EXCLUSIVE: Brillstein Entertainment Partners has promoted Dari Bani to Manager, Comedy, elevating Geordan Somerville and Julia Weinstock to Coordinator in the Comedy department.
Each of the promotes will continue to work out of Brillstein’s Los Angeles office. Comedy department co-heads Alex Murray and Tim Sarkes made the announcement, with the former telling us, “Dari, Geordan and Julia have been key to the continued sustainability and development of our comedy department throughout their time with Brillstein. Their ability to identify and connect with emerging talent across a variety of mediums further expands our footprint in the comedy landscape, and we are excited to watch them continue to grow.”
Sarkes added, “This group’s experience at multiple levels within our team and company has enabled them to seamlessly graduate into these positions. They work hard and they live in the clubs – that has given them a deep understanding of the ever-changing comedy business across all of its platforms.”
Bani, who has been with Brillstein since 2017, got his start at WME, where he spent four years in music and comedy touring before transitioning to management. He worked as Murray’s assistant — supporting talent such as Nate Bargatze, Jim Gaffigan, Nikki Glaser and Jim Jefferies — until his promotion to coordinator in 2025. His clients include Henry Cho, who is currently selling out theaters nationwide on his Empty Nest Tour; Derrick Stroup (repped with Murray and Sarkes), whose debut Netflix special, Nostalgic, on which we first reported, was released globally on March 10; Dustin Nickerson, who recently sold out nine shows in Tacoma, WA and is releasing a comedy special later this year; Mike Goodwin, whose Open Mike Tour is selling out clubs across the country; Nasser Al-Rayess, whose sold-out Habiiibi International Europe Tour begins in April; and Maggie Hughes DePalo, the first female stand-up to feature on Bargatze’s arena tour, among others.
Somerville graduated from the University of Maryland in 2018 and completed an externship at UTA prior to joining Brillstein in 2021. He worked on multiple desks before becoming an assistant to Murray, working with talent including Bargatze, Glaser and Gaffigan. Among Somerville’s clients are three-time Emmy nominee Ellory Smith (Robot Chicken) as well as janitor-turned-comedian and TikTok phenom Jimmy Cash. Somerville is an executive producer on Fifth Season’s comedy series The Flat Tyres alongside Brillstein’s Matt Sadeghian, with whom he co-reps series creators Thabo Rametsi and Robbie Leacock. He additionally co-manages clients such as comedian and social media star Demetrius Fields, James Mwaura (a 2025 JFL New Face) and Jot Singh (Mo, co-repped with Bani).
A graduate of Indiana University, Weinstock interned at The Second City and Paskal Rudnicke Casting before joining Brillstein in 2022 as an assistant to longtime comedy lead Marc Gurvitz. She has since grown to co-rep Gurvitz clients such as Martin Short and the late Catherine O’Hara, while co-signing talent including New York Times bestselling author Kyle Prue, the top-selling New York-based live comedy show Ask a F*ckboy, and 2025 Just For Laughs New Faces Dvontre Coleman and Dan Tiernan.
Somerville and Weinstock additionally share clients including Zavior Phillips (Bad Monkey, 2025 JFL New Face), Dan Mahboubian Rosen (Kinda Pregnant), and Kel Cripe (2025 JFL New Face; 2024 Netflix Introducing… showcase).
With roots in comedy extending back more than 45 years — to the time when the company was known as Brillstein/Grey — Brillstein’s bicoastal comedy department works with talent including Jeff Arcuri, Brittany Broski, Dana Carvey, Whitney Cummings, Zach Galifianakis, Tony Hinchcliffe, Bill Maher, David Spade, Cecily Strong, Trevor Wallace and more, in addition to aforementioned stars like Bargatze.
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