Allison Kilkenny

Allison Kilkenny (born 1983) is an American comedy writer and performer, former journalist, and host of the political podcast Light Treason News. Kilkenny previously hosted Citizen Radio and for many years was a social critic and blogger for The Nation. Kilkenny covered "budget wars, activism, uprising, dissent and general rabble-rousing". Kilkenny is best known for her contributions to political and comedy websites like the Huffington Post, Reductress, Talking Points Memo, 23/6, the Beast, Counterpunch, The Nation, and Alternet.org. Her work has been also featured on W. Kamau Bell's blog. Since 2018, Kilkenny hosts the podcast Light Treason News and is a performer and sketch writer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.

Background Kilkenny grew up in Naperville, Illinois. She attended Illinois State University, graduating in 2005 with a major in English. Kilkenny moved to New York City, where she met her ex-husband Jamie Kilstein at a chain bookstore where the two were employed. Kilkenny is an outspoken atheist and activist. She is a vegan. Her journalist career has come about entirely on the Internet.

Kilkenny has appeared as a guest and as an expert on television shows including Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Majority Report, WMNF 88.5 FM, Democracy Now, Abby Martin and other shows to discuss labor issues, LGBT issues, Occupy Wall Street and activism.

An outspoken critic of establishment media, Kilkenny has been quoted as having a pessimistic view of her own chosen profession. "The news exists to turn a profit," she told Barrett Brown for the Daily Kos in 2008.

Citizen Radio Kilkenny started Citizen Radio in 2008. The podcast grew from a once-weekly program to popular show released every weekday in 2008. Before that, Kilkenny co-hosted a podcast Drunken Politics, which was associated with Breakthru Radio.

Occupy Wall Street Kilkenny was one of a small group of journalists that started reporting on Occupy Wall Street during its first days, filing a report from Zuccotti Park on September 17, 2011. In May 2011, months before the Occupy movement began, Kilkenny expressed her admiration for the union protesters who occupied the Wisconsin State Capitol building. In her response, Kilkenny points out glaring omissions from the NYT's first coverage of Occupy, which failed to mention NYPD's documented macing of protestors.

Kilkenny was one of two journalists featured on a panel about the "state of Occupy" in February 2012.

Kilkenny received positive feedback both from mainstream news sources, and from hordes of Twitter followers during the "occupation" for up-to-the-minute news from the park. According to some sources, Kilkenny received hundreds of followers a week throughout the physical occupation of Zuccotti Park.

Reductress Kilkenny is a regular contributor to the satirical comedy website Reductress.

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre Kilkenny has been a house team performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre since 2018 and is currently on the improv Harold team Promises.

Criticism G. Gordon Liddy replied to a tweet by Kilkenny, telling Kilkenny that her writing made him want to vomit. Kilkenny said the tweet was unprovoked and came from out of the blue.

Personal life Kilkenny married comedian and radio host Jamie Kilstein (now divorced) on June 7, 2010.