A Brief Interview with Filipa Ioannou

You've previously worked as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate. How do you find that your experience in journalism has informed your work in TV writers' rooms?

Well one thing about coming up in journalism is, it made me absurdly grateful for the dumbest little workplace perks. In a writers' room they have all the mini popcorn bags you can eat and all the seltzer you can drink. At the Chronicle we had one dusty k-cup machine that sat next to a lock box with a slit in the top, and you were supposed to put quarters in it if you used the K Cups. I know some media jobs were cushy during the 2010s but I only ever worked at places that had the perks of a Dickensian orphanage. Now I get so excited by free packets of fruit snacks that people are like, "are you ok?"

You perform sketch comedy at the Pack Theater. I love the Pack Theater. I guess I don't have a question here, I just want people to go to your shows. Oh! When's the next one?

Thank you!!! The team I write for, Umami, has our shows on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 9. So the next one is 1/28! Or if you really want to get ahead of the game, the one after that is 2/25. I also love the Pack! And for those who have never been, let me just tell you, the parking is ample!

2026 has just started and a lot of people have goals and resolutions. Why do you think people do that?

For some reason this makes me think of that amazing Olympia Dukakis line in Moonstruck, "Why do men chase women? I think it's because they fear death." So,  I guess because we fear death?? Also, it's fun to pretend that we will suddenly become completely different people if only we make the perfect little collage AKA vision board. That is one of the cuter and more whimsical collective delusions we're doing.