VANESSA HOLLINGSHEAD is the quintessential New Yorker. She only got her driver’s license a couple of years ago.

As a child, she spent a year at Millbrook Mansion with her father as he introduced Timothy Leary, and later, the Beatles to LSD. After an accidental “trip” of her own when she was only five, she was returned to her mother’s care. Her mother tried to juggle her responsibilities as a mom with her full-time career of finding good grass in bad neighborhoods.

Throw in two years on a commune, two years in London with her dad, a decade of temp work…
Vanessa’s angst was complete. A comedian was born.

Vanessa just shot her first Half-Hour Comedy Special for Comedy Central Presents. It airs February 2004.

She recently performed in the Montreal Just For Laughs tour with Kevin Pollak, and appeared in the original pilot of the AJ Benza Show on E!

Vanessa is a favorite at Comedy Central, and was a guest host on NBC’s Later. She was featured on Tough Crowd, Dateline, & Oxygen. She parodied the film, Nurse Betty on Canned Ham, and has performed in New Joke City.

She was in the critically acclaimed film Ghost Dog, directed by Jim Jarmusch, has performed on the The Jim Bruer Show, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and NBC’s Louie Anderson Comedy Showcase.

In 1999 Vanessa was invited to perform her one-woman show Flashback at the Aspen US Comedy Arts Festival. She was then offered the opportunity to do Flashback at the HBO workspace in Los Angeles and at Gary Marshall’s Falcon Theatre. She has completed her first screenplay, which is now in development.

Last year Vanessa toured the Middle East for a month. Now, she can be seen a little closer to home in New York City at Comic Strip Live, Stand Up New York, Caroline’s, The Boston Comedy Club, Gotham, and The Comedy Cellar

The talented Ms. Hollingshead has also written and produced a one-woman show “Flashback” and has completed her 1st screenplay. She can be seen regularly at The Comic Strip, Boston Comedy Club, Stand Up NY, Caroline’s and The Comedy Cellar in NYC