INFORMATION FOR
Major: Communication
Current Title: Senior Producer/Segment Director, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Jake Plunkett is an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and director for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He produces and directs all major pre-tape or live comedy segments for the show, which have included a variety of high-level talents, presidential candidates, and athletes. He’s even directed his mother in a number of Late Show segments! Prior to his role at The Late Show, Jake was a producer for seasons 39 and 40 of Saturday Night Live, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on Hulu, and for MTV and Comedy Central. He also worked for the Democratic National Committee as a rapid response producer for the 2020 presidential campaign. He currently serves on the arts council for his hometown of Rutherford, New Jersey.
Proudest Professional Accomplishment: “This is a weird one, but I think the accomplishment I'm most proud of is being the first director to pull off a field production after the COVID pandemic began. We had to work with the City of New York and the State of New Jersey to basically write the guidelines that were put into place so that directors like me could go back to work. A week before COVID shut down the world, my mother and I did a piece about it on The Late Show. Three weeks later, my mother was in the ICU battling the virus. For the first segment back after the shutdown, we had my mother check in with her doctor to talk about her experience. It was harrowing but I'm really proud we did it.”
WP Pride. “William Paterson gave me a toolbox and the freedom to find my voice as a young comedy producer and director. By giving us studio space to do a weekly late-night show, we were basically afforded a boot camp on how to and how not to produce a television show.”
