| Ian Maxtone-Graham | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 3, 1959 New York City, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Television writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1983 - Present |
Ian Maxtone-Graham (born on July 3, 1959 in New York City) is an American television writer and producer. He has written for Saturday Night Live (1992–1995) and The Simpsons (1995–present), and has also served as a co-executive producer and consulting producer for The Simpsons. He is currently an executive producer of the show.
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Ian is the son of noted maritime historian John Maxtone-Graham. He attended Brown University. An enthusiastic swimmer, his first job after college was as a diver with an underwater research team. After struggling to establish a career in journalism, he penned material for the television show Not Necessarily the News and the magazines National Lampoon and Army Man. His work in Army Man, an offbeat magazine published by future Simpsons colleague George Meyer, brought him to the attention of Jack Handey, who suggested he work for Saturday Night Live.[1]
While working for Saturday Night Live, Maxtone-Graham co-wrote "The Chanukah Song" with Adam Sandler[2] and, according to the DVD commentary for the SNL clip show "The Best of Alec Baldwin, also wrote the infamous "Canteen Boy" sketch in which Canteen Boy is sexually molested by his scoutmaster, Mr. Armstrong (played by episode host Alec Baldwin).
Maxtone-Graham has become somewhat infamous among The Simpsons fans for a 1998 interview with The Independent, in which he admitted that he had "barely" seen The Simpsons before being hired, and ridiculed "the beetle-browed people on the internet" for their criticism of the show.[3][4] Although he upset many fans with his comments, Maxtone-Graham has won six Emmys for his work on The Simpsons,[5] and received an Annie Award for writing "The Seemingly Neverending Story".[6]
One of the episodes written by Maxtone-Graham is "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", in which Homer grows a tomato-tobacco hybrid called "tomacco". The episode inspired an Oregon man to make his own version of tomacco by grafting a tomato stem with a tobacco root. He eventually gave some to Maxtone-Graham, who ate it.[7]
Maxtone-Graham himself has inspired a character on The Simpsons: "Very Tall Man", who first appeared in "22 Short Films About Springfield".[3]
Maxtone-Graham has been credited as writing the following episodes of The Simpsons: