Cole Escola

Episode notes

(Photo by Mitch Zachary)

Cole Escola is a New York-based actor, writer and comedian. As a performer, you may have seen Cole on Difficult People–the great comedy from Julie Klausner and Billy Eichner–or Search Party, where they play Chip–the obsessive stalker turned kidnapper. They’ve also written for a slate of TV comedies like Hacks, Ziwe and The Other Two. 

Escola’s latest work is not on the small screen but on the stage. It’s called Oh, Mary!, a brilliantly hilarious play written by Cole. It’s currently running at The Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City’s West Village. This summer, it hits Broadway.

Escola stars as the play’s title character: Mary Todd Lincoln. She is miserable and afflicted by alcoholism, in the weeks leading up to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, yearning for an end to the Civil War. Not for the sake of her countrymen or to see a divided nation rest, but to return to her one true love: Cabaret! 

Cole Escola in Oh, Mary! (Photo by Emilio Madrid)

Cole joins Bullseye to talk about their depiction of the great Mary Todd Lincoln, their writing process for the play, and if they will ever write something not so silly.