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Comedy Central Debuts First Digital-Only Special: Emily Heller’s Ice Thickeners

Stand up enthusiasts – and Emily Heller fans in particular – have reason to celebrate this month, as the comedian’s newest special “Ice Thickeners” premiered on Comedy Central Digital (March 8). It is both Heller’s first hour-long effort and the channel’s first digital-only stand up special. It’s viewable on the network’s YouTube account and was filmed at The Showbox in Seattle last June. Heller wanted to perform in front of an all-female audience, so she encouraged women to buy up all the tickets.

Heller is known primarily for her television writing and stand up, but she also works as an actor and podcaster. She won a Writer’s Guild Award earlier this year for the critically acclaimed HBO series Barry, which stars Bill Hader. She previously wrote for the last season of Cougartown, NBC’s Crowded, and TBS’s People of Earth. She played Lindsay on the second season of TBS’s Ground Floor and has appeared in episodes of Inside Amy SchumerAdam Ruins Everything, and Grace and Frankie.

As a stand up, she’s performed on Conan, Seth Meyers, and most recently James Corden. She’s been hosting the podcast “Baby Geniuses” with artist Lisa Hanawalt since 2012 and it’s spawned a devoted fanbase [Editor’s note: I am part of said fanbase]. Heller’s sister Marielle Heller is a writer, actor, and director best known for The Diary of a Teenage Girl and the Oscar-nominated Can You Ever Forgive Me? starring Melissa McCarthy. Heller’s brother-in-law – and Marielle’s husband – is Jorma Taccone, who is one-third of The Lonely Island and whose butt you can’t forget from that infamous Girls sex scene.

Arguably Heller’s coolest credit, however? Her appearance as the nonplussed cashier opposite Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg in “Lazy Sunday.” Classic.

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