Zach Kanin

Kanin was born in Washington, D.C. to Dennis R. Kanin and Carol Kanin, and was raised in Newton, Massachusetts.^[2] His maternal grandfather is former Rhode Island governor Frank Licht. Kanin began drawing as early as preschool.^[2] He attended The Roxbury Latin School in West Roxbury, MA before matriculating to Harvard University. At Harvard, he received his degree in English. He joined The Harvard Lampoon in 2002 and later became president.^[3]

Kanin worked as an assistant to The New Yorker's cartoons editor, Robert Mankoff for two years after college.^[2] Eventually, Kanin began to submit his own work for publication.^[4] He has published approximately 300 cartoons in The New Yorker as of 2014.^[2] The style of his cartoons was described by Richard Gehr of The Comics Journal as "a slightly surreal place where things have gone sometimes seriously awry."^[2]

Kanin was hired to the writing staff of SNL in 2011 and left in 2016.^[4] While working there he met fellow writer Tim Robinson and the two became writing partners.^[5] They collaborated to create Detroiters (2017–2018), I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (2019–), and The Chair Company (2025–).^[6] He was also a writer for Documentary Now!, The Characters, and Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special.^[7][8]

Kanin married Christina Angelides, daughter of former California state treasurer Phil Angelides, in 2011.^[2][9]