In 2025, Olivia Carter was working as a sales assistant at Hearst when The Tonight Show called. She quit, told her coworkers to watch her on TV the next week, and less than a year later she was a semifinalist on Kevin Hart’s Netflix competition, Funny AF.
Olivia Carter is a stand-up comedian and writer from Stilwell, Kansas, now based in New York City. She was named a Just for Laughs New Face in 2025, made her Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debut that July, has performed on Kill Tony and Don’t Tell Comedy, and reached the semifinals of Netflix’s Funny AF with Kevin Hart in 2026.
- She grew up in Stilwell, Kansas, graduated from Blue Valley High School and finished at Kansas State University in 2020.
- She started stand-up in Milwaukee after college, then worked the Chicago scene before moving to New York in 2024.
- Her Tonight Show debut aired July 31, 2025, the same summer she was a Just for Laughs New Face.
- She was a semifinalist on Netflix’s Funny AF with Kevin Hart, which Ron Taylor won in May 2026.
- She has about 118,700 Instagram followers as of October 17, 2026, and is booked on a club tour into March 2027.
The week she quit her job for The Tonight Show
Olivia Carter did not ease into the big leagues. In 2025 she was picked as a New Face for the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal, and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon booked her for a stand-up set. She called the stretch a “whirlwind.”
She told the Johnson County Post that those 2025 bookings were the first big ones she had landed, and that her first reaction was to ask, “Are you sure?” When she could not get time off from her job as a sales assistant at Hearst Media, she left.
“I was like, ‘All right, I gotta go. Check me out on ‘The Tonight Show’ next week,'” she told the paper.
The set aired on July 31, 2025. In it, she covered the rules of dating, what it was like to work at an STD center, and why she does not like her brother’s fiancée, according to the official Tonight Show upload.
Who is Olivia Carter?
Olivia Carter is a stand-up comedian, writer and actress who lives in New York City. Her official website sums her up in three words: “Comedian. Writer. Cool 4 a girl.” Her TikTok bio uses a similar line: “Stand-up, writer, cool 4 a girl.”
On stage she is known for a flat, deadpan delivery. Netflix’s Tudum, introducing her as a Funny AF contestant, noted that it can be hard to tell whether that deadpan is a character or her own neurosis. Her answer: “I try just to be myself 100 percent of the time.”
Her material leans into dating, family and odd jobs. Her Don’t Tell Comedy set touches on how men respond to nudes, period tracking apps for men and taking “mental health days.” Her Just for Laughs set, per the festival’s own description, covers dating, religion, family and Plan B.
When Netflix introduced the Funny AF cast in spring 2026, it listed her age as 28. Part of being herself, she told Tudum, is owning unpopular opinions, like hating the beach. “I don’t even own a swimsuit,” she said.
Where is Olivia Carter from?
Carter is from Stilwell, in Johnson County, Kansas. She went to Blue Valley High School, where she was deeply involved in the improv team and went to the state forensics competition, according to the Johnson County Post.
She went on to Kansas State University and credits it with letting her try a bit of everything: film club, broadcast, plays and choir. She graduated in 2020.
New York is home now, but the Post reported that Kansas and the Midwest still have a special place in her heart. People are friendlier back home, she said, and she has to remember to wave at strangers again whenever she visits.
How did Olivia Carter get started in comedy?
Improv came first. When she graduated in 2020, the pandemic made improv impossible, so she switched to stand-up. She moved to Milwaukee to be near her parents, who lived there at the time, and went to her first open mic there.
She moved to Chicago in 2022 and to New York in 2024, chasing bigger scenes. She also competed in Roast Battle Chicago, which later posted a compilation of her early matchups on its YouTube channel.
“I remember leaving work and running to an open mic at 5 p.m. and doing them till midnight,” she told the Johnson County Post. The first year, she said, was about getting over nerves. After that, “you start being yourself.”
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Have you seen Olivia Carter live?
What is Olivia Carter known for?
Her biggest showcase so far was Funny AF with Kevin Hart, the Netflix stand-up competition in which comics worked through challenges for the prize of their own Netflix special. One challenge had Carter writing jokes to roast retired NFL player Marshawn Lynch. Another was built around crowd work.
“While it was all really stressful, I did really enjoy writing the roast jokes, because I do love to write,” she told the Johnson County Post.
She advanced to the semifinals, which played out in live shows on May 4 and 5, 2026, with viewers voting through their TVs or the Netflix app. The final four were Caitlin Peluffo, Usama Siddiquee, Reg Thomas and Ron Taylor, and Netflix announced Taylor as the winner on May 6.
A clip carrying Netflix’s Funny AF branding, which she pinned to her Instagram on May 1, 2026, had passed 900,000 plays by October 17, 2026.
Before Funny AF aired, she had already performed on Kill Tony, which Netflix’s Tudum lists among her credits, and taped a set for Don’t Tell Comedy, the secret-location show series.
Where can you watch Olivia Carter?
She does not have a solo special yet, but her biggest sets are free to watch online.
| Set | Where | Released |
|---|---|---|
| The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debut | NBC; YouTube | July 31, 2025 |
| New Faces of Comedy, Just for Laughs | YouTube | December 10, 2025 |
| “Nobody Wants My Eggs,” Don’t Tell Comedy | YouTube | February 18, 2026 |
| Funny AF with Kevin Hart (semifinalist) | Netflix | Spring 2026 |
Where to start: the Don’t Tell Comedy set. At just over nine minutes, it is the longest of the three on YouTube, and it had about 131,700 views as of October 17, 2026.
Is Olivia Carter on tour?
Yes. Her Instagram bio points fans to her “Mad Drama Tour,” and as of October 2026 her official tour page lists club dates running into March 2027. Upcoming stops include:
- October 18, 2026: Willie McBride’s, Hoboken, New Jersey
- October 24, 2026: Barrel of Bottoms, Kansas City, Missouri
- November 6, 2026: The Bell House, Brooklyn, New York
- December 10, 2026: The Grove Comedy Club, Lowell, Arkansas
- December 11 and 12, 2026: SPORTS DRINK, New Orleans
- December 31, 2026, to January 2, 2027: Denver Comedy Underground, Denver
- January 15 and 16, 2027: The Laughing Tap, Milwaukee
- February 19 and 20, 2027: DC Improv, Washington, D.C.
The page also lists Florida, Carolinas and Atlanta dates in early 2027.
That schedule is the plan she described before Funny AF ended. “The goal is to be on the road all the time, because that’s the funnest part,” she told the Johnson County Post. Down the line, she said, she would like to write for TV or develop her own show.
Where to follow Olivia Carter
- Website: oliviacartercomedy.com
- Instagram: @ogcarter (about 118,700 followers as of October 17, 2026)
- TikTok: @ogcartercomedy (about 10,700 followers as of October 17, 2026)
- YouTube: @ogcarter
- X: @carter_ogcarter
- Substack: @ogcarterduh
- Show alerts: PunchUp
Frequently asked questions
Who is Olivia Carter?
Olivia Carter is a New York-based stand-up comedian and writer from Stilwell, Kansas. She was a 2025 Just for Laughs New Face, made her Tonight Show debut in July 2025 and was a semifinalist on Netflix’s Funny AF with Kevin Hart in 2026.
Where is Olivia Carter from?
She is from Stilwell, Kansas, in Johnson County. She graduated from Blue Valley High School and Kansas State University, started stand-up in Milwaukee, spent time in Chicago and has lived in New York City since 2024.
Did Olivia Carter win Funny AF?
No. Olivia Carter reached the semifinals of Funny AF with Kevin Hart on Netflix. The final four were Caitlin Peluffo, Usama Siddiquee, Reg Thomas and Ron Taylor, and Ron Taylor won the season and its Netflix special.
Has Olivia Carter been on The Tonight Show?
Yes. Olivia Carter made her Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon debut on July 31, 2025, with a stand-up set about the rules of dating, working at an STD center and her brother’s fiancée. The set is on the show’s YouTube channel.
Does Olivia Carter have a comedy special?
Not a solo special yet. Her longest set online is “Nobody Wants My Eggs” from Don’t Tell Comedy, posted in February 2026. Her Tonight Show set and Just for Laughs New Faces set are also on YouTube.
Is Olivia Carter touring?
Yes. As of October 2026, her official tour page lists club dates from Hoboken and Kansas City in October 2026 through Atlanta and North Charleston in March 2027. Tickets are linked at oliviacartercomedy.com/tour.
Image credits
- Featured image: Old downtown Stilwell, Kansas, the Johnson County community where Olivia Carter grew up. Photo: SamuelNelsonGISP, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped.
Sources
- Johnson County Post: “This JoCo native quit her job to pursue stand-up comedy” (April 27, 2026)
- Netflix Tudum: Funny AF with Kevin Hart winner and cast
- Olivia Carter official website: About
- Olivia Carter official website: Tour
- Olivia Carter official website: Contact and social links
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on YouTube: Olivia Carter stand-up (July 31, 2025)
- Just For Laughs on YouTube: Olivia Carter, New Faces of Comedy
- Don’t Tell Comedy on YouTube: “Nobody Wants My Eggs”
- Roast Battle Chicago on YouTube: Olivia Carter, Early Roasts
- Olivia Carter on Instagram (@ogcarter)
- Olivia Carter on TikTok (@ogcartercomedy)
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