Ophira Eisenberg: Bio, Comedy Style, and Where to Watch

Who is Ophira Eisenberg?

Ophira Eisenberg was born in 1972 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She studied Cultural Anthropology and Theatre at McGill University, moved to New York City in 2001, obtained American citizenship in April 2021, and has been a fixture of the New York comedy club scene — including the Comedy Cellar — for over two decades. New York Magazine named her one of the city’s Top 10 Comics That Funny People Find Funny. The New York Times called her a skilled comedian and storyteller with “bleakly stylish” humor.

She hosted NPR and WNYC’s national comedy trivia show Ask Me Another for nine years, interviewing and playing games with hundreds of celebrities including Sir Patrick Stewart, Awkwafina, Rosie Perez, Yo-Yo Ma, Nick Kroll, and Chelsea Handler. She has appeared on Comedy Central, This Week at the Comedy Cellar, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Today Show, HBO’s Girls, Kevin Hart’s LOL Network, and Sherri!. She is a regular host and storyteller on The Moth Radio Hour, and her stories appear in three of The Moth’s bestselling collections. Her comedic memoir Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy was published in 2013, optioned for a television series, and translated into Dutch. Her solo show Leaving a Mark: A Comedy About Scars won the Women in the Arts & Media Award for Solo Show Scripts and toured internationally, including the Netherlands. In November 2025, she recorded a new one-hour comedy special at the Comedy Cellar. The special, produced by Lewis Black’s Stark Raving Black Productions, is set to stream in Spring 2026. She hosts the comedy-parenting podcast Parenting Is a Joke with iHeart Radio. She is also a breast cancer survivor.

Ophira Eisenberg’s Comedy Style

Eisenberg works in a mode where stand-up and storytelling are not separate disciplines but the same one. Her material is personal, dark in places, and consistently precise — the “bleakly stylish” characterization from the Times is accurate. The nine years hosting Ask Me Another produced someone who can improvise confidently in any format, adapt to any audience, and find the funny in almost any situation. Her Cellar sets reflect all of that: tight jokes alongside real emotional territory, handled without sentimentality.

Where to Find Ophira Eisenberg

Find tour dates and the Parenting Is a Joke podcast at ophiraeisenberg.com. Follow her on Instagram @ophirae.

Ophira Eisenberg has performed at the Comedy Cellar in New York City’s Greenwich Village — and recorded her new special there in November 2025. 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.