Jake Fogelnest


Benjamin Jacob Fogelnest, better known as Jake Fogelnest, is an American writer, comedian, former radio personality, and American satirist.

Early career/SQUiRT TV

Fogelnest started a television show, Squirt TV, from his New York City bedroom when he was 14 years old. Squirt TV made its debut in January 1994 on Manhattan public-access television cable TV. The show, which Fogelnest wrote, produced, and directed, featured his opinions on music, film and television. The one-man show quickly became a cult success in Manhattan, attracting with its quirky style, sense of humor and edgy commentary a fan base of night owls, including Beastie Boys, Janeane Garofalo, and Eric Bogosian.
Squirt TV soon moved from public-access television to MTV. Still recorded from Fogelnest's bedroom, the show featured more celebrity guests, including Adam Sandler, Beck, and The Kids in the Hall—some of whom had appeared on Squirt TV in its original public-access television incarnation.

Television writer/producer

In 2005, Fogelnest created Ten Years Later for MTV, a fictional documentary which followed Fogelnest's life if he "never grew out of 'Squirt TV.'" The show was co-written and directed by Tom Gianas.
In 2015, he created a series titled "Start Making Sense" for IFC which included a multiple script commitment. Ben Stiller served as Executive Producer and was slated to direct the pilot.
Fogelnest was a Staff Writer for Netflix's .
He served as a Story Editor for the first season of the Hulu series Difficult People, and became a Consulting Producer for the second and third seasons.
Fogelnest wrote for two seasons on truTV's Billy on the Street.
Fogelnest was a Co-Producer on Girlboss for Netflix and wrote the episode "Long Ass Pants."
Fogelnest served as the Executive Producer/Showrunner for season one of the Comedy Central series, Corporate, also writing the episode "Society Tomorrow."
Fogelnest wrote for the Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon specials The 2018 Rose Parade Hosted by Cord & Tish for Amazon and The Royal Wedding Live with Cord and Tish! for HBO.
In 2019, Jake served as an Executive Producer on the second season of Liza on Demand.

Other television

Fogelnest was a regular commentator on VH1's I Love the... series. Other television credits include a 1995 hour-long special for Comedy Central, MTV's 12 Angry Viewers, Upright Citizens Brigade, and guest appearances on The Jon Stewart Show, Howard Stern and The Chris Gethard Show.
In 2018, Fogelnest appeared as DJ Dan Lyon in season two of the Netflix series GLOW.

Additional writing

Fogelnest has written for magazines such as Spin, Ray Gun, Bikini, Alternative Press, and Jane and The Onion.
As a long-time fan of The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, Fogelnest contributed to the liner notes for The Numero Group's 2015 boxset, The Best of the Best Show with a definitive interview he conducted with Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster.
In 2015, Fogelnest wrote a piece for VICE sharing his feelings about the retirement of David Letterman from late-night television.

Theatre

Fogelnest became actively involved at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City when it opened in 1999. While there he performed in, wrote and directed many sketch and improv shows. He also served as one of the first artistic directors at the theatre.
In 2000, Fogelnest co-directed "Jerry Minor is a Black Man" for the Saturday Night Live alum. The show originated at UCB and was also performed at The Second City in Chicago.
In 2001, he served as assistant director for Sarah Silverman's one-woman show Jesus Is Magic at Joe's Pub.
Fogelnest co-directed the two-person show "Eye Candy," starring Dannah Phirman and Danielle Schneider, which was selected for the 2002 HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.
Fogelnest's most acclaimed UCB production was 2004's, "George Bush is a Motherfucker," which featured many members of Respecto Montalban and was produced by Adam McKay.
Alongside Paul Scheer, Fogelnest regularly hosted "Talk Show with Jake Fogelnest" at the original UCB Theatre in New York. After over a decade long hiatus, Scheer and Fogelnest brought the show back for one-night only in 2015 to celebrate the UCB Theatre's 10th Anniversary in Los Angeles.
In 2015, Fogelnest worked as a director with "Three Busy Debras" at the Annoyance Theatre in Brooklyn, New York.

Radio

In 2004, Fogelnest won a New York City A.I.R. Award for hosting the "Top 92 Worst Xmas Songs of All-Time" on the former WXRK where he worked as a DJ before the station changed formats and became WFNY-FM.
Upon K-Rock's format switch, Fogelnest hosted a radio show on the new Free-FM with Jackie Clarke called Jake and Jackie. The show was a combination of pop culture discussion and radio sketch comedy. Fogelnest left the show for Sirius XM radio in 2006.
From 2006-2014, Fogelnest had a show on Sirius XM's College rock/Indie rock channel, Sirius XMU. He was also heard on Sirius XM Alt Nation. Fogelnest exited Sirius XM in November 2014 to focus full-time on writing for television.

Podcasting/web

In 2012, Fogelnest appeared as a DJ in the music video for Real Estate's video, "Easy".
In September 2012, Fogelnest launched, The Fogelnest Files on Earwolf. Due to his increasing workload in television, Fogelnest put the show on hiatus in 2014.
In 2014, Fogelnest served as a staff writer and director at Funny Or Die. While there, he directed the music video for King Tuff's song,
Fogelnest has appeared as a guest on numerous podcasts over the years, including WTF with Marc Maron.
In 2017, Fogelnest appeared on the "What's in My Bag" series from Amoeba Records.
In 2019, Jake began writing for "The Ron Burgundy Podcast."