Andy Breckman
American TV and film writer
title: "Andy Breckman" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1955-births", "american-comedy-musicians", "american-male-screenwriters", "american-television-writers", "boston-university-alumni", "fast-folk-artists", "haddonfield-memorial-high-school-alumni", "jewish-american-screenwriters", "jewish-american-comedians", "living-people", "people-from-haddonfield,-new-jersey", "people-from-madison,-new-jersey", "radio-personalities-from-philadelphia", "american-radio-djs", "american-showrunners", "american-male-television-writers", "comedians-from-philadelphia", "screenwriters-from-pennsylvania", "screenwriters-from-new-jersey", "21st-century-american-jews", "comedians-from-camden-county,-new-jersey", "comedians-from-morris-county,-new-jersey", "writers-from-camden-county,-new-jersey", "writers-from-morris-county,-new-jersey"] description: "American TV and film writer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Breckman" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American TV and film writer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Andy Breckman |
| image | Andy Breckman in 2010.jpg |
| image_size | 250px |
| caption | Breckman (left) in 2010 |
| birth_name | Andrew Ross Breckman |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| occupation | Comedian, screenwriter, radio personality, toy developer |
| alma_mater | Boston University (dropped out) |
| period | 1982–present |
| genre | Detective fiction, comedy |
| notable_works | Monk, Rat Race, Seven Second Delay, Sgt. Bilko, I.Q., True Identity, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, The Good Cop |
| spouse | Beth Landau |
| children | 5 |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Andy Breckman | image = Andy Breckman in 2010.jpg | image_size = 250px | alt = | caption = Breckman (left) in 2010 | pseudonym = | birth_name = Andrew Ross Breckman | birth_date = | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Comedian, screenwriter, radio personality, toy developer | residence = | nationality = | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Boston University (dropped out) | home_town = | period = 1982–present | genre = Detective fiction, comedy | subject = | movement = | notable_works = Monk, Rat Race, Seven Second Delay, Sgt. Bilko, I.Q., True Identity, Arthur 2: On the Rocks, The Good Cop | spouse = Beth Landau | children = 5 | relatives = | awards = | signature = | website =
Andrew Ross Breckman (born March 3, 1955) is an American screenwriter, comedian, and radio personality. He was the creator, screenwriter, and executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning television series Monk on the USA Network and is co-host of WFMU radio's long-running conceptual comedy program Seven Second Delay. He has written screenplays for a number of comedy films including Sgt. Bilko (starring Steve Martin) and Rat Race (directed by Jerry Zucker).
Early life
Breckman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a middle-class Jewish family. He grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and attended Moorestown Friends School and Haddonfield Memorial High School.
Television work
Breckman wrote for Late Night with David Letterman from 1982 to 1984 and contributed sketches to Saturday Night Live from 1983 to 1996. One of his most well-known vignettes was a Saturday Night Live sketch called "White Like Me" (which he also directed), in which Eddie Murphy disguises himself as a Caucasian for a day. In 2004 he served as a jokewriter for comedian Steve Martin's stint as host of the Academy Awards, for which Breckman was nominated for a Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for TV writing.
Breckman's biggest success, Monk, was a murder-mystery with a humorous edge. Breckman told New Jersey Monthly that he was a voracious reader of the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, John D. MacDonald, and other authors of “solvable” mysteries, as well as being a big fan of the TV series Columbo. “In a way, it’s similar to comedy writing,” he says. "It's puzzles and puzzle solving. Very logical." In August 2009, USA Network launched the spinoff Little Monk.
He wrote seven episodes of the 2000-2001 Comedy Central series TV Funhouse, and in 2015 wrote "Dog Show" for The Jack and Triumph Show. In July 2016 he was part of a team of writers for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's coverage of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia; the writing crew won the WGA 2017 Award for TV Comedy/Variety.
The Good Cop, another humorous murder-mystery series created and written by Breckman, debuted on Netflix in September 2018. (It ran for ten episodes before being cancelled.) The show starred Tony Danza as Tony Caruso Sr., "a disgraced, former NYPD officer who never followed the rules," and Josh Groban as his son, Tony "T.J." Caruso Jr., a squeaky-clean homicide detective. About the series, Breckman said, "Many cop shows feature dark and provocative material: psycho-sexual killers, twisted, grim, flawed detectives. Many address the most controversial issues of the day. I watch a lot of them. God bless 'em all. But the show I want to produce is playful, family-friendly, and a celebration of old-fashioned puzzle-solving." cite news |url=http://www.tvguide.com/news/the-good-cop-tony-danza-dramedy-netflix/ |title=A Tony Danza Cop Dramedy Is Coming to Netflix |first=Liam |last=Matthews |newspaper=TV Guide |date=June 19, 2017 |accessdate=February 18, 2022
In October 2018, TBS announced it would be launching a new TV series, The Misery Index, starring members of the Tenderloins comedy troupe, based on Breckman's card game, "Shit Happens". Breckman developed the TV version with Ben and Dan Newmark of Grandma's House Entertainment. cite news |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/misery-index-game-show-tenderloins-tbs-orders-1202975255/ |title=TBS Orders Game Show Misery Index |first=Cynthia |last=Littleton |newspaper=Variety |date=October 10, 2018 |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/07/18/tbs-launches-the-misery-index-on-october-22-372202/20190718tbs01/ |title=TBS Launches "The Misery Index" on October 22 |work=The Futon Critic |date=July 18, 2019 |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=https://www.renewcanceltv.com/the-misery-index-renewed-for-season-2-by-tbs |title='The Misery Index' Renewed For Season 2 By TBS |work=Cancelled & Renewed TV Shows News |date=December 3, 2019 |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9169870/episodes/ |title=The Misery Index: Episode List
| website=IMDb |accessdate=February 18, 2022
Breckman wrote the screenplay for the feature-length film, Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, which aired on the Peacock Network in December 2023. The film reunited most of the cast of the original series.
In 2024, CBS ordered a pilot for a new crime drama by Breckman with the working title Einstein. The show, about Albert Einstein's great grandson, is adapted from a German drama based on a short story by Katherine Heiny. The pilot was directed by Randy Zisk, who previously teamed with Breckman on Monk.
A Hindi-language series, Mistry, based on Monk, debuted in 2025.
Personal life
Breckman lives in Madison, New Jersey with his wife, documentary filmmaker Beth Landau, whom he met on the dating pages of Nerve.com and who is nicknamed "Boo." |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/03/garden/currents-a-movie-spoofs-moving.html |title=CURRENTS; A Movie Spoofs Moving |first=Elaine |last=Louie |newspaper=Variety |date=March 3, 1988 |accessdate=February 18, 2022
Radio
Since 1992, Breckman and WFMU station manager Ken Freedman have co-hosted a weekly one-hour comedy radio program, Seven Second Delay. The premise of the program seems to be a never-ending series of dead-on-arrival concepts, with the comedic value hinging on Breckman's recurring acknowledgment of failure and his desire to go home as quickly as possible. Breckman has described his co-host as "a sad, bitter little man and WFMU's fundraisers are a good time to humiliate him and exploit his willingness to do just about anything, including prostituting himself, to raise money for his adorable little public hippy noise radio station." cite web |url=https://sevenseconddelay.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html |title=CURRENTS; A Movie Spoofs Moving |work=sevenseconddelay.blogspot.com |date=March 1, 2009 |accessdate=February 18, 2022
From 2009 to 2012, Seven Second Delay broadcast remotely from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater comedy club in Manhattan. In 2011 the UCB shows went bi-weekly. Guests on the program included Dick Cavett, Joe Franklin, Amy Sedaris, Peter Stampfel, Jules Feiffer, Andrew VanWyngarden (of the band MGMT), Dan Okrent, Nora Ephron, Wallace Shawn, Jim Downey, and numerous other celebrities.
In 1998, Gadfly Records released Death-Defying Radio Stunts, a CD of outrageous moments from Seven Second Delay studio broadcasts. cite web |url=http://www.wfmu.org/7sd/deathdefy.html |title=Death Defying Radio Stunts |work=WFMU |date=March 1, 2009 |accessdate=February 18, 2022
Other projects
In 2014 he launched a line of unusual toys under the brand name Uncle Andy Toys. cite web |url=http://uncleandytoys.com/ |title=Uncle Andy Toys, Fun for Almost the Whole Family |work=Uncleandytoys.com |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=http://www.mypaperonline.com/award-winning-screenwriter-teams-with-nj-shelter-to-launch-app-to-save-puppies-2.html |title=Award-Winning Screenwriter Teams With NJ Shelter To Launch App To Save Puppies |work=MyPaperOnline.com |date=August 18, 2015 |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uncleandytoys/shit-happens-might-as-well-make-a-game-out-of-it |title=SHIT HAPPENS. Might as well make a game out of it. |work=Kickstarter.com |accessdate=February 18, 2022
Feud with Don McLean
Early in his singing career, Breckman was given the opportunity to perform as opening act for "American Pie" singer Don McLean, with whom he shared management. The two did not get along, and a feud developed that has persisted to the present day. cite news |url=http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/10/annoy_don_mclean_win_200.html |title=Annoy Don McLean, Win $200! |first=Tayt |last=Harlin |newspaper=New York Magazine |date=October 31, 2007 |accessdate=February 18, 2022 cite web |url=http://www.wfmu.org/LCD/andy/americanpie.html |title=Don McLean vs. Andy Breckman |first=Andy |last=Breckman |work=WFMU |accessdate=February 18, 2022
Filmography
Films
- Moving (1988)
- Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988)
- Hot to Trot (1988)
- True Identity (1991)
- I.Q. (1994)
- Sgt. Bilko (1996)
- Rat Race (2001)
- Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie (2023)
TV and video
- Hot Hero Sandwich (1979)
- Late Night with David Letterman (1982)
- Saturday Night Live (1983–1996)
- Tourist Trap (1998)
- TV Funhouse (2000)
- Monk (2002–2009)
- The 75th Annual Academy Awards (2003)
- The Good Cop (2018)
- The Misery Index (2019)
- Mistry (2025)
Discography
- Don't Get Killed (Gadfly Records, 1990)
- Proud Dad (Gadfly Records, 1994)
- Death-Defying Radio Stunts (Gadfly Records, 1998)
References
References
- [https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0106563/awards/ Andy Breckman Awards at IMDB.com]
- [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2023-12-07/mr-monks-last-case-a-monk-movie-tony-shaloub-peacock Lloyd, Robert, "Review: If you loved ‘Monk,’ Peacock’s new movie is a welcome return"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', December 7, 2023
- [https://deadline.com/2025/04/cbs-orders-series-einstein-drama-dmv-comedy-1236373752/ Andreeva, Nellie, "‘CBS Picks Up Drama ‘Einstein’ Starring Matthew Gray Gubler & Comedy ‘DMV’ With Harriet Dyer To Series"], ''[[Deadline Hollywood. Deadline]]'', April 22, 2025
- [https://www.thewrap.com/einstein-cbs-tv-show-pilot-andy-breckman/ Manfredi, Lucas, "‘Einstein’ Crime Drama From ‘Monk’ Creator Andy Breckman Lands CBS Pilot Order"], ''[[TheWrap]]'', August 6, 2024
- (28 May 2025). "Ram Kapoor To Lead Indian Adaptation Of 'Monk'".
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