Carleton Convo with Claire McFadden ’13 | February 21, 2025

Comedy writer and performer Claire McFadden ’13 delivered Carleton’s convocation address on Friday, February 21, from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in Skinner Chapel. Her talk is titled, “Make it Yourself: How to Pursue a Creative Career After Carleton Even If You Majored in Something Completely Unrelated Like ENTS and the Path Forward Seems Shrouded in Mystery and Fear (A Convocation Speech).”

McFadden has performed her improv and sketch comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest performance arts festival; San Francisco Sketchfest; Out of Bounds; and Chicago Sketchfest. She has also starred repeatedly in the Mainstage Revue at The Second City in Chicago.

McFadden’s short romantic comedy, Kim’s Big Date, which she wrote, directed, and edited, premiered in 2019 at the Windy City International Film Festival, where it won Best Chicago Comedy. After its premiere, Kim’s Big Date was screened at 12 more film festivals across the U.S. McFadden wrote the film in celebration of friendship, saying, “I wanted to make a movie that celebrates how deeply my friends and I have been involved in each other’s lives, especially when navigating choppy, unknown romantic waters. They psych me up, calm me down, ghostwrite my texts, and lint-roll my pants.” McFadden also created and acted in the improvised web series Framed (2018) based on her year of working as a custom picture framer. Framed gained recognition through its inclusion on the Official Selection of the 2018 New York Television Film Festival.

Previously, McFadden was a managing editor and staff writer for Jackbox Games, where she pitched the games Blather ‘Round and Quixort, and wrote for the popular games Quiplash, Drawful, and Trivia Murder Party.  

McFadden graduated from Carleton in 2013 with a degree in environmental studies. She was a proud member of student organizations Lenny Dee and Cujokra.

Learn more about Carleton Convos at go.carleton.edu/convocations