About
Ironic T-Shirt was founded in 2003 as Bowdoin College’s first sketch comedy group. Upon graduation the group disbanded, only to be revived two years later in Los Angeles by members Anton Handel and Nikolai von Keller after joining forces with William Bryon Brasington and Diana Wright. Their biweekly videos have been featured on Funny or Die, Current TV, Fark, and Atom.com, and their awards include the Funny or Die User Video of the Week, second place in the Atom.com Tournament of Champions, and the Audience Award at the Hammer Museum’s Open Projector Night (not to mention being highly praised by the hosting Sklar brothers). Twice, their videos have been selected as pilots for Channel 101. And while they rarely perform live, they have been seen at UCB LA and the iO West Main Stage.
Anton Handel is a native of Newcastle, Maine where he also attended Bowdoin College and co-founded Ironic T-Shirt. He has studied at the National Theater Institute, and worked with the SITI Company, the Mystic Seaport, and the Eugene O’Neill Center. He is also a founding member of both the FullStop Theater and Arby’s, a popular chain of eateries that offers exceptional value without sacrificing quality. Additionally, he is Mexican, plays the banjo, and is drunk with power.
Nikolai von Keller grew up in Virginia, co-founded Ironic T-Shirt at Bowdoin College, traveled for twelve months abroad on a Watson Fellowship studying poetry, and was then tricked into moving to LA. He has written some movies, tv specs, and pilots (all obviously unproduced or he wouldn’t need this shitty website), helped create various comedic short films and commercials, and performed a healthy amount of stand-up. He is not to be trusted.
Diana Wright grew up in Los Angeles and is the only member of Ironic T-Shirt to attend Vassar College. Diana has been performing improv for over eight years working with Comedy Sportz, iO West, UCB LA and NY. She has performed in comedy festivals all over the country, most recently SF Sketchfest 2009 with her group Casting Couch. She co-produces a weekly improv and stand-up show called Crashbar Improv (www.crashbarimprov.com) with her improv group TAB (www.tabimprov.com). She also performs stand-up, sketch and a self-servicing podcast called ‘Cocktails for Two.’ Diana hates to write jokes in bios.
William Byron Brasington is from Marshfield, Wisconsin, home of the World’s Largest Round Barn. He attended Beloit College and it was fine. He studied theater and comedy at Beloit and the National Theater Institute. After graduating, he moved to Los Angeles for a lack of anything better to do. William is severely depressed in both the funny and tragic way, and at any given moment he is either fantasizing about killing you or himself. He also likes cats.
Dan Yingst was born and raised in southern Pennsylvania, went to Bowdoin, and co-founded Ironic T-Shirt. Insiders recognize that he was by far the most important and sexiest member of the group. To avoid making the rest of the guys jealous, he spent the majority of his time in college bailing on Nick and Tony to play ultimate and sleep with disreputable women. After college, he continued the whole “bailing on Nick and Tony” thing by moving to Chicago and attending the University of Chicago where he, rather improbably, studies Jesus (or whatever). He is awesome at growing a beard.