John R. Montgomery IV is an American television producer and advertising industry veteran. He is the Founder and President of Montgomery Studios, a content creation studio with an emphasis on television development and production. Montgomery's Executive Producer credits include ''

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'' (CBS), ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

'' (CW), ''Attention Deficit Theater'' (CW Seed) and ''

The Crazy Ones ''The Crazy Ones'' is an American television sitcom created by David E. Kelley, and starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The single-camera series aired for one season on CBS, from September 26, 2013, to April 17, 2014. It was pa ...

'' (CBS). For ''The Crazy Ones'', Montgomery also received the unique credit: "Suggested by the Experiences of" as the series was based in part on Montgomery's 33-year career at the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago. Show creator David E. Kelley cited Montgomery as the inspiration for ''The Crazy Ones'' and character Simon Roberts, portrayed by Robin Williams.

Early life and education

Montgomery grew up in Chicago, Illinois, where he was raised by his parents John R. Montgomery III and DeeDee Smart Montgomery. He attended

New Trier High School New Trier High School (, also known as New Trier Township High School or NTHS) is a public four-year high school whose main campus for sophomores through seniors is in Winnetka, Illinois, United States, with a campus in Northfield, Illinois, for ...

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was ...

. Later, he graduated from

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, with a B.A. in English.

Advertising career

Montgomery worked at Burnett for 33 years, where he served as Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director and handled accounts including

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

(domestic and global),

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(Coca-Cola),

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

, Kellogg,

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Glenview, Illinois (with a Northbrook, Illinois address) since 2022. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still pa ...

7-Up 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

, Keebler,

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, Miller Beers, United Airlines,

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

, Nestle and

Samsonite Samsonite International S.A. is an American Baggage, luggage manufacturer and retailer, with products ranging from large suitcases to small toiletries bags and briefcases. The company was founded in 1910 in Denver, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, U ...

. Montgomery is credited as the author of three books that were distributed with McDonald's

Happy Meals A Happy Meal is a kids' meal usually sold at the American fast food restaurant chain McDonald's since June 1979. A small toy or book is included with the food, both of which are usually contained in a red cardboard box with a yellow smiley face a ...

in 2013 and 2014.

''The Crazy Ones''

Montgomery's advertising career was the inspiration for the show and character Simon Roberts, portrayed by

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...

. Montgomery worked with the writers several days a week and many of the stories featured on the show were based on his experiences in the advertising world. In episode 102, titled "The Spectacular", a stunt with a giant coffee cup goes awry when the coffee begins to rain down on the nearby crowd. This really happened to Montgomery: "We had a spectacular in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

that had a coffee-related disaster. We had forgotten to factor for wind when we floated a coffee pot above a billboard." In addition, the awards in Simon's office that served as props were real awards of Montgomery's.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, John R. Living people American advertising executives Television producers from Illinois Businesspeople from Chicago Drake University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)