Michael Che

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Michael Che
File:Michael Che at Citi Field, 2015.jpg
Che in 2015
Birth name Michael Che Campbell
Born (1983-05-19) May 19, 1983 (age 40)
New York City, U.S.
Medium
Education Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School
Years active 2009–present
Genres
Subject(s)
Notable works and roles Weekend Update anchor, The Daily Show correspondent, Saturday Night Live writer

Michael Che Campbell (/ˈtʃeɪ/; born May 19,[1] 1983)[2] is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Che is best known for his work on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he has served as co-anchor on Weekend Update alongside Colin Jost, and the two were co-head writers from 2017 until 2022.[3] Che and Jost co-hosted the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018.[4]

Che was briefly a correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has previously worked as a writer for Saturday Night Live. At the end of September 2014, he became a Weekend Update co-anchor for the 40th season of Saturday Night Live alongside Colin Jost, replacing Cecily Strong.[5]

Early life

Michael Che Campbell was born in Manhattan, New York City, New York, the youngest of seven children of Rose and Nathaniel Campbell.[6] He has four older brothers and two older sisters.[7] One of his older brothers is a detective with the New York Police Department, and another retired from law enforcement.[7][8] His father named Michael after the revolutionary Che Guevara.[9]

Che was raised on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.[10] He graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.[11][12]

Che worked in customer service for a Toyota car dealership for two years. He also created acrylic portraits of celebrities, printed the portraits on T-shirts, and sold them in SoHo. Tommy Hilfiger noticed his work and offered Che freelance work, but he did not turn in any designs.[13]

Career

Beginnings and Saturday Night Live

File:Michael Che 2013 01.png
Che in 2013

Che started performing stand-up comedy in 2009, regularly working several sets per night.[14] In 2012, Che appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman.[14][15] In 2013, Variety called Che one of "10 Comics to Watch",[16] while Rolling Stone named him one of "The 50 Funniest People".[11]

Che joined Saturday Night Live as a writer in 2013, at first as a guest writer and soon after as staff writer.[14] On April 28, 2014, it was announced that Che would join The Daily Show in June as a correspondent.[15][17] Che made his onscreen debut as a Daily Show correspondent on June 4. Although he appeared in only nine segments during his brief tenure on the show, he was lauded by TV Guide for his work. His signature piece for the Daily Show was "Race/Off: Live From Somewhere", a satirical commentary on the 2014 Ferguson protests. In this segment, Che "reported" from various locations (with frequent background changes accomplished via chroma key), looking for a place where a black man would not be harassed by police officers. The sketch ended with Che floating in outer space.[18]

On September 11, 2014, it was announced that Che would take over Cecily Strong's position as a Weekend Update co-anchor for the 40th season of SNL, co-anchoring the segment with Colin Jost.[5] Che is the first African-American co-anchor in the history of Weekend Update.[19] During his first two seasons, Che primarily hosted Weekend Update and rarely appeared in any sketches. During his third season, Che was promoted to the main cast. In December 2017, Che was named co-head writer of Saturday Night Live.[20] Vulture.com's Megh Wright complimented the Weekend Update joke-swapping segment where Che writes shockingly racist jokes for Jost to deliver.[21] Che resigned as head writer ahead of the show's 48th season in 2022.[3]

At a stand-up show on March 26, 2022, Che announced that he was leaving the desk after the current season, although he didn't state when or why he is leaving.[22] After initially denying in an Instagram post he would leave, he later told Tony Dokoupil on the May 15, 2022 edition of CBS News Sunday Morning that he was uncertain about his future on SNL.[23][24]

Other appearances

In 2014, Che appeared in the movie Top Five, appearing as one of Chris Rock's character's friends.[25]

On September 17, 2018, Che co-hosted the Emmy Awards with Colin Jost.[26] Che and Jost also appeared on the March 4, 2019, episode of WWE's Monday Night Raw, where both were announced as special correspondents for WrestleMania 35. The pair got involved in a storyline with wrestler Braun Strowman, which eventually resulted in Che and Jost becoming participants in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania.[27]

Che has also appeared as a special guest on several episodes of the podcast "The Roundtable of Gentlemen".[28]

Filmography

Film

Year Film Role
2013 Chinese Puzzle Un passant
2014 Lyle Threes
2014 Top Five Paul

Television

Year Series Role Notes
2012 John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show Himself Episode: "3.5"
2013–present Saturday Night Live Himself, Various Also writer
2014 The Half Hour Himself Stand-up special
2014 The Daily Show Himself 9 episodes
2016 Michael Che Matters Himself, Executive Producer, Writer Netflix special
2017 Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday Himself, Writer 3 episodes; also writer
2017 Detroiters Actor, Writer 1 episode
2018 70th Primetime Emmy Awards Himself (host), Writer TV special
2018 Seth Rogen's Hilarity for Charity Himself TV special
2018 Bumping Mics with Jeff Ross & Dave Attell' Himself 1 episode
2019 The Other Two Himself 1 episode
2019 Sesame Street Himself Guest
2019 WWE Raw Himself Special guest (2 episodes)[29][27][30]
2019 WrestleMania 35 Himself Special guest
2021–Present That Damn Michael Che Himself, Executive Producer, Writer Creator, Writer
2021 Michael Che: Shame the Devil Himself, Writer Netflix Special
2021 Quest for Craft Actor 1 episode
2022 Ziwe Himself Episode: "Men!"
2022 Sean Patton: Number One Executive Producer

Awards and honors

Year Award Nominated work Result
2015 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety (Including Talk) – Series[31] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2016 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[32] Saturday Night Live Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series[33] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2017 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[34] Saturday Night Live Won
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series[35] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2018 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[36] Saturday Night Live Won
Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[36] Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series[37] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2019 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[38] Saturday Night Live Nominated
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series[39] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2020 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[40] Saturday Night Live Nominated
2022 Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[41] Saturday Night Live Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety – Sketch Series[41] That Damn Michael Che Nominated

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Ferré-Sadurní, Luis (January 9, 2019). "Michael Che Grew Up in New York City’s Projects. Now He’s Trying to Help Them". The New York Times.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Huddleston, Jr., Tom (September 18, 2018). "How Emmys host Michael Che went from selling T-shirts on a NYC street-corner to 'Saturday Night Live' star". CNBC.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  40. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Media offices
Preceded by
Colin Jost and Cecily Strong
 Weekend Update anchor with Colin Jost
September 27, 2014 – present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by
Chris Kelly, Sarah Schneider, Bryan Tucker, and Kent Sublette
 SNL Head Writer
(with Colin Jost, Bryan Tucker, and Kent Sublette)
December 16, 2017 – May 19, 2018		 Succeeded by
Himself
(with Colin Jost and Kent Sublette)
Preceded by
Himself, Colin Jost, Bryan Tucker, and Kent Sublette
 SNL Head Writer
(with Colin Jost, and Kent Sublette)
September 29, 2018 – May 9, 2020		 Succeeded by
Himself
(with Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, and Anna Drezen)
Preceded by
Himself, Colin Jost and Kent Sublette
 SNL Head Writer
(with Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, and Anna Drezen)
October 3, 2020 – December 18, 2021		 Succeeded by
Himself
(with Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidell)
Preceded by
Himself, Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, and Anna Drezen
 SNL Head Writer
(with Colin Jost, Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidell)
January 15 – May 21, 2022		 Succeeded by
Kent Sublette, Alison Gates, and Streeter Seidell
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Michael_Che&oldid=727273562"