Hop For Pop
Press Kit
Playwright · Performer · Artistic Director
Fletcher Michael
A published novelist who gave up the solitude for a stage, and now writes what he calls satire with a heart — comedy built so that the laugh is the way in, and the silence afterwards does the work.
Based
Brooklyn, New York
Company
Infinite Monkey Theater Co. — founder
Works in
Playwriting · Sketch · Performance
Known for
Did You Charge Your Phone for the End of the World · Chimp Cocktail
Interview
27 min · Hop For Pop · 2026
“Often the laugh is just the way in. It’s the foot in the door that makes the audience feel comfortable.”
Fletcher Michael — Hop For Pop
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Biography
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Fletcher Michael is a Brooklyn playwright, performer and the founder of Infinite Monkey Theater Co. He moved to New York at twenty-four intending to become a novelist and succeeded — several published novels, and satire pieces placed along the way. What he discovered is that he did not want to work alone. He took an acting class on a friend’s advice, purely to meet actors who might perform in his shows, and fell for the form instead.
He describes what he writes as satire with a heart. His plays are comedies that deliberately make room for gravity: First Liar on the Moon imagines the moon landing as a hoax performed by two actors duped into it, with Neil Armstrong collapsing under the weight of the lie. He founded Infinite Monkey to stage full-length plays, and it also produced the sketch show Chimp Cocktail — a thirteen-person cast, a ten-show run at The Pit, an off-Broadway residency at the Players Theater, a Second City date and an award-winning Fringe run.
His 2026 Edinburgh show, Did You Charge Your Phone for the End of the World, is a dystopian comedy set in 2034 in a boutique Brooklyn advertising agency, whose three staff have been tasked by a shadowy government-proxy client with writing a jingle that puts a positive spin on an asteroid heading for the East Coast. It has original songs, written with musician friends, and it earned critical acclaim on its New York run.
The part other press kits leave out
What you should know before you book him
Fletcher Michael is a writer first, and unusually precise about the mechanics of his own work — what a laugh is for, why pace nearly killed his early shows, and what he needs from the people he casts.
Satire with a heart
The comedy is engineered to fizzle at chosen moments so something heavier can land. He is after reflection, not only laughs, and treats the laugh as a way of getting the door open.
Surprise is the whole point
An audience that thinks it knows what it is watching can be turned. Live theatre, in his view, lives on exactly that — including a scene that turns without warning into a synchronised song.
Pace was the hard-won lesson
What reads as well-paced on the page dies in transitions. His current show keeps someone on stage at all times and almost no scene changes, so it tumbles forward.
He casts people who will argue
“If you’re just completely tyrannical, you’re executing your vision and you’re going to have blind spots.” He works with collaborators he trusts to push back.
Treat it like a big deal
His stated mantra for managing a company — thirteen comedians in the sketch show, which he compares to herding minnows. If he gives everything, he can ask the same.
Original work only
His hope for every show is that an audience sees something that could not have come from anyone else’s brain, in a market full of pre-made and pre-branded material.
For press · cleared for use with attribution
Quotable
01
“Writing a novel is just really solitary work.”02
“Unlike a novel, writing for the stage you’re writing for all five senses. You’re cultivating a multi-dimensional experience.”03
“There’s no safety net if you’re out there on stage, and the boundary between audience and performance is so porous.”04
“It’d be weird to watch somebody read one of my novels. But to experience something I’ve written along with an audience at the same time — that’s what keeps me coming back.”05
“A laugh is really revealing for an audience.”06
“I describe it as satire with a heart. There are moments where the comedy has to fizzle so that a moment with more gravity can land.”07
“Often the laugh is just the way in. It’s the foot in the door that makes the audience feel comfortable.”08
“Live theatre lives on those surprises for the audience.”09
“To hear pin-drop silence in the audience is like ants on my skin.”10
“The nature of comedy is commitment.”11
“My method, if there is a method, is just working with people I really trust.”12
“If you’re just completely tyrannical, you’re executing your vision and you’re going to have blind spots. Everybody does.”13
“Thirteen comedians is like trying to herd minnows.”14
“If you treat it like a big deal, everyone else will too.”15
“You need to make sure that your setup is as good as your punchline.”16
“Audiences are really perceptive and smarter than most people treat them.”17
“I want people to feel like it’s a show that wouldn’t exist anywhere else — couldn’t have come from anybody else’s brain.”18
“In comedy, pace is everything.”
Attribution: Fletcher Michael, speaking to Hop For Pop, 2026.
Career
Selected credits
Theatre
- Did You Charge Your Phone for the End of the World — Edinburgh Fringe 2026; dystopian comedy with original songs; critically acclaimed New York run
- Chimp Cocktail — sketch show; ten-show run at The Pit, off-Broadway residency at the Players Theater, Second City, award-winning Fringe run
- First Liar on the Moon — play
- Oops, We Lost a Nuke — Brooklyn Art House
- The Ballad of Bonder Thrash — MAN Festival, New York
Company
Founder of Infinite Monkey Theater Co., established to stage full-length plays and now also producing sketch and festival work.
Writing
Published novelist and satirist before turning to the stage.
Logistics
Press assets & contact
Online
Instagram @infinitemonkeytheaterco (Infinite Monkey Theater Co.)
Watch the interview
This kit was produced by Hop For Pop. The interview and quotes are drawn from Hop For Pop × Fletcher Michael, recorded 2026. Fletcher Michael and their representatives are free to use any part of this document — the biography, the quotes — for booking, press and promotion, with credit to Hop For Pop for the interview material.
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