Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
/
Yahoo! Screen
The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...
sitcom ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast ''
Harmontown
''Harmontown'' is a comedy podcast that aired live weekly from June 16, 2012 to December 3, 2019. It was hosted by writer Dan Harmon, best known as the creator of the television series ''Community'' and the co-creator of ''Rick and Morty'', along ...
'' (2012–2019), co-creator of the
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
animated sitcom ''
Rick and Morty
{{Infobox television
, image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png
, alt =
, caption =
, genre = {{Plainlist,
* Animated sitcom
* Adult animation
* Science fiction
* Black comedy
* ...
'' (2013–present) and its
subsequent franchise along with
Justin Roiland, and co-founder of the alternative television network and website
Channel 101
Channel 101 is a non-profit monthly short film festival in Los Angeles, which has a sister festival in New York City, Channel 101 NY. Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the format ...
along with
Rob Schrab.
Early life
Daniel James Harmon was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, on January 3, 1973. He graduated from
Brown Deer High School
Brown Deer Middle/High School is a high school on North 60th Street, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, USA. It serves approximately 800 students in grades 7 through 12.
Sports
The school's sports teams are known as "The Falcons". The school is part of the ...
in
Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and attended
Marquette University
Marquette University () is a private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Martin Henni, the first Bishop of the diocese of M ...
. He briefly attended
Glendale Community College in
Glendale, California, an experience which would later form the basis of his sitcom ''Community''.
Career
Early career (1996–2008)
Harmon was a member of
ComedySportz
ComedySportz (CSz) is an improvisational comedy organization started in 1984 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by a group of local comedians including Dick Chudnow, Bob Orvis, Brian Green, and others.
Match format
The traditional format of a ComedySportz ...
in Milwaukee, alongside
Rob Schrab, a member of the sketch troupe The
Dead Alewives
The Dead Alewives was an improvisational comedy troupe during the 1980s and 1990s from Milwaukee. Some of the group's individual members went on to become noteworthy after the group's breakup.
The Dead Alewives began as a splinter group from the M ...
. They produced an album, ''Take Down the Grand Master'', in 1996. Harmon frequently appeared at Milwaukee's Safehouse free comedy stage early in his career. A notable routine was a song about masturbation.
Harmon co-created the television pilot ''
Heat Vision and Jack
''Heat Vision and Jack'' is a 1999 American comedy science fiction television pilot created and written by Rob Schrab and Dan Harmon, directed by Ben Stiller, and starring Jack Black, Owen Wilson, and Ron Silver. The pilot was originally order ...
'' (starring
Owen Wilson
Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and '' The Royal ...
and
Jack Black) and several Channel 101 shows, some featuring Black,
Drew Carey
Drew Allison Carey (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actor and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, he gained stardom in his own sitcom, '' The Drew Carey Show'', an ...
, and
Sarah Silverman
Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer.
Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced '' The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...
. He co-created
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...
's ''
The Sarah Silverman Program
''The Sarah Silverman Program'' is an American television sitcom, which ran from February 1, 2007, to April 15, 2010, on Comedy Central starring comedian and actress Sarah Silverman, who created the series with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. ''The Sa ...
'' and served as head writer for several episodes.
Harmon portrayed a highly fictionalized version of
Ted Templeman
Edward John "Ted" Templeman (born October 24, 1942) is an American record producer. Among the acts he has a long relationship with are the rock bands Van Halen and the Doobie Brothers and the singer Van Morrison; he produced multiple criticall ...
on two episodes of the Channel 101 web series ''
Yacht Rock
Yacht rock (originally known as the West Coast sound[That ' ...](_blank)
'', a satirical history of
soft rock, featuring stories about Templeman's collaborations with
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...
,
Michael McDonald and
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
. He was the creator, executive producer, and a featured performer in ''
Acceptable.TV
''Acceptable.TV'' is a television program created by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab that aired on VH1 from March 23 to May 11, 2007. Each show was composed of several mini-episodes created by the Acceptable.TV staff, with one mini-episode that was subm ...
'', a Channel 101-based sketch show airing for eight episodes in March 2007 on
VH1. He and Rob Schrab co-wrote the screenplay for the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-nominated film ''
Monster House''. He is credited with writing part of Rob Schrab's comic book series ''
Scud: The Disposable Assassin'', as well as the spin-off comic series ''La Cosa Nostroid''.
''Community'' (2009–2012; 2014–2015)
In 2009, Harmon's sitcom ''
Community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...
'', inspired by his own community college experiences, was picked up by
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
to be in its fall lineup. Harmon served as executive producer and
showrunner for 3 seasons until May 18, 2012, when it was announced that Harmon was being terminated from his position on ''Community'' as a result of creative conflicts between himself and Sony executives. On June 1, 2013, Harmon announced that he would be returning to ''Community'', serving as co-showrunner along with
Chris McKenna; this was confirmed by
Sony Pictures on June 10. NBC cancelled the show after its fifth season in May 2014, after which Harmon announced on June 30, 2014 that
Yahoo!
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
had renewed the series for a 13-episode sixth season to air online on
Yahoo! Screen
The company Yahoo! ran several similar video services. Yahoo! Video, a video hosting service, was established in 2006. Later, the ability to upload videos was removed, changing it to a more pure video on demand service; the website became a port ...
.
''Harmontown'' and ''Harmonquest'' (2011–2019)
On May 23, 2011, Harmon began hosting a monthly live comedy show and podcast at Meltdown Comics in
Hollywood called ''
Harmontown
''Harmontown'' is a comedy podcast that aired live weekly from June 16, 2012 to December 3, 2019. It was hosted by writer Dan Harmon, best known as the creator of the television series ''Community'' and the co-creator of ''Rick and Morty'', along ...
''. After his firing from ''Community'', the show became weekly. The show is co-hosted by
Jeff B. Davis
Jeffrey Bryan Davis (born October 6, 1973) is an American actor, impressionist and comedian. He is known for his work as a recurring performer on the improv comedy show ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' From July 2016 until October 2019, he has starr ...
. Notably, Harmontown has featured a regular segment where the hosts played an ongoing campaign of
pen-and-paper role-playing game
A tabletop role-playing game (typically abbreviated as TRPG or TTRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a form of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech. Participan ...
s, first ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'', and later ''
Shadowrun
''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic in fiction, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime fiction, crime, with ...
'', with the help of show Game Master Spencer Crittenden. The segment inspired the
Seeso
Seeso was an over-the-top subscription streaming service owned by Comcast through NBCUniversal, launched on January 7, 2016, and closed on November 8, 2017. It provided comedy content such as original and broadcast television shows.
History
O ...
original animated series
HarmonQuest
''HarmonQuest'' is an American adult animated web series created by Dan Harmon and Spencer Crittenden. The show is part animated, part live action. Harmon and comedians Erin McGathy and Jeff Davis, along with game master Crittenden, play a fant ...
. The show has featured guests such as
Kumail Nanjiani
Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wr ...
,
Curtis Armstrong,
Bobcat Goldthwait
Robert Francis "Bobcat" Goldthwait (born May 26, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, known for his black comedy stand-up act, delivered through an energetic stage persona with an unusual raspy and high-pitched voice. ...
,
Mitch Hurwitz
Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of ''The Ellen Show''. He is a ...
,
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom ''Pa ...
,
Eric Idle,
Greg Proops
Gregory Everett "Greg" Proops (born October 3, 1959) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and television host. He is widely known for his guest appearances on the U.K. and U.S. versions of ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?''. He has also voiced the ...
,
Jason Sudeikis
Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...
,
Zoe Lister-Jones
Zoe Lister-Jones (born September 1, 1982) is an American actress, and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'' from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows ''Delocated'' (20 ...
,
Ryan Stiles
Ryan Lee Stiles (born April 22, 1959) is an American-Canadian actor, comedian, and producer whose work is often associated with improvisational comedy. He is best known for his work on the original British series and American version of '' Wh ...
, as well as Harmon's then-wife, podcaster
Erin McGathy
Erin McGathy is an American podcast host, artist, and comedian. She hosted the podcast '' This Feels Terrible'', appeared and improvised in '' Harmontown'', and co-hosted ''Human Conversation'' with Wayne Federman.
Early life
McGathy was born i ...
. Harmon and Davis took the show on tour in early 2013, broadcasting from
Austin,
Nashville,
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81,045 people. With an area o ...
,
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
, and more. The tour became the subject of a documentary produced by director Neil Berkeley that follows Harmon, Davis, McGathy, and Crittenden. The documentary, also called ''Harmontown'', premiered at the
Austin Film Festival
SXSW on March 8, 2014. On September 10, 2019, the Harmontown
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account announced that the podcast would be coming to an end, and its final episode was published on December 5, 2019.
Starburns Industries (2010–2020)
During the first season of ''Community'', Harmon also co-founded Starburns Industries with several people including
Dino Stamatopoulos
Konstantinos Pollux Alexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos (born December 14, 1964) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as ''Mr. Show'', '' TV Funhouse'', '' Mad TV'', '' The Dana Carvey Show'', ''Late Show wi ...
, who played a character called
Star-Burns on ''Community''. In its first year, the company produced a
stop-motion episode of ''Community'' which garnered the company an
Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation. Starburns Industries was then involved in the creation of ''Rick and Morty'' and animated films ''
Anomalisa
''Anomalisa'' is a 2015 American adult stop motion animated psychological comedy-drama film written and directed by Charlie Kaufman, who co-directed with Duke Johnson. It was based on Kaufman's 2005 audio play of the same name under his alias F ...
'' and ''Bubbles''. It has also produced season 2 of ''
Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole'' and the special
''Beforel Orel'' for
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
, ''
HarmonQuest
''HarmonQuest'' is an American adult animated web series created by Dan Harmon and Spencer Crittenden. The show is part animated, part live action. Harmon and comedians Erin McGathy and Jeff Davis, along with game master Crittenden, play a fant ...
'' for
Seeso
Seeso was an over-the-top subscription streaming service owned by Comcast through NBCUniversal, launched on January 7, 2016, and closed on November 8, 2017. It provided comedy content such as original and broadcast television shows.
History
O ...
and
VRV and ''
Animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
'' for
HBO.
In 2013, Harmon published the book ''You'll Be Perfect When You're Dead''.
Harmon left the company in 2020. The studio's output declined steadily after the departure, with their only released projects after 2020 being ''
The Freak Brothers'' and ''
Slippin' Jimmy''.
''Rick and Morty'' (2013–present)
Harmon and co-showrunner,
Justin Roiland, began developing ideas for an animated show during Harmon's yearlong break from ''Community''. For its fall 2012 season,
Adult Swim
Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...
ordered a 30-minute animated pilot from Harmon and Roiland. The pilot, ''
Rick and Morty
{{Infobox television
, image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png
, alt =
, caption =
, genre = {{Plainlist,
* Animated sitcom
* Adult animation
* Science fiction
* Black comedy
* ...
'', is about the adventures of a brilliant but mean-spirited inventor and his less-than-genius grandson. The show premiered on December 2, 2013 and was renewed for second and third seasons.
The series' fourth season concluded in May 2020. Harmon voiced the recurring character of Bird Person. In May 2018, ''Rick and Morty'' was renewed for a further 70 episodes after Harmon and Roiland came to an agreement with Adult Swim. In January 2023, Harmon became the sole showrunner after Roiland was dismissed from the series amidst domestic assault charges.
''The Sirens of Titan'' and ''Krapopolis''
It was announced in July 2017 that Harmon and
Evan Katz would adapt
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...
's 1959 novel ''
The Sirens of Titan
''The Sirens of Titan'' is a comic science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., first published in 1959. His second novel, it involves issues of free will, omniscience, and the overall purpose of human history. Much of the story revolves around ...
'' into a television series.
As of October 2021, no more details have been released.
In June 2020, it was announced that
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
has greenlit an animated comedy series from Harmon. The series will be set in
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...
and is a co-production between
Fox Entertainment
Fox Entertainment is an American production company owned by Fox Corporation. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. The programming is created for the Fox Broadcasting Company, MyNetwork ...
and
Bento Box Entertainment
Bento Box Entertainment (also known as Bento Box Animation) is an American animation studio located in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2009 by executive producers Scott Greenberg, Joel Kuwahara, and ...
. On May 17, 2021, it was announced that the series would be titled ''
Krapopolis''. The series will be the first fully-owned new-Fox series.
Writing style
"Story circle" technique
Harmon adapted the
hero's journey
In narratology and comparative mythology, the hero's journey, or the monomyth, is the common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed.
Earlie ...
, a well-known storytelling framework, for use in television; he calls this technique the "story circle".
He began developing the technique while stuck on a screenplay in the late 1990s, and wanted to codify the storytelling process to unveil the "structure" that powers movies and TV shows. He said, "I was thinking, there must be some symmetry to this. Some simplicity."
While working on
Channel 101
Channel 101 is a non-profit monthly short film festival in Los Angeles, which has a sister festival in New York City, Channel 101 NY. Channel 101 is a creation of Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab in which participants submit a short film in the format ...
, he found that many of the directors he was working with claimed that they were unable to write plots for television shows. This prompted him to simplify
Joseph Campbell's structure of the hero's journey into a circular eight-step process that would reliably produce coherent stories.
The story circle can supposedly be applied to all stories. Harmon uses it whenever he is writing a new story, saying, "I can't not see that circle. It's tattooed on my brain."
The circle is divided into eight segments, each representing a stage of the plot: a character is introduced, wants something, enters a new environment, adapts to that environment, achieves their goal, encounters problems as a result of this, leaves that world, and is changed as a result. He writes the steps as follows:
# A character is in a zone of comfort or familiarity.
# They desire something.
# They enter an unfamiliar situation.
# They adapt to that situation.
# They get that which they wanted.
# They pay a heavy price for it.
# They return to their familiar situation.
# They have changed as a result of the journey.
Campbell's structure of the hero's journey is the main influence in Harmon's technique. In a blog post detailing the second sector of the circle, Harmon explained, "The point of this part of the circle is, our protagonist has been thrown into the water and now it's sink or swim. In ''
Hero with a Thousand Faces
''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'' (first published in 1949) is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell, in which the author discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world mythol ...
'', Campbell actually evokes the image of a digestive tract, breaking the hero down, divesting him of neuroses, stripping him of fear and desire. There's no room for bullshit in the unconscious basement. Asthma inhalers, eyeglasses, credit cards, fratty boyfriends, promotions, toupees, and cell phones can't save you here. The purpose here has become refreshingly—and frighteningly—simple."
The hero's journey has been adapted for screen and television writing before, most notably by former
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
developmental executive
Christopher Vogler
Christopher Vogler (born 1949) is a Hollywood development executive, screenwriter, author and educator, best known for working with Disney and his screenwriting guide, '' The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers'', from 2007.
Early life ...
in his book ''
The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers''. Harmon has noted this book as an influence on the technique, as well as the work of
Syd Field
Sydney Alvin Field (December 19, 1935November 17, 2013) was an American author and speaker who wrote several books on screenwriting, the first being '' Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting'' (Dell Publishing, 1979). He led workshops and s ...
.
Star Wars is an example of a film that consciously set out to use the hero's journey as a template for storytelling success.
Harmon states that this circular structure of storytelling can be applied both to film and TV, suggesting in a Channel 101 blog that only the final intentions are different: "A feature film's job is to send you out of the theatre on a high in 90 minutes. Television's job is to keep you glued to the television for your entire life. This doesn't entail making stories any less circular (TV circles are so circular they're sometimes irritatingly predictable). It just means that the focus of step 8 is less riling-things-up and more getting-things-back-to-where-they-started." He has used the story circle technique extensively throughout projects such as ''Community'' and ''Rick and Morty''. In an interview with
''Collider'', writer Adam Chitwood said, "''Rick and Morty'' debuted in 2013 to a serious degree of anticipation, as it marked a new animated venture for ''Community'' creator Dan Harmon, but it was the marriage of Harmon's adeptness for structure and character and co-creator
Justin Roiland's insanely creative/sometimes insane mind that made ''Rick and Morty'' much more than just another animated TV series for adults."
Influences
In an interview with ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'', Harmon named a number of films, television shows, books, and artists that have shaped his writing style. This includes the films ''
RoboCop'' and ''
Network
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics ...
''; the television shows ''
Cheers'', ''
Mr. Show'', ''
Arrested Development
The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...
'', ''
Second City Television'', and ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 for ...
''; the books ''
Slaughterhouse-Five
''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death'' is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life and experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to h ...
'' and ''
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...
''; the play ''
Sexual Perversity in Chicago
''Sexual Perversity in Chicago'' is a play written by David Mamet that examines the sex lives of two men and two women in the 1970s. The play is filled with profanity and regional jargon that reflects the working-class language of Chicago. The c ...
''; and writers, artists, and comedians including
Garry Shandling,
George Lucas,
Spalding Gray,
Charlie Kaufman
Charles Stuart Kaufman (; born November 19, 1958) is an American filmmaker and novelist. He wrote the films '' Being John Malkovich'' (1999), '' Adaptation'' (2002), and '' Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (2004). He made his directorial ...
,
Woody Allen
Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American film director, writer, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades and multiple Academy Award-winning films. He began his career writing ...
,
Tom Kenny
Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...
, and
Chris Elliott.
In the same ''Vulture'' interview, Harmon mentioned ''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'', musician
Tori Amos
Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...
, and evolutionary anthropologist
Elaine Morgan
Elaine Morgan OBE, FRSL (7 November 1920 – 12 July 2013), was a Welsh writer for television and the author of several books on evolutionary anthropology. She advocated the aquatic ape hypothesis, which she advocated as a corrective to what ...
as influences.
He singled out Morgan's
aquatic ape hypothesis, calling it a "peaceful, interesting, mythical concept, and a scientific one, that maybe the origin of ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'' was kind of a fairy tale".
For ''
Rick and Morty
{{Infobox television
, image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png
, alt =
, caption =
, genre = {{Plainlist,
* Animated sitcom
* Adult animation
* Science fiction
* Black comedy
* ...
'', Harmon and co-creator
Justin Roiland listed a number of influences on the show's style, including ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'', ''
Ren & Stimpy
''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Decemb ...
'', ''
South Park'', ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'', ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', ''
Doctor Who'', and the cult sci-fi film ''
Zardoz
''Zardoz'' is a 1974 science fantasy film written, produced, and directed by John Boorman and starring Sean Connery and Charlotte Rampling. It depicts a post-apocalyptic world (which Boorman says, in the audio commentary, may or may not be mat ...
''.
Awards
In July 2009, Harmon was nominated in two Emmy categories for his part in writing the
81st Academy Awards
The 81st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2008 and took place on February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...
telecast:
Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and
Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, the latter of which he was awarded for "
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...
Opening Number" at the
61st Primetime Emmy Awards
The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 20, 2009. CBS broadcast the Primetime event and E! broadcast the Creative Arts event; both took place at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. The nominations were announced on ...
.
In 2018 and 2020, Harmon won the Emmy for "Outstanding Animated Program" as the executive producer of ''
Rick and Morty
{{Infobox television
, image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png
, alt =
, caption =
, genre = {{Plainlist,
* Animated sitcom
* Adult animation
* Science fiction
* Black comedy
* ...
''.
He was also nominated with Chris McKenna for a Hugo award for writing the ''Community'' episode, "Remedial Chaos Theory".
Personal life
In 2011, while writing the character Abed for ''Community'', Harmon realized through researching the character's traits that he might have
Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of beha ...
. He consulted a doctor about it and concluded that he himself is
on the spectrum.
On a podcast hosted by
Kevin Pollak
Kevin Elliot Pollak (born October 30, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist and podcast host. He has appeared in over 80 films; his roles include Sam Weinberg in Rob Reiner's legal film ''A Few Good Men'', Jacob Goldman in '' Grump ...
, he said, "I know I'm not normal, but I think the important thing is that
..I started to discover that I had a lot more in common with Abed than I did with Jeff."
Harmon proposed to his girlfriend
Erin McGathy
Erin McGathy is an American podcast host, artist, and comedian. She hosted the podcast '' This Feels Terrible'', appeared and improvised in '' Harmontown'', and co-hosted ''Human Conversation'' with Wayne Federman.
Early life
McGathy was born i ...
in December 2013,
and they were married in November 2014. They announced they were divorcing in October 2015. In 2016, Harmon started dating TV writer Cody Heller. In January 2019, Heller proposed to Harmon and the couple are now engaged. Heller adapted a real-life experience with Harmon into the TV series ''
Dummy'', starring
Anna Kendrick as Heller and
Donal Logue
Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian actor. He starred in the film '' The Tao of Steve'' and has had roles in the TV series ''Sons of Anarchy'', ''Vikings'', ''Grounded for Life'', ''Copper'', '' Terriers'', and, as Detecti ...
as Harmon.
Controversies
Sexual misconduct
On January 2, 2018, Harmon alluded to
sexual misconduct
Sexual misconduct is misconduct of a sexual nature which exists on a spectrum that may include a broad range of sexual behaviors considered unwelcome. This includes conduct considered inappropriate on an individual or societal basis of morality, se ...
from himself towards other people.
Megan Ganz, a writer who worked with him on ''Community'', named herself as a victim of his misconduct. In response to his apology and willingness to make things right, Ganz said that while she appreciated his gestures, she was not yet ready to forgive him.
After the exchange, he made a lengthy apology on his podcast ''
Harmontown
''Harmontown'' is a comedy podcast that aired live weekly from June 16, 2012 to December 3, 2019. It was hosted by writer Dan Harmon, best known as the creator of the television series ''Community'' and the co-creator of ''Rick and Morty'', along ...
'' and went into detail about his wrongdoings, which included making advances on Ganz and then mistreating her after she turned him down. Ganz ultimately accepted his apology; she said that she felt vindicated by his admission, called it a "masterclass in how to apologize", and urged her
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
followers to listen to it.
Baby doll video
In July 2018, Harmon received criticism when a comedy skit from 2009 resurfaced. The video, titled "Daryl", was intended to be a parody of ''
Dexter'' and featured Harmon acting out raping a baby (which, in the video, was a doll).
Harmon apologized for the video and said, "In 2009, I made a 'pilot' which strove to parody the series ''Dexter'' and only succeeded in offending. I quickly realized the content was way too distasteful and took the video down immediately. Nobody should ever have to see what you saw and for that, I sincerely apologize."
Adult Swim released a statement criticizing the video, but appeared to be satisfied with Harmon's apology.
Multiple sources associated Harmon's decision to delete his Twitter account with the backlash.
However, on an episode of ''Harmontown'' in February 2019, he revealed that he had deleted his Twitter account prior to the backlash in response to
Disney's firing of James Gunn for jokes that Gunn had made on Twitter between 2008 and 2012.
Filmography
Film
Television
Web series
Bibliography
Story credits
* ''
Scud: The Disposable Assassin'' #4–5, 8–9, 13–15 & 17–19 (co-writer and illustrator Rob Schrab, co-writer Mondy Carter, colorist Zac Rybacki, Fireman Press, 1994)
* ''La Cosa Nostroid'' #1–9 (illustrator Edward Clayton, Fireman Press, 1996)
* ''Monster House'' (illustrator and co-writer Simeon Wilkins, IDW Publishing, 2006)
References
External links
*
Harmontown Podcaston iTunes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmon, Dan
1973 births
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American male actors
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
Actual play performers
American comedy writers
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American male voice actors
American people of Danish descent
American screenwriters
American sketch comedians
American television producers
American television writers
Glendale Community College (California) alumni
Living people
Male actors from Wisconsin
Marquette University alumni
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Screenwriters from Wisconsin
Showrunners
Writers from Milwaukee