Michael Cruz Kayne

Michael Cruz Kayne is a Filipino-American comedian, actor, and writer based in New York City whose work spans television, theater, and stand-up comedy. He studied musical theater in college before moving into comedy and writing, eventually becoming a performer at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City. There, Kayne hosted the monthly show "The Exhibition," which attracted consistently sold-out crowds, and regularly performed improv with "ASSSSCAT," "What I Did For Love," and "Baby Wants Candy." He also founded The Ally Program, a diversity initiative at Upright Citizens Brigade that identified talented and motivated students, offering them mentors and free workshops.

Kayne joined the writing staff of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on CBS, where his work earned him a Peabody Award and a Writers Guild of America Award. He has also received multiple Primetime Emmy Award nominations as a writer on "The Late Show" and on "Stephen Colbert's Election Night 2020: Democracy's Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020" on Showtime. Beyond late-night television, Kayne served as a creative consultant for "Billy on the Street," and wrote for Nickelodeon's Creative Lab and an animated kids show on Netflix. He also co-created the web series "Terrible Babysitters" with D'Arcy Carden, which screened at SXSW, and co-wrote and starred in the pilot "Good Dads," which was presented at the New York Television Festival.

As an actor, Kayne has appeared in television series including "Severance" on Apple TV+; "High Maintenance" and "White House Plumbers" on HBO; and "Late Night with Seth Meyers" as a stand-up performer. He can also be heard in two Audible series: "64th Man" with John Cena and "Holiday Greetings from Sugar and Booze" with Ana Gasteyer. Other credits include starring in the digital series "Short Term Rental," for which he won Best Actor at Stareable Fest, and the short "Papercop."

Kayne's solo show "Sorry for Your Loss" draws from personal experience with grief and loss. On the tenth anniversary of his son Fisher's death, Kayne wrote a thread on Twitter about grief and loss that received more than 140,000 responses, which became the basis for the show. Kayne wrote and stars in "Sorry for Your Loss," which addresses grief and loss through the lens of comedy. The show premiered at Minetta Lane Theatre and was nominated for both a Drama Desk Award and a Lucille Lortel Award. The production's extension due to audience demand highlights Kayne's ability to transform personal experience into universally resonant storytelling, establishing him as a distinctive voice in comedy, theater, and television.