| Michael Schur | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael Herbert Schur October 29, 1975 West Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Pen name | Ken Tremendous |
| Occupation | Television producer, screenwriter, actor |
| Nationality | American |
| Notable work(s) | The Office Parks and Recreation |
| Spouse(s) | J. J. Philbin (2005–present) |
| Children | William Schur Ivy Schur |
Michael Herbert[1] Schur (born October 29, 1975) is an American television producer and writer, best known for his work on the NBC comedy series The Office and Parks and Recreation, the latter of which he co-created along with Greg Daniels. Schur is also known for his small role on The Office as Mose Schrute, the cousin of Dwight Schrute, who is played by Rainn Wilson.
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Michael Schur said he first became interested in comedy when he was 11 years old, when he read Without Feathers, a 1975 collection of humorous essays by Woody Allen. Schur said he found the book on his father's bookshelf and stayed up reading it until 4 a.m.[2]
Schur wrote for six seasons on NBC's Saturday Night Live until 2004. Soon after, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he has written ten episodes so far. He is a graduate of William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut and of Harvard University (class of 1997) where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the Harvard Lampoon. He is married to Jennifer Philbin, who was formerly a writer on The O.C. and is television star Regis Philbin's daughter. Their first child, son William Xavier Schur, was born on Feb 18, 2008. His middle name, Xavier, is in honor of Regis Philbin's confirmation name. At 7:54 p.m., on July 14, 2010, Jennifer Philbin gave birth to a daughter, Ivy Elizabeth, in California. Schur appeared on The Office as Dwight's cousin Mose in the episodes "Initiation," in which Dwight takes Ryan to his beet farm, "Money," in which Jim and Pam spend a night at the farm, "The Deposition", "Koi Pond", and "Counseling." He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein.
Schur also wrote for "Fire Joe Morgan", a sports journalism blog, under the pseudonym "Ken Tremendous."[3] Schur resurrected the pen name on March 31, 2011, when he began writing for SBNation's Baseball Nation site, which debuted the same day.
In April 2008, Schur and Greg Daniels started working on a pilot for Parks and Recreation as a proposed spin off of The Office. Over time, Schur realized Parks and Recreation would work better as a show if they made it separate from The Office. While Parks and Recreation received negative reviews in its first season, it received critical acclaim in the second much like The Office.
Schur collaborated with The Decemberists on their music video for Calamity Song from the album The King Is Dead.[4]