)
Mike Reiss
Writer for The Simpsons
Mike Reiss
Writer for The Simpsons
Biography
Mike Reiss has won four Emmys and a Peabody Award during his twenty eight years writing for The Simpsons. He ran the show in Season 4, which Entertainment Weekly called “the greatest season of the greatest show in history.” In 2006, Reiss received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Animation Writers Caucus.
Reiss has written nineteen children’s books, as well as Springfield Confidential, a best-selling memoir of his three decades at The Simpsons.
Reiss has written jokes for such comedy legends as Johnny Carson, Joan Rivers, Garry Shandling… and Pope Francis! For his comedic contributions to the charitable group Joke with the Pope, in 2015 Pope Francis declared Reiss “A Missionary of Joy.”
Reiss co-created the animated series The Critic and created Showtime’s hit cartoon Queer Duck (about a gay duck). Queer Duck was named one of “The 100 Greatest Cartoons of All Time” by the BBC. Queer Duck: the Movie was released to rave reviews in July 2006, winning awards in New York, Chicago, San Diego, Sweden, Germany and Wales.
Mike Reiss has been a contributing writer to more than two dozen animated films -- including four Ice Ages, two Despicable Me’s, The Lorax, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 3, and The Simpsons Movie – with a worldwide gross of $14 billion.
Reiss’ first play, “I’m Connecticut” set box-office records for Connecticut Repertory Theater. The Hartford Courant called it “sweet and hysterically funny” and named it one of the year’s Ten Best Plays. Broadway World Connecticut voted it Best Play of 2012.
His caveman detective story Cro-Magnon P.I. won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His nineteen children’s books include the bestseller How Murray Saved Christmas and the award-winning Late for School. Reiss also composes puzzles for NPR, and Games Magazine.
As a professional speaker, Reiss has lectured at over four hundred colleges and institutions, on six continents. His topics include “The Simpsons,” comedy and Judaism, and the sorry state of television. Reiss is a former president of The Harvard Lampoon and editor of The National Lampoon.
He has been happily married for thirty years. Like most children’s book authors, he has no children.
Speaker Videos
Morning Joe: Springfield Confidential
On His Jewish Childhood
Commencement Speech
Speech Topics
Finding the Funny in Hard Times
In this funny, timely and ultimately inspiring talk, Mike Reiss gives the history of comedy in dark times, from the Civil War to whatever's happening this week. It ends with The Simpsons' uncanny knack for predicting everything that goes wrong.
Springfield Confidential
Mike Reiss shares secrets, stories and scandals from his thirty years writing for The Simpsons. This hilarious presentation is richly illustrated with rare cartoon clips.
The Simpsons & Other Jewish Families
Mike Reiss discusses the Jewish themes, writers, and actors that have been a part of The Simpsons. This program has been a hit at Hillels, Jewish film festivals, and JCC's across America.
Secrets of the Simpsons' Success
In this talk aimed at business audiences, comedy writer Mike Reiss shares secrets that have made The Simpsons America's longest-running series and a hit in seventy-two countries. He includes four rules the show follows that any business could profit from.
The Dirty, Nasty World of Children's Books
Emmy-winning Simpsons writer Mike Reiss is a childless man who's published twenty children's books. (He's also a Jewish guy who wrote seven Christmas books!). He shares stories proving that the world of kiddie lit is crazier and sleazier than anything he encountered in show business: from ghost-writing a children's book for a superstar to having an innocent picture book banned by the state of Texas.
)
)
)