Simon Rich

Simon Rich (born June 5, 1984) is an American humorist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has published two novels and six collections of humor pieces, several of which appeared in ''The New Yorker.'' His novels and short stories have been translated into over a dozen languages. Rich was one of the youngest writers ever hired on ''Saturday Night Live,'' and served as a staff writer for Pixar. On January 14, 2015, ''Man Seeking Woman'', a television comedy series created by Rich (and based upon his short story collection ''The Last Girlfriend on Earth'') premiered on the cable channel FXX.

Early life and education

Rich was born and raised in New York City. He attended The Town School, and then went on to attend Dalton School. After graduating, he enrolled at Harvard University where he became president of the ''Harvard Lampoon''. He was classmates with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. His older brother is the novelist and essayist Nathaniel Rich, and his parents are Gail Winston and the essayist and columnist Frank Rich. His step-mother, Alex Witchel, is a reporter for ''The New York Times''.

Career

After graduating from Harvard, Rich wrote for ''Saturday Night Live'' for four years where the staff was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and won the Writers Guild of America Award for Comedy/Variety Series in 2009 and 2010. Rich then departed to work as a staff writer for Pixar. In 2013 and 2014, Rich was named to ''Forbes 30 Under 30 List.

Magazine work

Rich has written for ''McSweeney's'', ''The Believer'', '' GQ'', ''The Observer'' magazine, ''Mad'' magazine, '' Vanity Fair'', ''UK Glamour'', ''Italian GQ'', ''Italian Granta'', NPR.com, NPR's "Selected Shorts," and the ''Barcelona Review'', among other publications.

His writing has also been selected for numerous anthologies including ''The Best of McSweeney's'', and ''I Found This Funny'', edited by Judd Apatow. In 2013, Sony Pictures acquired the film rights to Rich's four-part novella ''Sell Out'', which was originally published by the ''New Yorker'' that same year.

Film work

Rich wrote the screenplay for the film ''An American Pickle'', which premiered in 2020. Seth Rogen starred in the dual lead roles and served as producer.

Upcoming projects

Rich is slated to write the script based on the illustrated book ''Unicorn Executions'', to be produced by Universal Studios.

Writings

Short stories

As an undergraduate at Harvard University in 2007, Rich received a two-book contract from Random House. Rich's first book, a collection of short humor pieces entitled ''Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations'' was published in 2007 and was nominated for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. His second collection, ''Free Range Chickens'', was published in 2008. Rich released his third collection of stories, ''The Last Girlfriend on Earth'' in 2013. Reception was favorable, with ''The Washington Post'' praising the book as "hilarious," declaring, "it just might be the best one-night stand you'll ever have."

''The Last Girlfriend on Earth'' was given a pilot order by FX within a week of its publishing as ''Man Seeking Woman''. The show was officially ordered by FXX with the leading cast of Jay Baruchel, Eric Andre, Britt Lower and Maya Erskine, with Rich as show-runner and executive producer making him one of the youngest creators in TV history. The show was produced by Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video and ran on FXX for 3 seasons.

Rich's fourth story collection, ''Spoiled Brats'', was published in 2014. ''The Guardian'' described it as "simply the funniest book of the year," adding "there are sometimes three laugh-out-loud moments within the same paragraph." ''The Evening Standard'' also praised the book, calling Rich "a Thurber, even a Wodehouse, for today. Who could ask for more? You can give his books to people and just watch them laugh."

A fifth collection, ''Hits and Misses'', was published in July 2018. NPR said that "with this book, Rich has come into his own as one of the most talented writers of comedic fiction working today." In 2019, Rich won the Thurber Prize for American Humor for ''Hits and Misses''.

Rich's sixth story collection, ''New Teeth'', was published in July 2021.

Novels

Rich's third book and first novel, ''Elliot Allagash'', was released in May 2010. In June that year, Jason Reitman optioned the movie rights to the novel. In 2012, Rich published his second novel, ''What in God's Name'', which ''The New York Times Book Review'' compared to Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. In 2019, the novel served as the basis for the first season of the TV series ''Miracle Workers''. Subsequently, his short story ''Revolution'' inspired the second season of the program.

Personal life

Rich lives in Los Angeles with his wife, author Kathleen Hale, and has two daughters.

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

Novels

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Short fiction

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Essays, reporting and other contributions

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References

External links

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Work by Rich
in ''The New Yorker''

on The Sound of Young America public-radio program

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rich, Simon
1984 births
Living people
21st-century American Jews
21st-century American comedians
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American screenwriters
American male novelists
American male screenwriters
American male television writers
American people of German-Jewish descent
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American television writers
Dalton School alumni
The Harvard Lampoon alumni
Jewish American male comedians
Jewish American novelists
Jewish American screenwriters
The New Yorker people
Novelists from New York (state)
Screenwriters from New York (state)