Steve O'Donnell (writer)
Television writer
Steve O'Donnell is an American television writer. His credits include Late Night with David Letterman The Simpsons Seinfeld The Chris Rock Show [ 1]
Biography
Steve O'Donnell was born in Cleveland, Ohio , and graduated with an A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1976. He also completed graduate studies in American history at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .
Career
O'Donnell worked on Letterman nearly since the show's inception. The Top Ten List was originally created during O'Donnell's time as head writer, and lists were written in collaboration with other staff writers on the show. According to O'Donnell, the Top Ten List was an "almost simultaneous inspiration arriving from staffers Jim Downey , Randy Cohen and Robert "Morty" Morton — largely prompted by the ridiculous 'eligible bachelor' lists in a local New York paper that included the 84-year-old Bill Paley . 'Why, we can put such nonsense together ourselves!' we exclaimed. And we did."[ 2] [ 3] The New York Times [ 2]
O'Donnell was later the head writer of Jimmy Kimmel Live! [ 4]
In addition to his tenure as head writer of Letterman and Kimmel, O'Donnell worked as a writer and producer on The Bonnie Hunt Show The Dana Carvey Show Norm Macdonald Live Why? with Hannibal Buress Comedy Central . He continued his work with Norm Macdonald as a writer on Norm Macdonald Has a Show Netflix .
He has appeared in additional brief on-screen roles in Strangers With Candy The Sarah Silverman Program
He won Primetime Emmy Awards in the "Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program " category on four occasions: for Late Night with David Letterman The Chris Rock Show [ 5]
In 2017, the Writers Guild of America presented O'Donnell with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.[ 6] David Letterman was part of O'Donnell's introduction.[ 7]
Personal life
Steve is the identical twin of Mark O'Donnell , the Tony Award-winning co-writer of the Broadway musical Hairspray [ 1] [ 8] Prop. 8 in 2008.[ 9]
References
^ a b "Interview with Steve & Mark O'Donnell" . The Believer . Retrieved 2010-01-22 .^ a b Steve O'Donnell (2015-05-07), "David Letterman's Top Ten On Air Moments" , New York Times ^ Sources for top-ten list:
Gliatto, Tom (1990-08-27), "And the No.1 Reason David Letterman Keeps Reading the Top 10 List–Well, It's Funnier Than His Monologue" , People Larry McShane, Associated Press (1991-11-02), "Letterman lists take country by storm" , Reading Eagle Phil Rosenthal (2009-12-13), "No chance of a list-less columnist this time of year" , Chicago Tribune the original on 2009-12-18 ^ Mendoza, Manuel (2006-02-04). "Inside 'Kimmel Live' . Dallas Morning News . Retrieved 2010-01-22 . ^ "Awards for Steve O'Donnell" . IMDb. Retrieved 2010-01-22 .^ "Longtime Letterman Writer Steve O'Donnell Set For WGA East's Herb Sargent Award" . 3 January 2017.^ "2017 Writers Guild Awards: Steve O'Donnell accepts the Herb Sargent Award" . YouTube Archived from the original on 2021-12-18.^ Kennedy, Mark. " . Boston.com. ^ " . YouTube Archived from the original on 2021-12-18. Retrieved 2016-06-02 .
External links
Buz Kohan (1980)Jerry Juhl , Chris Langham and David Odell (1981)Jeffrey Barron, Dick Blasucci, John Candy , Chris Cluess, Bob Dolman , Joe Flaherty , Paul Flaherty, Stuart Kreisman, Eugene Levy , Andrea Martin , John McAndrew, Brian McConnachie , Rick Moranis , Catherine O'Hara , Mert Rich, Michael Short, Doug Steckler and Dave Thomas (1982)
Dick Blasucci, John Candy , Bob Dolman , Joe Flaherty , Paul Flaherty, Eugene Levy , Andrea Martin , John McAndrew, Martin Short , Michael Short, Doug Steckler and Mary Charlotte Wilcox (1983)
Chris Elliott , Sanford Frank , Ted Greenberg, David Letterman , Merrill Markoe , Jeff Martin , Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell , Joe Toplyn, Matt Wickline and David Yazbek (1984)Randy Cohen , Kevin Curran , Chris Elliott , Sandy Frank , Eddie Gorodetsky , Fred Graver , Larry Jacobson, David Letterman , Merrill Markoe , Jeff Martin , Gerard Mulligan, Joe Toplyn and Matt Wickline (1985)Randy Cohen , Kevin Curran , Chris Elliott , Sandy Frank , Fred Graver , Larry Jacobson, David Letterman , Merrill Markoe , Jeff Martin , Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell , Joe Toplyn and Matt Wickline (1986)Randy Cohen , Kevin Curran , Chris Elliott , Sandy Frank , Fred Graver , Larry Jacobson, David Letterman , Jeff Martin , Gerard Mulligan, Steve O'Donnell , Adam Resnick , Joe Toplyn and Matt Wickline (1987)Jackie Mason (1988)John Bowman , A. Whitney Brown , Greg Daniels , Tom Davis , James Downey , Al Franken , Shannon Gaughan, Jack Handey , Phil Hartman , George Meyer , Lorne Michaels , Mike Myers , Conan O'Brien , Bob Odenkirk , Herb Sargent , Tom Schiller , Robert Smigel , Bonnie Turner, Terry Turner and Christine Zander (1989)
Billy Crystal / Jerry Belson , James L. Brooks , Marc Flanagan , Dinah Kirgo, Jay Kogen , Marilyn Suzanne Miller , Heide Perlman , Ian Praiser, Sam Simon , Tracey Ullman and Wallace Wolodarsky (1990, tie)Billy Crystal , Hal Kanter , Buz Kohan , David Steinberg , Bruce Vilanch and Robert Wuhl (1991)No award (1992)
Judd Apatow , Robert Cohen , David Cross , Brent Forrester , Jeff Kahn, Bruce Kirschbaum, Bob Odenkirk , Sultan Pepper , Dino Stamatopoulos and Ben Stiller (1993)No award (1994)
No award (1995)
David Feldman , Eddie Feldmann , Mike Gandolfi, Tom Hertz , Leah Krinsky , Dennis Miller and Rick Overton (1996)Chris Rock (1997) Jose Arroyo, David Feldman , Eddie Feldmann , Jim Hanna , Leah Krinsky , Dennis Miller and David Weiss (1998)
Tom Agna , Vernon Chatman , Louis C.K. , Lance Crouther , Gregory Greenberg, Ali LeRoi , Steve O'Donnell , Chris Rock , Frank Sebastiano, Chuck Sklar , Jeff Stilson , Wanda Sykes and Mike Upchurch (1999)
