Asha Ward

Asha Ward is an American comedian and writer. In 2022, she became the youngest-ever writer on the staff of Saturday Night Live.^[1][2]

Asha Ward
Alma mater	Columbia College Chicago
Occupation(s)	Comedian, writer
Employer	Saturday Night Live

Ward, whose family is from Trinidad,^[3] was raised in Maryland.^[4] Her parents divorced when she was young.^[4]

Ward became interested in performing comedy after taking an improv class at the age of 17.^[3] She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2021 with a bachelor's degree in comedy writing and performance.^[5] As many comedy venues in Chicago had shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, she left the city soon afterward, staying with relatives in Baltimore and Queens until she could afford to rent a room of her own in Brooklyn.^[1]

Ward was working a day job as a receptionist and nights as a stand-up comedian when she got a meeting with Saturday Night Live cast member Ego Nwodim. Ward was hired to write for SNL in December 2022.^[1][2] In 2023, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.^[5][6]

In 2023, Ward was featured by the Just For Laughs comedy festival as one of their "New Faces of Comedy".^[4][7]

In March 2024, Ward appeared in a Netflix comedy special, Gender Agenda, hosted by Hannah Gadsby and also featuring fellow genderqueer comedians Jes Tom, Alok, Chloe Petts, DeAnne Smith, Krishna Istha, and Mx. Dahlia Belle.^[8]