Randy Cohen

Randy Cohen is an American writer and humorist known as the author of The Ethicist column in The New York Times Magazine between 1999 and 2011. The column was syndicated throughout the U.S. and Canada. Cohen is also known as the author of several books, a playwright, and the host of the public radio show Person Place Thing.

Cohen's first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines including The New Yorker, Harper's, The Atlantic, and Young Love Comics. His first television work was writing for Late Night with David Letterman for which he won three Emmy Awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore's TV Nation. He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. Cohen was the original head writer on The Rosie O'Donnell Show for which he also co-wrote the theme music. In 2010, his first play, "The Punishing Blow," ran at New York's Clurman Theater.

In highly engaging and entertaining keynotes, Randy Cohen answers any question ranging from what you should do if you think a friend's spouse is cheating to whether you should give someone a great reference just because he or she needs work. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, and raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Cohen attended the State University of New York at Albany where, in 2011, he was granted an honorary doctorate. He received an MFA in music composition from the California Institute of the Arts.