ANDREW RANNELS on Employee of the Month

These days UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade Theater) receives duly deserved praise for nurturing so many truly funny writers and performers, but the utterly hilarious Andrew Rannells honed his comedy chops in musical theater. His early turns in Hedwig, Avenue Q, Jersey Boys, and, of course, Pokemon Live! prepared Rannells for the rigors of performing six to eight shows a week. So when the brilliant brains behind South Park decided to stage a show on Broadway, they knew to cast Rannells for a lead role in their debut Book of Mormon. The result was a tour-de-force, career changing (and Grammy winning) performance as Elder Price. Just as Trey and Matt had seized on Rannell's star potential, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner caught Rannell's in an initial Book of Mormon show and rewrote a part for him on their original HBO series Girls. Judd Apatow joined these comedian all stars ARFC (Andrew Rannells Fan Club), and encouraged Rannells to try his hand at writing as well. The result is that Rannells has expanded his...