Iliza Shlesinger

Iliza Vie Shlesinger (/ʃlɛsɪnɡər/; born February 22, 1983) is an American comedienne. She was the winner of the sixth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing and host of the syndicated dating show Excused.

Early life

Shlesinger is from Dallas, Texas, where she attended the private Greenhill School and participated on the school's improv team. She is Jewish. She performed with ComedySportz Dallas and attended the University of Kansas for her freshman year. She also participated in Semester at Sea. She transferred to Emerson College in Boston, where she majored in film. There, she was a member of the campus' comedy sketch group, Jimmy's Traveling All Stars, and refined her writing and editing skills.

Career

After graduating from college, Shlesinger moved to Los Angeles to pursue stand-up comedy. She was one of the most popular members of the Whiteboy Comedy group of standup comedians in Los Angeles, which brought her to the stage at The Improv in Hollywood.

In 2007, Shlesinger won Myspace's So You Think You're Funny contest and has been featured as the G4 network's Myspace Girl of the Week. Her television credits include E! Network's Forbes Celebrity 100, TV Guide's America's Next Top Producer, Comedy Central Presents Season 14 Episode 18,John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show,Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed, and History Channel's History of a Joke. She has written for Heavy.com and had her own show on GOTV's mobile network.