
Dave Schwensen is the author of How To Be A Working Comic: An Insider’s Guide To A Career In Stand-Up Comedy, Comedy FAQs And Answers: How The Stand-Up Biz Really Works, and How To Be A Working Corporate Comedian: A Step-By-Step Guide Into Launching & Building Your Career. His credits include Talent Coordinator for the television show A&E’s An Evening At The Improv, The Hollywood and New York City Improv Comedy Clubs, and Assistant to Improv founder Budd Friedman.
With The Improv in Hollywood and New York, Dave coordinated talent showcases and auditions for major television shows, networks and film studios. Included in this list are The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with David Letterman, The Today Show, The Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, Disney, Paramount, MTV, VH-1, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime and more.
Dave has also managed The Cleveland Improv Comedy Club and Restaurant, giving him an exclusive bragging right. He is the only person (on the face of the earth) to have held these positions from coast (Atlantic) to coast (Pacific) to coast (Lake Erie – the U.S. North Coast). He’s worked in the comedy industry for over three decades and decided to do one comedy workshop in 1994. Just one. They’ve continued since.
As a comedy coach, author and consultant, Dave has been featured on PBS Television and Radio, Chicago Tribune, Ohio Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Backstage (industry) newspaper, InsideBiz.com Magazine and many others.
Coach, Talent Agent, Manager… and University Instructor? Uh… yeah.
Dave has extensive experience within the New York, Hollywood and Midwest regions as a college and corporate booking agent (comedians, speakers and variety acts), talent manager, publicist, radio host, entertainment journalist and award-winning humor columnist. In addition to his comedy workshops and entertainment business seminars, which have been held in major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Charlotte, New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Dave has designed and instructed business courses in communications and presentation skills for Cleveland State University, Youngstown State University and other “halls of higher learning.”
Career Day: Comedy – R U Kidding Me?!
Center For Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC)
Dave’s programs on careers in the entertainment industry, comedy workshops and creative communications are also available to students grades 6 -12, colleges and universities, and lifelong learners via Zoom video conferences through The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC).
Dave is a three-time Pinnacle Award Winner for excellence in learning programs. Okay, the official letter said…
“Awarded for remarkable quality of educational content and exceptional skill at program delivery.”
Yes, he really can be called The Nutty Professor!



Award Winning Speaker, Trainer and Seminar Leader
As a consultant, trainer and keynote speaker on the topics of team building, networking and “breaking the ice,” Dave presents You’re Talking – But Is Anyone Really Listening? for business, special interest groups and LifeLong Learners.
This program combines the importance of communication skills with the fun of his comedy workshops. The ideal training seminar or break-out session to kick-off or close meetings and conferences, or to energize your group before or following long working sessions. The goals are to communicate, strengthen the bonds within your staff and employees, and of course – laugh together. But what makes Dave’s programs stand out from any others? With a healthy dose of audience participation and laughter, he’ll turn your meeting into a temporary comedy club where members of your audience are the stars of the show!
And Now For Something Completely Different…
In addition to his books on the comedy industry…
Dave is the author of The Beatles At Shea Stadium: The Story Behind Their Greatest Concert and The Beatles In Cleveland: Memories, Facts & Photos About The Notorious 1964 & 1966 Concerts. Both books are recognized best-sellers, having charted in the National Top 40 for Biographies and Memoirs on Amazon.com. The Beatles In Cleveland hit No.1 for Items Sold In Northern Ohio.
Dave has been interviewed on numerous international, national and regional television and radio programs including The Beatle Years, Breakfast with the Beatles and Beatle Brunch. He is also a featured author at the New York Metro Fest for Beatles Fans, The Chicago Fest For Beatles Fans, The Los Angeles Fest For Beatles Fans, and Abbey Road On The River (Louisville, KY).
Beatles Author Presentation
Adding to his career as an event and educational speaker, trainer and entertainer, Dave presents in-person presentations and online webinars featuring both books and a unique program, The Beatles: Their Influence on American Teenagers and The Concert Experience. This presentation is an educational, musical and humorous history tour through the 1960’s. This is geared for all ages and popular with History (1960s), Music, Social Studies and Popular Culture courses in junior and senior high schools, colleges and universities.
Dave also presents all three programs for festivals, conferences and special interest groups. For more information visit BeatlesProgram.com.
Author
Dave’s latest (2020) book, Something To Laugh About: 144 Essays On Being A Parent, Holidays & Stuff Other People Think Is Funny, includes laugh out loud articles (144 in case you missed that) from his award winning humor column of the same name. All books are available in paperback and eBook through online booksellers and Amazon.com
To contact Dave send an email to dave@thecomedybook.com or use the Contact link above.