Greg Fitzsimmons: Bio, Comedy Style, and Where to Watch

Who is Greg Fitzsimmons?

Greg Fitzsimmons was born on April 5, 1966, in Tarrytown, New York. His father was a New York City radio and television personality — one of the original hosts of Good Day New York and a host of the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon for sixteen years. Greg started doing stand-up while attending Boston University, where he earned his degree and performed with the comedy troupe Uncontrolled Substance. He made his late-night debut on Late Show with David Letterman in 1996.

He is a four-time Daytime Emmy Award winner for his work as a writer and producer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003–2005). He began his writing career on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and has since written for The Man Show, The Chelsea Handler Show, Lucky Louie, The Wanda Sykes Show, and HBO’s Crashing. His Comedy Central one-hour special Life on Stage (2013) was named a Top 10 Comedy Release of the year by the LA Weekly. His most recent special, You Know Me, was recorded at the Comedy Mothership in Austin in November 2023 and covers 34 years of sobriety, relationships, aging, and finding contentment. He has made more than 20 appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience, more than 50 on The Howard Stern Show — where he was a finalist to replace Jackie Martling before the job went to Artie Lange — and over 100 on The Adam Carolla Show. Howard Stern gave him his own SiriusXM show, The Greg Fitzsimmons Show, which ran for over a decade. He hosts three current podcasts: Fitzdog Radio (over 1,000 episodes as of 2023), Sunday Papers with Mike Gibbons, and Childish with Alison Rosen. His 2011 memoir Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons received strong reviews from NPR and Vanity Fair. He is a cousin of PGA Tour golfer Denny McCarthy.

Greg Fitzsimmons’s Comedy Style

Fitzsimmons mixes incisive wit with scathing sarcasm and genuine confessional honesty — material about sobriety, marriage, parenting, and aging that comes from someone who has processed all of it on stage across three decades. The Howard Stern connection is not incidental: Fitzsimmons has the same commitment to unfiltered honesty that made that world work, applied to stand-up rather than radio. The four Emmy Awards for The Ellen DeGeneres Show demonstrate that the same brain can operate in completely different registers when the job calls for it.

Where to Find Greg Fitzsimmons

Life on Stage and You Know Me are available on streaming and at gregfitzsimmons.com, where you’ll also find tour dates and all three podcasts.

Greg Fitzsimmons has performed at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Check the current lineup and upcoming shows at comedycellar.com.

Catch Comedy Cellar shows live from New York on Mint Comedy at watch.mintcomedy.com.