I’LL TALK IN THE THIRD PERSON NOW
Don Fanelli (4% Homo Neanderthalensis) grew up in Northern New Jersey and graduated with an Industrial Engineering degree which he used for approximately 11 months. He discovered the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City, where he had the honor of performing with the longest running weekend team, The Stepfathers, as well as in UCB’s flagship show, Asssscat. Don also taught all levels of improv at UCB, traveled the country with UCB Tourco, led corporate workshops for companies like Google and Budweiser, and won a bunch improv tournaments (real cool) with indie darlings, Fuck Th*t Shit and Sabonis.
Don has performed on sketch teams with some extremely talented folks such as Kate McKinnon and Natasha Rothwell and he co-wrote and starred in Sketches From An Italian Restaurant: A Billy Joel Sketch Show with Dru Johnston, which ran for over a year on both coasts and was listed in The New York Times, Time Out NY, The Village Voice and Noisy. Don also performed his one man show Mr. Jersey’s Neighborhood on both coasts and was honored to be selected to be one of ten to perform in the 2015 Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal in the New Faces: Characters division.
Don was most recently seen recurring as Alan Baker Jr. on Amazon’s A League of Their Own and was a series regular on the PopTV show Nightcap where he got to improvise with stars such as Paul Rudd, Michael J. Fox, Whoopie Goldberg, and up and comer Julianne Moore. He has appeared in such shows as Superstore, Broad City, Orange is the New Black, Inside Amy Schumer and Adam Ruins Everything and can be seen in many short films and the feature Most Likely to Murder. His short film, Sunday Dinner, which he also wrote, won 2 awards at the various film festivals it played at during the ol’ pandemic. He has been a guest on many podcasts including With Special Guest: Lauren Lapkus, High & Mighty, Womp It Up, and improv4humans, and has hosted over 150 episodes of his award-winning podcast, The Need to Fail. Don now lives in Los Angeles, where he enjoys cooking, hiking, and getting called “trash” by his daughter.