Cornelius Peter was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, attended the Pomfret School in Connecticut and later received a B.A. in English from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Following graduation, he moved to San Francisco with two goals in mind: to see more Grateful Dead shows and to somehow break into stand-up comedy. After a chance meeting with the manager of the Punch Line Comedy Club at a concert by the Jerry Garcia Band, he accomplished both. He became director of promotions for the club, started working nights at the front door and eventually kicked off his performing career at the now legendary Sunday Night Showcase. Cornelius spent the next two decades performing stand-up around the country at such venues as Cobb’s Comedy Club, Gotham Comedy Club, the Improv and many others. In 2009 he wrote and starred in “The Pot Luck Club,” a one-person show chronicling his career in the cannabis industry. During the years that followed, he produced, hosted and booked “The Highland Park Show” a popular monthly comedy show in Los Angeles that ran from 2012-2016, hosted the podcast “Book Me, Please”, and was the author/illustrator of two comic strips, ‘The Daily Comics’ from 2007-2009, and ‘The Bald and the Beautiful’, which ran from 2014-2019 in the LA Art News In 2011, temporarily laid off by the cannabis industry and seeking a new direction, he tried his hand at acting. He has since appeared in dozens of television shows, including "How I Met Your Mother,” “Silicon Valley,” “Atypical,” “Two Broke Girls,” and “Fresh Off The Boat.” He lives in Los Angeles with his dog, Jack, where he continues to act, write and play golf rather poorly. “The Big Snooze" is his first novel.