Hubbry Logo
David JaverbaumDavid JaverbaumMain
Open search
David Javerbaum
Community hub
David Javerbaum
logo
7 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
David Javerbaum
David Javerbaum
from Wikipedia

David Adam Javerbaum /ˈævərˌbɔːm/ (born 1971) is an American comedy writer and lyricist. Javerbaum has won 13 Emmy Awards in his career, 11 of them for his work on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He runs the popular Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod, which at its peak had 6.2 million followers. The account was the basis for his play An Act of God, which opened on Broadway in the spring of 2015 starring Jim Parsons, and again in the spring of 2016 starring Sean Hayes.[1] The play has gone on to receive over 100 productions in 20 countries and 11 languages.

Key Information

Work

[edit]

Javerbaum was hired as a staff writer with The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 1999. He was promoted to head writer in 2002 and became an executive producer at the end of 2006. His work for the program won 11 Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, three Peabody Awards and Television Critics Association Awards for both Best Comedy and Best News Show. He was also one of the three principal authors of the show's textbook parody America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which sold 2.6 million copies and won the 2005 Thurber Prize for American Humor. He became a consulting producer at the start of 2009 and spearheaded the writing of the book's 2010 sequel, Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race; his co-production of the audiobook earned the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Spoken-Word Album. He left the show in 2010. In 2013 he was hired by Fusion to create and executive-produce two news-parody shows, No, You Shut Up! and Good Morning Today, in conjunction with The Henson Company. In 2015 he worked as a producer for The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. In 2016 Javerbaum co-created the Netflix sitcom Disjointed with Chuck Lorre.[2] He was also a consulting producer and one of three writers on Lorre's 2018 Netflix show The Kominsky Method. As of 2020 he is co-Executive Producer of the upcoming revival of Beavis and Butt-Head for Comedy Central.

Javerbaum's other work includes serving as head writer and supervising producer for both Comedy Central's first-ever Comedy Awards and The Secret Policeman's Ball 2012, writing and producing the original musical-comedy pilot Browsers for Amazon in 2013, and writing three episodes for the 2011 relaunch of Beavis and Butt-Head. He wrote for the Late Show with David Letterman from 1998 to 1999.

Books

[edit]

In addition to co-writing the two Daily Show books he is the sole author of three: the 2009 pregnancy satire What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters; 2011's The Last Testament: A Memoir by God, in conjunction with which he created @TheTweetOfGod; and, also as "God", The Book of Pslams: 97 Divine Diatribes on Humanity's Total Failure, which was published in April 2022 by Simon & Schuster. He also co-authored Neil Patrick Harris's 2014 memoir, The Choose Your Own Autobiography of Neil Patrick Harris.

Javerbaum graduated from Harvard University. While there, he wrote for the humor magazine The Harvard Lampoon and served as lyricist and co-bookwriter for two productions of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Later he spent three years contributing headlines to The Onion, and is credited as one of the writers for its first book, 1998's Our Dumb Century.

"A Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney," his humorous essay written for The New York Times, appeared in April 2012.[3]

Awards

[edit]

Javerbaum's score for the 2008 Broadway musical Cry-Baby, which he co-wrote with Adam Schlesinger, was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score. Along with composer/co-librettist Robert S. Cohen, he wrote Suburb,[4] which was nominated for Outer Critics' Circle and Drama League awards for Best Off-Broadway Musical in 2001.

Personal life

[edit]

Javerbaum is the son of Tema and Kenneth S. Javerbaum of Watchung, New Jersey. His mother is a former deputy New Jersey attorney general. His father is a founding partner in Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wikstrom & Sinins P.C., a law firm in Springfield, New Jersey. Javerbaum grew up in a Jewish household, attending Congregation Beth El in South Orange, New Jersey.[5] He married Debra Bard in 2002.[6] Javerbaum grew up in Maplewood, New Jersey,[7] where he attended Columbia High School, graduating in 1989.[8]

He was a finalist on the 1988 Jeopardy! Teen Tournament and its 1998 Teen Reunion Tournament.[9] Jon Stewart also called him as his phone-a-friend when Jon was on Celebrity Millionaire.

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia
from Grokipedia
David Adam Javerbaum (born 1971) is an American comedy writer, lyricist, and television producer renowned for his satirical contributions to and Broadway, including serving as head writer and executive producer for with , where his work earned 11 . Javerbaum has amassed 13 overall, along with two , for scripting politically pointed humor that critiques public figures and institutions through exaggeration and irony. His oeuvre extends to authorship of bestselling books such as The Last Testament: A Memoir by God (2011), which parodies divine autobiography, and Broadway productions like An Act of God (2015), featuring a single actor as God delivering comedic monologues on theology and human folly. Javerbaum also penned Emmy-winning opening songs for broadcasts and maintains the account @TheTweetOfGod, amassing followers with irreverent, omnipotent-voiced commentary on contemporary events. Beyond television, he co-executive produced the 2022 revival of and has contributed to shows like The Late Late Show with .

Early life and education

Childhood and family background

David Javerbaum was raised in , in a Jewish household that maintained minimal religious observance. He is the son of Kenneth S. Javerbaum, a founding partner in the Javerbaum Wurgaft Hicks Kahn Wilkins Young & Heyman, P.C., and Tema Javerbaum (née Yeskel), a former deputy . The family attended Congregation Beth-El in nearby South Orange, where Javerbaum knew Jehiel Orenstein, though their involvement remained limited. By adulthood, the Javerbaums resided in .

Academic pursuits

Javerbaum earned a degree from in 1993. During his undergraduate years, he contributed to , the university's humor magazine, honing his satirical writing skills. He also served as lyricist and co-bookwriter for two productions of the , Harvard's oldest form of student theater, which emphasized musical comedy and drag performances. Following Harvard, Javerbaum pursued graduate studies at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, completing a in the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program in 1995. This program focused on composition for , aligning with his interests in lyric writing and . His academic training in musical theater provided foundational skills later applied to Broadway projects and satirical works.

Professional career

Early writing roles

Javerbaum's initial professional writing endeavors included contributions to during his undergraduate years at , where he honed satirical skills through parody articles and humor pieces. Following graduation in 1993, he joined the satirical newspaper and website as a writer for three years, during which he conceived and contributed to its first book, Our Dumb Century, a parody of 20th-century history that reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list in 1999. Subsequently, Javerbaum worked as a for The for one year, crafting comedic segments and sketches for the late-night program hosted by . These roles established his foundation in satirical and writing, emphasizing and topical humor, prior to his involvement in more prominent network .

Key contributions to television satire

David Javerbaum's primary contributions to television satire occurred through his extensive roles on The Daily Show with , where he shaped the program's incisive of news media, politics, and cultural absurdities. Joining as a in 1999, he progressed to from 2003 to 2006, directing a team that crafted field pieces, correspondent segments, and monologues blending factual reporting with exaggerated irony to expose inconsistencies in public discourse. This era solidified the show's reputation for elevating beyond punchlines, influencing late-night formats by prioritizing substantive critique over mere entertainment. As executive producer from 2007 to 2010, Javerbaum oversaw broader production elements, including the development of multimedia segments that amplified the show's reach, such as tie-in books like America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (2004), co-authored under the Daily Show banner, which satirized American civics through faux-educational content and sold over one million copies as a New York Times bestseller. His work earned 11 Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards for the program, underscoring the satirical rigor that prioritized empirical dissection of events—like the Iraq War coverage or 2008 financial crisis—over partisan cheerleading. Beyond The Daily Show, Javerbaum extended satirical television efforts as consulting producer on The Late Late Show with James Corden from 2015 to 2023, contributing to viral sketches and musical parodies that lampooned celebrity culture and topical issues. He also co-executive produced the revival of Beavis and Butt-Head on Paramount+ (later Comedy Central), updating the animated series' crude mockery of suburban ignorance and media consumption for contemporary audiences starting in 2022. These roles built on his earlier stint writing for Late Show with David Letterman (circa 1998), where he honed sketch-based humor amid the host's ironic interrogations of guests and news clips.

Theater and stage productions

Javerbaum co-wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Suburb, which premiered at the York Theatre on March 5, 2001, with music by Robert S. Cohen. The production satirized suburban life through the lens of urbanites contemplating relocation, featuring a cast of eight and earning positive notices for its witty songwriting, including the Award for the team. It ran for a limited engagement and later received a licensing deal for regional productions. In musical theater, Javerbaum contributed to , a Broadway adaptation of ' 1990 film, with music by and book by Mark O'Donnell and Neil Harbit. The show opened on April 24, 2008, at the and closed on June 22, 2008, after 108 performances, depicting 1950s delinquents clashing with conformists in a style. Javerbaum's earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score, highlighting his satirical edge in blending pop culture with . The musical has since seen regional revivals, including a 2025 production at the Arcola Theatre. Javerbaum's most prominent stage work is the play An Act of God, which he wrote and adapted from his 2011 book The Last Testament: A Memoir By God and the Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod. The 90-minute features descending to revise the Ten Commandments and field audience questions, accompanied by two angels, blending theology with irreverent humor. It premiered on Broadway at on May 28, 2015, directed by with music by and additional lyrics by Javerbaum, starring as ; the production ran until August 2, 2015, grossing over $11 million. A return engagement from June 6 to September 4, 2016, featured in the lead role. The play, published by Dramatists Play Service, has inspired over 100 regional and international stagings, including at the Paramount Theatre in , and NextStop Company.

Digital and online endeavors

Javerbaum created the satirical Twitter account @TheTweetOfGod in 2010, impersonating with irreverent commentary on contemporary events, , and , often blending biblical allusions with modern critique. The account rapidly gained popularity, accumulating over 2 million followers by 2016 through concise, provocative posts that parodied divine omniscience amid real-time news cycles. In February 2016, Javerbaum ceased posting on @TheTweetOfGod, citing Twitter's 140-character limit (at the time) as a medium that "miniaturizes the way you think," limiting substantive expression despite its viral appeal. He maintained a personal account, @davidjaverbaum, for sporadic professional updates and occasional satirical content, such as a 2012 New York Times piece on reimagined through quantum physics. Extending the "Tweet of God" persona beyond , Javerbaum launched the Godcast in 2021, featuring audio adaptations of the character's voice on topics like divine commentary and cultural absurdity, distributed via platforms including and . This shift allowed for longer-form unencumbered by platform constraints, building on the foundation while engaging online audiences through episodic releases. Javerbaum's professional website, davidjaverbaum.com, serves as an online portfolio highlighting his lyric writing and theatrical works, though it functions primarily as a contact hub rather than an interactive digital project. His online endeavors emphasize parody's adaptability across platforms, prioritizing humor derived from religious and political tropes over traditional digital activism or .

Literary works

Collaborative books

David Javerbaum served as one of the principal writers for America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, a satirical examination of American government and civics published in 2004 by Warner Books. Co-authored by Jon Stewart and the staff of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the book parodies textbooks with humorous critiques of institutions like the Supreme Court and electoral processes, achieving New York Times bestseller status and selling over one million copies. Javerbaum's contributions included scripting segments that blended factual analysis with absurd commentary, such as proposals for restoring checks and balances through fictional reforms. In 2010, Javerbaum co-authored Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, presented as an guide compiled by team under Jon Stewart's direction and published by . The work satirizes human history, , and flaws from an extraterrestrial perspective, covering topics from to with charts, photos, and ironic endorsements of humanity's self-destructive tendencies. Like its predecessor, it became a , leveraging Javerbaum's expertise in concise, punchy honed from television writing. Javerbaum collaborated with actor Neil Patrick Harris on Choose Your Own Autobiography in 2014, published by Crown Archetype, which adopts a nonlinear, interactive format mimicking choose-your-own-adventure books to narrate Harris's life story. Javerbaum structured the text to allow readers to branch through anecdotes about Harris's career in shows like How I Met Your Mother, family life, and magic performances, incorporating humor and meta-commentary on memoir conventions. The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list, praised for its innovative playfulness while revealing personal details through Javerbaum's ghostwriting finesse.

Solo satirical publications

Javerbaum authored What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters, a satirical of literature presented from the perspective of an unborn child, published by in 2009. The book employs hyperbolic humor to mock tropes, offering mock advice on fetal experiences like ultrasounds and maternal cravings. In 2011, he released The Last Testament: A Memoir by , a satirical work framed as divine autobiography addressing biblical inconsistencies, human flaws, and modern religion, published by under the It Books imprint. The narrative critiques organized faith through God's purported voice, blending irreverence with commentary on and history; a revised edition appeared as An in 2015. Javerbaum's The Book of Pslams: 97 Divine Diatribes on Humanity's Total Failure, published in 2021, reimagines the biblical Book of Psalms as scathing, modernized rants against human shortcomings, emphasizing themes of divine frustration and existential critique. Narrated by the author in its audiobook version, the text satirizes praise hymns by inverting them into indictments of societal and personal failings.

Awards and recognition

Emmy and Peabody Awards

David Javerbaum has won 13 , with 11 attributed to his roles as writer, head writer, and executive producer on with , spanning categories such as Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series. These victories reflect the show's consistent recognition for satirical news commentary during Jon Stewart's tenure from 1999 to 2015, during which Javerbaum contributed to segments blending humor with political analysis. The remaining two Emmys were for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, awarded in 2012 and 2013 for songs co-written with and performed by at the broadcasts. In addition to Emmys, Javerbaum received two for his contributions to , specifically honoring the program's incisive election coverage and broader journalistic , such as the Indecision 2004 series where he served as and supervising . These awards, given by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism, underscore the show's impact in using comedy to illuminate public discourse, with Javerbaum's writing credited for enhancing its credibility as a news parody.

Theater accolades

Javerbaum was awarded the 2005 Kleban Prize by the BMI Foundation for distinguished achievement in musical theater libretto and lyrics, recognizing his emerging contributions, including work on the Broadway musical Cry-Baby. For the 2008 Broadway production of Cry-Baby, a musical adaptation of John Waters' film with music by Adam Schlesinger, Javerbaum's lyrics contributed to a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. His later play An Act of God (2015), adapted from his satirical writings, received no major theater award nominations despite its Broadway run starring .

Satirical approach and criticisms

Stylistic elements and influences

Javerbaum's satirical style prominently features parody of authoritative texts and figures, exemplified by his anthropomorphic depiction of as a flawed, opinionated contemporary voice in works such as The Last Testament: A Memoir by (2011), where divine autobiography adopts a chapter-and-verse biblical format infused with irreverent, colloquial updates on topics from to . This approach blends archaic solemnity with absurd, humanizing contradictions, such as portraying alongside petty frustrations, to underscore perceived hypocrisies in religious doctrine. His technique often originates in concise, aphoristic wit—rooted in the 140-character constraints of (@TheTweetOfGod, launched 2010)—which delivers omniscient proclamations laced with irony and sarcasm, later expanded into narrative forms like plays (An Act of God, 2015) organized around structures such as the Ten Commandments for thematic punch. In television , including his tenure as head writer for (2006–2013), Javerbaum employed sharp "punch-ups" to heighten topical absurdity, prioritizing comedic exaggeration over journalistic pretense. Early influences trace to college-era satire at Harvard, where contributions to The Harvard Lampoon and Hasty Pudding shows cultivated a foundation in lampooning institutions through collaborative absurdity. His three years at The Onion (late 1990s) refined a deadpan fake-news idiom, parodying historical and current events in collections like Our Dumb Century (1999), emphasizing hyperbolic detachment to critique societal pretensions. Jewish upbringing, including temple attendance, informs his religiously themed output with insider irreverence, though he frames God as inherently unfunny to heighten satirical bite rather than affirm theology. Later collaborations, such as lyric-writing for Cry-Baby (2008), reveal iterative, music-infused humor drawing from partners like Adam Schlesinger, blending verbal precision with rhythmic timing.

Political and religious satire analysis

Javerbaum's political satire, developed through contributions to The Onion and as head writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 1999 to 2010, frequently employed absurdity and irony to critique conservative figures and policies. For instance, in a 2012 New York Times op-ed, he satirized Mitt Romney via a pseudoscientific "quantum theory," portraying the politician as existing in multiple inconsistent states to mock perceived flip-flopping on issues like healthcare and abortion. This piece, while framed as physics parody, drew criticism for overt partisanship favoring Democratic narratives during the 2012 election cycle. His Daily Show segments often amplified Stewart's style of highlighting logical inconsistencies in Republican rhetoric, such as during the Iraq War era, though specific Javerbaum-authored examples emphasize structural comedy over direct advocacy. In , Javerbaum's persona-driven works, including The Last Testament: A Memoir by (2011) and the play An (2015), adopt the voice of an irreverent to dismantle literalist interpretations of Abrahamic scriptures. The book reimagines biblical events—such as portraying and Steve as original companions and recasting the as a comedic mishap—while endorsing secular progressive stances on topics like and divorce. Critics noted its blasphemy peaks in handling and Jesus's death, shifting from humor to preachiness that aligns with rather than balanced critique. Javerbaum, who described himself as agnostic prior to these projects and later expressed a preference for , uses the figure to "punch up" against institutional , though reviews argue it lacks depth in engaging faith's constructive aspects. These strands intersect in Javerbaum's oeuvre, where religious mockery often serves political ends, as in An Act of God's divine endorsements of and , implicitly targeting evangelical . This approach, rooted in Daily Show-style irony, prioritizes provocation over equivalence, reflecting a bias toward liberal evident in source materials from left-leaning outlets, though it risks alienating audiences seeking substantive .

Responses and counterviews

Javerbaum's , particularly in The Last Testament: A Memoir by (2011) and the adapted play An (2015), has drawn criticism from conservative Christian outlets for portraying in a flippant, irreverent manner that twists biblical narratives for comedic effect, such as reinterpreting or the Ten Commandments. Some Christian bookstores refused to stock the book, citing its content as blasphemous and unsuitable for sale alongside traditional religious texts. Reviewers in faith-based media described the work as mocking divine authority rather than engaging substantively with , potentially offending believers by reducing sacred stories to punchlines. In response, Javerbaum defended the satire as God's own corrective memoir, arguing that retailers inconsistently reject his version while accepting other interpretations of scripture, and emphasizing its intent to highlight human misreadings of religious history through humor. Supporters, including secular critics, praised the work for exposing inconsistencies in religious without malice, viewing it as a modern extension of biblical traditions that challenge to provoke thought. Javerbaum has stated in interviews that his approach stems from a Jewish comedic of questioning authority, not , and aims to humanize the divine rather than dismantle faith. Counterviews from some Jewish publications critiqued the for prioritizing jokes over deeper indignation, suggesting it entertains without sufficiently critiquing religious , thus diluting its prophetic potential. Theatrical reviews noted the play's obviousness in targeting figures like alongside theology, arguing it risks alienating audiences by conflating personal jabs with broader existential commentary. Javerbaum addressed platform-related backlash indirectly by quitting his @TheTweetOfGod account in 2016, citing Twitter's format as fostering outrage over nuance, which he saw as undermining thoughtful .

Personal life

Family and relationships

Javerbaum married Debra Ann Bard on May 19, 2002, in Maplewood, New Jersey. Both were employed by Comedy Central in New York at the time of their wedding. The couple has two daughters, including one named Kate Bard Javerbaum. Around 2012, Javerbaum, his wife, and their daughters relocated from New York to Los Angeles.

Religious and philosophical perspectives

David Javerbaum was raised in a Jewish family that observed by attending temple, though not in a strictly observant manner. He has described his upbringing as neither particularly religious nor atheistic. Javerbaum has stated that he has never been particularly religious, identifying his spiritual outlook as a Jew in the as "100 percent ironic." In interviews, he has characterized himself as agnostic prior to engaging deeply with satirical depictions of through his writing, humorously expressing a wish to be atheist after prolonged "collaboration" with the concept of . This reflects a skeptical stance toward , which he credits with observing its frequent negative influences on society and global affairs as he matured. Philosophically, Javerbaum's perspectives emphasize irony and critique over doctrinal adherence, viewing religious narratives as ripe for humorous to highlight human inconsistencies rather than endorsing claims. His work often portrays divine figures as flawed and anthropomorphic, akin to a "cranky old man," underscoring a realist appraisal of theology's cultural role without affirming metaphysical truths. This approach aligns with a broader indifference to rabble-rousing , prioritizing comedic insight into systems' absurdities.

References

Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.