Katie Halper

{{Short description|American comedian, writer, filmmaker, and political commentator}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Katie Halper

| image = Katie Halper.png

| alt =

| caption = Halper in 2008

| birth_name = Katherine Rose Halper

| birth_date = July 11, {{Birth based on age as of date|34|2015|10|27}}{{Cite tweet |number=1016812947262361603 |user=kthalps |last=Halper |first=Katie |title=My birthday is 7/11. That's July 11.}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| education = Wesleyan University

| occupation = {{flatlist|

Comedian
writer
journalist
filmmaker
podcaster
political commentator
teacher}}

| years_active = 2004–present

| known_for = {{plainlist|

The Katie Halper Show
Useful Idiots}}

| website = {{URL|katiehalper.com}}

}}

Katherine Rose Halper (born July 11, 1980/1981) is an American comedian, writer, filmmaker, podcaster, and political commentator. She is the host of the podcast The Katie Halper Show and co-host of the podcast Useful Idiots with Aaron Maté.

Early life and education

Halper was born in New York City.{{cite news|date=October 7, 2022|title=Deconstructed: The Journalist Censored for Defending Rashida Tlaib|url=https://theintercept.com/2022/10/07/deconstructed-podcast-israel-palestine-censorship-hilltv/|work=The Intercept|access-date=October 24, 2022}} She grew up on Riverside Drive on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.{{Cite web |date=October 27, 2015 |title=making politics laughable |url=http://www.chelseanewsny.com/news/local-news/making-politics-laughable-BVNP1420151027151029923 |access-date=April 25, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203063159/http://www.chelseanewsny.com/news/local-news/making-politics-laughable-BVNP1420151027151029923 |archive-date=December 3, 2021 |website=Chelsea News NY}}{{cite magazine |last1=van Zuylen-Wood |first1=Simon | format=Cover story | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014043232/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/socialism-and-young-socialists.html | archive-date=October 14, 2022 | url=https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/socialism-and-young-socialists.html | department=Intelligencer |title=Pinkos Have More Fun | magazine=New York |date=March 4, 2019 |volume=52 |issue=5 |page=30 | via=Cengage | id={{Gale|A653370217}} | place=Verso's book-lined Jay Street loft |issn=0028-7369}} She graduated from the Dalton School, and from Wesleyan University in 2003.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/07/nyregion/urban-tactics-they-do-everything-but-take-the-test-for-you.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527095905/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/07/nyregion/urban-tactics-they-do-everything-but-take-the-test-for-you.html | archive-date=May 27, 2015 |title=Urban Tactics; They Do Everything But Take the Test for You |last=Bahrampour |first=Tara |date=November 7, 1999 |website=The New York Times |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite news |url=https://www.middletownpress.com/news/article/Briefs-11893484.php |title=Briefs |date=April 15, 2005 |website=The Middletown Press |access-date=April 25, 2020}} She is of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and has described herself as a secular Jew. Her father is a psychiatrist and her mother is an English professor and novelist.

Career

After graduating from Wesleyan, Halper worked as development director for the Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV), a nonprofit media education center and documentary production house. She also coordinated living wage and labor campaigns in New York City and Florida.{{Cite web |url=http://www.experimentaltvcenter.org/katie-halper |title=Katie Halper |website=Experimental Television Center |date=June 17, 2011 |access-date=April 25, 2020}} Halper has also taught history at her alma mater, the Dalton School.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenation.com/authors/katie-halper/2/ |title=Katie Halper |website=The Nation |date=January 9, 2012 |access-date=April 25, 2020}}

=Comedy=

File:Katie Halper and Negin Farsad, Netroots Nation 2011 (5857930114).jpg at Netroots Nation 2011]]

She began her career performing as a stand-up comedian. She has performed comedy at venues including Symphony Space, The Culture Project in New York, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the D.C. Comedy Festival, and at Netroots Nation. She also performed on the annual Seminar Cruise of The Nation magazine. She has performed with Lizz Winstead, Markos Moulitsas, The Yes Men, Cynthia Nixon, and Jim Hightower.

=Political activism=

Halper is a national director of Living Liberally and the co-founder of Laughing Liberally,{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |author-link=Neil Genzlinger |title=A Night of Punch Lines With a Definite Political Agenda |work=The New York Times |date=May 19, 2006 |place=Town Hall in Midtown Manhattan |page=E2 | id={{Gale|A145949452}} | via=Cengage}} both of which promote political action through social interaction.{{Cite web |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2008/05/live-laugh-and-drink-liberally-010626 |title=Live, laugh and drink ... liberally |last=Adler |first=Ben |date=May 27, 2008 |website=Politico |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=http://feministing.com/author/katiehalper/ |title=Katie Halper |website=Feministing |date=November 16, 2015 |access-date=April 25, 2020}}

=Film=

She was outreach director for Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein's documentary The Take (2004). The documentary is about a workers' movement in Buenos Aires, Argentina and was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and Film Forum.

Halper's first film as director was entitled La Memoria es Vaga (2005), a documentary about the Valle de los Caídos and historical memory in post-Franco Spain. It was screened in the United States and Spain.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/arts/20alsmail-ATRUEATONEME_LETTERS.html |title=A True Atonement |last=Halper |first=Katie |date=January 20, 2008 |website=The New York Times |access-date=April 25, 2020}} Halper was co-producer of Tim Robbins and the DCTV film Embedded Live (also 2005), based on Robbins' play of the same name. Embedded Live was shown at the Venice Film Festival and Sundance Channel. She was associate producer of Estela Bravo's Free to Fly: The US-Cuba Link (2004), about restrictions on travel between Cuba and the United States.{{Cite web |url=http://feministing.com/2011/12/08/welcome-katie-halper-to-the-blog/ |title=Welcome Katie Halper to the blog! |last=Truitt |first=Jos |date=December 8, 2011 |website=Feministing |access-date=April 25, 2020}} Free to Fly was shown at the Havana Film Festival and Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. Halper directed and produced the film Commie Camp (2013). Commie Camp, originally entitled Another Camp Is Possible, is a documentary about Camp Kinderland, the Jewish summer camp where Halper went and her mother and grandmother worked.{{Cite web |url=https://www.haaretz.com/commie-camp-what-is-it-teaching-1.5326855 |title=Commie Camp: Indoctrination or True Jewish Values? |last=Sucharov |first=Mira |date=August 29, 2013 |website=Haaretz |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://forward.com/sisterhood/184096/q-and-a-with-commie-camp-filmmaker-katie-halper/ |title=Q&A with 'Commie Camp' Filmmaker Katie Halper |last=Strauss |first=Elissa |date=September 17, 2013 |website=The Forward |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.jta.org/jewniverse/2013/everyone-wants-to-go-to-commie-camp |title=Everyone Wants to Go to Commie Camp |last=Fox |first=Tamar |date=December 12, 2013 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |access-date=April 25, 2020}} She also co-directed Facing Fascism: New Yorkers Remember the Spanish Civil War, a video for an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York.{{Cite web |url=https://www.wbai.org/program.php?program=214 |title=Katie Halper Show |website=WBAI |access-date=April 25, 2020}}

=Commentator=

Articles by Halper have been published in The New York Times, Comedy Central, The Nation, Gawker, The Huffington Post, Alternet, Daily Kos, OpenLeft, The Raw Story, Jacobin, Salon, Vice, The Guardian, and Feministing, where she was a guest columnist.{{Cite web |url=https://jacobinmag.com/author/katie-halper |title=Katie Halper |website=Jacobin |date=April 6, 2020 |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/24/joe-biden-sexual-assault-claim-tara-reade-deserves-to-be-heard-katie-halper |title=Tara Reade says Joe Biden sexually assaulted her. She deserves to be heard |last=Halper |first=Katie |date=April 24, 2020 |website=The Guardian |access-date=April 25, 2020}}

She has been featured as a commentator on MSNBC,{{Cite web |url=https://www.commondreams.org/author/katie-halper |title=Katie Halper |website=Common Dreams |access-date=April 25, 2020}} The Young Turks,{{Cite web |url=https://tyt.com/about/talent/4ZTpEAsmJG8G66A2wIQa8Q |title=Katie Halper |website=The Young Turks |access-date=April 25, 2020}} RT,{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=683UAypf2NY |title=Troy Davis execution outrage |date=September 21, 2011 |website=YouTube |publisher=RT America |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mWqv56tNqs |title=Katie Halper: Biden Sexy, Ahmadinejad Jewish, Obama Nazi |date=November 10, 2009 |website=YouTube |publisher=RT |access-date=April 25, 2020}} Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle,{{Cite web |date=February 13, 2019 |title=WATCH: Jewish American Podcast Host Katie Halper Battles Laura Ingraham Over Right-Wing Anti-Sentimism |url=https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/02/13/watch-jewish-american-podcast-host-katie-halper-battles-laura-ingraham-over-right |access-date=April 25, 2020 |website=Common Dreams}} The Hill{{'}}s Rising,{{Cite web |url=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/459406-journalist-katie-halper-on-why-tulsi-is-really-running-for-president |title=Journalist Katie Halper on why Tulsi is really running for President |date=August 30, 2019 |website=The Hill |access-date=April 25, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/476493-krystal-and-katie-halper-dish-on-the-biggest-media-screwups-of-2019 |title=Krystal and Katie Halper dish on the biggest media screwups of 2019 |date=December 31, 2019 |website=The Hill |access-date=April 25, 2020}} The New York Times, New York Magazine, Los Angeles Times, In These Times, Jezebel, Gawker, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, The Sam Seder Show, The Marc Maron Show, Sirius Radio, WBAI, XM Radio's P.O.T.U.S., and The Alan Colmes Show.

In September 2022, Rising refused to air a segment on their show in which Halper called Israel an "apartheid government". She was subsequently fired from the show.{{cite news |last=Grim |first=Ryan |date=September 29, 2022 |title=Hill TV Censors Segment on Rashida Tlaib's Description of Israel as "Apartheid Government," Bars Reporter |work=The Intercept |publisher=First Look Media |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/09/29/hill-tv-israel-apartheid-rashida-tlaib-censorship/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930205113/https://theintercept.com/2022/09/29/hill-tv-israel-apartheid-rashida-tlaib-censorship/ |archive-date=September 30, 2022}}

=Podcasting=

Halper was co-host of the podcast and YouTube program Morning Jew with Heather Gold.{{Cite news |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2017/02/28/bay-area-comedy-has-a-new-gold-standard/ |title=She sets the Gold standard for comedy in the Bay Area |last=Rubin |first=Hannah |date=February 28, 2017 |website=J. The Jewish News of Northern California |access-date=April 25, 2020}} She hosts The Katie Halper Show, a weekly WBAI radio show and podcast. The show received attention when, during an interview with Halper that was released as a podcast on March 25, 2020, Tara Reade, a former Senate staff assistant of Joe Biden, alleged that Biden sexually assaulted her in a Capitol Hill office building in 1993.{{Cite web|url=https://www.salon.com/2020/03/31/a-woman-accuses-joe-biden-of-sexual-assault-and-all-hell-breaks-loose-online-heres-what-we-know/|title=A woman accuses Joe Biden of sexual assault, and all hell breaks loose online. Here's what we know|last=Marcotte|first=Amanda|date=March 31, 2020|website=Salon.com|language=en|access-date=April 15, 2020}}{{cite news|last=Halper|first=Katie|url=https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2020/03/tara-reade-tells-her-story|title=Tara Reade Tells Her Story|date=March 31, 2020|magazine=Current Affairs|access-date=April 9, 2020}} A Biden spokesperson said that the allegation was false.{{Cite news |last1=Lerer |first1=Lisa |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/politics/joe-biden-tara-reade-sexual-assault-complaint.html |title=Examining Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden |date=April 12, 2020 |work=The New York Times |access-date=April 12, 2020 |last2=Ember |first2=Sydney}}

In 2019, Halper and Matt Taibbi launched and have since co-hosted the podcast Useful Idiots, which was distributed by Rolling Stone.{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/taibbi-useful-idiots-podcast-873547/ |title=Welcome to 'Useful Idiots,' a New Rolling Stone Podcast |last=Taibbi |first=Matt |date=August 20, 2019 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=September 15, 2019}} The podcast has since featured interviews with Tulsi Gabbard, Ro Khanna, Andrew Yang, Bernie Sanders, Michael Moore, Tim Robbins, Glenn Greenwald, Norman Finkelstein, Aaron Maté, Dennis Kucinich, Noam Chomsky, Adam McKay, Lowkey, Rashida Tlaib, and Roger Waters.{{Cite web |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/useful-idiots-with-matt-taibbi-and-katie-halper/id1476110521 |title=Useful Idiots with Matt Taibbi and Katie Halper |website=Apple Podcasts |access-date=May 14, 2020}} In March 2021, Taibbi announced that Useful Idiots would no longer be released by Rolling Stone and would instead be moving to Substack.{{Cite tweet |number=1367991513045757954 |user=mtaibbi |title=The Useful Idiots Podcast is leaving the loving embrace of Rolling Stone, and will be moving to Substack, beginning next week. With a few fun tweaks, much the same show, and it will continue to be available across multiple podcast platforms. @kthalps |date=March 5, 2021 |access-date=March 22, 2021}} In January 2022, Taibbi announced a sabbatical leave to write a book, and that in his absence Aaron Maté would fill in for him."Aaron Maté Joins Useful Idiots", [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjRUAmT_v2k Useful Idiots], January 4, 2022