Lee Camp (comedian)

{{short description|American comedian, writer, and activist (born 1980)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Lee Camp

| image = Lee Camp, Rosario Dawson & Mark Bartlett (27878598131) (Lee Camp cropped).jpg

| alt =

| caption = 2016 Politicon at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.

| birth_name =

| native_name =

| birth_date = c. 1980

| birth_place = Washington, D.C.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality =

| other_names =

| occupation = {{hlist|Comedian|writer|journalist|political commentator}}

| known_for =

| alma_mater = University of Virginia

| website = {{URL|LeeCamp.net}}

}}

Lee Camp (born {{circa|1980}}){{cite news |last=Manteuffel |first=Rachel |date=July 13, 2016 |title=Lee Camp of 'Redacted Tonight' on the problems in Washington: Lee Camp on the problems in Washington – and Russian funding. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1804016433/ |newspaper=The Washington Post (Online) |access-date=4 August 2023 |id={{ProQuest|1804016433}} |url-access=subscription |quote=Lee Camp, 35, is the host and creator of "Redacted Tonight"...}}{{cite news |last=Somerville |first=Colin |date=August 15, 2011 |title=Lee Camp Is: Yet Another American Mistake, The Stand: Sam Simmons - Meanwhile, Gilded Balloon Wine Bar Margaret Cho - Cho Dependent, Assembly George Square |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/883295785/ |work=the Herald |location=Glasgow, Scotland |page=20 |access-date=4 August 2023 |id={{ProQuest|883295785}} |url-access=subscription |quote=The 31-year-old is exactly what the US needs as the Tea Party's reborn reactionary gospel is preached far and wide.}} is an American comedian, writer, podcaster, news journalist and news commentator. As a television host, he presented the show Redacted Tonight for several years on the Russian state-funded network RT America until it was shut down after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.{{Cite news |last=Kang |first=Cecilia |date=March 12, 2022 |title=What It Was Like to Work for Russian State Television |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/business/rt-america-russian-tv.html |access-date=March 13, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} In July 2022, he started a new show, Most Censored News with Lee Camp, with MintPress News. On YouTube, Lee Camp has a news show called Dangerous Ideas with Lee Camp.

Early life

Camp was born at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |last=Kettle |first=James |date=March 24, 2012 |title=The Guide: Comedy: Lee Camp Is Yet Another American Mistake Glasgow |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/939349972/ |work=The Guardian |page=31 |access-date=4 August 2023 |id={{ProQuest|939349972}} |url-access=subscription |quote=For those comedy fans still in mourning for Bill Hicks 18 years on, you'll find plenty to enjoy in the work of DC-born stand-up Lee Camp.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.truthdig.com/articles/were-in-a-new-age-of-mccarthyism/ |title=Lee Camp: 'We're in a New Age of McCarthyism' |last=Scheer |first=Robert |date=November 2, 2018 |website=Truthdig |access-date=4 August 2023}} His father was a military doctor.

Camp is of Jewish heritage and has two brothers.{{cite magazine |last=Soroken |first=Lauren |date=May 7, 2010 |title=Chosen Comedy: Lee Camp |url=https://heebmagazine.com/chosen-comedy-lee-camp/8438/2 |magazine=Heeb |access-date=4 August 2023}} His family lived in Bethesda, Maryland, then moved to Richmond, Virginia, when he was 8 years of age.{{cite news |last=Schere |first=Daniel |date=October 27, 2016 |title=This joker is wild |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1838685058/ |work=Washington Jewish Week |page=26 |access-date=4 August 2023 |id={{ProQuest|1838685059}} |url-access=subscription |quote=His family lived in Bethesda until he was 8, when they moved to Richmond, Va., where they were members of Congregation Beth Ahabah. He says he knew he wanted to write jokes starting around the age of 12, but it wasn't until his early 20s that Camp began dabbling in political comedy.}} He attended the University of Virginia, where he wrote for The Cavalier Daily.{{cite news |last=Camp |first=Lee |title=It's so hard to say goodbye |url=https://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2002/04/its-so-hard-to-say-goodbye |work=The Cavalier Daily |location= |date= |access-date=4 August 2023}} He majored in English and psychology and graduated in 2002.

He began performing stand-up comedy on his 19th birthday at an open-mic night at Matt's Pub in Richmond.{{cite web|url=http://hw.libsyn.com/p/8/a/4/8a4ec116c6f141d1/Lee_Camp.mp3?sid=b5d7edd3d4e98b08beeac3fd17755e3e&l_sid=23380&l_eid=&l_mid=2113082|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811144859/http://hw.libsyn.com/p/8/a/4/8a4ec116c6f141d1/Lee_Camp.mp3?sid=2e66cb849831a60ffefd001a5a42c05e&l_sid=23380&l_eid=&l_mid=2113082|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 11, 2011|title=interview on Cara's Basement|publisher=|accessdate=16 November 2017}}

Career

After graduating from the University of Virginia, Camp moved to New York City, where he performed regularly at the Ha! Comedy Club.{{cite news |date=September 18, 2012 |title=Lee Camp an example for aspiring activists |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1438940859/ |work=University Wire |access-date=4 August 2023 |id={{ProQuest|1438940859}}|url-access=subscription}} He went on to perform regularly at colleges and it was during this time that he started to include political material in his stand up act, which lead to performances at political events such as Netroots Nation conventions and Rock the Vote events. In the 2000s, he also opened for such comedians as Jimmy Fallon, Darrell Hammond, Kevin Nealon, Tracy Morgan, Lewis Black and Dick Gregory.{{cite news |date=November 9, 2006 |title=Recitals, comedian, reading scheduled at Waldorf |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/391129463/ |work=Globe Gazette |page=C10 |access-date=4 August 2023 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |last=Dow Campbell |first=Alexis |title=Comedian camps it up |url=https://www.pennlive.com/go/2009/03/onion_comedian_camps_it_up.html |work=The Patriot-News |date=March 17, 2009 |access-date=4 August 2023}}

In 2002, Camp published his first book Neither Sophisticated Nor Intelligent, a collection of his best humor columns from The Cavalier Daily.{{cite book |last=Camp |first=Lee |title=Neither Sophisticated Nor Intelligent: A College Humorist's Take on Life |date=2002 |publisher=Xlibris |isbn=9781401042660 |url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=ISBN9781401042660 |access-date=August 11, 2023}} With Nick Alexander and Alan Lord, Camp co-authored the 2005 BIGfib Book of Bollocks, a collection of stories from the satirical website BIGfib.com.{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Nick |last2=Camp |first2=Lee |last3=Lord |first3=Alan |title=The BIGfib Book of Bollocks: The BIGfib.com Annual, the Best Of 2005 |date=2005 |publisher=BIGfib Books |isbn=9782952489935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5vvwAEACAAJ |access-date=August 11, 2023}} Camp has been a contributor to The Onion and The Huffington Post.

In 2017, Camp and his partner Eleanor Goldfield created the Common Censored podcast, which focuses on grassroots activism issues.{{Cite web |title=Common Censored on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/common-censored/id1375686977 |website=Apple Podcasts |accessdate=Aug 4, 2020}}

Camp was the host and head writer of the weekly comedy news show Redacted Tonight with Lee Camp, which aired on RT America for eight years. He told Rachel Manteuffel of The Washington Post Magazine that the Russian government funds the network that ran his show.{{cite news |last1=Manteuffel |first1=Rachel |title=Lee Camp of 'Redacted Tonight' on the problems in Washington |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-host-of-redacted-tonight-is-making-his-mock/2016/07/13/03d544e6-3331-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html |access-date=15 February 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=14 July 2016}} When asked about advertising, he said, "one of the reasons I'm at RT America is because there's no advertising. If there were advertising, no channel really wants someone who goes after corporations as much as I do."{{cite news|last=Manteuffel|first=Rachel|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-host-of-redacted-tonight-is-making-his-mock/2016/07/13/03d544e6-3331-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html|title=Lee Camp of 'Redacted Tonight' on the problems in Washington|work=The Washington Post Magazine|date=July 14, 2016|access-date=December 30, 2019}}

After RT America shut down in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Camp blamed the "U.S. government war machine" for the end of the network.{{Cite news |last=Kang |first=Cecilia |date=March 12, 2022 |title=What It Was Like to Work for Russian State Television |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/12/business/rt-america-russian-tv.html |access-date=March 13, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}} According to the Daily Beast, he also claimed that he had lost his job due to the Great Reset conspiracy theory, as well as promoting the Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory on Twitter.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-29 |title=Meet the Sneakiest Defenders of Vladimir Putin's Ukraine Invasion and China's Xinjiang Repression |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-sneakiest-defenders-of-vladimir-putins-ukraine-invasion-and-chinas-xinjiang-repression/?via=twitter_page |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=The Daily Beast |language=en}}

Discography

=DVD=

Sometimes Funny Hurts (2007)
Lee Camp Live At Comix (2009)
We Are Nothing (2014)

=CD=

Chaos for the Weary (Stand Up! Records, 2011)
Pepper Spray the Tears Away (Stand Up! Records, 2012)

Filmography

Year	Title	Role
class="wikitable"
2005	Dealbreaker	Waiter
2005 \| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit \| Bart \| Episode: "Intoxicated"
2006	Exposing the Order of the Serpentine	Ashamed man

Bibliography

Neither Sophisticated Nor Intelligent: A College Humorist's Take on Life, Xlibris, 2002. {{ISBN |978-1-40104-266-0}}
The BIGfib Book of Bollocks: The BIGfib.com Annual, the Best Of 2005, BIGfib Books, 2005. {{ISBN |978-2-95248-993-5}}
Bullet Points and Punch Lines: The Most Important Commentary Ever Written on the Epic American Tragicomedy, PM Press, 2020. {{ISBN |978-1-62963-785-3}}{{cite book |last1=Camp |first1=Lee |title=Bullet points and punch lines |date=2020 |publisher=PM Press |location=Oakland, CA |isbn=9781629638027 |edition=Ebook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYHIDwAAQBAJ |access-date=May 31, 2021}}