Team
Susanna Spies
Susanna Spies is a professional comedian, educator, with more than 25 years of experience using comedy as a tool for growth, expression, and transformation.She is the founder of Comedy Playground, headquartered in Los Angeles, where students develop their voice through stand-up comedy while building confidence, communication skills, and critical thinking. Her programs have expanded beyond Los Angeles, into New York, and has been brought into 35 schools and organizations regionally, as internationally.
Through The Eamon Cannon Comedy Fund, a scholarship initiative created in honor of its namesake, Susanna expands access to these program using comedy and storytelling to foster resilience, and amplify youth voices.
After a car accident in 2022 left her with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), Susanna transformed her experience into advocacy and storytelling. Her one-woman show Waisted sold out in New York and Los Angeles and was featured in the United Solo Festival. Through performance, education, and advocacy, Susanna continues to champion comedy as a powerful tool for voice, resilience, and social change.
Bobby Salomon
Bobby Salomon is a US/Canadian award-winning writer/producer who has worked on hundreds of hours of content for HBO, Netflix, Amazon, CBS, A&E, TLC, History, and more, including Emmy-winning Love on the Spectrum US and Critics’ Choice Award-nominatedLike a Girl. He’s developing two high-profile docuseries with Lionsgate and Cutting Class Media, and a scripted series about a quadriplegic ER doctor with Northern Pictures/Incendo Films. He produces and hosts a podcast called mindframe: where shift happens! where he chats with people who’ve experienced extreme trauma about the incremental shifts and serendipitous moments that helped them get through it. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Finance from McGill University and is getting his master’s in Clinical Psychology.
Tommy Sowards
Tommy Sowards is a Los Angeles-based producer, writer, director, and actor, and a UCLA School of Cinema/Television graduate. He has produced, directed, or edited music videos for artists like Young MC, Kurtis Blow, and Eazy-E, and was the first to document MMA, filming its second championship. His documentary Slippin’: Ten Years with the Bloods premiered at Tribeca, won Best Picture at the Montenegro Film Festival, and ranked #2 on Showtime Networks. Other notable works include The History of Rap and Enter the Jungle (HBO, Netflix South America). Tommy earned acclaim for his acting role in Kill Me Today, Tomorrow I’m Sick! (2018). His films have screened at prestigious festivals, including Tribeca, CPH:DOX, Rotterdam, and the Pan African Film Festival.