Leonard William Benvenuti (born October 10, 1959) and Stephen Mark "Steve" Rudnick (born February 24, 1958) are a

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

-based film and television writing and producing team. The two met in 1978 while studying with

Josephine Forsberg Josephine Forsberg (January 28, 1921 – October 3, 2011) was an American comedian, teacher and author. Biography Josephine Forsberg, ex-wife of film director Rolf Forsberg, was hired by Paul Sills and Viola Spolin to join the original Second Cit ...

at The Players Workshop of Second City. In 1990, they developed their own late-night

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...

called ''The Steve and Leo Show''. Benvenuti and Rudnick also created and co-executive produced NBC's TV series " The Second Half" and the short-lived 1998

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 ...

TV series '' Damon'', starring

Damon Wayans Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live.' ...

. They have written several films, including ''

The Santa Clause ''The Santa Clause'' is a 1994 American Christmas fantasy comedy film written by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick, and directed by John Pasquin. The first installment in ''The Santa Clause'' franchise, it stars Tim Allen as Scott Calvin, an ordin ...

'', ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel ...

'', and '' Kicking & Screaming''.

Filmography

Writers

* ''

The Carol Burnett Show ''The Carol Burnett Show'' is an American variety/sketch comedy television show that originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 279 episodes, and again with nine episodes in fall 1991. It starred Carol Burnett, Har ...

'' (1991) * '' Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth 2'' (1992) * ''

The Dennis Miller Show ''The Dennis Miller Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Dennis Miller. The show launched in January 1992 and was hosted by the former ''Saturday Night Live'' Weekend Update anchor as an attempt b ...

'' (1992) * ''

The Rosey and Buddy Show ''Little Rosey'' is an animated television series produced by Canada-based Nelvana. The series first aired on ABC (part of its Saturday morning block) in 1990. It was Roseanne Barr's first attempt at a cartoon. Plot Loosely based on comedian R ...

'' (1992) * ''Tom Arnold: The Naked Truth 3'' (1993) * ''The Second Half'' (1993) (5 episodes) * ''

'' (1994) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Damon'' (1998) (also creators) * '' Kicking & Screaming'' (2005) * ''The

Jeff Garlin Jeffrey Garlin (born June 5, 1962) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Murray Goldberg, patriarch of the eponymous family in the ABC sitcom '' The Goldbergs'', and Jeff Greene on the HBO sitcom ''Curb Your ...

Program'' (2006) *''Are We There Yet?'' (2012) * ''Mayfly'' (2013)

Benvenuti only

* ''Kill the Messenger (2000)''

Rudnick only

* ''My Guide to Becoming a Rockstar'' (2002)

Producers

* ''The Second Half'' (1993) (co-executive producers) * ''Damon'' (1998) (executive producers) * ''The Jeff Garlin Program'' (2006) executive producers)

Directors

* ''Cop Show'' (2007) (short)

Rudnick as an actor

* ''I'm Here. Where R U'' (2011)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benvenuti, Leo and Rudnick, Steve American male screenwriters American television producers American television writers Screenwriting duos Living people 1958 births 1959 births American male television writers