David Guy Flebotte (October 12, 1959 – July 8, 2025) was an American television producer and writer.

Background

Flebotte was born in

Hanson, Massachusetts Hanson is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Part of Greater Boston, Hanson is located 20 miles (32 km) south of Boston and is one of the inland towns of the South Shore. The population was 10,639 at the 2020 census ...

, on October 12, 1959. He attended

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

, where a professor encouraged him to take up writing. He briefly did

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

, performing at open mics at

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

comedy clubs.

Career

Flebotte produced and wrote for television programs including ''

I'm Dying Up Here ''I'm Dying Up Here'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by David Flebotte. The pilot was written by Flebotte and directed by Jonathan Levine. It premiered on Showtime on June 4, 2017. The series is executive produced by Fle ...

'', ''

Good Advice Good Advice may refer to: *Good Advice (film), ''Good Advice'' (film), a 2001 film *Good Advice (album), ''Good Advice'' (album), by Basia Bulat, 2016 *Good Advice (TV series), ''Good Advice'' (TV series), 1993 *Good Advice (song), "Good Advice" (s ...

'', ''

Ellen Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth (given name), Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena, and Helen (given name), Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: * Elle ...

'', '' Just Before I Go'', , '' Taxi 0-22'', ''

Masters of Sex ''Masters of Sex'' is an American period drama television series that premiered on September 29, 2013, on Showtime. It was developed by Michelle Ashford and loosely based on Thomas Maier's biography '' Masters of Sex''. Set in the 1950s thro ...

'', ''

8 Simple Rules ''8 Simple Rules'' (originally ''8 Simple Rules... for Dating My Teenage Daughter'') is an American television sitcom originally starring John Ritter and Katey Sagal as middle-class parents Paul and Cate Hennessy, raising their three children. ...

'', ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a Gay men, gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra ...

'', ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'', ''

Suddenly Susan ''Suddenly Susan'' is an American television sitcom that aired on NBC from September 19, 1996, to December 26, 2000. The series was created by Clyde Phillips and starred Brooke Shields in her first regular series. Shields played Susan Keane, a ...

'', ''

Sherri Sherri may refer to: *Sherri (name) * ''Sherri'' (2009 TV series), an American sitcom starring Sherri Shepherd * ''Sherri'' (talk show), a syndicated daytime show hosted by Sherri Shepherd that premiered in 2022 See also * Shari (disambiguation) * ...

'', ''

Dirt Dirt is any matter considered unclean, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Du ...

'', ''

Raising Hope ''Raising Hope'' is an American television sitcom created by Greg Garcia that aired on Fox from September 21, 2010, to April 4, 2014. Following its first season, the show received two nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Martha Pli ...

'', '' State of Mind'', ''

Chance Chance may refer to: Mathematics * In mathematics, likelihood of something (by way of the likelihood function or probability density function) * ''Chance'' (statistics magazine) Places * Chance, Kentucky, US * Chance, Maryland, US * Chanc ...

'', ''

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is most known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom '' George Lopez''. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican ...

'', '' The 5 Mrs. Buchanans'', ''

Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920s. The series sta ...

'', ''

The Geena Davis Show ''The Geena Davis Show'' is an American sitcom television series created by Terri Minsky starring Geena Davis. The show aired for one season on ABC from October 10, 2000, to July 10, 2001, during the 2000–01 U.S. television season. Plot ...

'' and ''

The Bernie Mac Show ''The Bernie Mac Show'' (often shortened to ''Bernie Mac'' in syndication) is an American sitcom television series created by Larry Wilmore, that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001, to April 14, 2006. The series featured Ber ...

''. His final credit was the series ''

Tulsa King ''Tulsa King'' is an American crime drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan for the streaming platform Paramount+. The series stars Sylvester Stallone as Dwight "the General" Manfredi, an American Mafia caporegime who has been rece ...

'', producing and writing episodes in the show's first and second seasons. As a hockey fan and

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...

supporter, Flebotte wrote a column for the first chapter of the 2009 book ''Puck Funnies: Hockey Humor, Hilarity & Hi-Jinx'', published by ''

The Hockey News ''The Hockey News'' (''THN'') is a Canadian-based ice hockey magazine. ''The Hockey News'' was founded in 1947 by Ken McKenzie and Will Cote and has since become the most recognized hockey publication in North America. The magazine has a reader ...

''. In 1999, he was nominated for a

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 ...

in the category Best Animated Program for his work on the television program ''

The PJs ''The PJs'' is an American adult stop motion-animated black sitcom created by Eddie Murphy, Larry Wilmore, and Steve Tompkins for Fox. It portrays life in an urban public housing project. The series starred Eddie Murphy, and it was produced by ...

''. His nomination was shared with

Steve Tompkins Steve Tompkins is an American television writer. He attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon; he graduated in 1988. He has worked on such television shows such as ''The Critic'', ''In Living Color'', ''Entourage'', ''The Bernie ...

Larry Wilmore Elister Larry Wilmore III (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Correspondent" on ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2014, and hosted ''The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'' in 2 ...

Brian Grazer Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated for four Acad ...

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

Tony Krantz Tony Krantz (born June 16, 1959) is an American film and television producer, writer, and director. Krantz started his career in the American entertainment industry as an agent, spending 15 years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). He started t ...

Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Academy Awards, Os ...

Tom Turpin Thomas Million John Turpin (November 18, 1871 – August 13, 1922) was an American composer of ragtime music. Turpin is credited with the first published rag by an African American, his "Harlem Rag" of 1897 (although it was composed by 1892, a ye ...

Bill Freiberger Bill Freiberger (born 1962) is a writer, producer and voice actor for such shows as ''The Simpsons'', ''Drawn Together'', '' The PJs'', and ''Sonic Boom''. TV series' episodes written by Freiberger *'' Get a Life'' **"Roots" **"Paper Boy 2000" * ...

, Mary Sandell, David Bleiman Ichioka, Michael Price, J. Michael Wendel,

Al Jean Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American screenwriter and producer. Jean is well known for his work on ''The Simpsons''. He was raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his wri ...

Mike Reiss Michael L. Reiss ( '; born September 15, 1959) is an American television comedy writer. He served as a showrunner, writer, and producer for the animated series ''The Simpsons'' and co-created the animated series ''The Critic''. He created and ...

, Les Firestein, Donald R. Beck and Mark Gustafson. He was nominated twice –in 2012 and 2013– for a

WGA Award The Writers Guild of America Awards is an award for film, television, and radio writing including both fiction and non-fiction categories given by the Writers Guild of America, East and Writers Guild of America West since 1949. Eligibility The ...

for his work on ''Boardwalk Empire''.

Personal life and death

Flebotte was married to Sandra Lindqvist from 2012 and had two children. Flebotte was diagnosed with

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder inherited in an autosomal recessive manner that impairs the normal clearance of Sputum, mucus from the lungs, which facilitates the colonization and infection of the lungs by bacteria, notably ''Staphy ...

when he was a child, and was not expected to survive to adulthood. In the late 1990s, he underwent a double lung transplant. He died from cystic fibrosis at a hospital in

Missoula, Montana Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five ...

, on July 8, 2025, at the age of 65.

Filmography

Flebotte worked extensively in television as a writer and producer, contributing to both comedies and dramas across major networks and streaming platforms. He was best known for creating the Showtime series ''

'' and producing shows such as ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''.

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Rotten Tomatoes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flebotte, David 1959 births 2025 deaths American male television writers American television writers Television producers from Massachusetts People from Hanson, Massachusetts Deaths from cystic fibrosis Emerson College alumni Lung transplant recipients