Richard Appel

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American writer and producer (born 1963)

title: "Richard Appel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1963-births", "living-people", "20th-century-american-male-writers", "20th-century-american-screenwriters", "21st-century-american-male-writers", "21st-century-american-screenwriters", "american-comedy-writers", "american-male-screenwriters", "american-male-television-writers", "american-television-writers", "harvard-law-school-alumni", "lawyers-from-new-york-city", "north-shore-country-day-school-alumni", "screenwriters-from-new-york-(state)", "showrunners-of-animated-series", "television-producers-from-new-york-city", "television-producers-from-new-york-(state)", "the-harvard-lampoon-alumni", "writers-from-new-york-city"] description: "American writer and producer (born 1963)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Appel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American writer and producer (born 1963) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer"]

FieldValue
nameRichard Appel
imageRichard Appel by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
captionAppel at the 2010 Comic Con
birth_nameRichard James Appel
birth_date
birth_placeNew York City, New York, U.S.
spouse
children2
genreComedy
period1994–present
educationHarvard University (BA, JD)
::

| name = Richard Appel | image = Richard Appel by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg | caption = Appel at the 2010 Comic Con | birth_name = Richard James Appel | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | spouse = | children = 2 | genre = Comedy | period = 1994–present | education = Harvard University (BA, JD) Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of Family Guy on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.

Following in his mother's footsteps, Appel became a lawyer. After attending law school, he started out as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker Jr. before becoming a federal attorney, serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for three years. In 1994, he moved into comedy writing when he was hired for The Simpsons, writing seven episodes of the show including "Mother Simpson". He moved on to become showrunner and executive producer of King of the Hill before creating the sitcom A.U.S.A.. He then worked on The Bernie Mac Show, Family Guy and American Dad! before co-creating The Cleveland Show. He was married to the writer Mona Simpson, noted author and sister of Steve Jobs.

Early life and law career

Richard James Appel was born May 21, 1963, in New York City and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, to Nina (née Schick) and Alfred Appel. He is from a Jewish family.

His mother was a lawyer and served as dean of Loyola University Chicago's law school from 1983 to 2004, where as of 2010 she continued to teach tort law, and his father (who died on May 2, 2009) was professor of English at Northwestern University and an expert on Vladimir Nabokov. Appel has a sister, Karen Oshman.

Appel lived in California while his parents taught at Stanford University before the family moved to Wilmette, Illinois, Appel attended Harvard Law School rather than moving into comedy, because the idea of following his mother and grandfathers into the legal profession "appealed" to him.

He then worked for two years as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, working on the trials of people such as Michael Milken and Leona Helmsley. Subsequently, for three years from 1990, Appel served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Fellow attorney Geoffrey Berman stated Appel "was an excellent lawyer. He was good on his feet, articulate, with a sense of the law that was common-sensical, more intuitive than based on books."

Appel still had dreams of becoming a comedy writer despite the security working as a lawyer offered him, but only in 1993, after his wife became pregnant, was Appel "reminde[d] that this was [his] life and [he] could shape it." Three months later he had retained an agent, had written and submitted two spec-scripts, and had moved to California.

Writing career

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When starting out as a comedy writer, Appel recalled: "One reason I caught up to my contemporaries is that when I started to send out my scripts, the idea that I'd been on the Lampoon, even 8 or 10 years before, was a credential I could use." There, he wrote seven episodes, often employing the use of "joke sequences, a narrative approach to humor that eschews the quick laugh in favor of something that develops over time."

Appel found work on The Simpsons to be a learning curve because it was a "very tough show to write for." The writers used the episode to solve several little puzzles, such as where Lisa's intelligence came from. Also for season seven he penned "Bart on the Road", in which he utilized the plot devices of "go to work with your parents day" and Bart getting a driving license, and contributed to the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield"; the two segments he wrote for the episode (one about Marge, the other about Lionel Hutz) were both cut.

Appel wrote two episodes from season eight, "Bart After Dark" and "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", as well as season nine's "The Two Mrs Nahasapeemapetilons" and season 10's "When You Dish Upon A Star".

Daniels hired Appel as executive producer and showrunner on King of the Hill in 1997, leading the show's writing process and overseeing all aspects of the show. Daniels noted: "It was essential that Rich was a good writer who could deal with people, who could help manage the business in the room. But equally important was the fact that he was someone I could trust, who had a similar sense of taste and values." For his work on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, Appel won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Appel created the short-lived series A.U.S.A., which aired in 2003, which he based on his own experiences as an assistant U.S. attorney. He conceived it in 2001 and NBC ordered 13 episodes the following year; the show's original pilot used a single-camera setup but NBC executives felt it would have more appeal as a multiple-camera setup, so it was re-shot.

Appel then wrote and worked as a co-executive producer on The Bernie Mac Show and Kitchen Confidential, In 2006, he produced a pilot called My Ex Life about two divorcing couples for CBS. The show was not picked up

In 2008, he served as a co-executive producer on Family Guy and executive producer on American Dad! from 2008 until 2009. Appel wrote the Family Guy seventh season episode "Family Gay".

Appel co-created, alongside Mike Henry and Seth MacFarlane, the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, which they began discussing in 2007 and which premiered September 27, 2009. He and Henry serve as the show's executive producers with limited involvement from MacFarlane. Henry and Appel conceived the show as "more of a family show, a sweeter show" than Family Guy.

Starting with the sixteenth season, Appel would begin showrunning Family Guy, alongside Alec Sulkin.

Personal life

In 1993 he married novelist Mona Simpson, the sister of Apple founder Steve Jobs. They have two children.

Credits

Appel worked on the listed shows and wrote all the listed episodes:

References

References

  1. Freeman, Michael. (November 11, 2002). "The comic appeal of Rich Appel". Electronic Media.
  2. (January 26, 2003). "Rich Appel takes a bite out of showbiz". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
  3. (January 1, 2004). "Appel profile". Contemporary Authors, New Revisions Series.
  4. "Nina S. Appel". [[Loyola University Chicago]].
  5. Loebbaka, Charles R.. (May 5, 2009). "Noted English Scholar, Author Alfred Appel Dies at Age 75". [[Northwestern University]].
  6. Sterngold, James. (December 2, 1997). "From Harvard to Hollywood – Ivy Leaguers are now writing TV sitcoms". [[The Deseret News]].
  7. Ortved, John. (2009). "[[The Simpsons: An Uncensored, Unauthorized History]]". Greystone Books.
  8. Andreeva, Nellie. (February 8, 2010). "Rich Appel signs new 20th TV deal". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
  9. (2005). "The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "Bart on the Road"". 20th Century Fox.
  10. (2006). "The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield"". 20th Century Fox.
  11. (2000). "Bart After Dark". [[BBC]].
  12. (2000). "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson". [[BBC]].
  13. (2000). "The Two Mrs Nahasapeemapetilons". [[BBC]].
  14. (2000). "When You Dish Upon A Star". [[BBC]].
  15. "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org.
  16. Pierce, Scott D.. (February 3, 2003). "'A.U.S.A' is awful". [[The Deseret News]].
  17. "I Heart Huckabees Cast List". [[Yahoo! Movies]].
  18. (October 31, 2004). "Ex-'Simpsons' Screenwriter Does Divorce For CBS". [[Press of Atlantic City]].
  19. (March 30, 2006). "CBS Comedy Has Good Grammer". [[Zap2it]].
  20. "Richard Appel". FoxFlash.com.
  21. "Family Guy (1999 – present): Family Gay". MovieWeb.
  22. (June 15, 2009). "FOX Announces Fall Premiere Dates for the 2009–2010 Season". The Futon Critic.
  23. "Fox Primetime – The Cleveland Show – Fact Sheet". Fox Flash.
  24. Itzkoff, Dave. (November 30, 2008). "Fox seeks a new hit, this time in Cleveland – Seth MacFarlane gives sneak preview of 2009's Family Guy spinoff". [[The Toronto Star]].
  25. Idato, Michael. (December 17, 2009). "A sweeter family guy – comedy". [[The Age]].
  26. Elkind, Peter. (March 15, 2008). "The trouble with Steve Jobs". [[Fortune Magazine]].
  27. Burciu, Andrea. (March 11, 2010). "Author Mona Simpson reads from newest novel on campus". The Hofstra Chronicle.
  28. Kamp, Ted. (June 29, 2009). "The Diary of Steve Jobs's New Liver". [[Vanity Fair (magazine).

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