Melinda Hill

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Hill in 2012

Melinda Hill is an American comedian and actress best known for her stand-up comedy and appearances in Lady Dynamite, Adventure Time, The Late Late Show, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Comics Unleashed, Who Wants to Date a Comedian?, and as the host of Comedy.TV.

Early life and education[]

Hill was born in Hutchinson, Kansas but spent her formative years in Colorado Springs, which she considers home.

Hill won a theatre scholarship where she did plays and took writing classes.[1] After her freshman year she transferred to the University of Kansas where she stayed for another year, before moving to California to study acting with Joanne Baron, and Sandra Seacat.[1] When finishing acting school, one of her teachers advised her to go into comedy.[2] Hill joined The Groundlings with no previous comedy experience.[1] She took classes, learned to write sketches and advanced through all levels before starting stand-up, incorporating all she'd learned about character based comedy writing at the Groundlings. Her classmates included Mikey Day, Brian Keith Etheridge and Kristen Wiig.[1][3]

Stand-up comedy[]

In addition to becoming a regular at the Hollywood Improv and storytelling shows such as Jill Solloway and Maggie Rowe's Sit N Spin at Comedy Central Stage, Hill was made a paid regular comedian at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles in 2012 and her name was painted on the wall.[2]

With Maria Bamford and Natasha Leggero, she cofounded the critically acclaimed stand-up comedy show What's Up, Tiger Lily? at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater (UCB), which ran for 10 years and was known for frequent celebrity drop-ins.[4] Hill has performed for U.S. military troops in Hawaii, Guam, Singapore, Okinawa, Marshall Islands, Honduras, Bahamas, Guantanamo Bay, Curaçao and Greenland.

She has released several comedy albums, including Accidental Bisexual (2011) and Six Ways to Bomb on America's Got Talent (2013).[5]

Her comedy special Inappropriate premiered on October 20, 2020, and was also released as a comedy album and audiobook.[6]

Television and film[]

As an actress, Hill has appeared on television in Lady Dynamite, Reno 911!, The Sarah Silverman Program, Important Things With Demetri Martin, Glory Daze, Roadies and Nick Swardson's Pretend Time, produced by Adam Sandler. She is also in the film Bright Day opposite Bill Maher. As a voice actress, she can be heard in Adventure Time and in the Emmy Award-winning Citibank commercial "Outfit."

Hill created, wrote, and starred in the award-winning digital series Romantic Encounters which gained millions of views on multiple platforms and hosted an interview series in an alley behind her comedy show called All Growz Up with Melinda Hill.[7][8] In 2014, with Bamford, she co-created, wrote, and starred in The Program (Funny or Die Productions),[9][10] which was named one of LA Weekly's "10 Best Web Series of 2014."[11] Her script Ghosted was recognized as one of 2017's top TV pilot scripts by women on advocacy group WeForShe's WriteHer list.[12]

In 2019, Hill was cast in the romantic comedy Love, Weddings & Other Disasters (2020) playing the role of Svetlana.[13]

She launched her podcast Let's Process This in April 2020 which explores processing trauma and transforming it into creative treasure.[14] Some guests on her podcast include Margaret Cho, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Liz Feldman, Bridget McManus, Danny Zuker, Yassir Lester, Greg Behrendt, Grey DeLisle, Tara Strong, EG Daily and Tracy McMillan.

Personal life[]

She lives in Los Angeles.[1]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Episode 1170 – Melinda Hill". WTF with Marc Maron Podcast. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Downs, Gordon (March 8, 2011). "Interview: Melinda Hill". www.sandiego.com. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  3. ^ "Confessions of a Tooth Fairy written and performed by Kristen Wiig & Melinda Hill". YouTube. Retrieved October 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "What's Up, Tiger Lily? Stand-Up Comedy". UCB Theatre. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  5. ^ "Melinda Hill – The Serious Comedy Site". Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  6. ^ "Melinda Hill's 'INAPPROPRIATE' out October 20 on Comedy Dynamics". Shark Party Media. October 1, 2020. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  7. ^ "Video Licks: We are Obsessed with Melinda Hill's 'All Growz Up' Web Series". Comedy Cake. November 8, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  8. ^ "Karen Kilgariff Reveals What She Wanted to Be When She Grew Up, During Interview in an Alley After a Comedy Show". The Comedy Bureau – LA Comedy and Open Mics. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  9. ^ "Maria Bamford, Melinda Hill Team Up For 'The Program' On Funny Or Die". Tubefilter. July 2, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "Maria Bamford and Melinda Hill Star in New 12-Step Funny or Die Series 'The Program'". www.vulture.com. July 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  11. ^ Carrie, Stephanie (July 18, 2014). "Maria Bamford and Melinda Hill's New Comedy About Going Into Debt". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  12. ^ McNary, Dave (February 7, 2017). "Advocacy Group WeForShe Unveils Top TV Pilot Scripts by Women (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  13. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (September 30, 2019). "Comedian Melinda Hill Joins Diane Keaton & Jeremy Irons Comedy 'Love, Weddings & Other Disasters'". Deadline. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  14. ^ "Let's Process This with Melinda Hill". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
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