ABOUT LAURA LANE
Laura Lane is a journalist, comedy writer, podcaster, and author of two books: Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling and This Is Why You’re Single, both translated into multiple languages and optioned for television adaptations. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Vanity Fair, People, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, and McSweeney’s. She also served as a columnist for ESPN and an editor for various entertainment magazines.
For six years, Laura co-hosted the popular podcast This Is Why You’re Single (also known as This Is Why), which consistently ranked in iTunes’ top 10 comedy podcasts. She is the founder of Rad Studio Space in Hudson, NY, a venue that hosts readings, music performances, and retreats. In 2018, she introduced the term “hatchelorette” as a modern alternative to baby showers, a concept that has since gained widespread popularity.
Laura’s contributions to The New Yorker include pieces on TV production during COVID-19, Supreme Court abortion case lawyers, a professional baby namer, artificial intelligence, and a weather startup, alongside various humor articles. For Rolling Stone, she penned an in-depth exploration of motherhood in the music industry. Her work for the San Francisco Chronicle includes a feature on the publisher of the city’s leading Black newspaper. She has also contributed to Represent Collaborative (RepCo), focusing on activism and issues of racial and social justice.
Her sketch show, Femme Fairy Tales, enjoyed a year-long run at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) theaters in New York and Los Angeles and was selected for the 2020 Chicago Sketch Festival. This show was adapted into the book Cinderella and the Glass Ceiling and Other Feminist Fairy Tales, published by Seal Press (Hachette) in March 2020 and available in six languages. The book was optioned for television by Gaumont and Freebird Entertainment.
Laura’s first comedy sketch show and book, This Is Why You’re Single, was optioned for television by the Pop Network, with Laura co-writing the pilot. The book is available in seven countries and was praised by In Touch Weekly as a “witty and wise dating guide [that] combines the social analysis of Sex and the City with the sassy irreverence of Broad City.” The sketch show received positive reviews, being described as “humorous” by The New York Times and “an entertaining ride” by The Wall Street Journal.
In addition to her own books, Laura has contributed to three others. She shared her experience attending a recruitment event for the NXIVM cult in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue 59, collaborated on the creative team for Coloring for Grown-Ups: Holiday Fun, and participated in an interview featured in Callings by StoryCorps and NPR host David Isay. She has performed readings at venues such as The Strand, The Wing, QED, and virtually for McSweeney’s and Caveat.
Laura wrote and produced a comedy short for The New Yorker and contributed jokes to season 5 of TruTV’s Billy on the Street. As an entertainment expert, she has appeared on networks including MSNBC, CNN, FOX, CBS, VH1, E!, and MTV. Her hosting experience includes ESPN’s poker show Inside Deal, an online show for Major League Soccer, and serving as an entertainment correspondent for People magazine.
She studied improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade and Peoples Improv Theater. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Laura double-majored in journalism and political science. During college, she interned for Ryan Seacrest and won Rolling Stone magazine’s College Journalism Contest for her profile on him.
Fun facts: Laura was born with one kidney and once served as Kristen Wiig’s body double. She is based in Brooklyn.