The Katie Halper Show takes a (hopefully) humorous look at the news, politics, pop culture, and the arts through news segments and conversations with writers, journalists, activists, artists and political comedians. Katie Halper, co-host Gabe Pacheco and engineer Reggie Johnson chat it up and bring you segments like "Excuse You," "Right Wing Erotica," "Family Values,"  and “The Sixty-Second Rant."

Born and raised on the mean streets of New York City’s Upper West Side, Katie Halper is a comedian, writer, filmmaker and history teacher based in New York. 

A co-founder and member of the comedy ensemble Laughing Liberally, Katie has performed at Town Hall, Symphony Space, The Culture Project, D.C. Comedy Festival,  and The Nation Magazine Cruise. Katie's writing and videos have appeared in Salon, The New York Times, Comedy Central, The Nation Magazine, Jezebel,  Guernica, Alternet, Raw Story, Feministing and more. Katie appears regularly on HuffPost Live as well as MSNBC, RT, the Alan Colmes Show, Sirius radio (which hung up on her once).  The National Review calls comedian Katie “cute and somewhat brainy.”

Katie co-produced Tim Robbins’s film Embedded, (Venice Film Festival, Sundance Channel); Estela Bravo’s Free to Fly (Havana Film Festival, LA Latino Film Festival); was outreach director for The Take, the Naomi Klein/Avi Lewis documentary about Argentine workers (Toronto & Venice Film Festivals, Film Forum); co-directed New Yorkers Remember the Spanish Civil War, a video for Museum of the City of NY exhibit.

Katie went to Florida in 2008 with Judy Blume and Letty Cottin Pogrebin to tell Jews to vote for Obama and wrote the viral online videos Women for McCain, Jews for McCain and Gays for McCain. 

Katie’s latest project is her award-winning film, COMMIE CAMP, a documentary about Camp Kinderland, the summer camp the Right loves to hate.

Katie went to the Dalton School, where she has taught history, and Wesleyan University, where she learned that "labels are for jars."


The Katie Halper Show

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On the second episode of The Katie Halper Show, historian Claire Potter joins us live in studio to talk about the Confederate Flag, how we talk about history and when racism and heritage are the same thing. She'll probably surprise you with her recommendations for reliable sources. I play an interview with one of the major organizers of Take Down The Flag SC, Mariangeles Borghini. We also bring you a Trump update or "Trumpdate," and how one Mexican artist responded to his claim that Mexico is sending over a bunch of rapists. Spoiler alert: it involves candy, a stick, and bashing. And we debut our how-full-of-it-are-you-eter. 

Ep 2: Historian Claire Potter debunks the Confederate Flag debate

The debut episode of The Katie Halper Show looks at Donald Trump, his "great relationship with the blacks," and the song he should have played when he announced his presidency. Then Rebecca Carroll and Syreeta McFadden discuss  the "transracial mishegas" that is Rachel Dolezal story, and Ava Farkas, the executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing talks about what she got arrested and placed in string handcuffs over. Also in the studio are Gabe Pacheco and Reggie Johnson. 

Ep 1: "Transracial Mishegas" Rebecca Carroll & Syreeta McFadden on Rachel Dolezal

On Episode 3 of the Katie Halper show, we talk to Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker about the sliding scale definition of racism, which makes it so easy for people to claim they're not racist.  Pablo Benson Silva talks about the Puerto Rican debt crisis, Giovanni Zelko and Andrew Kirell talk about Islamophobia. And Gabe Pacheco and I talk about our night with Jimmy "The Rent is too damn High" McMillan. Plus, Gabe has a thing for blue-eyed gorillas and Katie floats a brown-eyes-only guest policy. 

Ep 3: Jelani Cobb & Jimmy "The Rent is Too Damn High" McMillan

On episode 4 of The Kate Halper Show, Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight talks to us about a study which finds that Black Americans are almost eight times as likely as white Americans to be victims of homicide. Comedians Ted Alexandro and Desiree Burch talk about politics and humor, and Chris Cobb discusses how he encouraged New York City to recognize site of a former slave market on Wall Street and mark it with a plaque. And speaking of terrible, greedy, rich white men, we give you a Trumpdate. Did you know that there is a Donald Trump State Park? Well, we at The  Katie Halper Show are renaming it. We have some great candidates. And they're Mexican. 

Ep 4: Nate Silver, Ted Alexandro, Desiree Burch, NYC's Slave Market

On episode 5 of The Katie Halper Show, political comedian Justin Williams goes through the headlines of the week, Ali Gharib talks about Iran and his infiltration of alcoholic terror-cells, Meredith Clark shares her Wisconsinite and journalistic insights into Scott Walker, And Fernando Sosa the Mexican-born and raised artist explains what inspire him to create the Donald Trump The Butt Plug as well as other butt plugs and inaction figures. 

Ep 5. The Donald Trump Butt Plug, Meredith Clark, Ali Gharib, Justin  Williams

See Freddie LIVE at our June 14 event! http://www.give2wbai.org/product_p/ot0738-sp17.htm 
On this episode we talk to writer and academic Freddie DeBoer about political violence, no platforming and how the political Left needs more, not less, theory. Freddie argues against political violence and restriction of free speech (no-platforming) as viable tactics, saying, that the appeal some on the Left find in the idea of political violence "is more about managing disappointment that asking how we can actually win."  Because "the Left lacks power in most contexts," no platforming would mean, "we're not going to be the censors. We're going to be the censored." Guest co-host Josh brings us headlines in the voice of a certain singer from the 1990s.

Freddie DeBoer: "the threat of Left Wing political violence is laughable"

We talk to "progressive warrior" Anoa Changa, host of The Way with Anoa, about the difference between shallow identity politics and real intersectionality,  the relationship between economic and racial justice, fighting racism within the progressive movement & calling out the "covert racism & overt classism" of North Eastern liberals. Anoa talks James Baldwin, Adolph Reed, W.E.B DuBois, offers tips & insights into how we become a movement of the 99%. And Anoa and I discuss the value of talking about Sanders' campaign and the response it garnered from critics. Plus Gabe and I talk about my birthday, Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Joy Reid and Neera Tanden.

Neoliberalism's covert racism & overt classism with "progressive warrior" Anoa Changa

Bonus ep on Racist Statues & Columbus Day: https://www.patreon.com/posts/14965304
This episode is from our live taping at The Brooklyn Commons. Gabe Pacheco and I talk to Wendi Muse, historian and creator of the #LeftPOC hashtag and project, as well as Anoa Changa, organizer & host of The Way with Anoa, about the representation, or lack thereof, of People of Color on the political left. Are Wendy and Anoa real? Or Russian bots? Find out...

#LeftPoc or Elaborate Russian PsyOp? with Wendi Muse & Anoa Changa

Bonus extended interview: https://www.patreon.com/posts/15197523
I talk to Marc Fliedner, who is running as a write-in candidate against Cy Vance the (up until now)unopposed candidate for Manhattan DA. Marc had already run for Brooklyn DA but when it was revealed that Vance had declined to prosecute Harvey Weinstein and had accepted money from Weinstein's lawyer, Fiedner decided to jump into the race. I talk to Marc about what and who convinced him to run, his historic conviction of NYPD officer Peter Liang in the killing of Akai Gurley, and what he would do as DA.

Marc Fliedner for DA: the write-in candidate who would have charged Harvey Weinstein

Bonus: We talk to journalist Norman Solomon about the report he co-authored, "Autopsy: The Democratic Party in Crisis."

Autopsy Report on the Democratic Party in Crisis with Norman Solomon

Bonus chat with Julia on her political evolution https://www.patreon.com/posts/21319406
I talk to Julia Salazar, a DSA candidate running against Martin Dilan, the state senator in New York's 18th District. Salazar has been compared to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortéz for being a young, Latina, DSA member and first time candidate taking on the Democratic Machine. Julia talks to me about the difference between her and Dilan and addresses his bad record on housing and tenants rights, which the media almost entirely ignored until a Gothamist piece published this week which exposed that Dilan takes more money from the real estate industry than all but one Democratic state senator. And I talk to Ted Hamm about Letitia James, who is running for Attorney General of NY against friend-of-the-show and anti corruption crusader Zephyr Teachout. Hamm talks about  James' troubling support of former Brooklyn DA Charles J. Hynes

Julia Salazar on State Senate run, Ted Hamm on Tish James support of racist former Brooklyn DA

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The Katie Halper Show takes a humorous look at the news, politics, pop culture, and the arts through news segments and conversations with writers, journalists, activists, artists and political comedians.