Columbia College Chicago Theatre Department alum Asha Ward ’21, a graduate of the Theatre Department’s BA Program in Comedy Writing and Performance, has been identified as one of “The Comedians You Should and Will Know in 2023: 25 Comics Who Industry Insiders Predict Will Be Tomorrow’s Superstars” by the entertainment news site Vulture.

In an article posted October 2, 2023, Vulture’s reporters wrote: “We’re here to celebrate the cream of the crop, separate the wheat from the chaff, and present to you 25 unique, hilarious babies we refuse to toss with the yucky bathwater. These are the comedians you will know because they’re creating all kinds of weird and wonderful work while introducing a range of new perspectives and sensibilities to the art form. . . . Vulture polled more than a hundred industry insiders, including bookers, producers, artistic directors at theaters, talent scouts, TV executives, heads of podcast networks and comedy record labels, comedy photographers, and previous Comedians You Should and Will Know, to name the writers and performers they think are breaking out beyond their own orbits and into a collision course with popular culture writ large.”

Analyzing Ward’s work as a stand-up comedian, Vulture said: “She talks so plainly and without affect, as if she’s worn out by her very existence, that any slight variation of tone sends the audience into waves of laughter. When she talks about her mother’s funeral, after which her family went to hibachi, the ‘objectively comical situation’ is amplified by how powerless Ward seems to stop it. She portrays herself as a backseat driver in her own life — present but more comfortable commenting than doing. Her words take on the symbolic work of throwing hands in the air, a motion that Ward would never make onstage because talking with her hands would kill the effect.”

Vulture went on to note: “Beyond stand-up, Ward was hired as a writer on SNL in December 2022, just a year and a half after graduating from Columbia College Chicago.” As previously reported in this blog, Ward was nominated for a 2023 Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series as a member of the writing staff of NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which is also nominated in the category of Outstanding Scripted Variety Series. The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, originally scheduled for September but postponed due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, will be broadcast on Fox on January 15, 2024.