Phil Kaye

American poet
the Scottish stand up comedian

Phil Kaye is a Japanese American poet, writer and filmmaker. He is the co director of Project VOICE, and writes and performs as a spoken word artist both in solo and group projects. Kaye is the author of two books, A Light Bulb Symphony (2011) and Date & Time (2018). As a child, Kaye spoke almost exclusively Japanese in his home until age five, when he was sent to American kindergarten. Kaye's family, along with his Japanese and Jewish heritage, are recurring themes in his later work. Kaye first discovered spoken word poetry at seventeen years old while attending the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Kaye currently lives in New York City, working as a writer, performer and co director of Project VOICE. He has also performed on NPR and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 2019, The New Yorker wrote a feature piece about Kaye and Sarah Kay's work together, titled Spoken Word Poetry's Dynamic Duo. The piece, chronicling the events of a sold out show in New York City, highlighted their poetry work, tour schedule, and organization, Project VOICE. In 2018, Kaye’s second book Date & Time was ranked on an Amazon bestseller list. Date & Time received praise for its exploration of themes related to memory, family, and loneliness.

In 2018, Kaye was a writer, producer and actor in Distance, an experimental series about a long distance relationship told from two distinct perspectives. Distance was released online after an award winning festival run including South by Southwest, New York Television Festival, and SeriesFest, where it received a Virgin Produced Choice Award. Kaye has worked with filmmaker Alex Dobrenko under the moniker “Thanks Laura”. The two have worked as co creators, directors, writers, and actors. The team has produced a number of short films together, including satirical shorts “The Shake”, featured in The Huffington Post, “The Bad Boys of Food”, featured in Food 52 and The Huffington Post.