BIO
Journalist, activist and stand up comedian Francesca Fiorentini has spent most of her life comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable -- from the streets to the screen to the stage. As a host and producer, Francesca helped Al Jazeera Media Network successfully launch the online news channel AJ+ in 2013. She has captured online audiences with viral hits like "The Real Deal with the U.S. Mexico Border"and "How America is Already Socialist."
In the Spring of 2016 Francesca launched Al Jazeera's first comedy show. (That's right, the BBC of the Middle East does comedy.) Newsbroke is a weekly scripted deep-dive into nuclear power, the war in Afghanistan, immigration policy and other totally non serious topics. As head writer and host, Francesca’s monologues and sketches include viral hits like "How the Rich Want to Keep you Dumb" and "White Fragility in the Workplace."
Francesca has also been a correspondent with “Explorer” on the National Geographic Channel since 2016. She has played matchmaker in Japan, toured a cadaver farm in Texas, and met Oklahomans demanding accountability for fracking-induced earthquakes. For her NatGeo work on draconian abortion laws in El Salvador she won a Media Excellence award from Planned Parenthood in 2018.
In 2019 Francesca hosted “Red, White and Who?” a special that aired on MSNBC, which looked at the state of healthcare in the U.S. She traveled to Texas, Utah and New York and spoke with doctors, patients and politicians to understand how ten years after Obamacare, healthcare in America is less of a right and more of a luxury commodity. The special concluded with a sit-down interview with 2020 presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders.
Francesca regularly speaks dick jokes to power on stage as a stand up comic. She has been featured on the podcast Lovett or Leave It (2018), the BBC Arts Hour (2018), and has been part of SF Sketchfest (2017-2020), SF Comedy Day (2017), and the Asian-American Comedy Comedy Festival in LA (2015). She is also a regular contributor to the progressive news network The Young Turks.