While doing acting and stand-up comedy gigs in New York, Twiss sought writing jobs. As she learned about HBO preparing
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and recruiting writers through blind auditions, Twiss sent them sample segments, which in turn led to a demand for a second batch, and after an interview with
John Oliver himself she was hired. As a member of the writing staff for
Last Week Tonight, Twiss has won the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series multiple times.
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo In March 2018, as a writer on
Last Week Tonight, Twiss authored a children's book called
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo about a fictional day in the life of
Marlon Bundo, the real-life pet rabbit of the
Vice President of the United States,
Mike Pence. The story details the same-sex romance between Marlon Bundo and another rabbit named Wesley. It was written in response to Pence's staunch opposition to
same-sex marriage and support of
conversion therapy advocate
James Dobson. Twiss conceptualized the book as a loose parody of ''
Marlon Bundo's: A Day in the Life of the Vice President'', written by
Charlotte Pence and illustrated by
Karen Pence (Mike Pence's daughter and wife, respectively). Their book also tells about a fictionalized day of the Pence family's pet rabbit, but without the LGBT themes. Rather than a straight-up parody of the Pences' book,
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo is an actual children's story about marriage equality and democracy. It nevertheless contains some stabs at Mike Pence. On the day of release,
John Oliver promoted the book on
Last Week Tonight at the conclusion of an episode mainly dedicated to Pence and his positions on LGBT issues; it became a
bestseller and the #1 book and
e-book on
Amazon the following day, receiving notable praise and selling much better than the crew of
Last Week Tonight had expected. All profits from the book are being donated to
The Trevor Project and
AIDS United.
The Someone New Twiss authored
The Someone New, which was subsequently published in June 2018. The story revolves around Jitterbug, a chipmunk fearful of change. When a snail named Pudding moves into the woods, Jitterbug learns to overcome her fear with the help of her animal-friends. As part of the books premise of practicing kindness for strangers, Twiss partnered with the charity KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) on her book, and both she and her publisher, HarperCollins made donations to the charity. Twiss and the book's illustrator EG Keller released a second book about voting through the publisher HarperCollins called "Everyone Gets a Say" on August 25th 2020. == Awards and nominations ==