TFTV alumnus Paul Pennolino (’85) directs two of today’s most culturally significant TV programs – The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He has multiple Emmy and DGA Award nominations to his name, including a 2020 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Director for a Variety Series for Last Week Tonight.
During the pandemic, Paul has been directing portions of the shows from his home here in Tucson thanks to, in Paul’s words, “some mindbogglingly talented engineers” who built a virtual control room in his home office allowing him to direct the broadcasts remotely, a few thousand miles away from NYC. This semester Paul was a virtual guest speaker in Associate Professor Yuri Makino‘s class ‘Directing for the Screen,’ during which he shared with students tangible career advice and an optimistic outlook on the future of the industry, post pandemic.