Alexandra Petri, the long-time humor columnist at The Washington Post and now at The Atlantic, is a master of holding the powerful to account with her wit. Winner of the 2025 Thurber Prize for American Humor for her book, AP’s US History: Important American Documents (I Made Up), she’s also an award-winning playwright. To paraphrase Dave Barry, despite stiff competition from Congress, she’s “the funniest person in Washington.”

Bruce Handy began his prolific career at Spy, the iconic and much-missed humor magazine. He was also an Emmy- nominated writer at Saturday Night Live. Currently a Vanity Fair contributing writer, his essays, reviews and humor pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker and others. He’s the author of six books, and Publisher’s Weekly has described his writing as “spirited, perceptive, and just outright funny.”

Ledia Xhoga is a writer whose work encompasses literary fiction, short stories and comedic plays. Her debut novel, Misinterpretation, was long listed for the 2025 Booker Prize; it also received a New York City Book Award and was a finalist for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Debutiful called it “a gorgeously written book that combines humor and suspense.” Her comedic plays are distinguished by their spirit-lifting effects.

Sara Benincasa is a comedian, author and actress. Her essay
collections include Real Artists Have Day Jobs and Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom. She’s also published two novels, Great and D.C. Trip, and adapted two books for the screen. Earlier this year, she won an American Society of Magazine Editors Award for “An Agoraphobe Goes to the Grocery Store,” which ran in the New York Times Magazine; the Times says she’s “utterly hilarious!”

Jon Glaser is an actor and Emmy-winning writer who created, co-
wrote and starred in the TV shows Delocated, Neon Joe Werewolf Hunter, and Jon Glaser

Loves Gear.  He was also a long-

time writer/performer on Late

Night with Conan O'Brien. His

album Soothing Meditations For The Solitary Dog is available

from Pretty Good Friends Records, and his book My Dead Dad Was In ZZ Top is available from Harper Perennial.

Sydney LeBlanc founded Uptown at Night in 2016, and she produces and hosts the shows. A former design writer, she now writes humorous short stories. Her architecture articles have appeared in The New York Times; her architecture books were published by W.W. Norton; and she was a visiting writer at the American Academy in Rome. Sydney frequently reads her humorous short stories at the Library’s "Live from the Library"events.

Irene Westfall is a music director and pianist. Her credits include Associate Conductor on the Book of Mormon tour and pianist for Ruby Karp's hilarious one-woman show "I Don't Trust Adults" at Soho Playhouse. A Wesleyan University graduate, she’s also played in many theatrical productions, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Legally Blonde, The Addams Family, and Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore; she was also the musical director of Carrie at St John’s University.