Lucia Aniello

Lucia Aniello is an American director, writer and producer best known for her work on Comedy Central’s, Broad City. She has directed and written episodes of Broad City. Aniello also directed Time Traveling Bong and Rough Night.

Aniello grew up in Hadley, Massachusetts before moving to New York City. She graduated from Columbia University and is an alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Aniello is an alumna of the Upright Citizens Brigade, an improvisational and sketch comedy group founded in 1990 by a group of comedians including Amy Poehler who is an executive producer of Broad City. The troupe was originally based in Chicago but moved in 1996 to New York City where they opened their own theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, where they both performed and taught classes.

Aniello and Paul W. Downs met at a Upright Citizens Brigade Level One improvisational comedy class. Aniello and Downs began working together on a series of digital shorts and improv. They started their own website and comedy production company called Paulilu Productions. Together they have been writing, directing and acting in digital shorts since 2007. Some of their most well-known web series include The Diary of Zac Efron and The Real Housewives of South Boston. She also co-wrote and directed the first commercial for "Dollar Shave Club".

When Broad City moved to television Aniello directed the pilot and cast Downs as Trey, the trainer and boss of Abbi Jacobson’s character on the show. After the pilot did well and the show was picked up by Comedy Central, Aniello and Downs joined a group of writers for the show. While collectively, the group was relatively inexperienced and self-taught, they shared a passion for a feminist perspective on comedy and attribute their success to their collective vision. Broad City is widely known for its social commentary. The show is groundbreaking in how is breaks gender roles, positively portrays female sexuality and polygamy in hookup culture.

Aniello has also worked on Time Traveling Bong. Her interest in the subject began in college when she wrote a thesis on time-travel movies at Columbia University. The movie is a stony comedy about two cousins who acquire a bong that acts as a time traveling device. While the comedy is rather goofy, there is also a lot of underlying social commentary about how tough it was to be a minority throughout American history.

In 2017, Aniello's Rough Night was the first R-rated studio comedy directed by a woman in nearly 20 years. The film was co-written by Paul Downs and stars Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, Demi Moore, Ty Burrell and Colton Haynes.

Aniello has received recognition for her work, including “Best of NY Sketch,” in the 2010 New York Comedy Festival and a TONY’s “Critic’s Pick.” Her work has been featured in the 2011 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.