Natasha Lyonne, Hasan Minhaj, Jean Smart Among Honorees in Variety’s 2023 Comedy Impact Report

variety.com:

These interview were conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. Quinta BrunsonCreator, executive producer, actorRandall EinhornExecutive producer, directorJustin Halpern and Patrick SchumackerExecutive producers The first season of Brunson’s mockumentary sitcom about an underfunded public school in Philadelphia won three Emmys and was nominated for four more, an exceptionally strong showing for a new broadcast offering, and its second season just received eight noms.

Brunson, daughter of a kindergarten teacher who first drew attention for creating popular Instagram memes, won a statuette for writing the ABC comedy in September, and Einhorn praises her as “a student of comedy,” noting “Abbott’’ is a “tribute to first and foremost comedy, but also to her mom.” Brunson says she was inspired by classic network sitcoms including “The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Bob Newhart Show” while creating the series, while co-showrunners Schumacker and Halpern pulled from “Seinfeld,” as well as “The Office.” Talent agentUTA Alpert helped “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder renegotiate a new deal for the half-hour Max comedy, got co-star Megan Stalter a juicy role in Sony’s upcoming “My Ex-Friend’s Wedding” and helped sell the Andy Samberg-led romcom “42.6 Years” to Amazon. “The most impactful comedies have breakout moments for the next generation of amazing voices because they’ll be calling the shots in 10 years,” she says.

It’s long been difficult to get comic films greenlit, so Alpert’s goal for 2023 is also her biggest challenge. “I have many clients with incredible comedy feature scripts,” she says.