Raheem KassamVerified account

During the train ride from New York to Rhode Island, I became radicalized. I was a Poli Sci major who wanted to be a political speechwriter. By the time we got to Providence, I decided to drop out of college the following semester to intern for The Colbert Report. I did.

Because I am an anxious Jew who is the daughter of two anxious Jews, I went back to college in the Spring of 2008 and finished my poli sci degree. But the entire arc of my career has been marching to the steady drumbeat of "Fuck That Guy." Fast forward to 2012.

I got hired to write for Jimmy Kimmel Live. I was one of three women on a staff of over a dozen writers. At the time I was hired, there were more female supreme court justices than on every other major late night writers room combined (Letterman, Leno, Conan, Daily, Fallon)

But "Fuck That Guy," right? I worked very, very hard to keep my job. I was 25 years old with no comedy experience in a city where I knew nobody and had no connections. I left my boyfriend in another city and moved into a pool house of a house with no pool. My fridge was outside.

I woke up and wrote monologue jokes and bits, I came home from the office and worked on my next assignment. I ate every meal at my laptop. I would go to sleep at midnight while still writing jokes and bits. I was terrified I would be fired every Friday. But "Fuck That Guy."

Eight years later I was still at Kimmel. It was time to leave. And I had an idea for an all-female comedy special. I met with @RachelBros and her production partner Paige Simpson and pitched it to her. She got it immediately. She set up a pitch meeting with Amazon Studios.

So many women made this possible. Thank you to @WeTheWomenColl who brought this to life before it got to @ScrapPaperPics and Amazon.