Joe Pera

Joseph Pera (born July 24, 1988) is an American comedian, writer and actor. He was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in the suburb of Amherst, becoming interested in comedy from an early age, which he attributes to his father and both sets of grandparents joking around a lot. During his teenage years he took a comedy course taught by Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel. He studied film at Ithaca College, where he competed in and won the college's stand-up competition three times, graduating in 2010 before moving to New York City to pursue comedy.

Known for his slow, "grandfatherly" delivery and his penchant for wearing sweaters, Pera created the Adult Swim Infomercial Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep (2016), followed by Joe Pera Helps You Find the Perfect Christmas Tree. Their success, through his production company Chestnut Walnut founded with Conner O'Malley, led to the television series Joe Pera Talks with You, which premiered on May 20, 2018, and ran for three seasons before its cancellation was announced on July 7, 2022. The show received critical acclaim for its unique tone and writing; The A.V. Club's Erik Adams called it "a particular type of funny, of the soft-spoken, deadpan, and disarming type that Pera practices onstage."

Pera has appeared on Conan (2017), Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2019). In 2021 he released the book A Bathroom Book for People Not Pooping or Peeing but Using the Bathroom as an Escape, illustrated by Joe Bennett. He launched the sleep-aid podcast Drifting Off With Joe Pera in 2023 and released the 56-minute stand-up special Joe Pera: Slow and Steady on YouTube that October. On February 18, 2026, it was announced that Adult Swim had picked up a new series created by Pera and Dan Licata called My Two Cars.