Our Educators

Nicole is a stand-up, writer, producer, and educator! As a stand-up and write she loves to find the funny in the painful job of being the wing-parent.

She loves comedy and helping people, with a focus on social justice. She wants people to have fun when working together and feel valued and appreciated.

She's a passionate comedy teacher with a liberal arts degree in education and theater from Loyola Marymount University. Nicole believes in building a stage that is authentically inclusive and a safe space for the next generation of comedians to learn and develop their craft. She wants to empower students to find their voice. 

Her stand-up special, Life’s a Bit, is streaming on Amazon Prime and you can catch her on the upcoming season 3 of Laugh After Dark on Amazon Prime. LA Weekly describes Nicole as “a remarkable performer with brains, beauty and rich comic delivery” and her honest (and crass) observations showcase her “humor, passion, dazzling charm and a naturalness that many performers, or even civilians, would kill for.” (Backstage West) Nicole says her kids describe herr as, “meh.”

Her producing partner/husband/assistant, Mickey Blaine, and Nicole executive produced and directed the stand-up special Burning the Light on HBO. She produced The Showdown Comedy Festival annually at the Westside Comedy Theater for six years, discovering the next generation of comedians and bringing in top level executives to participate in industry panels. You may have seen her (but she thinks, probably not) on NBC’s The Today Show, E’s That Morning Show, San Fransisco’s Sketchfest, Montana’s Big Sky Comedy Festival, The International FringeNYC Festival, Atlanta’s Laughing Skull Comedy Festival and HBO’s Women in Comedy Festival.

Laura House is an International Emmy-nominated writer and showrunner. As a 7th grade teacher, she started doing stand-up and soon starred in Mtv’s first sit-com, Austin Stories. She’s performed on HBO, NBC, Comedy Central, Amazon (and more). Her comedy album Mouth Punch is in heavy rotation on Sirius. She’s written for many TV shows including Mom, George Lopez, Samantha Who, and Young Dylan and often performs surgery as script doctor. Her popular solo show How to Hate Yourself played to sold-out crowds at the Hollywood Fringe. She also produces Party On, the monthly sober comedy show at the Crow and teaches meditation. Whether it’s in a script or on stage, she’s passionate about helping people discover the story they want to tell and getting it out of their head and into the world.

Jeffrey Jay is a Los Angeles-based, transgender stand-up comedian & TV writer born and raised in a town that is so Texas it’s called Texas City, Texas. With a Republican judge as a mother and a father who works on oil tankers, he didn’t think life was tough enough and ventured into a life of stand-up. Since 2011 Jeffrey has made his living touring the NACA college circuit and to date has done hundreds of shows that combine stand-up with a comedy Q&A. 

As a writer, Jay was shortlisted by the BBC Writers’ Room, the comedy writer for Feast of Fun, a second-rounder in the Warner Bros Writing Fellowship, Austin Film Festival, & Sundance in 2021 & 2022, a Writers’ PA & Showrunner’s Assistant on Season 6 & 7 of The CW’s Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars on HBO Max.

In 2022, the popularity of the BEING Trans podcast swept iTunes and Jay found himself featured in the New York Times.

He has been seen on HULU, the CW’s The Eye Opener, The Guardian, in The Advocate as one of  “The top 7 Transgender Comedians” and “7 LGBT Comics You Shouldn’t Have Missed”, and headlines national and international comedy festivals. When not doing stand-up Jeffrey teaches ally training and speaks at colleges and high schools sharing his story to educate others about trans issues.

His favorite TV credit is when he won $1500 buckaroos on Let’s Make a Deal dressed as a panda.

Jay Sukow believes if everyone took one improv class the world would be a better place. He has been performing with and without a script for over 30 years. A few of those he has trained with include Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell. He is a graduate of training centers of The Second City, The Second City NW, iO Chicago, and ComedySportz Chicago. Jay was the Artistic Director/Head of Training at the Improv Comedy Copenhagen Theatre and has previously taught for Second City Chicago, Second City Hollywood, Westside Comedy Theater, iO Chicago (where he was also head of its artistic committee), iO West and ComedySportz Chicago.

Jay has taught at many improv festivals around the world, including the Oslo Impro Festival, the Copenhagen International Improv Festival, the Barcelona Improv Festival and the Chicago Improv Festival. He is the winner of The Golden Pineapple, awarded to the best visiting teacher at Improv Comedy Copenhagen.