Madeleine Smithberg earned Peabody and Emmy Awards, and two other Emmy nominations, for Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which she co-created and ran as executive producer for seven years. During her tenure, she was directly responsible for the hiring/casting of performers such as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, and Rob Corddry, Mo Rocca, Lewis Black, among others. She served as producer/show-runner for The Daily Show forerunner, The Jon Stewart Show, on MTV and later in syndication. She also brought her skills as executive producer and writer of The WB comedy/variety show Steve Harvey’s Big Time. She spent six years as a talent coordinator, then producer, for NBC’s original Late Night with David Letterman after beginning her career as a field producer for RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana (Italian national television).

With her production company, Mad Cow Productions, Smithberg developed and produced interesting and intelligent comedy projects for a wide range of networks including HISTORY, [adult swim], TBS, Fox, BLOOMBERG TV, BET, Nickelodeon, CNN, TV Land, and SHOWTIME.  She earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for the BET late night show she created and launched, Don’t Sleep! Hosted by T.J. Holmes.