Deborah Lacusta (born March 15, 1958) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

television writer and actress.

Personal life

Lacusta is married to ''

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, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...

'' star

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

(who voices Homer Simpson among many other characters). They met at an improvisational comedy class in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Career

Lacusta and Castellaneta performed together regularly and had a sketch show on Chicago local radio. In 1992 they starred in the show ''Deb & Dan's Show'' at Club Lux at

Santa Monica Airport Santa Monica Airport (Santa Monica Municipal Airport) is a general aviation airport largely in Santa Monica, California, United States. The airport is about from the Pacific Ocean (Santa Monica Bay) and north of Los Angeles International Airp ...

. Some of their comedy pieces were released on the 2002 CD ''

I Am Not Homer ''I Am Not Homer'' is a 2002 comedy album by actor and comedian Dan Castellaneta, with additional input by his wife Deb Lacusta. The album is a collection of comedy sketches written and performed by Castellaneta and Lacusta, and was the follow-u ...

''. In the early 1990s, Lacusta and Castellaneta pitched a script for an episode of ''The Simpsons'' to

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

. Jean liked the story, but turned it down because he felt it was too similar to "

Duffless "Duffless" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 18, 1993. After getting arrested for drunk driving, Homer ...

", an episode that the writers were already working on. They updated their script then, several years later, offered it to showrunner

Mike Scully Michael C. Scully (born October 2, 1956) is an American television writer and producer. He is known for his work as executive producer and showrunner of the animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' from 1997 to 2001. Scully grew up in West Springfield, ...

, who liked it, requested a few changes, and entered the result, the eleventh season's episode "

Days of Wine and D'oh'ses "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" is the eighteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 2000. In the episode, Barney rea ...

" into production. It aired April 9, 2000.Affleck, Neil; Castellaneta, Dan; Lacusta, Deb; Maxtone-Graham, Ian; Meyer, George; Scully, Mike (2008). Commentary for "

", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Eleventh Season'' VD 20th Century Fox. The two also wrote the episodes "

Gump Roast "Gump Roast" is the seventeenth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 21, 2002. In the episode, Homer Simpson is honored ...

", "

The Ziff Who Came to Dinner "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner" is the fourteenth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 14, 2004. The episode focuses on Ar ...

", " Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", and " The Fight Before Christmas". In 2007, they were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore".

Filmography

As writer

Lacusta and Castellaneta wrote the following episodes of ''The Simpsons'': *"

" (2000) *"

" (2002) *"

" (2004) *" Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" (2006) *" The Fight Before Christmas" (2010) *"

A Midsummer's Nice Dream "A Midsummer's Nice Dream" is the sixteenth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 13, 2011. The episode name is a play ...

" (2011) *"

The Ten-Per-Cent Solution "The Ten-Per-Cent Solution" is the eighth episode of the The Simpsons (season 23), twenty-third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United Sta ...

" (2011) *"

Havana Wild Weekend "Havana Wild Weekend" is the seventh episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 603rd episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by Deb Lacus ...

" (2016) *"

My Way or the Highway to Heaven "My Way or the Highway to Heaven" is the 642nd episode of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'' and the third episode of season 30. Plot In heaven, in apparent homage to the show's traditional opening segment’s couch gags, G ...

" (2018)

As actress

*''

The Tracy Ullman Show ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' is an American television variety show starring Tracey Ullman. It debuted on Fox on April 5, 1987, the network's second original primetime series to air following '' Married... with Children'', and ran until May 26, ...

'' (1987) - Various characters *''

Forget Paris ''Forget Paris'' is a 1995 American romantic comedy film produced, directed, co-written by and starring Billy Crystal as an NBA referee and Debra Winger as an independent working woman whose lives are interrupted by love and marriage. It also st ...

'' (1995) - Nurse *''

'' (2016) - Isabella (voice) ("

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lacusta, Deb American television writers American women television writers Writers from Detroit 1958 births Living people Screenwriters from Michigan 21st-century American women