The Yes, And… Laughter Lab (YALL), the leading competitive comedy and human rights incubation lab and festival in the United States, today announced its 2025–2026 YALL Fellows. Co-founded in 2019, and co-directed by the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI) at American University and creative agency Moore+Associates, YALL was designed to introduce the most talented emerging comedy writers and performers to the entertainment industry, as well as civic and social organizations, philanthropists, and media leaders who can help bring their work into the marketplace and efforts for civic participation. Comedy has always served as a voice of social critique and imagination, and YALL Fellows and the YALL community are focused on shaping the funniest comedy about topics that matter.
The 19 fellows were chosen from more than 400 applicants by YALL’s Selection and Leadership Committees, which include industry all-stars like Alex Bach (I Think You Should Leave), Alice Mathias (Portlandia), Aparna Nancherla (BoJack Horseman), Brittany Scott Smith (A Black Lady Sketch Show), Chris Gethard (The Chris Gethard Show), Jeff Hiller (Somebody, Somewhere), Jeffrey P. Jones (Peabody Awards), Jenny Yang (Busy Tonight), Josh Church (Apatow Productions), Ryan Cunningham (Search Party), and Sarah Cooper (Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine). The Selection and Leadership committees also consist of leaders from top social justice organizations, including Pillars Fund, Caring Across Generations, GLAAD and others.
Following a three-day training weekend in November, the 2025-2026 YALL Fellows will perform and pitch original comedy ideas at the third annual YALL Comedy Fest from April 8-10, 2026 at Asylum NYC. YALL Comedy Fest is the first and only comedy festival dedicated to showcasing the power of humor to change the world. Featuring a diverse community of YALL creators, the festival has hosted performances by more than 200 top comedians, highlighting the best comedy writers and performers who tackle social justice issues while keeping audiences laughing.
YALL Comedy Fest was featured in The New York Times as one of April’s best offerings in New York City and platformed performances from over 100 top comedians including Dylan Adler, Kelly Bachman, Chris Gethard, Dina Hashem, Jaye McBride, Kenice Mobley, Alise Morales, Muslim Girls DTF, Good Medicine Comedy, Ali Sultan, Milly Tamarez, Usama Siddiquee, among others.
The 2025-2026 Yes, And… Laughter Lab Fellows include:
Allison Summers – Allison Summers is an actor, stand-up, writer, and producer based in Nashville, TN. A Second City/UCB alum and comedy writer, she was an official selection of HBOs WICFest film and screenplay competition. She won Audience Choice Award at 48 Hour Film Project, and Honorable Mention at New York Indie Shorts. She currently features for Heather Shaw on the road and recently returned from Boom Chicago Comedy Festival and Blue Whale in Tulsa.
Andra Whipple – Andra is a comedy writer from Ohio, where she spent her childhood milking goats at farm camp and getting her black belt with her doomsday prepper family to prepare for the apocalypse. She’s written on shows including Adam Ruins Everything and the WGA Awards, hosted podcasts including “Tell Me I’m Ok” and “3rd and Fairfax,” and performed in Second City’s Live Rude Girls and Uncle Nepheneezer’s Variety Hour. Her bar trivia team is #1 in the nation and she was once stopped at the French border for being “too sweaty.”
Arlieta Hall – Born and raised in Chicago, Arlieta brings a rare blend of humor, heart, and purpose to every space she steps into. A Second City NBC Bob Curry Fellow and co-star on Showtime’s The Chi, she’s also the creative force behind Finding Your Laughter, a powerful documentary inspired by her experience caring for her father with Alzheimer’s. Whether through comedy, storytelling, or community work, Arlieta’s mission is to connect, uplift, and remind us of the healing power of laughter.
Brad Einstein – Brad Einstein is a writer, comedian, two-time National Park Service Artist-In-Residence, and National Forest Service Voice of the Wilderness. He was the lead writer of “The Climate Variety Show” hosted by Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Jason Sudeikis, and his climate work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The LA Times, The Boston Globe, Atlas Obscura, and more. Past credits include: Shameless, The Onion, Billy on the Street, The Second City National Touring Company, and more. He was a member of the inaugural Climate Comedy Cohort and co-creator of Tree Huggers Comedy with creative partner Kyle Niemer.
Brittany Alsot – Brittany Alsot (Producer, Director, Writer, Cinematographer) first learned the power of personal storytelling making videos at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She continues to focus on work that impacts underrepresented communities, creating marketing and campaign videos for social justice and cultural arts organizations. Her fiction shorts have screened at queer and feminist film festivals across the country, and internationally.
Davon Williams – Davon is an international performer, two-time Anthem Award winner, and is currently getting his MFA from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University (Class of ’27). He is the 2025 Next Wave Black Excellence awardee, a WRTI “Artist to Watch,” and Philly Urban Theatre Festival winner for Best Play. His stage and screen work has been featured worldwide, with performances spanning theater, stand-up, and live music. He is also a published writer (When The Lights Are Bright Again), TED Talk alum, and March on Broadway co-organizer whose work has been profiled in Deadline, Forbes, CBS, Playbill, The Daily Beast, and 60 Minutes.
Dominique Nisperos – Dominique Nisperos is a comedian and recovering academic who has been honored as a Yes, And… Laughter Lab Fellow and a Ford Fellow. Their credits include ABC, Funny or Die, Blue Man Group, TVLand, ABS-CBN Global, Edinburgh Fringe, SF Sketchfest, and WorldStar. They write, perform, and teach in Brooklyn, New York.
Fouad Dakwar – Fouad Dakwar is a multimedia artist whose subversive comedy channels his Palestinian-American immigrant upbringing– all with a punk-rock twist. His semi-autobiographical musical, Fouad of Nazareth, has been presented at Joe’s Pub and was featured in the 2025 Yes And… Laughter Lab Comedy Festival, the 2024 Noor Theatre Highlight Reading Series, and the Playbill Songwriter Series, which aptly described Fouad as “a darkly comic pop-punk composer on the rise.”
Jamie LeeLo – Jamie LeeLo is a seasoned stand-up comedian and writer. She hosted a long-standing live, late-night talk show called Brunch Night! that enjoyed a run at the famous Caroline’s on Broadway in New York City, and her work is featured across many publications and platforms including Comedy Central, Bustle Media, and Amazon content channels.
Jeffrey Elizabeth Copeland – Jeffrey! is an award-winning journalist and comedian. She has written and performed comedy for Upright Citizens Brigade and the Baltimore Improv Group and was selected for the inaugural Saturday Night Live/People’s Improv Theater fellowship. Her narrative writing has premiered at the American Black Film Festival, and she’s produced news for CNN and NBC News Studios. In her free time, Jeffrey! loves learning about Jesus (unironically), watching the Mets (usually lose), and telling people how often she goes to spin class (shout out Vibe Rides Atlanta).
Kyle Niemer – Kyle Niemer is a two-time National Parks Service Artist-in-Residence, a National Forest Service Voice of the Wilderness, and an award-winning director and producer specializing in adventure filmmaking. He has worked with noted brands across the country including Netflix, Amazon, MotorTrend, Discovery, Hot Wheels, Outside Magazine, VICE, Sonic, Lexus, and his digital content has been streamed in the millions. He was a member of the inaugural Climate Comedy Cohort and is co-creator of Tree Huggers Comedy with creative partner Brad Einstein.
Mehdi Barakchian – Mehdi Barakchian, born in New York City and currently living in LA, grew up on his dad’s car lot in Queens. He was a natural with motors, driving at age 6, riding solo by 13, and by 17, holding licenses for cars, motorcycles, and boats. Today, he’s an actor and comedian, but motors remain a huge part of his life. He rides, races, trades, and builds, having rebuilt several bikes and cars from the ground up. Having lived through 9/11 as a New York local and Middle-Eastern teen, Mehdi knows firsthand about America’s divisions. A self-described “gas tank half-full” kind of guy, he believes that a shared love of motors can unite people. Not easily labeled, Mehdi is married to a woman from farm country, has a small designer dog, divorced immigrant parents, and speaks three languages. He’s also seen the band TOOL live seven times.
Nicholas “Naiem” Bouier – Nicholas “Naiem” Bouier (naiembouier.com) is an award-winning filmmaker and educator with 15+ years of entertainment industry experience; working across mediums & genres to direct both dramatic and comedic fiction, documentary, sketch, music videos, web series, and branded content. He’s an alum of Morehouse College, The American Film Institute Conservatory, and The Groundlings Sunday Company; and has been previously selected for labs through Film Independent, Sony Television, and NBC/Universal. Most recently, Bouier worked as a Story Editor on the Hulu series Interior Chinatown and is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America – West. He splits time between Los Angeles and Detroit, where he serves as an adjunct professor at The College for Creative Studies in Detroit and studies Urban Planning at Wayne State University.
Nicole Blaine – Nicole Blaine is the owner, CEO, and Artistic Director of The Crow, LA’s newest mission-driven nonprofit 501c3 comedy club. With a background in producing live comedy shows in Los Angeles and New York for 20 years, comedy festivals (Bergamot Comedy Fest, Westside Showdown), stand-up specials (HBO), her comedy special, Life’s A Bit, through Comedy Dynamics on Amazon Prime, and her critically acclaimed one-woman show, Pipe Dreams, she is thrilled to bring humor to those who need it most and help support the advancement of comedian careers that use stand-up to make the world a better place.
Nikki Palumbo – Nikki Palumbo is a non-binary TV writer and comedian based in Los Angeles, but still reeks of New Jersey. Most recently, they wrote for the WGA Award-nominated Tiny Time Travel on PBS Kids and apologetically for AI at Google and MasterClass. Their humor writing has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and Reductress and they’ve won the ATX TV Festival Pitch Competition, participated in the Black List x WIF Episodic Lab, and are currently a WIF Fellow. Nikki usually writes subversive queer comedy, by nature, and often about their goofy Italian family, by nurture.
Nina Nguyen – Nina Nguyen is a comedian, writer and actor from Houston Texas. She began stand up in 2012, was a finalist on Standup NBC, a sketch writer for CBS Showcase and is currently a performer in the sketch group “THESE?.” She recently had a run of shows at Largo opening for Beth Stelling, Margaret Cho and Sarah Silverman. She’s won contests and performed in tons of festivals across the country and world but can be mainly seen in Los Angeles where she lives with her wife and cat.
Rob Michaels – Rob Michaels is an Iraqi writer and director from Toronto, now in LA. He recently wrote for an animated series starring Will Arnett and Cobie Smulders, as well as season 3 of the hit Canadian show LATE BLOOMER. He’s also written for CBC’s workplace comedy ONE MORE TIME, Roku’s CHILDREN RUIN EVERYTHING, and CTV’s ROAST BATTLE CANADA. His directorial feature debut, PLEASE, AFTER YOU, is now available digitally on Apple TV+. He has performed extensively with THE SECOND CITY and has made comedy sketches with millions of views online via platforms like Funny Or Die and 9GAG. Rob’s greatest accomplishment is completing a math degree and a business degree simultaneously, then choosing a career that requires neither.
Taylor Adam Blackman – Taylor Blackman is a writer, actor, and retired baddie from Chicago, IL, who now lives a semi-quiet life in New Haven, CT. He is currently a Fire This Time fellow, an Alfred P. Sloan/Ensemble Studio Theatre–commissioned playwright, a NY Playground Playwriting Resident, and an Uptown Collective Playwriting Recipient. His work has been produced by PBS, City Theatre Miami, The Wild Project, and others. Taylor’s writing has also been published in We/Ourselves: Plays Celebrating Gender Diversity (Smith & Kraus), and his plays are licensed with Tiny Scripted. Outside of writing, Taylor can be seen on Raising Kanan (Starz), Alternatino (Comedy Central), FBI (CBS), and more.
Toni Adeyemi – Toni Adeyemi is a comedy writer, performer, and producer despite her Nigerian parents’ wishes. Since graduating from Stanford, she’s worked at Disney, Pluto TV, SuperSpecial, and Honey Chile, and is currently the showrunner’s assistant on Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest. Toni writes fast-paced, ensemble comedies with humor and heart, mixing hard funny with warm fuzzies. She won the ATX TV Pitch Competition with her pilot Oakdale Country Club, premiered films at HollyShorts and the Pan African film festival, and has appeared in national campaigns for Apple Vision Pro and her dentist. You can catch Toni improvising on Harold Night at UCB LA or on game shows, trying to win another $10,000.
FINALISTS
The Yes, And… Laughter Lab also named 38 comedy creators as finalist runners-up. The 2025-26 YALL Finalists are Aditya Mayya, Alexis Bradby, Ashley Singleton, Avery Lee, Brandi Campbell, Brandon Collins, Catherine Bloom, Chet Siegel, Christine Ferrera, Diana Hong, Emily Orr, Emily Turner, Isha Damle, Jake Noll, Jamil Suleman, Jason Sweeten, Jen Bosworth-Ramirez, Jake Noll, Jerah Milligan, John F. O’Donnell, Jules Crosby, Julia Johns, Julie Golden, Juno Men, Kayla Velasquez, Kristal Adams, Laurie Parres, Lee Robinson, Noelle Franco, Pavar Snipe, Peter Kim, Quincy Cho, Reem Edan, Sabeen Sadiq, Sage Singleton, Sammy Anzer, Sammy Mowrey, Scarlet Meyer, and Siddharth Dhananjay.
The Yes, And…Laughter Lab has been supported by Comedy Central, Doris Duke Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Pop Culture Collaborative. YALL’s entertainment industry partners has included Comedy Central, Netflix, The Walt Disney Studios, NBC Universal, and others.
ABOUT THE YES, AND… LAUGHTER LAB
The Yes And… Laughter Lab (YALL) is a competitive incubation lab, pitch program, and showcase that lifts up the best comedy writers and performers creating new comedy about topics that matter. Designed to be one of the most important places for networks, platforms, and distributors to find exciting new comedy content and creators, YALL connects an expanding pool of non-profit and advocacy organizations with innovative creative partners to ignite social change. The Yes, And… Laughter Lab and YALL Comedy Fest are generously supported by Doris Duke Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Follow Yes, And… Laughter Lab on Instagram at @YALLcomedy.
