Gibran Saleem was born in North Carolina and raised in Virginia in a Pakistani household. He started comedy while attending graduate school for psychology at New York University. While attending school he performed for the TBS Rooftop Comedy College Competition and was individually handpicked as an MVP nominee on a national level out of hundreds of comedians. Since then Gibran has been featured on MTV Iggy, PBS, Popcorn Flix, Voice Of America and performed his stand-up television debut on Gotham Comedy Live for AXS TV. He has been featured nationally in the prestigious New York Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Festival, Out of Bounds Festival in Austin, Texas,The Big Sky Festival in Billings, Montana and recently won 1st place in the Hoboken Comedy Festival. This summer Gibran was the focus of a new international documentary series on NHK TV called Asian Dreamers: Brown is Funny. Gibran is also the star and creator of the web series Hashtag Heroes, which is set to be released this winter.

Most DJs spend their entire life in the shadows. No matter how well they control the crowd or dazzle on the decks, they remain anonymous lost in the darkness. Yet Cipha Sounds is not most DJs. Whether hosting HOT 97 Morning Show for over 7 years, DJing and doing stand-up around the world, or producing & hosting his own comedy shows Cipha radiates personality, driving every project. “Double Stuf Comedy” at The Stand or his improv show “Take It Personal” at UCB theatre are just a few of the current shows taking over the city. Just as comfortable on stage as he is behind the turntables, Cipha has carved out a distinct voice in music and comedy over the past 15 years.

Cipha got his first break interning for Funkmaster Flex and earned opening slots at legendary NYC nightspots like the Tunnel and the Palladium. Soon after that, Cipha found himself spinning for Lil Kim, Mos Def and Jay-Z on national tours, and rocking private parties & album release galas for superstars like P. Diddy, Eminem and Mariah Carey. Most importantly, Cipha learned how to break new records, helping turn once-unknowns like Sean Paul, 50 Cent, Pitbull, Rick Ross, Rihanna into superstars, while maintaining a healthy sense of humor on the mic.

Cipha’s ear for talent made him a natural A&R executive, a position he has held with labels ranging from Rawkus, Tommy Boy , Neptunes’ Star Trak imprint with Pharrell Williams, and Roc-A-Fella with Jay-Z. In 2003, he took an even bigger leap into the music industry and began hosting “Sucker Free” and “TRL” on MTV. In the past few months Cipha has become the first comedian to sign to ROCNATION management and has teamed up with Alicia Keys to develop a Television Series.

Carmen Lynch is a NYC-based comedian who recently made her second appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. She has also appeared on Inside Amy Schumer and The Good Wife. Carmen has performed for the troops on several tours in Iraq and Kuwait. For more info please visit @lynchcarmen on Twitter or www.carmenlynch.com.

Actor/ Dancer/ Known as Sniper in "Battle of The Year 3D" alongside Josh Halloway, Laz Alonso, Chris Brown, and Josh Peck. He played the lead role in "Christmas Wedding Baby," a film that won the "Grand Jury Award" at the Pan African(2015) Film Festival, where Denzel Washington was on the panel. He has also recently finished shooting "Supermodel" where he plays the younger character of Roger Guenveur Smith. Native of Westbury New York, Sawandi’s training began at The Susan Batson Studio with both Marishka Phillips, and Susan Batson. He has also studied television and film technique with Bob Krakower. It was through this work exposed to the traditional craftsmanship of exploring characters and making bold artistic choices which he still consistently practices and pushes the limits of today.  He currently divides his time between Brooklyn, New York and Los Angeles, California. When he is not on set shooting, he is empowering the youth through teaching dance and expressive arts

Daniel Jaffe is a NYC-based actor/writer. Hailing from the Connecticut shoreline, Daniel got his acting start in the sparsely-seen, but nevertheless timeless middle school musical, “Pompadours and Poodle Skirts,” with hopes of wooing that girl he liked. Even with a perfectly coiffed pompadour, Daniel’s acting desire was tempered when he couldn’t curry favor with said middle school girl. Daniel turned to playing volleyball and drumming in mildly successful rock bands until he gave acting another go during his senior year of college. He was totally hooked.

Since then, Daniel has studied improv and sketch at UCB, and acting technique at T. Schreiber Studio, Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop, and the Lee Strasberg Institute. He’s worked on numerous short films, web series, new media projects, sketches, and commercials, including one still running in Holland where he gives an impressive hi-five. Visit www.danieljaffe.net to learn more and follow him @jaffetime on all platforms.