Joe Keenan

Joe Keenan (born July 14, 1958) is an American screenwriter, television producer and novelist. Notable for his television work on series such as Frasier and Desperate Housewives, Keenan has been referred to as the "gay P.G. Wodehouse" for his three successful novels.

Early career In 1991 Cheers creators James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles, having read Keenan's novel Blue Heaven, invited Keenan to create a new sitcom for their production company. The resulting pilot, Gloria Vane, starring JoBeth Williams, was not picked up by a network, but it led to a writing post on Frasier. In 1992, his first play, The Times, a musical that charts the course of a seventeen-year marriage between Liz, an actress, and Ted, a writer, won the Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater, awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1993, the lyrics for The Times won the Edward Kleban Award.

Frasier He joined the staff of the sitcom Frasier as an executive story editor in 1994 for the series' second year. His first produced script for the series, "The Matchmaker", received an Emmy Award nomination, a GLAAD Media Award, and the 1995 Writers Guild Award for Episodic Comedy. He won a writing Emmy Award in 1996 for being one of eight writers of the Season 3 episode "Moon Dance." He received Emmy Award nominations for "The Ski Lodge" episode in 1998 and, with Christopher Lloyd in 2000, "Something Borrowed, Someone Blue," which won the 2001 WGA award for Episodic Comedy.

During his six-season tenure on Frasier he rose through the ranks from executive story editor to co-producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer, and finally, executive producer. He was executive producer when the series ended in 2004. He also co-wrote the series finale, "Goodnight, Seattle." Keenan won five Emmy Awards during his tenure on the show. He was nominated for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series five times, and won once. He won the Outstanding Comedy Series award four times for his work as the show's producer.

Keenan also created two short-lived comedy series with fellow Frasier producer and writer Christopher Lloyd: Bram & Alice in 2002 and Out of Practice in 2005. He also co-wrote the 1994 film Sleep with Me as well as the screenplay for the 2007 Annie Award-winning animated feature Flushed Away.

Fiction Keenan is also a published author, and has been referred to as a "gay P.G. Wodehouse". As of 2007, he had written three novels:

Blue Heaven (1988), Putting On the Ritz (1991), and My Lucky Star (2006). Putting on the Ritz won the Lambda Literary Award for Humor in 1991, and My Lucky Star won the Lambda Literary Award for Humor in 2006. In October 2007, the novel also won the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Personal life Keenan lives in Los Angeles. He has been with his husband, Gerry Bernardi, since 1982.

Filmography Year Title Writer Producer Executive producer Notes Network 1995–2004 Frasier Executive/Co-executive producer of 48 episodes Writer of 24 episodes NBC 2002 Bram & Alice CBS 2005–2006 Out of Practice Creator/Executive Producer of 22 episodesWriter of 4 episodes 2006–2011 Desperate Housewives Executive Producer of 10 episodes Consulting producer of 55 episodesWriter of 7 episodes ABC 2012–2014 Glee Consulting Producer of 15 episodes Fox2013 Hot in Cleveland Writer of 2 episodes TV Land Sean Saves the World Consulting Producer of 2 episodesWriter of 2 episodes NBC 2015–2017 The Odd Couple Consulting Producer of 46 episodesWriter of 1 episode CBS 2019–2021 Why Women Kill Consulting Producer of 9 episodesWriter of 4 episodes Paramount+