All Joking Aside with Doug Herzog featuring Brian Jordan Alvarez

Join Doug Herzog ’81, LHD ’08 for the eighth interview in this series, featuring actor, writer, and television show creator, Brian Jordan Alvarez. Designed for the Emerson student community, this conversation will explore Brian’s experience in the industry, overall professional journey, and his advice for anyone looking to make a career for themselves in comedy or the entertainment industry in general. All Joking Aside with Doug Herzog is an exciting series that provides viewers with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the comedy business. Hosted by former comedy executive Doug Herzog, the series features in-depth interviews with renowned comedians, including stand-up performers, actors, producers, writers, and directors. Produced by The Center for Comedic Arts @ Emerson College and Emerson Los Angeles, the interviews will be conducted on stage at ELA (and live-streamed back to the Boston campus via Zoom), followed by a brief Q&A with Emerson students and alumni in attendance. More about Brian Jordan Alvarez: Brian Jordan Alvarez has established himself as one of this generation’s most promising multi-hyphenates with a repertoire of work spanning across television, film and social media. Alvarez serves as creator, showrunner and star of FX/Hulu’s acclaimed comedy series ENGLISH TEACHER. The series follows Evan, a gay high school English teacher in Austin, TX, and his coworkers as they try to balance the demands of the students and their parents. The first season debuted in Hulu’s Top 10 and has quickly become one of FX’s most popular shows of the year. ENGLISH TEACHER earned rave reviews from critics globally praising the show as “a must-watch” and “easily the year’s best new sitcom to date.” Alvarez was recently seen in Universal’s global horror phenomenon M3GAN, written by Akela Cooper, directed by Gerard Johnstone, and produced by Jason Blum. Alvarez will be returning for the film’s sequel, M3GAN 2.0, which will be released theatrically in 2025. His multidisciplinary work earned him the coveted honor of being named one of the New York Times ‘Breakout Stars of 2023’. He was also named one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” in 2017. In the digital space, Alvarez is commonly known for creating his successful YouTube digital series THE GAY AND WONDROUS LIFE OF CALEB GALLO. The show was named as IndieWire’s “Best Web Series” of 2016, nominated for a 2016 IFP Gotham Independent Film Award for “Breakthrough Series – Short Form,” and has resulted in a deal with Lionsgate to develop the series for TV. Alvarez’s other credits include his feature film EVERYTHING IS FREE, in which he directed, produced, and starred in, as well as CW’s JANE THE VIRGIN, Netflix’s comedy GRACE AND FRANKIE, Epix’s JAYSON, the Netflix comedy series SPECIAL, and his breakout role in NBC’s WILL & GRACE reboot. Alvarez currently resides in Los Angeles.