Jessi Klein was born and raised in New York City. She attended Vassar College, where she spent 4 years as a writer and performer for the school’s sketch group. After college, Jessi moved back to Manhattan and began performing stand-up comedy. She quickly caught the eye of scouts at NBC who made her a regular at the PSNBC workspace. After only two years of doing stand-up, Time Out NY called her one of their “Top 10 Comics We Never Get Tired Of” in December 2002, listing her alongside such names as Sarah Silverman and Dave Attell.

After winning the first ever “Emerging Comics of New York” award for Best Female Stand Up in March 2003, she made her television stand-up debut on Comedy Central’s Premium Blend last August. She is currently a regular commentator on VH1’s talking head hit, “Best Week Ever,” a weekly roundup of pop culture. Jessi’s sharp insights on that show have led to appearances on CNBC’s “Topic A with Tina Brown” as well as an appearance on NBC’s “The Today Show,” CNN’s “American Morning” and “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn” on Comedy Central. She has also just completed work as the lead voice on a pilot for Cartoon Network from the creators of the cult hit Home Movies.

This past March she appeared at the Aspen HBO Comedy festival as a storyteller for The Moth, a NYC storytelling phenomenon. Through the Moth, Jessi also performed at Central Park’s Summerstage last July 2003 to a record crowd. Her story about researching the aftermath of a breakup on Google made the Moth’s “Best of 2003” CD.

She has also been a commentator for Andy Borowitz’s satirical “Borowitz Report” on NPR. This year she’ll be writing a chapter for an up and coming book, “Bar Mitzvah Disco,” a humorous collection of photos and essays about the Bar Mitzvah culture of the 1980’s, which is scheduled to include work from Jon Stewart, Esquire’s AJ Jacobs, Joel Stein, Sarah Silverman, Corey Feldman, and obviously, the Village People.

Jessi continues to be a favorite at clubs and alternative rooms all over the city, performing alongside such names as Dave Chappelle, Louis CK, Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Sarah Silverman and Roseanne. Roseanne told Jessi that she thought she was really funny, which Jessi thought was a big deal. Other people who’ve told her she’s funny include Robert Smigel, Ethan Hawke, Stephen Baldwin, and still other people who aren’t famous. Stephen Baldwin gave her his pager number.