Comedy Central Promotes Five In Talent & Development

Comedy Central has promoted Anne Harris and Christian McLaughlin to Senior Vice Presidents of Talent and Development. In addition, Tara Schuster, Ari Pearce and Jordan Ellner have been elevated to Vice Presidents.

Harris, who began as a talent assistant at Comedy Central 17 years ago, is Head of Stand-Up and Talent for the network, in addition to the development of radio and podcast programming with VP Jordan Ellner. She is currently shepherding This Is Not Happening, New Negroes, Kevin Hart Presents, the Comedy Central Podcasts for Nikki Glazer and more.

McLaughlin has spearheaded series and specials with top talent such as Tracy Morgan, Key & Peele, Ed Helms and Ali Siddiq. McLaughlin is also responsible for overseeing Comedy Central’s Roast specials and will be integral in the development of the network’s new comedy documentary series initiative.

In her role as VP, Schuster serves as Executive in Charge of Another Period, currently in its third season, and the critically praised Hood Adjacent with James Davis, which she developed from Snapchat. Schuster previously worked as a digital producer for Comedy Central and oversaw development for Key & Peele and @midnight with Chris Hardwick.

As VP of Talent and Development, Pearce is involved in developing new series across a variety of formats, and is the executive in charge of The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, The President Show, Inside Amy Schumer, and the upcoming series, The Other Two, created by former SNL head writers, Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider. Previously, Pearce was VP of Comedy Central’s Brand Creative group, where he helped spearhead Comedy Central’s 2010 rebrand.

As VP of Talent and Development, Ellner oversees high-level casting and celebrity bookings for all Comedy Central series, events and stand-up series. He also serves as Executive in Charge of Production on series and events including Roast Battle, The Comedy Jam and the upcoming show Taskmaster. Additionally, he works with Harris in jointly overseeing the development and production of Comedy Central’s radio and podcasting programming. Ellner was previously a talent and development executive for Comedy Central’s digital division and before joining Comedy Central, Ellner served as the head of MySpace Comedy.

“We are so proud to have Anne and Christian as leaders in our group, overseeing the development of our specials and stand-up programming, and fostering important talent relationships that are so vital to the Comedy Central brand,” said Talent and Development Heads Jonas Larsen and Sarah Babineau in a joint statement. “We’re equally as fortunate to work side by side with Tara, Ari and Jordy who are outstanding creative executives that are beloved in the comedy world and bring great passion to their work every day.”