Q&A with Anna Aronson '16 and Lauren Frost '16: New hosts of Princeton’s All-Nighter

Street sat down with Anna Aronson ’16 and Lauren Frost ’16, the co-hosts of “All-Nighter with Anna Aronson,” to discuss their roles as hosts, some behind-the-scenes details and a little about their lives as female comedians on campus. The season premiere of All-Nighter is Oct. 9 at 10:30 p.m. in the Frist Film/Performance Theater.

Daily Princetonian: What were your roles with All-Nighter in the past?

Anna Aronson: Well, I’m sort of new to the team. I’ve been involved in an acting capacity, doing sketch work every year, but this is my first time being on the inside. I also had the opportunity to shadow the host last year, which was helpful.

Lauren Frost: I acted in a few sketches my freshman year, applied to be a writer sophomore year and then was head writer last year.

DP: How is All-Nighter different this year? Is there a weekly format?

LF: The show is pretty much the same format that it’s always been — we’ve liked how it’s been organized in the past, so we’re continuing with that model. One thing we’re trying to do differently is to have more video content, sort of like the field pieces on “The Daily Show” where a correspondent is sent out to do a comedic report.

AA: The video content is a fun change of pace and engaging for the audience.

DP: How do you feel about being female co-hosts?

AA: We’re both really thrilled to be female co-hosts. Slowly, but surely, the entertainment industry is seeing more equity, but the late night scene is definitely lagging behind. It’s exciting to put ladies in late night.

LF: All-Nighter has changed so much just over the years that it’s been running. This is the fourth season of All-Nighter. During the first season, there were two females working on the show, and all the rest males, and now there are two males and all the rest females. The tables have turned.

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AA: I become aware of the fact that women are a minority in comedy when I leavecampus. But, on campus, I hardly think about it because there have always been girlsin Quipfire, which is Lauren and my improv group, and gradually it actually becamemajority girls last year (now we’re back to half and half). For both of us it’s no longera concern here at Princeton. As a matter of fact, Lauren is the artistic director ofQuipfire this year.

LF: It can be depressing to go see professional improv shows, where often a trouphas one token female. But over the years since we’ve been here at Princeton thebalance has evened out quite a bit.

DP: Have you been influenced by your predecessors on late night such as David Drew ’14, Adam Mastroianni ’14, Jake Robertson ’15, Amy Solomon ’14 and Eliot Linton ’15?

LF: I remember when we were freshmen, seeing the premiere of the show. It was parents’ weekend, and my parents were visiting. It was so exciting being able to show off this project that my new friends were a part of. It is crazy to now be leading that same institution.

AA: We’ve worshiped all of them since we got to campus. It was cool to become friends with them, and now we are faced with the challenge of trying to fill their shoes.

DP: As seniors, is either of you planning on pursuing comedy post-graduation?

LF: The future is pretty undecided. With the comedy world, it’s not so much, “do you choose it?” but rather, “does it choose you?” It can get pretty cutthroat.

AA: Comedy has become really popular as a field, especially improv, and the scene has become rather saturated in New York City where I’m from. But sure, I know that I want comedy to be an element of my life in some way. It’s just unclear in what capacity right now.

DP: What does this Friday’s show look like?

AA: We have a student guest, a professor guest and a talent guest. Our student guest this week is Graham Phillips ’17, who was a Broadway star as a kid, and now is a TV and film star. He’s currently on “The Good Wife.” We are excited to ask Graham about what it’s like to balance an acting career with school.

LF: Our musical guest is a band called St. Danger including Charlie Baker ’17, Conor McGrory ’16, Doug Wallack ’16 and …

AA: Our professor guest is a professor emerita of the African Studies department named Nell Painter. She has a bunch of degrees from a whole slew of universities including Yale and Harvard, and she’s also an accomplished painter, which may or may not be related to her name. We’ll find out on the episode.

DP: Is there anything else you would like us to know about All-Nighter?

LF: While we’re the faces of the show, there are some amazing people who run it for us. Maddy Cohen ’16 is the showrunner, Colleen Baker ’16 is our technical producer, and Vivien Bazarko ’17 is our head writer now. We have a great group of writers, and someone who films for us. [We have] our cohesive team that makes everything we do possible.