NEW YORK – Greek-American comedian Michael Kosta was featured on CBS Local in Los Angeles discussing his new Comedy Central special, Michael Kosta: Detroit. NY. LA., which premiered on December 11, and his work on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Of the special, Kosta told CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith, “It was definitely shot before COVID-19 and I wanted a comedy special that followed my career as a comedian. I started in the Detroit-area, I’m from Ann Arbor, Michigan. I went to the coast, went back to Michigan and went to the coast. That’s what this is. I always prided myself on being from the middle of the country and now I’m a coastal elite. Comedy should be for everybody and everybody should laugh and that’s how we came up with it and thankfully executed it and I’m excited for everyone to watch it.”

“I wanted to show audiences that I think there is a misconception that everyone is very sensitive and afraid now,” said Kosta, CBS Local reported, adding that “in the special, I ridicule New York City to New York City’s face and they love it. I roast Los Angeles on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood to Los Angeles and they love it. They love it because it is a comedy show in a comedy club. All of this comes from love. Some jokes work better in New York, but some jokes work for everybody and that’s what I wanted to show.”

Kosta also told CBS Local about getting the job on The Daily Show, “I was living in Los Angeles, auditioning like crazy and not getting anything. At one point, I was Googling veterinary schools, but I only wanted to be a vet for small, cute dogs. No reptiles and then I got the opportunity to do The Daily Show. My parents were living in New York City at the time and I was hired on The Daily Show while living with my parents. It was a fun dichotomy of having some status, being on a show as successful as The Daily Show and yet literally going home to my Mom getting mad at me because my shoes were in the hallway.”

“The show has always resonated, but Trevor [Noah] popped off more than ever,” said Kosta, CBS Local reported, noting that Noah “looks at American society and politics with a perspective that maybe hasn’t been on TV before. He is from South Africa and a Black kid that grew up in apartheid. It’s a fresh perspective and it’s not something everybody wants to hear, but they feel better for hearing him say it.”

Kosta was born and raised in Ann Arbor, MI. He attended to Huron High School and the University of Illinois. He played tennis in high school and college and also played professionally for a few years before he was hired as the Assistant Tennis Coach for the men’s team at the University of Michigan. It was during that time that he began his stand-up comedy career, moving to Los Angeles to pursue comedy full time in 2005.

As a stand-up, Kosta made the rounds of the late night shows, having appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan, Chelsea Lately, and Late Night with Seth Meyers. His half-hour Comedy Central special, titled Comedy Central Presents: Michael Kosta, aired in January 2011. He has also appeared on TruTV's World's Dumbest, performed at the HBO Comedy Festival in Aspen and at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival.

Kosta also shot a pilot with Comedy Central called Overloaded with Michael Kosta in the fall of 2011, which has yet to be picked up, as he noted in the CBS interview.

In 2015, Kosta released Comedy For Attractive People, his first comedy album on Comedy Dynamics Records.

Kosta also wrote the tennis book 101 Tips for Winning More Tennis Matches.

The video of the CBS Local interview is available online: https://cbsloc.al/2IQR4O4.