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Richard Appel
Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of Family Guy on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.
Following in his mother's footsteps, Appel became a lawyer. After attending law school, he started out as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker Jr. before becoming a federal attorney, serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for three years. In 1994, he moved into comedy writing when he was hired for The Simpsons, writing seven episodes of the show including "Mother Simpson". He moved on to become showrunner and executive producer of King of the Hill before creating the sitcom A.U.S.A.. He then worked on The Bernie Mac Show, Family Guy and American Dad! before co-creating The Cleveland Show. He was married to the writer Mona Simpson, noted author and sister of Steve Jobs.
Richard James Appel was born May 21, 1963, in New York City and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, to Nina (née Schick) and Alfred Appel. He is from a Jewish family.
His mother was a lawyer and served as dean of Loyola University Chicago's law school from 1983 to 2004, where as of 2010 she continued to teach tort law, and his father (who died on May 2, 2009) was professor of English at Northwestern University and an expert on Vladimir Nabokov. Appel has a sister, Karen Oshman.
Appel lived in California while his parents taught at Stanford University before the family moved to Wilmette, Illinois, where Appel went to North Shore Country Day School. While there, he co-wrote and co-edited his senior yearbook with writer and poet Philip Brooks. After leaving NSCDS, he attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, alongside Conan O'Brien and Greg Daniels, both of whom he beat for the chance to give the comic graduation speech, the Ivy Oration. Tad Friend noted: "Everyone thought it would be Conan automatically, but Rich's speech was funny and self-deprecating, in a way that was both silly and profound." After graduation in 1985 with a degree in history and literature, Appel attended Harvard Law School rather than moving into comedy, because the idea of following his mother and grandfathers into the legal profession "appealed" to him.
He then worked for two years as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, working on the trials of people such as Michael Milken and Leona Helmsley. Subsequently, for three years from 1990, Appel served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Fellow attorney Geoffrey Berman stated Appel "was an excellent lawyer. He was good on his feet, articulate, with a sense of the law that was common-sensical, more intuitive than based on books."
Appel still had dreams of becoming a comedy writer despite the security working as a lawyer offered him, but only in 1993, after his wife became pregnant, was Appel "reminde[d] that this was [his] life and [he] could shape it." Three months later he had retained an agent, had written and submitted two spec-scripts, and had moved to California.
"I don't think I opened my mouth for the first six weeks in that room. Part of it was my son had just been born. My son was, like most babies, not sleeping through the night, and there were some days where I didn't say anything not because I was intimidated but because I could barely focus."
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Richard Appel
Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of Family Guy on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvard Law School. As an undergraduate, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.
Following in his mother's footsteps, Appel became a lawyer. After attending law school, he started out as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker Jr. before becoming a federal attorney, serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for three years. In 1994, he moved into comedy writing when he was hired for The Simpsons, writing seven episodes of the show including "Mother Simpson". He moved on to become showrunner and executive producer of King of the Hill before creating the sitcom A.U.S.A.. He then worked on The Bernie Mac Show, Family Guy and American Dad! before co-creating The Cleveland Show. He was married to the writer Mona Simpson, noted author and sister of Steve Jobs.
Richard James Appel was born May 21, 1963, in New York City and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, to Nina (née Schick) and Alfred Appel. He is from a Jewish family.
His mother was a lawyer and served as dean of Loyola University Chicago's law school from 1983 to 2004, where as of 2010 she continued to teach tort law, and his father (who died on May 2, 2009) was professor of English at Northwestern University and an expert on Vladimir Nabokov. Appel has a sister, Karen Oshman.
Appel lived in California while his parents taught at Stanford University before the family moved to Wilmette, Illinois, where Appel went to North Shore Country Day School. While there, he co-wrote and co-edited his senior yearbook with writer and poet Philip Brooks. After leaving NSCDS, he attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, alongside Conan O'Brien and Greg Daniels, both of whom he beat for the chance to give the comic graduation speech, the Ivy Oration. Tad Friend noted: "Everyone thought it would be Conan automatically, but Rich's speech was funny and self-deprecating, in a way that was both silly and profound." After graduation in 1985 with a degree in history and literature, Appel attended Harvard Law School rather than moving into comedy, because the idea of following his mother and grandfathers into the legal profession "appealed" to him.
He then worked for two years as a law clerk for Judge John M. Walker, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, working on the trials of people such as Michael Milken and Leona Helmsley. Subsequently, for three years from 1990, Appel served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Fellow attorney Geoffrey Berman stated Appel "was an excellent lawyer. He was good on his feet, articulate, with a sense of the law that was common-sensical, more intuitive than based on books."
Appel still had dreams of becoming a comedy writer despite the security working as a lawyer offered him, but only in 1993, after his wife became pregnant, was Appel "reminde[d] that this was [his] life and [he] could shape it." Three months later he had retained an agent, had written and submitted two spec-scripts, and had moved to California.
"I don't think I opened my mouth for the first six weeks in that room. Part of it was my son had just been born. My son was, like most babies, not sleeping through the night, and there were some days where I didn't say anything not because I was intimidated but because I could barely focus."