David Litt (born September 17, 1986) is an American political speechwriter and author of the comedic memoir Thanks, Obama: My Hopey Changey White House Years.[1] He is currently the head writer/producer for
Funny or Die's office in
Washington, D.C.[2]
Biography
Born to a
Jewish family[3] in New York City where he attended the
Dalton School, Litt attended
Yale University, where he was a member of the
Yale Ex!t Players and editor-in-chief of the
Yale Record.[4] He first got involved in political speechwriting through an internship with West Wing Writers.[5] He entered the White House in 2011, at the age of 24, and for four years served as a senior presidential speechwriter first to Presidential Advisor
Valerie Jarrett, White House Chief of Staff
William M. Daley, and ultimately to President
Barack Obama, including as the lead writer on four
White House Correspondents' Association dinner presentations.[6] Litt has also written for The Onion and
McSweeney's Internet Tendency.[7]
Litt married Jacqueline Kappler on August 4, 2018.[8]
Books
Litt's first book, Thanks, Obama, was a
New York Times Best Seller[9] and was named one of the best books of 2017 by Esquire magazine.[10] His second, Democracy in One Book or Less, was released in June 2020.[11]