Following some of his friends from the Cardinal, he joined The Onion in 1993 as a writer, where he would get paid 5$ for a list of 10 ideas and 20$ for a published piece.[6][7] In 1995 he became the paper's chief editor until his departure from the publication in 1996.[7]
Career
1996–1999: Early career in comedy
Karlin left The Onion to join some of the paper former writers in Los Angeles. There they formed a writing team, and by fall they had a pilot order from Fox to make a show based on their work at The Onion, called Deadline: Now. The show did not go into production.[6][3][8] Karlin wrote several episodes of Adult Swim's Space Ghost: Coast to Coast between 1997 and 1998.[9][10] He also worked as a script doctor for movies, including Ice Age, Monkeybone and Titan A.E..[11][12]
1999–2006: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report
In 1999, he caught the attention of Jon Stewart, who was about to become host of The Daily Show, and was offered the role of the show's head writer. In 2002 he was promoted to co-executive producer, and became executive producer in 2003 following the departure of Madeleine Smithberg.[6][13] A year later Karlin, Stewart, and at the time Daily Show head writer, David Javerbaum, co-wrote and edited America (The Book), a parody of a United States high schoolcivicstextbook.[6][14]
In 2005, Stewart's Busboy Productions reached an agreement with Comedy Central to finance the production company.[15] Karlin joined in the re-launch, co-producing and co-creating alongside Stewart and former Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert, its first television show, The Colbert Report.[6] To make sure there was no overlap in subject matter between the two shows, Karlin made trips between the studios during the Report early days to supervise scripts.[16][3] In 2006, Karlin helped Stewart write and prepare the script for the 78th Academy Awards, which Stewart hosted.[3] In December of that year Karlin announced he was leaving both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.[17][6][5]
2007–present: Post Comedy Central
In his post-The Daily Show life, Karlin filed a lawsuit against Frappe Inc. for backing out of a book contract connected to a TV show hosted by Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow.[18][19] In a counter-complaint filed on behalf of Frappe, Inc., e-mails are revealed as court evidence in which Ben Karlin is self-described as an "asshole" and "difficult".[20][21] Additionally, Karlin has been involved in public conflicts with creative peers/partners such as Benjamin Wallace[22] over ownership of production rights to a wine-fraud related movie.
In August 2007, Karlin signed a deal with HBO to produce series, specials, and telepics under the banner of Picturehouse and Karlin's own company, Superego Industries.[23] In December 2008 it was revealed that SuperEgo Industries was the company behind WonderGlen, a comedy website purporting to be the company intranet for an eccentric group of Los Angeles TV and film producers.[24] In 2008, Karlin released the book Things I've Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me, which features a collection of essays on rejection from different comedians and Karlin himself. The book introduction was written by Karlin's mother Barbara.[6][5]
Personal life
Karlin married Paola Guastini in May 2006.[3][25] Their son Theo was born in 2007.[5][25][26] Karlin filed for divorce from Guastini in 2012.[1]
