Ari Shaffir

Ari David Shaffir (born February 12, 1974) is an American comedian, actor, podcaster, writer, and producer. He produced and hosted the Skeptic Tank podcast from 2010 to 2023. He now hosts the podcast "You Be Trippin'" where he discusses travel experiences and stories. He also co-hosts the podcast Punch Drunk Sports with Jayson Thibault and Sam Tripoli, and is a regular guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on the "Protect Our Parks" episodes with Shane Gillis and Mark Normand. He created and previously hosted and produced the This is Not Happening television series, an adaptation of his monthly stand-up show.

Ari David Shaffir was born in New York City to a Jewish family of Romanian descent. His father was a Holocaust survivor. The family followed Conservative Jewish practices until Ari was nine years old, when they moved to Maryland, where his parents adopted Orthodox Jewish beliefs. Shaffir attended high school in Rockville, Maryland. He went on to study for two years at Yeshiva in Jerusalem before transferring to the University of Maryland, where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in English literature. Following his graduation, Shaffir moved to Los Angeles to improve his chances of success as a stand-up comedian. He took up work answering the phones at The Comedy Store, until owner Mitzi Shore made him a paid regular four and a half years later.

Shaffir first became known to a wider audience with the viral video series The Amazing Racist. He became an opening act for Joe Rogan in the late 2000s. In 2010 he created, produced and hosted the monthly live show This Is Not Happening, with Eric Abrams, which debuted as a web series in 2013 and premiered in January 2015 on Comedy Central. He left the show as producer and host in 2017 after selling his third special, Double Negative, to Netflix rather than Comedy Central. In 2010 Shaffir appeared on the 3rd episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, his first of 59 appearances on the show. In 2011, Shaffir began his podcast, Skeptic Tank.