Barry Katz is an Emmy and Grammy nominated tv-film-record producer, podcast host, and talent manager who is universally known for helping launch the careers of some of the most extraordinary comedy artists in the business— including Dave Chappelle, Nick Swardson, Louie CK, Felipe Esparza, Bill Burr, Frank Caliendo, Whitney Cummings, Bert Kreischer, Bill Bellamy, Anthony Clark, Jim Gaffigan, Patrice O’Neal, Neal Brennan, Jim Norton, Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Ross, Wanda Sykes, Gary Gulman, Marc Maron, Dane Cook, and “SNL" stars Darrell Hammond, Jay Mohr, Melissa Villasenor, Jim Breuer, and Tracy Morgan.
Throughout his career, Katz has sold 37 out of 38 stand-up comedy specials he produced and has brokered an unprecedented 100 tv development deals, created 3 television shows, and executive produced over 50 different specials, documentaries, reality shows, and scripted series including the YouTube TV produced “Telethon for America” (with Natalie Portman, Pete Davidson, Charlize Theron, Jim Jefferies, Jane Fonda, and Chelsea Handler), NBC’s “Whitney,” Netflix’s “The Road Trick,” FOX’s “Action,” HBO’s “Tourgasm,” Showtime’s “Jay Mohr: Happy. And A Lot,” History Channel’s “Houdini: Unlocking the Mystery,” TBS’s “Frank TV,” Comedy Central’s “Whitney Cummings: Money Shot,” the syndicated Bellamy/Tim Meadows/ Jon Lovitz/Vivica Fox sitcom “Mr. Box Office,” and 7 seasons of the Emmy-nominated NBC series “Last Comic Standing.”
Katz started his involvement in the film business when he helped Chappelle and Neal Brennan (who eventually went on to create “Chappelle’s Show”) sell the cult classic “Half Baked” to Universal Studios and went on to produce several films after that, including “Employee of the Month” (starring Jessica Simpson and Cook), “Good Luck Chuck” (starring Jessica Alba), “My Best Friend’s Girl” (starring Kate Hudson and Alec Baldwin), I Killed JFK (about the only living person in history to admit to killing Kennedy), and “Misery Loves Comedy” (starring Tom Hanks, Amy Schumer, and Larry David). In the recording world, he has produced multiple gold, platinum, and double platinum albums, while becoming the only manager/producer to debut a comedy album in the top 5 of Billboards national charts–twice.
Additionally, Katz is the co-founder of Comedy Dynamics, which is presently one of the largest independent comedy production and distribution companies in the world…and was one of the driving forces behind the sale of the Emmy nominated Roasts to Comedy Central, which has become the biggest franchise in the network’s history.
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