Steve O'Donnell is an American television writer. His credits include ''

Late Night with David Letterman ''Late Night with David Letterman'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the first installment of the '' Late Night''. Hosted by David Letterman, it aired from February1, 1982 to June 25, 1993, and was replaced by ...

'', ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'', ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'', and '' The Chris Rock Show''.

Biography

Steve O'Donnell was born in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

, and graduated with an A.B. degree from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1976. He also completed graduate studies in American history at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

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 78-year-old Bill Paley. 'Why, we can put such nonsense together ourselves!' we exclaimed. And we did." He later co-authored several of the Top-ten books based on the show. He was seen occasionally on ''Late Night'' in comedic sketches, perhaps most notably in the recurring "plays" put on by the Peace Through Dramatization Players. During Letterman's final season, O'Donnell wrote and spoke about his time as head writer on the show, and compiled his own list of the show's "top ten" moments for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. O'Donnell was later the

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio ...

of ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'', from the show's debut in January 2003 until 2008. He occasionally appeared front of the camera in bits for the show as well. 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'', and '' Why? with Hannibal Buress'' on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

. He continued his work with

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

as a writer on '' Norm Macdonald Has a Show'' for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. He has appeared in additional brief on-screen roles in '' Strangers With Candy'' and '' The Sarah Silverman Program''. He won

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...

s in the " Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program" category on four occasions: for ''

'' in 1984, 1986, and 1987 and for '' The Chris Rock Show'' in 1998. In 2017, the

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America (WGA) is the name of two American labor unions representing writers in film, television, radio, and online media: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) is headquartered in New York City and is affiliated wit ...

presented O'Donnell with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence. A video appearance from recently retired

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

was part of O'Donnell's introduction.

Personal life

Steve is the identical twin of Mark O'Donnell, the Tony Award-winning co-writer of the Broadway musical ''Hairspray'' who died on August 6, 2012. Steve supported his brother by encouraging California voters to vote no on Prop. 8 in 2008.

Simpsons Episodes Written by O'Donnell

* All Singing, All Dancing * The Joy of Sect

Seinfeld Episodes Written by O'Donnell

* The Pothole * The Checks

Space Ghost: Coast to Coast Episodes Written by O'Donnell

*Hungry *Late Show

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Steve American television writers American male screenwriters American male television writers The Harvard Lampoon alumni Harvard College alumni Primetime Emmy Award winners Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Living people Writers from Cleveland American twins Identical twins Screenwriters from Ohio 1954 births