Witty Hot Takes on everything.
Ali Barthwell is an Emmy winning writer delivering Witty Hot Takes on Reality TV, Pop Culture, & Current Events.
Ali Barthwell is an Emmy winning writer delivering Witty Hot Takes on Reality TV, Pop Culture, & Current Events.
Four-time Emmy award winning writer. Two Writers Guild Awards. A Peabody. Brag.
Watch Clips →Serious Thoughts about Fun TV. The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, Love is Blind, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Real Housewives of Potomac, How to Get Away with Murder, Empire, Claws, Ballers.
Read on Vulture →Grace and Frankie, Luke Cage, Rise, She's Gotta Have It, Game of Thrones (Newbies).
Read on A.V. Club →Silly Stuff about Chicago. Every Room at King Spa Ranked. The Realest Damn Tiki Bar. My Romantic Bermuda Triangle.
Read on Chicago Mag →A fan convention dedicated to Afro-futurism, tech, and Black nerdery. Panels, a marketplace, and a fantastic cosplay contest in Chicago.
Read on The Verge →
Four-time Emmy award winning writer. Two Writers Guild Awards and a Peabody. First Black female director at The Second City. Actor, teacher, writer.
Episodes I Wrote
Get in Touch →What's up, nerds! I'm Ali Barthwell. I'm a four time-Emmy award winning writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. (I've also got 2 Writers Guild Awards and a freakin' Peabody. Brag.) You might know me from my tenure as Vulture's Bachelor Cinematic Universe recapper. I've been recapping The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise, and a number of short-lived Bachelor adjacent spin-offs since 2015. I'm likely the only person who watched (and enjoyed!) The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart. I was an actor, teacher, and the first Black female director at The Second City.
With my two brothers, I co-founded Wakandacon, a celebration of Afro-Futurism in pop culture, gaming, and tech. I'm a Capricorn, leukemia survivor, and a proud Wellesley College alumna. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and live and write in the actual city of Chicago.
Ask me about: reality TV, comedy, and the dystopian future that we're currently living in.
