Maureen Taran

Maureen Taran serves as vice president of talent for WarnerMedia’s TBS, TNT and truTV. In this role, she leads talent strategy and casting initiatives for the linear networks and works closely with the original programming and development executives. She is integral to talent relations and maintaining relationships within the entertainment and comedy communities. Most recently, Taran was instrumental in securing Sarah Silverman to host Stupid Pet Tricks, a halfhour series for TBS that will take viewers on a walk down memory lane to revisit one of late-night’s most iconic segments on The Late Show with David Letterman. The ten-episode order hosted by Sarah Silverman (I Love You America, The Sarah Silverman Podcast), a fierce lover of funny animals and their equally funny humans, will bring this classic segment into a fresh, comedy variety show filled with big laughs, extraordinary animals, and of course the most Stupid Pet Tricks out there. This reunites Taran with Worldwide Pants with whom she produced the CBS sitcom Welcome To New York that starred Jim Gaffigan and Christine Baranski. Taran has also been working on TBS’ Friday Night Vibes with The Last O.G. star and Emmy-nominated Comedian Tiffany Haddish and co-host Dion Cole. The 52-week movie destination is a weekly celebration, conversation, and party hosted by Haddish. The franchise kicked off just before Juneteenth on Friday, June 11 with guest stars Snoop Dogg and Tina Knowles, and every Friday night spotlights feel-good comedies, action packed blockbusters, and culturally significant storytelling inclusive of diverse voices. A handful of guests that Taran has secured to appear on Friday Night Vibes include, Andra Day, JB Smoove, Phoebe Robinson, Sam Jay, Billy Crystal and Chance the Rapper. At truTV, Taran is behind talent casting for the network’s comedic cooking show Fast Foodies. The series stars Top Chef winners Kristen Kish, Jeremy Ford and Iron Chef winner Justin Sutherland competing to perfectly recreate and then skillfully reimagine their celebrity guest’s favorite fastfood item. Notable guests include Amanda Seales, Joel McHale, Nikki Glaser, Ron Funches, Bobby Lee, Natasha Leggero, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and GaTa. Fast Foodies is returning for a second season and pairs perfectly with the network’s wildly popular Impractical Jokers. Last year, Taran was responsible for developing and casting TBS’ first green lit production in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, Tournament of Laughs hosted by Golden Globe and Emmyaward winner Jason Sudeikis. The competition featured comedians Natasha Leggero, Jim Norton, The Sklar Brothers, Fortune Feimster, and Michael Rapaport just to name a few, and gave everyone involved the opportunity to work, be creative, earn money, and bring laughter and comedy to the viewers during an extremely difficult and challenging time. As a longtime advocate of comedians and the genre, Taran served as a creative executive for the HA Comedy Festival: The Art of Comedy. The standup comedy special hosted by Anjelah Johnson aired on HBO Max in August of 2020 and showcased appearances from Latinx comedic talents including Carmen Lynch, Mark Viera, Gina Brillon and more. The festival was part of the first slate of comedy programming to debut on the new streaming platform. Taran joined truTV in 2015 in the network’s first executive talent role, where she leveraged her 20+ years of experience and relationships with talent, agencies and managers to assist with the network’s evolution into the comedy space. Before joining truTV, Taran served as vice president of management and production at New Wave Entertainment, and vice president of original programming at EPIX. Earlier in her career, she held VP roles at Barry Katz Entertainment Group where she guided the careers of comedians including Dave Chappelle, Wanda Sykes, Dane Cook, Tracy Morgan and Gary Gulman, and as the Vice President of Programming for The Just For Laughs Comedy Festival. A proud Canadian and unabashed lover of Bruce Springsteen, Taran earned a bachelor's degree in film & communications studies from McGill University in Montreal, Canada and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.