Jaffe Cohen

American television writer and producer

Jaffe Cohen (born 1962) is an American television writer and producer, most noted as a co-creator with Ryan Murphy and Michael Zam of the television series Feud.[1]

## Career

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Cohen first became prominent in the 1980s as a member of the comedy troupe Funny Gay Males, alongside Bob Smith and Danny McWilliams.[2] The trio toured for several years, performing a show that consisted of each member performing a solo standup comedy set, including an appearance at the 1991 Just for Laughs festival.[3] They also collaborated on the 1995 comedy book Growing Up Gay: From Left Out to Coming Out, which was a Lambda Literary Award nominee in the humor category at the 8th Lambda Literary Awards.[4]

After the troupe went on hiatus in the late 1990s, he auditioned for the role of Simon in the 1997 film As Good As It Gets, but was passed over for being "too gay" despite Simon being a gay character.[5] He did, however, appear in the film in a smaller supporting role as a party guest.[6] He also performed at the 1997 We're Funny That Way! comedy festival, with his set forming part of David Adkin's 1998 documentary film,[7] and in the 1998 sketch comedy special In Thru the Out Door.[8]

He was one of the writers of the 1999 film Hit and Runway,[9] which won the award for best screenplay at the 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.[10]

Funny Gay Males briefly reunited in the mid-2000s, adding Eddie Sarfaty as a fourth member.[11] Cohen subsequently became a professor of television and film writing at the State University of New York at Oneonta.[1]

## Awards

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As a co-producer and writer of Feud, Cohen received a Producers Guild of America nomination for Best Long-Form Television at the 29th Producers Guild of America Awards,[12] a Writers Guild of America nomination for Best Long Form Original Television at the 70th Writers Guild of America Awards,[13] and Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series and Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie at the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.[14]

## References

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1. ^ a b Nellie Andreeva, "‘Feud’ Co-Creators Michael Zam & Jaffe Cohen Sign With ICM Partners". Deadline Hollywood, June 12, 2017.
2. ^ "'Funny Gay Males' is perfectly named". Baltimore Sun, April 22, 1992.
3. ^ Bill Brownstein, "Funny Gay Males lives up to their billing; Our humor starts there but leads everywhere, comedians insist". Montreal Gazette, November 28, 1991.
4. ^ Cerna, Antonio Gonzalez (July 14, 1996). "8th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Lambdaliterary.org. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
5. ^ "Comic called `too gay' for As Good As It Gets". Halifax Daily News, March 31, 1998.
6. ^ "See a funny gay male get yucks at Yuk-Yuk's". Ottawa Citizen, July 23, 1998.
7. ^ Steven Mazey, "Gay film festival opens with laughter: Documentary opens Ottawa festival". Ottawa Citizen, September 16, 1998.
8. ^ "Quebec Scene: Carver, Briere, Tremblay headline latest Bouchard adaptation Teeka". Playback, November 17, 1997.
9. ^ Emanuel Levy, "Hit and Runway". Variety, May 17, 1999.
10. ^ Jon Matsumoto, "Using Differences as Grist for Their Script". Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2001.
11. ^ "Comedy quartet returns to the Red Barn". Miami Herald, January 31, 2004.
12. ^ Jenna Marotta, "Producers Guild Awards 2018: The Complete Winners List, from 'The Shape of Water' to 'Coco' and 'Jane'". IndieWire, January 21, 2018.
13. ^ Meg Swertlow, "2018 Writers Guild Awards: The Complete List of Winners". E! News, February 11, 2018.
14. ^ Alex Abad-Santos, "Emmy winners 2017: the complete list". Vox, September 18, 2017.

## External links

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* Jaffe Cohen at IMDb