Michael Schur

Michael Herbert Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television writer, producer, director, and actor. He started his career as a writer for ''Saturday Night Live'' (1998–2004) before gaining acclaim as a writer and producer of the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013), where he also played Mose Schrute. He expanded his career co-creating '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015) with Greg Daniels and creating the sitcom ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' (2013–2021), the sitcom ''The Good Place'' (2016–2020), the sitcom '' Rutherford Falls'' (2020–2022), and the comedy series '' A Man on the Inside'' (2024–). He has served as a producer of the comedy drama series ''Master of None'' (2015–2021) and the comedy drama series '' Hacks'' (2021–).

Schur's comedies typically include large, diverse casts; breakout stars have emerged from his shows. He features optimistic characters who often find strong friendships and lasting love through plots that showcase "good-hearted humanistic warmth". As of September 2024, Schur has been nominated for 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three for his work on ''Saturday Night Live'', ''The Office'', and ''Hacks''. In May 2025, Schur received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life and education

Schur was born in 1975, at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father, Warren Schur, was ethnically Jewish (though an atheist) and his mother, Anne Herbert, was Methodist. Schur was raised without religion. The family moved and he grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Schur attended William H. Hall High School in West Hartford. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in English from Harvard University in 1997, where he was a president of the ''Harvard Lampoon''. Schur's father also attended Harvard.

Career

1998–2005

Starting in 1998, Schur was a writer on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. He later said he initially applied for the job in the fall of 1997, but Tina Fey got the job and he was hired that winter.

Schur became the producer of ''Weekend Update'' in 2001; his first show in the new role was ''Saturday Night Live''s first episode after the September 11 attacks. In 2002, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award as part of ''SNL''s writing team. Schur left ''Saturday Night Live'' in 2004.

Soon afterward, he became producer and writer for ''The Office'' on NBC, for which he wrote ten episodes and won the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Schur appeared on ''The Office'' as Dwight's cousin Mose in several episodes, including "Initiation", in which Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm; "Money", in which Jim and Pam spend a night at the farm; " The Deposition"; "Koi Pond"; "Counseling"; and " Finale". He also co-wrote '' The Office: The Accountants'' webisodes with Paul Lieberstein. In 2005, Schur served as a co-producer of HBO's '' The Comeback'' and wrote two of its 13 episodes.

2008–2015

In April 2008, Schur and Greg Daniels started working on a pilot for '' Parks and Recreation'' as a proposed spin-off of ''The Office''. Over time, Schur realized ''Parks and Recreation'' would work better if they made it separate from ''The Office''. While ''Parks and Recreation'' received negative reviews in its first season, it received critical acclaim in the second, much like ''The Office''. Schur also wrote for Fire Joe Morgan, a sports journalism blog, under the pseudonym "Ken Tremendous". He resurrected the pen name on March 31, 2011, when he began writing for SB Nation's Baseball Nation site. @KenTremendous is also Schur's Twitter handle.

Schur collaborated with The Decemberists on their music video for "Calamity Song" from the album '' The King Is Dead''. This video is based upon Eschaton, a mock-nuclear war game played on tennis courts that David Foster Wallace created in his 1996 novel '' Infinite Jest''. Schur wrote his undergraduate senior thesis on the novel and once held the film rights to it. With Daniel J. Goor, Schur created the cop comedy ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', which premiered in fall 2013 on Fox. The show was moved to NBC in its sixth season. In 2013, Joe Posnanski and Schur created ''The PosCast'', which is now hosted by Meadowlark Media. The podcast primarily discusses baseball but meanders into other sports, subjects, and drafts of random items, and prides itself in being meaningless. The podcast has featured notable guests and co-hosts such as Linda Holmes, Ken Rosenthal, Nick Offerman, Ellen Adair, Stefan Fatsis, Brandon McCarthy, Joey Votto, and Sean Doolittle.

2016–present

On September 19, 2016, the Schur-created sitcom ''The Good Place'' began airing on NBC. The supernatural series concerning philosophy and being a good person, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, became a surprise critical and commercial success, concluding its four-season run on January 30, 2020. In 2016, Schur and Rashida Jones co-wrote the teleplay of " Nosedive", an episode of the television anthology series ''Black Mirror'', from a story by Charlie Brooker.

In 2019, Schur joined other Writers Guild of America writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the practice of packaging. In 2019, he began development of a scripted comedy, '' Rutherford Falls'', starring Ed Helms. The series premiered on the streaming service Peacock on April 22, 2021. He worked on several projects for IMDb TV. In 2019, he re-upped his overall deal at Universal Television. In 2022, Schur released his first book, '' How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question'', which provides a humorous take on the ethical philosophy questions he studied while writing and producing ''The Good Place''. In 2023, Schur appeared in '' Sorry/Not Sorry'', a documentary about sexual misconduct allegations against Louis C.K. He has developed a comedy series starring Ted Danson titled '' A Man on the Inside'' that debuted on Netflix in November 2024.

On May 22, 2025, Schur was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Schur is married to J. J. Philbin, who was formerly a writer on '' The O.C.'' and is the daughter of Regis Philbin. Their son was born in 2008 and their daughter in 2010.

He is a vegetarian.

Influences

He first became interested in comedy at 11 years old when he read Woody Allen's 1975 collection of humorous essays '' Without Feathers''. Schur said he found the book on his father's bookshelf and stayed up reading it until 4 a.m. He has also cited other influences as Monty Python, David Foster Wallace, and ''The Simpsons''.

Filmography

Executive producer only
* ''Master of None'' (2015–2021)
* '' Abby's'' (2019)
* '' Sunnyside'' (2019)
* '' Hacks'' (2021–present)
* '' Q-Force'' (2021)
* '' Primo'' (2023)

Acting roles

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

*

References

External links

*
Interview with Michael Schur
at ''The Kansas City Star''
Where are they now?
Interview About His Public Schooling

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schur, Michael
1975 births
Living people
20th-century American Jews
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American bloggers
American comedy writers
American male bloggers
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American television directors
American television writers
Comedians from Michigan
Hall High School (Connecticut) alumni
Hugo Award–winning writers
Jewish American comedy writers
Jewish American screenwriters
American television producers
NBCUniversal people
Nebula Award winners
People from West Hartford, Connecticut
Primetime Emmy Award winners
American showrunners
Screenwriters from Connecticut
Screenwriters from Michigan
Television producers from Connecticut
Television producers from Michigan
The Harvard Lampoon alumni
Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan
Writers Guild of America Award winners
American male comedians
Jewish American comedians
Jewish male comedians
American television show creators