an emcee for the launch of our unique event. And after the event he took the initiative to stick around and discuss the logistics with our participants so he could make suggestions to make the event even better the next time we do it.”
Kayvan Farzaneh
Senior Manager
VSC Consulting
“You’re wonderful! Bless you for coming! This is the first time in three months I’ve seen my wife smile.”
husband of a cancer patient after a show at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
(the hospital’s strict patient confidentiality policy prohibits even asking for a name)
I’m frequently asked how I got started in stand-up comedy.
Why does a man do anything? It was because of a woman.
I was on a date and I guess I was entertaining because she asked why I wasn’t a comedian. I said I had friends who were actors- and that while I like writing comedy I didn’t think I was made to be a performer.
She told me she’d just taken a stand-up comedy class and recommended I do the same.
I did. Six years later I left my day job. And here I am.
Come see me; I’m sure you’ll agree I made the right decision.
