Michael Kosta
Stand-up comedian

Michael Kosta

Who Michael Kosta is

Michael Kosta is a stand-up comedian and former professional tennis player from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who began doing stand-up while an assistant tennis coach at the University of Michigan and became a full-time comic in Los Angeles in 2005. He joined The Daily Show as a correspondent in 2017 and has been one of its rotating hosts since 2024, work that has earned him an Emmy. His one-hour special Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA. premiered on Comedy Central in 2020, and he has done stand-up on The Tonight Show, Conan and Late Night with Seth Meyers. He hosts the podcast Tennis Anyone and wrote the memoir Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy (2025).

At a glance

Born
1979
Came up through
The Daily Show
Stand-up specials
Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA. and Comedy Central Presents: Michael Kosta
Albums
Comedy For Attractive People
Podcasts
Tennis Anyone and Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy
On screen
The Daily Show, The Comment Section, Crowd Goes Wild and 5 more
Official site
michaelkosta.com ↗

On stage

No dated show on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now — their own site has their dates: michaelkosta.com ↗.

Lineups belong to the rooms and the comedians, and can change; each listing has the last word. Their nights on the Comedy Calendar →

Specials, shows and podcasts

Stand-up specials

Albums

On screen

Podcasts

Where they got their start

Came up the same way

Other comedians in SUCDb who came through The Daily Show:

The Launching Pads: the shows the comedians came through →

Comedians like Michael Kosta

Each linked to them by something on the record — a stage they both came through, a bill, a show, a style or a home town.

Every stand-up comedian with a page, A to Z →

Career timeline

  1. 1979Born
  2. 2011Comedy Central Presents: Michael Kosta (2011, Comedy Central) Special
  3. 2015Late Night with Seth Meyers (stand-up, 2015) On screen
  4. 2015Comedy For Attractive People (2015, Comedy Dynamics Records) Album
  5. 2017The Daily Show (correspondent from 2017; rotating host from 2024, Comedy Central) On screen
  6. 2020Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA. (2020, Comedy Central) Special
  7. 2025Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy (book, 2025, Harper Influence) Book

Questions about Michael Kosta

Where is Michael Kosta performing next?

No date is on D.O.C.'s Comedy Calendar right now; their own site has their dates: michaelkosta.com ↗.

What stand-up specials have they released?

Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA. and Comedy Central Presents: Michael Kosta.

What podcast do they host?

Tennis Anyone and Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy.

What TV shows and films are they in?

The Daily Show, The Comment Section, Crowd Goes Wild, The Rise and Fall of Reggie Dinkins, Warm & Fuzzy and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, among 8 credits.

Where did they get their start?

The Daily Show (correspondent, then rotating host).

When were they born?

In 1979.

Who are some comedians like them?

Michelle Wolf (also came through The Daily Show), Dulcé Sloan (also came through The Daily Show), A. Whitney Brown (also came through The Daily Show), Andy Kindler (also came through The Daily Show) and Hasan Minhaj (also came through The Daily Show).

The full SUCDb record

The full record — the career in order, the specials and credits, and the sources for each — is on SUCDb, with a button to add them to your D.O.C., your twelve.

Their SUCDb record →Their own site ↗

Sources

Updated 5 October 2026 · the record checked 29 September 2026