Michael Schur

Michael Herbert Schur[1] (born October 29, 1975)[1] is an American television producer, writer, and character actor. He was a producer and writer for the comedy series The Office, and co-created Parks and Recreation with Office producer Greg Daniels. He created The Good Place, co-created the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and was a producer on the series Master of None. He also played Mose Schrute in The Office.

For the electronics researcher, see Michael Shur. For the political reporter, see Michael Shure.
"Mike Schur" redirects here. For the disc jockey, see Mike Schurr.
Michael Schur
Schur at the 2012 Peabody Awards
Born
Michael Herbert Schur

(1975-10-29) October 29, 1975
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Other namesKen Tremendous
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationTelevision producer, screenwriter
Years active1997–present
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2005)​
Children2

Schur's comedies typically include large, diverse casts and have created break-out stars. His shows feature optimistic characters who often find lasting love and strong friendships,[2][3][4] through plots that showcase "good-hearted humanistic warmth."[5] Schur has been nominated for 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning two for his work on Saturday Night Live (1997–2004) and The Office.[6]

Early life

Schur was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to a family of Jewish background.[7] His parents are Warren M. Schur and Anne Herbert, and he was raised in West Hartford, Connecticut.[1][8] He first became interested in comedy when he was 11 years old, when he read Without Feathers, a 1975 collection of humorous essays by Woody Allen. Schur said he found the book on his father's bookshelf and stayed up reading it until 4 a.m.[9]

Schur attended William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut.[10] Schur graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. major in English from Harvard University in 1997, where he was a president of the Harvard Lampoon.[11]

Career

Starting in 1998, Schur was a writer on NBC's Saturday Night Live.[12][13] Schur became the producer of Weekend Update in 2001; his first show in the new role was Saturday Night Live's first episode after the September 11 attacks.[14] In 2002, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award as part of SNL's writing team.[6] Schur left Saturday Night Live in 2004.[15]

Soon afterward, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he wrote ten episodes and won the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Schur appeared on The Office as Dwight's cousin Mose in several episodes, including "Initiation", in which Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm, "Money", in which Jim and Pam spend a night at the farm, "The Deposition", "Koi Pond", "Counseling" and "Finale". He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein.

In 2005, Schur served as a co-producer of HBO's The Comeback and wrote two of its 13 episodes.

Schur also wrote for Fire Joe Morgan, a sports journalism blog, under the pseudonym "Ken Tremendous".[16] Schur resurrected the pen name on March 31, 2011, when he began writing for SB Nation's Baseball Nation site.[17] @KenTremendous is also Schur's Twitter handle.[18]

In April 2008, Schur and Greg Daniels started working on a pilot for Parks and Recreation as a proposed spin-off of The Office.[15] Over time, Schur realized Parks and Recreation would work better if they made it separate from The Office. While Parks and Recreation received negative reviews in its first season, it received critical acclaim in the second, much like The Office.[19]

Schur collaborated with The Decemberists on their music video for "Calamity Song" from the album The King Is Dead.[20] This video is based upon Eschaton, a mock-nuclear war game played on tennis courts that David Foster Wallace created in his 1996 novel Infinite Jest. Schur wrote his undergraduate senior thesis on the novel,[21] and he also owns the film rights to it.[22]

With Daniel J. Goor, Schur created the cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which premiered in fall 2013 on Fox. The show was moved to NBC in its sixth season. The show boasts six awards.

In 2013, Joe Posnanski and Schur created The PosCast which is now hosted by The Athletic. The podcast primarily discusses baseball but meanders into other sports, subjects, drafts of random items, and prides itself in being meaningless. The podcast has featured notable guests and co-hosts such as Linda Holmes, Ken Rosenthal, Nick Offerman, Ellen Adair, Stefan Fatsis, Brandon McCarthy, Joey Votto, and Sean Doolittle.

On September 19, 2016, the Schur-created sitcom The Good Place began airing on NBC.[23] The supernatural series concerning philosophy and being a good person, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, became a surprise critical and commercial success,[5] concluding its four-season run on January 30, 2020.

In 2016, Schur and Rashida Jones co-wrote the teleplay of "Nosedive", an episode of the television anthology series Black Mirror, from a story by Charlie Brooker.[24]

In 2019, Schur joined other WGA writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the unfair practice of packaging.[25]

In 2019, Schur began development of a scripted comedy show called Rutherford Falls starring Ed Helms.[26]

Personal life

Schur is married to J. J. Philbin, who was formerly a writer on The O.C. and is the daughter of the late television star Regis Philbin. Their son was born in February 2008 and daughter born in July 2010.[27][28]

Filmography
Television work by Michael Schur
Year Title Director Writer Producer Actor Executive producer Creator Role Notes
1997–2004 Saturday Night Live No Yes Weekend Update Yes No No Various roles Wrote 138 episodes, appeared in 3 episodes
2005–2014 The Comeback No Yes Yes No No No Wrote 2 episodes
2005–2013 The Office No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Mose Schrute Wrote 12 episodes, appeared in 13 episodes
2006 Totally Awesome No Yes No No No No Television film
2007 The O.C. No No No Yes No No Paul Episode: "The Case of the Franks"
2008 Miss Guided No No No Yes No No Male Teacher Episode: "Pool Party"
2009–2015 Parks and Recreation Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Wrote 19 episodes, directed 9 episodes
Non-speaking cameo in Season 6 episode: "Second Chunce"
2013–present Brooklyn Nine-Nine Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Wrote 2 episodes, directed 2 episodes
2015–2017 Master of None No No No No Yes No
2016 Black Mirror No Yes No No No No Episode: "Nosedive"
Co-wrote teleplay with Rashida Jones
2016–2020 The Good Place Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Wrote 5 episodes, directed 4 episodes
2019 Abby's No No No No Yes No
2019 Sunnyside No No No No Yes No
2020 Single Parents Yes No No No No No Episode: "Yarn and Pebbles"
Upcoming Rutherford Falls Yes
Q-Force Yes

References
  1. "Jennifer Philbin and Michael Schur". The New York Times. 2005-10-09. Retrieved 2008-09-15. Mr. Schur, 29...
  2. Hannemann, Emily (September 15, 2018). "The Magic of Michael Schur's Sitcoms: Why 'The Good Place,' 'Parks and Rec' & More Are So Rewatchable". TV Insider. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  3. Leishman, Rachel (September 17, 2018). "Mike Schur's Shows Have The Most Relatable Characters on Television". TheMarySue.com. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  4. "The Chemistry of Cluelessness in Michael Schur's Sitcoms". PopMatters.com. July 12, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  5. Anderson, Sam (October 4, 2018). "What Makes 'The Good Place' So Good?". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  6. "Michael Schur". Television Academy. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  7. https://forward.com/culture/437657/what-the-good-place-says-about-jewish-ethics/
  8. Ken Tremendous [@KenTremendous] (18 February 2013). "@williamfleitch I need no such reminding. I was born in Ann Arbor" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. Martin, Denise (2009-11-18). "Making bureaucracy work: How NBC's "Parks and Recreation" overcame bad buzz". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. Retrieved 2009-12-06.
  10. Gendreau, LeAnne (7 April 2009). "West Hartford Guy Behind Poehler's "Parks & Recreation"". WVIT. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  11. "How Harvard Remade 'The Office'". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 2016-09-20.
  12. Goldberg, Lesley (October 3, 2012). "Showrunners 2012: 'Parks and Recreation's' Mike Schur". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  13. VanDerWerff, Emily (January 9, 2018). "The Good Place's creator explains why not every comedy is better off as a Netflix original". Vox. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  14. Schur, Mike (September 11, 2016). "Mike Schur on How 9/11 Influenced the Writing on SNL, The Office, and Parks and Rec". Vulture.com. New York. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  15. Zap2it (August 19, 2008). "More Money for Mose at 'The Office'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  16. "Fire Joe Morgan: About Us". firejoemorgan.com. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  17. Buchanan, Ben (31 March 2011). "Introducing Baseball Nation". OverTheMonster.com. SB Nation. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  18. "Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous)". Twitter. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  19. Cormier, Roger (January 11, 2016). "18 Facts About Parks and Recreation". Mental Floss. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
  20. Carlin, Shannon (2011-08-22). "First Watch: The Decemberists, 'Calamity Song'". NPR. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
  21. Hyden, Steve (2011-08-22). "Parks And Recreation's Michael Schur talks about directing the Decemberists' new Infinite Jest-themed video". The Onion A.V. Club. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  22. Busis, Hillary. "Last night's Parks and Rec was an extended homage to Infinite Jest". EW. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
  23. Dodson, P. Claire (2016-09-19). "The Good Place Creator Michael Schur Has an Idea of Who's Going to Make It to Heaven". Esquire. Retrieved 2016-09-23.
  24. Gelman, Vlada (27 July 2016). "Black Mirror Enlists Rashida Jones and Mike Schur for Season 3 Writing Stint". TVLine. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  25. "Patton Oswalt, David Simon, Danny Zuker, More WGA Members Post Termination Letters". Variety.
  26. "Ed Helms Comedy From Mike Schur, 'Punky Brewster' Among Scripted Slate at NBCU Streamer". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  27. "Regis Philbin Is a Grandfather!". People. 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
  28. Essany, Michael (2011). Regis Philbin. Hyperink Inc. p. 32. ISBN 9781614648062.
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