Richard Appel facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Richard Appel
Appel at the 2010 Comic Con
Born	Richard James Appel (1963-05-21) May 21, 1963 (age 62) New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	Harvard University (BA, JD)
Period	1994–present
Genre	Comedy
Spouse	Mona Simpson ​ ​ (m. 1993; div. 2012)​
Children	2

Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer and producer. He is known for his work on popular animated TV shows. Since 2012, he has been an executive producer and co-showrunner for Family Guy on Fox. He studied at Harvard University and Harvard Law School. While in college, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, a famous humor magazine.

Richard Appel first worked as a lawyer. In 1994, he started writing for comedy shows. His first big writing job was for The Simpsons. He wrote seven episodes for this show, including "Mother Simpson". Later, he became the main producer for King of the Hill. He also created his own TV show called A.U.S.A.. He has worked on many other shows like The Bernie Mac Show, Family Guy, and American Dad!. He also helped create The Cleveland Show.

Richard Appel's Early Life and Law Career

Richard James Appel was born on May 21, 1963, in New York City. He grew up in Wilmette, Illinois. His mother, Nina Appel, was a lawyer and a law school dean. His father, Alfred Appel, was an English professor.

Richard went to North Shore Country Day School. He later attended Harvard University. At Harvard, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon. He even gave a funny graduation speech. After graduating in 1985, he went to Harvard Law School. He decided to follow his mother into the legal profession.

After law school, he worked as a law clerk for two years. Then, from 1990, he worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for three years. This meant he was a lawyer for the government. Even though he had a secure job as a lawyer, he still wanted to be a comedy writer. In 1993, he decided to pursue his dream. He hired an agent and moved to California to start his writing career.

Richard Appel's Writing Career

Richard Appel got his first TV writing job in 1994. He was hired to write for The Simpsons. He worked there for four years as a writer and producer. He found writing for The Simpsons to be a great learning experience.

Writing for The Simpsons

Richard wrote seven episodes for The Simpsons. His first episode was "Mother Simpson" in 1995. He came up with the idea to create an episode about Homer's mother. He named her Mona Simpson, after his own wife. This episode helped explain where Lisa's intelligence came from.

He also wrote "Bart on the Road" in 1996. This episode featured Bart getting a driving license. He also helped write parts of "22 Short Films About Springfield". Richard wrote two episodes for The Simpsons season eight: "Bart After Dark" and "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson". He also wrote "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" for season nine and "When You Dish Upon A Star" for season 10.

Leading King of the Hill

In 1997, Richard Appel became the executive producer and showrunner for King of the Hill. This meant he was in charge of the show's writing and overall production. He stayed with King of the Hill until 2001. For his work on The Simpsons and King of the Hill, Richard won three Primetime Emmy Awards.

Creating New Shows

Richard Appel created a TV series called A.U.S.A. in 2003. This show was based on his own experiences as a lawyer. He then worked as a co-executive producer and writer for The Bernie Mac Show and Kitchen Confidential. In 2004, he also appeared as an actor in the movie I Heart Huckabees.

In 2008, he became a co-executive producer for Family Guy. He also worked as an executive producer for American Dad! from 2008 to 2009. Richard wrote the Family Guy episode "Family Gay".

Richard Appel also helped create The Cleveland Show. He worked on this Family Guy spin-off with Mike Henry and Seth MacFarlane. The show first aired on September 27, 2009. Richard and Mike Henry were the main executive producers for the show. They wanted The Cleveland Show to be a more family-friendly and sweeter show than Family Guy.

Since the sixteenth season of Family Guy, Richard Appel has been a showrunner for the series, working alongside Alec Sulkin.

Richard Appel's Personal Life

In 1993, Richard Appel married novelist Mona Simpson. She is the sister of Apple founder Steve Jobs. Richard and Mona have two children. They have since divorced.

Richard Appel's Credits

Richard Appel has worked on many TV shows and written several 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"

See also

In Spanish: Richard Appel para niños