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.

Early life and law career Richard James Appel was born May 21, 1963, in New York City and raised in Wilmette, Illinois, to Nina (née Schick) and Alfred Appel. 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 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."

When starting out as a comedy writer, Appel recalled: "One reason I caught up to my contemporaries is that when I started to send out my scripts, the idea that I'd been on the Lampoon, even 8 or 10 years before, was a credential I could use." There, he wrote seven episodes, often employing the use of "joke sequences, a narrative approach to humor that eschews the quick laugh in favor of something that develops over time." The writers used the episode to solve several little puzzles, such as where Lisa's intelligence came from. and contributed to the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield"; the two segments he wrote for the episode (one about Marge, the other about Lionel Hutz) were both cut.

Appel wrote two episodes from season eight, "Bart After Dark" and "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", as well as season nine's "The Two Mrs Nahasapeemapetilons" and season 10's "When You Dish Upon A Star".

Daniels hired Appel as executive producer and showrunner on King of the Hill in 1997, leading the show's writing process and overseeing all aspects of the show. Daniels noted: "It was essential that Rich was a good writer who could deal with people, who could help manage the business in the room. But equally important was the fact that he was someone I could trust, who had a similar sense of taste and values." For his work on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, Appel won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Appel created the short-lived series A.U.S.A., which aired in 2003, which he based on his own experiences as an assistant U.S. attorney. He conceived it in 2001 and NBC ordered 13 episodes the following year; the show's original pilot used a single-camera setup but NBC executives felt it would have more appeal as a multiple-camera setup, so it was re-shot.

Appel then wrote and worked as a co-executive producer on The Bernie Mac Show and Kitchen Confidential, In 2006, he produced a pilot called My Ex Life about two divorcing couples for CBS. The show was not picked up

In 2008, he served as a co-executive producer on Family Guy and executive producer on American Dad! from 2008 until 2009. Appel wrote the Family Guy seventh season episode "Family Gay".

Appel co-created, alongside Mike Henry and Seth MacFarlane, the Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show, which they began discussing in 2007 and which premiered September 27, 2009. He and Henry serve as the show's executive producers with limited involvement from MacFarlane. Henry and Appel conceived the show as "more of a family show, a sweeter show" than Family Guy.

Starting with the sixteenth season, Appel would begin showrunning Family Guy, alongside Alec Sulkin.

Personal life In 1993 he married novelist Mona Simpson, the sister of Apple founder Steve Jobs. They have two children.

Credits Appel worked on the listed shows and wrote all the listed episodes: The Simpsons (1994–98) – writer, producer, co-executive producer, staff writer and story editor "Mother Simpson" (1995) "Bart on the Road" (1996) "22 Short Films About Springfield" (co-writer) (1996) "Bart After Dark" (1996) "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" (1997) "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" (1997) "When You Dish Upon a Star" (1998) King of the Hill (1997–2001) – executive producer A.U.S.A. (2003) – creator, executive producer, writer "Pilot" "12 Happy Grandmothers" The Bernie Mac Show (2003–05) – co-executive producer, writer "Eye of the Tiger" "That Old Mac Magic" "Stiff Upper Lip" "Nerdy Mac" I Heart Huckabees (2004) – actor Kitchen Confidential (2005–06) – co-executive producer, writer "Praise Be Praise" "Let's Do Brunch" My Ex Life (2006) – creator, executive producer, writer Family Guy (2008–09, 2013– ) – co-executive producer, writer, executive producer, showrunner "Family Gay" American Dad! (2008–09) – executive producer The Cleveland Show (2009–13) – co-creator, executive producer, writer "Pilot"