About The Existential Yo-Yo
How It Began…
The initial concept The Existential Yo-Yo began when producer Dan Gorski went into therapy on a journey of spiritual exploration and self-discovery in the pursuit of happiness. He soon found friends and colleagues on similar journeys, surviving through the pain and struggle of it all with a healthy dose of humor and probably some self-medication. So, he decided to tap into this continuing journey with other like-minded comedy writers to make a podcast.
As a result, this project assembles a crack-team of sketch comedy writers to explore topics of “personal growth, balance, and all the challenges of life that complicate and generally fuck-up our pursuit of happiness,” all through traditional comedy revue-style sketches.
Sarah Albritton
writer / performer
Sarah Albritton details coming soon.
Poonam Basu is an award winning actor, writer, and director. A proud alumnus of New York University with a BA in Spanish Literature and an MA in Educational Children’s TV, Poonam will always consider NY home, but currently resides in LA.
Poonam loves to perform across all platforms - film, TV, Zoom, theater, animation, video games, podcasts, etc. She is best known for voicing the character Klee in the hit video game, Genshin Impact. She’s appeared on TV shows like SWAT, Parks and Recreation, Baskets, Good Girls, Splitting Up Together, and performed live on stage at the Oscars. Recent feature film performances include comedy heist movie, Four Samosas (2023), and horror comedy, Screamboat (coming in Jan 2025).
Poonam will be releasing her first collection of poetry at the end of this year, just in time for the holidays! Follow her on TikTok and IG @iampoonambasu for more antics and updates.
Poonam Basu
performer
Christian T. Chan is a founding member of the NYC based Obie-Award-winning Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company. Select credits include: Los Angeles theatre: So You Want To Be a Vampire (Offending Shadows), Our Town (Actors' Co-Op), The End Times (Skylight Theatre and Playwright's Arena), Richard III (Eclectic Company Theater). New York theatre: A Beginner's Guide to Deicide (Vampire Cowboys), Museum (Unity Stage Company), Taming of the Shrew (Brooklyn Repertory Shakespeare). Regional theatre: Three Sisters (Miami Theater Center), The Red Thread (Playground Theater). Video Games: Archangel, Dynasty Warriors 9, Resident Evil 2 (2019). Film: Et Tu, Found Footage, Reunion 108, Something's Different About Felix Weathers. Television: Six Degrees of Everything, True Nightmares.
He was also an adjunct professor at LACC and has taught through Arts in Corrections in California at the Men's Central Jail downtown LA and the California State Prison in Lancaster (CSP-LAC 2016-2017) under the supervision of Leah Joki directing the original inmate-written My Father's Gone in the "Fathers and Sons" project. BFA Ohio University, MFA Columbia University. Recipient of the Bob Hope Fellowship. Proud member of Actors' Equity and SAG-AFTRA.
Christian T. Chan
performer
Who is that girl burning it all down? Danielle Evenson - unless you’re the police. Then it’s Lauren Bobert, her unfortunate celebrity doppleganger. Danielle grew up in the rolling hills of Wisconsin where men are men and cows are bred by dramatic and spectacular advances in science. After graduating the University of Wisconsin (go, Badgers!) she went to LA and ended up becoming a PA at WIll & Grace.
She started her writing career with Dan and Marek writing on spec for a start-up development company and writing for the series The New Adventures of Old Christine. She realized that nobody listens to women, so she partnered with another one, Heather Huntington, so they can scream even louder into the void. Together, they’ve written series for Meet Cute, Aural Stories, and have produced their own audio series Unsolved Death Murder Crimes.
Currently, they run the monthly table read series Copilots at the Elysian Theater, have a movie on Amazon called The Proposal Spot, and are writing female-led video games for Series Entertainment.
When not writing she lives in Los Angeles and rages against machines large and small.
Danielle Evenson
writer / director / producer
Marek Glinski
writer / director / producer
Marek vigorously and tirelessly pursued happiness until the restraining order went into effect. He was born in an elevator in a hospital in Chicago to Polish immigrant parents. It caused some inconvenience for other women who were in labor at the time. Not his fault. A child prodigy, he wasted no time developing a highly advanced sense of entitlement.
Writing sketch is one of the many things Marek does sitting down. Other seated activities include writing plays. His one-act, THE DEVIL'S SONATA won an Illinois Arts Council fellowship for dramatic writing earlier in this century and premiered in a Chicago theatre that didn't quite comply with the municipal fire code. The theatre is not there any more. Neither are the dog shampoo boutique and adult video store that occupied adjacent buildings. Not his fault.
Marek is a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA, which has publicly exposed some of his plays, like PIGS AND CHICKENS, an ensemble farce about a tech startup with lots of technical jargon and cursing. He is also an alumnus of Actors Studio West Directors and Playwrights Unit, where he wasted no time developing a highly advanced sense of imposter's syndrome.
Because writing and producing plays get really annoying, Marek also writes screenplays and is developing several TV series with his wife Kathryn Taylor, who is bearing up quite well under the ordeal.
Dan discovered at a young age that embarrassing his family in front of the neighbors could get big laughs, while poking fun at the whole mother-house-cleaning complex. Before too long, he joined his brother and cousins in holiday pranks, which inspired them to develop a long-running original sketch show. And by long, I mean one long, excruciating hour.
Luckily, a friend gave him a book “How to Be Funny” as a hint, er I mean, gift, so he started taking comedy seriously, eventually honing his instincts at The Second City, iO West, and UCB. He also studied directing at Columbia College Film school, after signing up for a screenwriting class to impress a girl, and now they’ve been married for over twenty five years.
His key comedy and storytelling influences include Monty Python, the Coen Brothers, Kids in the Hall, Harold Ramis, James L Brooks, Adam McKay, Mike Nichols, Neil Simon, and Billy Wilder. Past projects include the short film SLIP N SLIDE, which premiered at the Los Angeles Asia Pacific Film Festival and the digital series CO-HABITS, which showcased at Hollywood Web Series Unplugged, along with the scripts THIS IS NOT MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE (feature) and MY SECRET FAMILY (pilot), both quarter-finalists at Cinestory.
He started Smiling Chow Productions LLC to produce independent comedy projects like the Existential Yo-Yo Sketch Show Podcast. Click here for more details on Smiling Chow Productions LLC.
writer / director / producer
Dan Gorski
Tara is an actor/writer/comedian/producer who trained at USC, the British American Drama Academy, the Groundlings, iO West, Second City, and UCB, and has been on house improv and sketch teams all over LA. As a standup, she performs and hosts regularly at venues nationwide.
As a writer, her first book, Tips For Your Last Year On Earth, was published by Vulpine Press in 2023; her feature script Do Not Go Gently was a quarterfinalist in the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship; she’s a former headline writer for The Onion and is a regular contributor for Slackjaw, Jane Austen’s Wastebasket, The Bold Italic, Insider, and Greener Pastures.
Film and TV appearances include Jury Duty, Conan O’Brien, Tosh.0, Teachers, General Hospital, and the cult horror hit Rubber.
Tara Jean O’Brien
performer
Born and raised in a suburb of Philadelphia, David began his Los Angeles based career in 1998 working in post-production for the major studios including Paramount, Warner Brothers, and Universal. He would eventually rise to manage the post production operations at Fox Television for their Sports and Sports Net divisions. Becoming more involved with script development and production, he made the transition to the Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Worldwide Product Fulfillment division and handled over $750 million in yearly sales under Sales Executive Vice President Thanda Belker. Developing quickly as a narrative producer, David worked with writer / director Dan Ast on his freshman film Claire, as well as Associate Producing on independent darlings Lust for Love, staring Joss Whedon favorites Fran Kranz, Dichen Lachman, Miracle Laurie, and Felicia Day; Jocelyn Towne’s I Am I, and Tim Driscoll’s Berlin Independent Film Festival winner The Lengths.
After gaining significant experience in the producing field, he was quickly accepted into the Producers Guild of America where he was mentored by Shopgirl and Conviction producer Andrew Sugerman. With significant strides as a producer, David joined the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and is now a voting member in the producer peer group for the Emmys. He is also a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) Producers & Engineers Peer Group where he votes on the Grammys and contributes to the music community as an advocate for fair compensation.
David Schatanoff, Jr
producer
Whit Spurgeon is an actor, director and producer. Prior to moving to LA in 2009, he spent 20 years in Chicago acting in award-winning plays such as the long-running "Hizzoner" at Prop Theatre, the world premieres of Rebecca Gilman's "The Glory of Living" and "The Crime of the Century" at Circle Theatre, and "Awake and Sing!" and “Paradise Lost” at Timeline Theatre. While in Chicago he appeared in over two dozen TV commercials for clients like Verizon, Citgo, and Pick 'n Save Supermarkets.
Since arriving in Los Angeles, his TV appearances include Fresh Off the Boat, Liza On Demand, Cougar Town, To Tell The Truth, and, most recently, It's Florida, Man. Whit has had featured roles in numerous films, among them the cult horror favorites VICTOR CROWLEY and CHASTITY BITES.
When he gets the urge, he’s been known to direct a short film – most notably festival favorites PRESENT TENSE, THE INTERVIEW, and the award-winning THUMP.
Whit Spurgeon
performer
