Madeleine Smithberg

Madeleine Smithberg just might be the most influential woman in late-night comedy you’ve never heard of. She earned three Peabody’s and an Emmy Award for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, which she co-created and ran as executive producer for seven years. During her time at TDS she hired Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, and Mo Rocca based on her legendary gut for talent, and was instrumental in bringing onboard Jon Stewart, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry, and Lewis Black, among others. The format that she and her team built more than 30 years ago helped change the way college students get their news and is still as relevant today as it has ever been.

Before that, she spent six years as a talent coordinator, then producer, for NBC’s original Late Night with David Letterman, which she considers her “comedy graduate school.” The segment featuring a rhesus monkey in a blue satin dress attacking David Letterman may be the high point of her career.

As a producer, Madeleine has spent the past four decades making other people funny. Now it is time for her to tell us how she’s done it.