Candidates
Carol Leifer
"I am the ultimate carnival barker."
Hailed by The Washington Post as "refreshing" and "one of the best comedic minds of our time," Carol Leifer (pronounced LEE-fur) is an acclaimed stand up comedian and Emmy-nominated writer.
Currently, Leifer's first book of humorous essays for Random House, entitled "When You Lie About Your Age, the Terrorists Win" is now a bestseller. In her recent press tour in support of her book, Carol appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Today Show," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," The Late Show with David Letterman," "Real Time with Bill Maher," "The Howard Stern Show," and "Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR." Leifer is also now a featured author of The Jewish Book Council's Jewish book network. Leifer was recently featured in the Adam Sandler film "Funny People," playing herself. And Leifer just guest-starred on Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and contributed as a writer and performer to Carrie Underwood's FOX holiday special
Leifer, a Long Island native, began her career as a comic in such well-known clubs as The Comic Strip, Catch a Rising Star and The Improv. Her "big break" came when David Letterman unexpectedly showed up at The Comic Strip one night and personally caught her show. His visit led to 25 appearances on NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman." In addition, Letterman also produced Leifer's Cinemax special called "Carol Doesn't Leifer Anymore."
Shortly thereafter, Leifer wrote, produced and starred in three specials for Showtime: "Carol Leifer Comedy Cruise," "Really Big Shoo" and "Gaudy, Bawdy, and Blue," which was nominated for three cable ACE Awards. She also appeared in HBO's "Young Comedians Special" and "The Rodney Dangerfield Special: Nothin' Goes Right." Leifer also starred in her own stand-up special for Comedy Central.
The New York Times praised Leifer's stand-up as having "a gentle eye for the smaller absurdities."
One of Leifer's greatest career dreams came true when she appeared with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" two months prior to his retirement. She has appeared on numerous other television shows, including "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Huckabee," "Live with Regis and Kelly," "Mike & Juliet Show," and "Issues with Jane Velez Mitchell."
Leifer has also been the opening act for a variety of legendary performers, including Frank Sinatra, The Pointer Sisters, Wynonna Judd and Jerry Seinfeld.
Turning to Leifer's writing career, it all began when she became a staff writer for the seminal comedy show "Saturday Night Live." She moved on to writing sitcoms, joining the staff of "Seinfeld," where she contributed to over 75 episodes, eventually becoming a producer of the show that has been hailed as "the greatest sitcom of all time." The most famous episodes of "Seinfeld" that Leifer penned (or co-penned) include the famous "shrinkage" episode "The Hamptons" (nominated for the Writer's Guild Award), "The Understudy" (starring Bette Midler), "The Lip Reader" (featuring Marlee Matlin), and the episode that made marble-rye bread a classic, "The Rye."
