Sam Means '03 won his first Emmy award for comedy writing Sunday night as part of the writing team of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
Means leapt onto the Shrine Auditorium stage in Los Angeles with Stewart and fellow writers to take the top prize for outstanding writing in a variety, music or comedy program in front of 16.1 million television viewers. The writing team beat out "The Late Show with David Letterman," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "Real Time with Bill Maher" and "Daily Show" spin-off "The Colbert Report."
In addition to his work on "The Daily Show," Means currently draws cartoons for The New Yorker. He began his professional comedy career as a writer for humor magazines "The Onion" and "McSweeney's," as well as "Saturday Night Live's" comedy news segment "Weekend Update." He has also contributed cartoons to The Wall Street Journal.
During his time at the College, Means wrote a satirical column for the arts section of The Dartmouth and contributed to The Dartmouth Mirror. After graduating in 2003, Means went on to King's College in Cambridge, where he earned a masters in philosophy.
"The Daily Show," which features scathingly sarcastic comedic commentary on current events and interviews with political figures, also took home the Emmy for outstanding variety, music or comedy series for the fifth time in six years. The program, which bills itself as "a nightly half-hour series unburdened by objectivity, journalistic integrity or even accuracy," airs Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central.
Means currently lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. He could not be reached for comment.
