Dan Harmon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dan Harmon
Harmon in 2016
Born	Daniel James Harmon (1973-01-03) January 3, 1973 (age 52) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma mater	Glendale Community College
Occupation	Writer producer voice actor
Years active	1996–present
Spouse(s)	Erin McGathy ​ ​ (m. 2014; div. 2015)​
Partner(s)	Cody Heller (2019–present; engaged)

Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and voice actor for television. He is famous for creating the TV show Community (2009–2015). He also co-created the popular animated show Rick and Morty (2013–present) for Adult Swim, where he voices the character Birdperson. Harmon also started the comedy podcast Harmontown (2012–2019) and helped create the website Channel 101. More recently, he created the animated show Krapopolis (2023–present) for Fox.

Early Life and Education

Dan Harmon was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on January 3, 1973. He went to high school in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Later, he attended Glendale Community College in California. His time there actually inspired his TV show Community!

Career Highlights

Starting Out in Entertainment (1996–2008)

Harmon in March 2010

Early in his career, Dan Harmon was part of ComedySportz in Milwaukee. He also worked with Rob Schrab in a comedy group called The Dead Alewives. Together, they released an album in 1996.

Harmon helped create the TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack, which starred Owen Wilson and Jack Black. He also made several shows for Channel 101, some of which featured famous actors like Jack Black and Sarah Silverman. He was a co-creator and head writer for some episodes of Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.

He also wrote parts of Rob Schrab's comic book series Scud: The Disposable Assassin. Harmon and Rob Schrab also wrote the movie script for the Academy Award-nominated film Monster House.

Creating Community (2009–2015)

In 2009, Dan Harmon's TV show Community was picked up by NBC. The show was inspired by his own experiences at community college. Harmon was the main writer and producer for the first three seasons.

He left the show for a short time but returned in 2013. Community was canceled by NBC after its fifth season. However, Yahoo! decided to bring it back for a sixth season, which aired online.

Harmontown and HarmonQuest (2011–2019)

Harmon in 2014

In 2011, Harmon started a live comedy show and podcast called Harmontown. It became a weekly show after he left Community. The show often included a segment where they played role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. This game segment inspired an animated series called HarmonQuest.

Many famous guests appeared on Harmontown, including Kumail Nanjiani and Aubrey Plaza. A documentary film about the podcast, also called Harmontown, was released in 2014. The podcast ended in December 2019.

Starburns Industries (2010–2020)

Harmon also co-founded a company called Starburns Industries. This company helped produce a special stop-motion episode of Community. This episode won an Emmy Award!

Starburns Industries also worked on Rick and Morty and animated films like Anomalisa. Harmon left the company in 2020.

Developing Rick and Morty (2013–Present)

Harmon and co-creator Justin Roiland started working on ideas for an animated show during Harmon's break from Community. In 2012, Adult Swim ordered a pilot episode for their new show.

The pilot, Rick and Morty, is about a very smart but grumpy inventor and his grandson. The show first aired on December 2, 2013. It quickly became very popular and was renewed for many more episodes. Harmon voices the character Birdperson on the show. In January 2023, Harmon became the only showrunner for Rick and Morty.

New Projects: The Sirens of Titan and Krapopolis

In 2017, it was announced that Harmon and Evan Katz would adapt Kurt Vonnegut's 1959 novel The Sirens of Titan into a TV series. More details about this project are still awaited.

In 2020, Fox approved a new animated comedy series from Harmon. This show is set in Ancient Greece. On May 17, 2021, the series was named Krapopolis. It is the first new show fully owned by Fox.

Writing Style: The "Story Circle"

Understanding the Story Circle Technique

Dan Harmon's "Story Circle"

Dan Harmon created a special way to plan stories for TV shows, which he calls the "story circle." He developed this technique in the late 1990s to help make stories clear and well-structured. He wanted to find a simple way to understand how movies and TV shows are put together.

Harmon found that many writers struggled to create plots for TV. So, he simplified Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey" into an eight-step process. This process helps create strong and clear stories.

How the Story Circle Works

Harmon believes his story circle can be used for all kinds of stories. He uses it every time he writes something new. The circle has eight parts, each showing a stage of the story:

• A character starts in a comfortable or familiar place.
• They want something new.
• They enter a new, unfamiliar situation.
• They learn to deal with this new situation.
• They get what they wanted.
• They face big problems because of what they got.
• They return to their familiar place.
• They have changed a lot because of their journey.

The "hero's journey" by Joseph Campbell greatly influenced Harmon's technique. Harmon has used the story circle a lot in shows like Community and Rick and Morty.

Creative Influences

Dan Harmon has shared many things that have inspired his writing style. These include films like RoboCop and Network. He also learned from TV shows such as Cheers, Mr. Show, Arrested Development, and Twin Peaks.

Books like Slaughterhouse-Five and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy also influenced him. He mentioned writers and comedians like Garry Shandling and George Lucas. Harmon also found inspiration in the game Dungeons & Dragons and the musician Tori Amos. For Rick and Morty, Harmon and Justin Roiland were inspired by shows like Saturday Night Live and Doctor Who.

Awards and Recognition

In July 2009, Dan Harmon was nominated for two Emmy Awards for his writing on the 81st Academy Awards TV show. He won an Emmy for "Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics" for the "Hugh Jackman Opening Number."

In 2018 and 2020, Harmon won the Emmy for "Outstanding Animated Program." He received this award as an executive producer for Rick and Morty. He was also nominated for a Hugo Award for writing the Community episode, "Remedial Chaos Theory".

Personal Life

In 2011, while writing the character Abed for Community, Dan Harmon learned about traits of Asperger syndrome. He realized he might also be on the spectrum after talking to a doctor. He shared that he felt he had more in common with the character Abed than with other characters.

Harmon proposed to his girlfriend Erin McGathy in December 2013, and they married in November 2014. They divorced in October 2015. In 2016, Harmon started dating TV writer Cody Heller. In January 2019, Heller proposed to Harmon, and they are now engaged. Heller used a real-life experience with Harmon to create the TV series Dummy.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

See also

In Spanish: Dan Harmon para niños