Joe Raiola
PRESIDENT, Executive/ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Since joining the Theatre Within Workshop in the late 1970s, Joe Raiola has forged a unique career path as a satirist, comedian, speaker on first amendment issues, producer and workshop leader.

After years on the NYC comedy club scene, Joe landed his first professional humor work with National Lampoon alumni working on a series of national magazine spoofs, including Cosmoparody and Like A Rolling Stone.

In 1985 Joe joined the legendary “Usual Gang of Idiots” at MAD , where he was an editor and frequent contributor to the magazine for over 30 years, retiring after two decades as Senior Editor at the end of 2017.

Since 1993 Joe has performed his fiery program on free speech and comedy, The Joy of Censorship, at countless colleges, theaters, libraries and conferences in 44 states.

Along with Theatre Within Workshop Founder, Alec Rubin, Joe is the co-creator of the Annual John Lennon Tribute, which he has produced and appeared in every year since 1981.

In 2006, shortly after Mr. Rubin’s death, Joe established Theatre Within as a non-profit. With Joe as the organization’s driving creative force, the Annual John Lennon Tribute evolved from a small neighborhood gathering on Manhattan’s Upper West Side to an important New York City cultural event and charity concert. Now in its fifth decade, the Tribute attracts top artists and fans from around the country to celebrate John Lennon’s life, music and timeless message of peace and love.

In 2014 Joe set Theatre Within on a new course, with a mission of providing workshops in creative expression and mindfulness for communities in need. Under Joe’s visionary leadership, Theatre Within workshops and programs currently serve children and adults impacted by cancer, elementary and middle schools, and youth in crisis.

Joe has led Theatre Within workshops in creative expression for over 30 years and currently leads a group for cancer patients and survivors.