Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
Relationship Graph
Los Angeles, California · Creative Director and Co-Founder, L.A. Material
Hayes Davenport is creative director and co-founder of L.A. Material. His career spans television writing, comedy podcasting, civic work, and nonprofit leadership — a combination that makes him the most unconventional of L.A. Material's four co-founders, and the one whose background is furthest from conventional journalism.
Davenport has worked as a writer and producer for television, with credits on Family Guy and Eastbound & Down. Since 2013 he has hosted Hollywood Handbook, a comedy podcast on the Headgum network, which over more than a decade has built a devoted following in comedy and podcasting circles. The show's format — loose, improvisational, satirizing Hollywood culture and the entertainment industry — has run to several hundred episodes.
Outside entertainment, Davenport co-founded a neighborhood homeless services nonprofit in Los Angeles and spent three years working in L.A. City Hall as a senior advisor to Councilmember Nithya Raman. That civic experience gives him direct knowledge of Los Angeles municipal politics and the institutions L.A. Material covers — though per L.A. Material's stated editorial policy, he is not involved in the newsroom's coverage of Raman or her 2026 mayoral campaign, and he no longer does political work. As creative director, his role at L.A. Material is focused on the publication's voice, design, and presentation rather than its editorial and reporting operations.
L.A. Material
Creative Director and Co-Founder (2026–present) · responsible for voice, design, and creative presentation
Hollywood Handbook (Headgum)
Host (2013–present) · comedy podcast · 10+ years · several hundred episodes
L.A. City Hall
Senior Advisor to Councilmember Nithya Raman (three years, prior to L.A. Material) · no longer does political work; recused from L.A. Material coverage of Raman
Television
Writer/Producer · Family Guy · Eastbound & Down
Neighborhood Homeless Services Nonprofit
Co-founder · Los Angeles · focus on neighborhood-level homeless services
Hayes Davenport · Creative Director and Co-Founder, L.A. Material
L.A. Material: lamaterial.com · lamaterial.com/team
Hollywood Handbook: headgum.com/hollywood-handbook