Harris Mayersohn Has an Objectively Good and Cool Name

Thanks to the coronavirus, comedians are now trapped at home like the rest of us, so we decided that while we’re all self-isolating, we’d do something a little different from our usual “Follow Friday� column. Instead of interviewing up-and-coming comedians we love on Twitter, we’re going live on Instagram every week to check in on some of our favorite people in comedy and get a firsthand look at how they’re handling the pandemic. So welcome to our new version of the column, now titled “Follow (From a Safe Distance) Friday.�

This week, I put on a powder-blue beret for some reason and sat down for a chat with the lovely Harris Mayersohn (The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, The Special Without Brett Davis, decidedly not on Twitter since quar started) about how he’s holding up during the pandemmy. He spoke at length about his love for working behind the scenes of the comedy world, got nostalgic about a celebrity sighting at one of his Florida hometown’s five Publixes, and described his hope for the future of weirdo voices in the industry. He also told an amazing story in response to my question about having a first name and last name that are also two last names: “Someone the other day told me they thought my name was Harrison the whole time, someone I’ve known for years. And my last name is Mayersohn, which would make my name Harrison Mayersohn … My mom said my name out loud; like, she’s not an idiot. She knew that’d be fuckin’ stupid.�

You can find Harris on Twitter and Instagram at @harrismayer.