The Apple Genius Tech Who Convinced Chris Hardwick to Start a Podcast Talks to Alison Rosen

On the Monday episode of “Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend” comedy writer Matt Mira talked about how he went from being an Apple Genius to having a career in comedy television.

Comedy writer and comedian Matt Mira writes for @midnight, and says he helped to inspire one of the biggest comedy podcasts going, and he got his foot in the door by way of the Apple store. He told podcaster Alison Rosen that he moved to Los Angeles with a plan to get into ‘the business’ by working around famous people. “My plan was either to work at a Starbucks or the Apple Store. The reasoning behind that being ‘I’m bound to meet someone famous that’s in the business that I can befriend, and that should work out just fine.”  It seems to be working so far.

Matt told Rosen that he landed a job at the Apple Store in The Grove in Los Angeles, and began meeting comedians like Chris Hardwick, Scott Aukerman, and Doug Benson while at the same time, performing at open mics. “I became all the comics’ Apple guy. Everyone would come in and we’d shoot the shit for, like, 2 hours.” Mira says that when Chris Hardwick would come in, he would tell him to start a podcast. “I’d been telling him forever” he said, until finally, Harwick invited Matt to produce and appear on the podcast that became one of the most popular podcasts on the internet.  Mira joined the show, but continued to work at the Apple Store.

One day when Matt was fixing an iMac for Executive Producer of G4’s Attack of the Show, Vinnie Rutherford, Vinnie invited Matt to be a segment producer for Attack of the Show. After five years of working at the Apple Store, Matt quit his job and began his career in television. He now writes for Comedy Central’s @Midnight, a late-night internet-based improv panel game show, hosted by Chris Hardwick. “One of the fun parts about @Midnight,” he told Rosen, “is that it’s on four nights a week. So, we write a lot of stuff the day of. As a comedy writer, to write a joke and then see it on television that night, that’s a fun, very rewarding thing.”

Matt also talks with Alison in-depth about a variety of personal matters, including meeting his fiancé, a Buzzfeed Executive Editor, on Tinder, getting expelled from college, working at a funeral home, and his journey of losing over 200 pounds.

Follow Matt on Twitter @MattMira, watch @Midnight Monday – Thursday evenings. Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend Podcast is released on Mondays and Thursdays. Download on iTunes, Sound Cloud, Stitcher, or www.alisonrosen.com. ARIYNBF is the top-rated female comedy podcast on iTunes.

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