Bruce Eric Kaplan (born ) is an American cartoonist whose single-panel cartoons frequently appear in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

''. His cartoons are known for their signature simple style and often dark humor. Kaplan is also a screenwriter and has worked on ''

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 on '' Six Feet Under''. Kaplan wove his New Yorker cartooning into ''Seinfeld'' with the episode, "The Cartoon." He graduated from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and studied there with Professor

Jeanine Basinger Jeanine Basinger (born February 3, 1936, Ravenden, Arkansas) is an American film historian who was the Corwin-Fuller professor of film studies at Wesleyan University and the founder and curator of the university's cinematic archives. Early life ...

. Kaplan joined the crew of ''Six Feet Under'' during the first season in 2001, as a supervising producer. He scripted two episodes of the first season, " The Foot" and " The New Person." He was promoted to co-executive producer for the second season in 2002 and wrote another two episodes, "

The Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), The Fantastic Four'' #1 (November 1961). Susan St ...

" and " The Secret." He remained a co-executive producer for the third season, in 2003, and wrote an episode entitled "The Trap". He was promoted to executive producer for the fourth season, in 2004, and wrote another episode, "The Dare." He served as executive producer during the fifth and final season and wrote his last episode "The Silence." Kaplan wrote seven episodes for the series. In 2012, he became a co-executive producer on, and wrote for, the HBO series '' Girls.''

Books

* ''No One You Know: A Collection of Cartoons'' (1999) Simon & Schuster * ''The Cat That Changed My Life: 50 Cats Talk Candidly About How They Became Who They Are'' (2002) Simon & Schuster * ''This Is A Bad Time: A Collection of Cartoons'' (2004) Simon & Schuster * ''Every Person on the Planet: An Only Somewhat Anxiety-Filled Tale for the Holidays'' (2005) Simon & Schuster * ''Someone Farted'' (2007) * ''Edmund and Rosemary Go to Hell: A Story We All Really Need Now More Than Ever'' (2007) Simon & Schuster * * ''Monsters Eat Whiny Children'' (2010) * ''Everything Is Going to Be Okay: A Book for You or Someone Like You'' (2011) Simon & Schuster * ''I Was a Child: A Memoir'' (2015) Blue Rider Press * ''They Went Another Way'' (2024) Henry Holt & Co.

''Six Feet Under'' episodes

* The Foot (2001) * The New Person (2001) * The Invisible Woman (2002) *The Secret (2002) * The Trap (2003) * The Dare (2004) * The Silence (2005)

''Seinfeld'' episodes

The Merv Griffin Show ''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series had runs on two different networks on NBC (1962–1963) and CBS (1969–1972) but is most known for its run on first-run syndication from 1965 to 1 ...

" (1997) *" The Cartoon" (1998) *"

The Puerto Rican Day "The Puerto Rican Day" is the 176th episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It aired on May 7, 1998, and was the 20th episode of the ninth and final season. It was the show's second-highest-rated episode of all time, with 38.8 million viewers ...

" (1998) (with

Alec Berg Alec Berg (born ) is an American television writer, director and producer. Early life, family and education Berg, who is of Swedish descent, is a graduate of Harvard University. Career He wrote for the sitcom ''Seinfeld''. He is co-creator w ...

, Jeff Schaffer,

Jennifer Crittenden Jennifer Crittenden (born ) is an American screenwriter and producer. She started her writing career on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and has since written for several other television sitcoms including '' Everybody Loves Raym ...

Spike Feresten Spike Feresten (born ) is an American television writer, screenwriter, comedian and television personality, who is best known for his work on ''Seinfeld'', writing for David Letterman, and hosting the late night '' Talkshow with Spike Feresten'' ...

Steve Koren Steve Koren is an American writer/producer and screenwriter. Most notably, he has written for ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Seinfeld'', and '' Veep''. He also wrote or co-wrote the movies '' Bruce Almighty'', '' Click'', '' A Night at the Roxbury ...

David Mandel David Mandel (born ) is a writer, actor, director, and producer. He was an executive producer and showrunner of '' Veep'', and also an executive producer and director of ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Seinfeld''. He is also a comedian, and one ...

, Dan O'Keefe, Gregg Kavet & Andy Robin)

References

External links

AARP radio interview

Article on mediabistro.com which reproduces a number of BEK cartoons

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplan, Bruce Eric Wesleyan University alumni American magazine cartoonists American humorists American male screenwriters The New Yorker cartoonists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)