Amber Ruffin

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Amber Ruffin
Ruffin in February 2021
Born
Amber Mildred Ruffin

(1979-01-09) January 9, 1979 (age 45)
Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupations
  • Host
  • comedian
  • writer
  • actress
  • author
  • playwright
Years active2001–present
Spouse
Jan Schiltmeijer
​
​
(m. 2010; div. 2023)​

Amber Mildred Ruffin (born January 9, 1979)[1] is an American comedian, writer and actress.[2] She hosted her own late-night talk show titled The Amber Ruffin Show on Peacock. She has been a writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers since 2014. When she joined the show she became the first Black woman to write for a late-night network talk show in the United States.[3]

In January 2021, she co-authored a book with her sister Lacey Lamar titled You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism which made the New York Times Best Seller list.[4][5][6] They released a second book, The World Record Book of Racist Stories, in 2022. In 2022, Ruffin and her writing partner Jenny Hagel co-founded their production company Straight to Cards under their overall deal with Universal Television.[7]

Early life and education

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Ruffin was born in Omaha, Nebraska.[1] She graduated from Benson High School in 1996.[8][9] Ruffin is the youngest of five children. As a child Ruffin learned Signing Exact English to communicate with a deaf neighbor.[10]

Career

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In 2001, Ruffin began performing in local theater productions and improv in Omaha.[2] While performing with her improv troupe at an event in Chicago, Ruffin met comedian and owner of iO Theater Charna Halpern. Halpern encouraged Ruffin to move to Chicago saying she believed Ruffin would "have a full-time job, doing comedy, within the year".[11] In 2008 after finishing her classes at iO, Ruffin moved to Amsterdam to work as a writer and performer on the improv comedy troupe Boom Chicago Amsterdam.

After returning to the United States, Ruffin performed as part of The Second City in both Denver and Chicago, where she first met future Late Night co-writer Jenny Hagel. In 2011, she moved to Los Angeles; joined the YouTube comedy group RobotDown featuring Jessica Lowe, Carlo Corbellini, and Davey Vorhes; and appeared on an episode of Key & Peele.[2][12] She also joined the nationally recognized sketch and musical comedy troupe Story Pirates, where she performed sketches based on stories written by kids. Ruffin was also a member of Sacred Fools Theater Company[13] performing a serialized version of King of Kong: A Musical Parody, a two-woman show parodying the documentary The King of Kong. The musical was co-written with co-star Lauren Van Kurin and directed by fellow Boom Chicago alum Brendan Hunt, with music by David Schmoll.[14] King of Kong appeared at the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival[15] winning Best Overall Musical 2014, and the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival (with Hunt subbing for an unavailable Ruffin),[16] where it won Best Musical & Outstanding Songwriting. The show returned to Sacred Fools in September 2016 for a performance attended by parody target Billy Mitchell himself.[17]

In 2013, Saturday Night Live received backlash for not having any Black women on the cast.[18] Ruffin auditioned for the show in 2014 alongside Tiffany Haddish, Leslie Jones, Gabrielle Dennis, Nicole Byer, Simone Shepherd, and Bresha Webb.[19][11] Ruffin was unsuccessful in her audition. A few days later Seth Meyers called to ask her to be a writer on his new late night show. Ruffin has been a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers since the show's start in 2014.[2][20] In addition to writing she also appears in several recurring segments on the program including: "Amber Says What?", "Amber's Minute of Fury", "Jokes Seth Can't Tell" (with fellow writer Jenny Hagel), and "Point, Counterpoint".[21] When the George Floyd protests began, Ruffin opened a week's worth of shows by retelling her experiences with police officers and police brutality.[22] Meyers interviewed Ruffin as a guest for the show's 1,000th episode.

When not writing for Late Night, Ruffin wrote for the Comedy Central show Detroiters and was a regular narrator on the Comedy Central show Drunk History. In 2017, Ruffin developed a single-camera comedy show, Going Dutch, but the series was not ordered.[23][24][25] She was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in the category "Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) Series" in 2017.[26]

In February 2018, Ruffin hosted the 70th Writers Guild of America awards ceremony.[27]

In 2019, NBC ordered a pilot presentation for Ruffin's single-camera comedy series Village Gazette.[25] In the same year Ruffin was a writer for the first season of A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO.

On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Ruffin would host her own late-night talk show on NBC's streaming service Peacock titled The Amber Ruffin Show.[28] The show premiered on September 25, 2020. The show breaks away from the typical late night structure, foregoing guests and focusing instead on topical sketches.[29] The show was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award in the category "Comedy/Variety Sketch Series" in 2021. The show was also nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.[30]

Ruffin and her sister Lacey Lamar co-authored a book, titled You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism, which was released on January 12, 2021, and was placed on the New York Times Best Seller list.[4][5][6]

In February 2021, it was announced that Ruffin was set to co-write the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of Some Like It Hot alongside Matthew Lopez.[31][32][33] She received a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical nomination for the show.

In September 2022, it was revealed that Ruffin would be the voice actor of Purple, the new spokescandy for M&M's.[34]

Personal life

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Ruffin was married to Dutch artist Jan Schiltmeijer from 2010 until their divorce in 2023.[35][36] On the last day of 2024's Pride Month, she announced on Instagram that she was "coming out," showing a photo of herself wearing a shirt saying "QUEER."[37]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2010 Ox Tales (voice) 2nd English dub
2012 RobotDown Various Also producer, writer
Key & Peele Party Wife Episode #2.9
2012–2013 Animation Domination High-Def Various, Misty (voice) 3 episodes
2014 Wish It Inc. Shari 12 episodes
66th Primetime Emmy Awards TV special; writer
2014–present Late Night with Seth Meyers Herself / various Also writer (175+ episodes)
2015 Above Average Presents Nurse Episode: "Unique Hospital: The Surgery Results"
2017–2018 Detroiters Molly 2 episodes; also writer
2018 75th Golden Globe Awards TV special; writer
2019 Tuca & Bertie Dakota (voice) Episode: "The New Bird"
Drunk History Barbara Cooke Episode: "Legacies"
You're Not a Monster Mermaid / Gremlin (voice) 2 episodes
76th Golden Globe Awards TV special; writer
A Black Lady Sketch Show Writer (6 episodes)
2020 Village Gazette Amber Also executive producer and writer
2020–2023 The Amber Ruffin Show Host Also writer
2021–2022 Central Park Shauna / Sha-Boom (voice) 5 episodes
2022 Would I Lie to You? (US) Herself Episode: "Babysitting Lemurs"
Girls5eva T.K. Episode: "Leave a Message If You Love Me"
Big Mouth Auntie Amber (voice) Episode: "Asexual Healing"
Gutsy Herself 2 episodes
2024 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Mom Episode: "Medicaid"
2024 Have I Got News For You Herself Panelist[38]

Podcasts

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Year Title Role Notes
2020 Escape from Virtual Island Faith (voice) Audio comedy, 11 episodes

Bibliography

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  • Ruffin, Amber; Lamar, Lacey (January 12, 2021). You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5387-1934-3.
  • Ruffin, Amber; Lamar, Lacey (November 22, 2022). The World Record Book of Racist Stories. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781538724576.

Honors

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "40 Under 40: Amber Ruffin, 39 Writer/ Performer, Late Night With Seth Meyers". Crain's New York Business. March 25, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Mertes, Micah (February 25, 2014). "Omaha comic writing for 'Late Night with Seth Meyers'". Omaha World-Herald.
  3. ^ Dries, Kate (January 10, 2014). "Meet the First Black Woman to Write for a Network Late Night Show". Jezebel.
  4. ^ a b Ruffin, Amber; Lamar, Lacey (August 4, 2020). You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey. Grand Central. ISBN 9781538719367.
  5. ^ a b "You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey". Kirkus Reviews.
  6. ^ a b "Amber Ruffin's hilariously horrifying book about everyday racism shows this is indeed who we are". Salon.com. January 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  7. ^ White, Peter (May 13, 2022). "Amber Ruffin & Jenny Hagel Strike Overall Deal With Universal Television & Launch Production Company Straight To Cards". Deadline. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  8. ^ Markel, Katrina (October 30, 2018). "Appropriately Inappropriate". Omaha Magazine.
  9. ^ Monroe, Waverle (July 11, 2018). "Local comedian remembers her roots, comes home for Fourth of July". KETV. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  10. ^ "Amber Ruffin – New Hollywood". Spotify. September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Amber Ruffin – Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best". Spotify. September 23, 2020. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  12. ^ Metz, Nina (January 8, 2014). "More Chicago on Seth Meyers' show". Chicago Tribune.
  13. ^ "Sacred Fools – Members & Staff (archival page, 10-23-14)". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013.
  14. ^ "Serial Killers – King of Kong: The Musical".
  15. ^ "About the Artists listing for King of Kong at the 2014 New York Fringe".
  16. ^ "Hollywood Fringe listing – "King of Kong: A Musical Parody"".
  17. ^ "Sacred Fools – "King of Kong: A Musical Parody"".
  18. ^ Weisman, Aly (October 17, 2013). "'SNL's' Kenan Thompson Refuses To Dress In Drag Until The Show Hires A Black Woman". Business Insider Australia. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  19. ^ @gabrielledennis (December 2, 2013). "With my girls @Breshawebb @simoneshepherd @TiffanyHaddish & other funny ladies I got to meet at our #SNL showcase :)" (Tweet). Retrieved September 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Rockett, Darcel (October 6, 2017). "Amber Ruffin gives us 'Late Night' laughs while forging her own path". Chicago Tribune.
  21. ^ "Amber Ruffin Says What!?" (National Public Radio)
  22. ^ Wright, Megh (June 3, 2020). "Amber Ruffin Opens Up About Her Experiences With Racist Police". Vulture. Retrieved June 4, 2020.
  23. ^ Wagmeister, Elizabeth (September 26, 2016). "Seth Meyers Developing Two Scripted Comedies at NBC". Variety.
  24. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (October 23, 2017). "'Late Night's Amber Ruffin To Co-Write & Star In NBC Comedy Based On Her Life From Lorne Michaels & Seth Meyers". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  25. ^ a b Wright, Megh (February 1, 2019). "Amber Ruffin Has a New Seth Meyers–Produced Comedy in the Works". Vulture.
  26. ^ Lauder, Thomas Suh (January 24, 2017). "Who's been nominated, who are the winners (WGA)". Los Angeles Times.
  27. ^ McNary, Dave (December 4, 2017). "Amber Ruffin to Host Writers Guild Awards in New York". Variety. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  28. ^ "Peacock Unveils First-Look at Late Night Shows 'Wilmore' & 'The Amber Ruffin Show'". September 14, 2020.
  29. ^ Garron, Taylor (September 4, 2020). "Let Amber Ruffin Be Your Guide". Vulture. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  30. ^ "The Amber Ruffin Show". Television Academy. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  31. ^ Bahr, Sarah (February 10, 2021). "Amber Ruffin to Co-Write Broadway Musical 'Some Like It Hot'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  32. ^ McPhee, Ryan (February 10, 2021). "Amber Ruffin to Co-Write Broadway-Aimed Some Like It Hot Musical". Playbill. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  33. ^ Evans, Greg (February 10, 2021). "Amber Ruffin Joins Broadway-Bound 'Some Like It Hot' Musical As Co-Writer". Deadline. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  34. ^ Moore, Cortney (September 30, 2022). "M&M's adds new purple candy character to represent 'acceptance and inclusivity'". FOXBusiness. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  35. ^ "Comic Amber Ruffin Shares Crazy Stories About Racism That Her Sister Has Endured in Powerful New Book". Peoplemag.
  36. ^ Woerner, Meredith (June 30, 2024). "Amber Ruffin Comes Out on the Last Day of Pride: 'Be Proud of Who You Are'". Variety. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  37. ^ Naughton, Phillippe (June 30, 2024). "Ex-Late Night Host Uses Last Day of Pride Month to Come Out". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on June 30, 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  38. ^ Porter, Rick (August 8, 2024). "Roy Wood Jr. to Host CNN's 'Have I Got News for You'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 14, 2024.
  39. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers – Books – Jan. 31, 2021". The New York Times. January 31, 2021. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  40. ^ "2021 Time100 Next: Amber Ruffin". Time. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
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