Sara Benincasa

Sara Benincasa is a comedian, actress, college speaker on mental health awareness, and the author of “Real Artists Have Day Jobs” (William Morrow 2016); “DC Trip” (Adaptive 2015); “Great” (HarperTeen 2014); and “Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My Bedroom” (William Morrow 2012).

Sara hosts the self-help podcast “Well, This Isn’t Normal” and combines interviews with relaxation techniques. Before that, she hosted the podcast “Where Ya From?” and interviewed Ben Stiller, Michael Arceneaux and others about their origin stories (geographic and otherwise.) She wrote for the upcoming 13th season of Mystery Science Theater 3000. She adapted “DC Trip” as a screenplay with Bona Fide, Gunpowder & Sky, and Adaptive Studios, and “Agorafabulous” as a pilot for TV with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody. “Great” has been optioned for television twice (so far).

Recent-ish roles include a comedic campaign for the NY Times with Art Class Content (2019), “Corporate” on Comedy Central (2018), “Bill Nye Saves The World”” on Netflix (2017), “The Jim Gaffigan Show” on TVLand (2016) and the critically acclaimed short film “The Focus Group” (2016), which she also wrote.

A former Sirius XM host and producer, she’s been heard on various programs on BBC World Service and NPR. She’s appeared as a talking head on CNBC, CNN, and other networks. She’s guested on Chris Gethard’s New Jersey is the World, WTF with Marc Maron, Bad with Money with Gaby Dunn, The Mental Illness Happy Hour, Throwing Shade, and several other podcasts.
She has written six cover stories for BUST magazine and one for Women’s Health. As an opinion and features writer, she’s contributed to Buzzfeed, Bust magazine, the Guardian, Glamour, Eater, Bustle, CNN.com and other outlets.
Sara serves on the Creative Council for Emily’s List, a political action committee that has grown to be one of the largest financial resources for minority women seeking elected office. She is also active on behalf of Miry’s List, an organization that provides furnishings, school assistance and more for newly resettled refugee families in Southern California and beyond.

Sara attended Emerson College and has a degree in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, N.C. She has an M.A. in Secondary School Education from Teachers College at Columbia University.
She’s spoken to dozens of colleges, universities, comedy festivals, writers’ conferences and nonprofit groups about creative writing, storytelling, comedy and mental health awareness.

She’s based in Brooklyn but spends a lot of time in Los Angeles and sunny New Jersey.