Randy Cohen's Biography

Randy Cohen writes "The Ethicist" a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada. He can be heard every other Sunday on Weekend All Things Considered on National Public Radio.

"The Good, the Bad and the Difference," a book based upon the column, was recently published in paperback by Broadway Books.

Cohen, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, is a long-time New Yorker. He attended graduate school at the California Institute of the Arts as a music major studying composition.

His first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love Comics). A collection of these pieces, "Diary of a Flying Man," was published by Knopf. For several years, he wrote "The News Quiz," a regular column of topical comedy, for Slate, the on-line magazine.

His first television work was writing for "Late Night With David Letterman." for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on "TV Nation." He was the original head writer on the "The Rosie O’Donnell Show" and he also co-wrote the show's theme music.