Gina Ippolito: A Life of Laughter

As editor of The Mountaineer, Gina Ippolito commanded the Mountain Lakes High School newspaper’s dedicated humor section and side hustled in school stage productions taking on roles of comic relief.

Three plus decades later, the Boonton Township native is working from behind the scenes putting her sense of humor to work for TV, improv, and podcast productions.

“I just like to make people laugh,” she says.

Beginnings

Ippolito attended Rutgers University for two years, where she majored in communications and theater before transferring to Penn State University, graduating with a degree in TV and film and a minor in theater.

With her heart set on Hollywood—and much to her parents’ chagrin—she packed up a U-Haul and headed West.

“They’re old-school Italians and were like, ‘you can act here in New York,’” she says. “But I had it in my head that L.A. was the place to be.”

Equipped with nothing but a pipe dream, raw talent and a few keepsakes from home, she hit the road in pursuit of elevating her burgeoning acting career. “I had no job lined up or housing,” she adds. “But I found out that acting in Los Angeles wasn’t as much fun.”

So, she reversed course and returned to comedy, working the improv and sketch comedy circuit, performing and directing as part of the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy and theater school that served as career launching pads for the likes of Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and other big names.

“I was on a sketch team there and directed a show called “Sketch Cram” for over a decade,” she says.

Ippolito had found her people—on the stage performing random acts of comedy—and she also found her second home: in the writing room among other creatives in an all-hands-on-deck situation that requires focus, flexibility, and even a bit of fun.

“Maybe you’ll be in a room with 10 to 13 people, and you’ll be there all day as there are deadlines,” she says. “Then there’s smaller steps like reviewing an episode.”

Continuing a Dream

Having a soft spot for old cartoons, Ippolito launched a podcast, “Knowing is Half the Podcast,” which dished on animated favorites such as “G.I. Joe.” In continuing her online presence, she also wrote for the YouTube channel New Rockstars, which explores TV favorites from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Stranger Things, to name a few.

With cartoons close to heart and as her career took root, Ippolito made inroads, landing writing gigs on “The Regular Show,” a short-form animated eight-season sitcom that dominated The Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2017. She worked on season eight.

She also her hand in the 2016 reboot of “The Powerpuff Girls.”

In continuing to build her writing portfolio, she was instrumental in the development of CBS sitcom “The Unicorn,” which starred Walter Goggins (also of “White Lotus” season four fame), as a widower and father who is dipping back into the dating pool. The show ran for two seasons from 2019 to 2021. Ippolito also went all in for the revival of “Murphy Brown” and Disney Channel’s “Bunk’d.”

She also managed to write a book. A tag-team effort with sister Powerpuff Girl alum Haley Mancini, “B.A.B.E. Squad” follows four models who are navigating a supernatural existence.

In other entertainment realms, Ippolito is a voting member of The Emmys, an esteemed spot that requires a lot of proving grounds—plus having to keep up with the latest in shows.

In her three plus decades in the Los Angeles area, she has lived through her fair share of writers’ strikes and deadly wildfires, not to mention the pandemic.

Yet she remains committed to her craft, if not downright grateful for the opportunities that continue to round out her career.

“People always talk about the fact that it’s incredibly hard to break into the industry, and it has an extremely high rate of failure. But what people don’t talk about it is how hard it is to stay in and make a living once you’re in,” she says. “I’ve been very lucky that I’ve been able to scrounge together a living doing this thing.”

In terms of live performances, Ippolito occasionally performs improv from time to time and also acts for her friends, dabbling in low-budget content. She’s also worked on a number of commercials.

Lately, she is weathering through rapidly advancing industry changes and bracing for impact. With the transition from legacy media to streaming services and AI lurking at every corner, she remains on high alert.

“Hollywood hates AI,” she says. “There’s a lot of push back.”

That is where the negotiating power of unions and guilds comes in. She is a member of three: the Writers Guild of America, The Animation Guild and Screen Actors Guild.

On a more personal note, she calls North Hollywood home and shrugs off celebrity-sightings as no big deal. “I just leave them alone,” she says.

She has, however, met the acquaintance of Boonton actor Peter Onorati. “It was all my mom’s doing,” she says, laughing. “She ran into him at Walmart in Boonton, and she introduced herself and told him that her daughter was a TV writer—I was working for “Murphy Brown” at the time. He gave her his email and told her to have me reach out. I was hesitant as I didn’t want to bug him, but I emailed him and he couldn’t have been nicer.”

He and his wife are now a regular part of Ippolito’s social scene. “We meet up for drinks, birthdays, holidays—more drinks,” she says. “And he has such a love for Boonton and New Jersey. I love meeting people from here.”

In paying it forward, and as part of the Writers Guild Foundation (through the WGA), she has taken to mentoring military veterans who have their sights set on writing.

“I’m happy that people and organizations feel that I have this whole thing figured out enough that they ask me to pass down the knowledge I’ve attained,” she says. “Even though I feel like I myself still have so much to learn.”

Looking Ahead

Ippolito may have left her physical home in Boonton Township in 2003, but her heart still very much beats to the drum back home. Her mother and brother still live in the township, and she has a slew of nieces to spoil. She also makes it a point to pop into her favorite hometown haunts: The Reservoir Tavern, Roma Pizza, and Olde Town Deli among them. Ever the North Jersey girl, she is partial to Taylor ham, and when it comes to pizza and bagels, there’s no place like home.

So, what’s next? That information is classified. “I’m working on an animated show for Amazon, but I can’t say which one just yet.”

Stay tuned and keep the pizza ovens warm for her next visit.

Photographs courtesy of Gina Ippolito