Mike Reiss

Mike Reiss has won four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for his work on The Simpsons, the wacky animated series that has kept America laughing for more than a decade and earned TIME magazine's vote as "the greatest TV show of the twentieth century." During his 15 years on the show, Reiss penned a dozen scripts and produced over 200 episodes. His other television credits include The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Alf, Eddie Murphy's The PJ's and It's Garry Shandling's Show, where he earned an ACE award for writing and producing. Reiss was a contributing writer to Ice Age, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, and 2007's upcoming The Simpsons Movie. His own dramatic screenplay, Fat Man, is currently in production with Adam Sandler.        

Reiss is also the co-creator of The Critic, an animated series starring Jon Lovitz as a lovable movie critic. The well-reviewed series has been running on Comedy Central for five years. Reiss also created Queer Duck, the animated adventures of a gay duck. An Internet hit with rave reviews in the U.S. and Europe, most notably The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, the gay press, and Howard Stern, the series recently made the jump to the Showtime network.

Culled from more than two decades of creating the funniest and most outrageous shows on television, Reiss' presentation is a unique glimpse inside the cutting edge of entertainment, including rare video clips from The Simpsons and The Critic. He takes audiences inside the lives of Springfield's first family, revealing how The Simpsons was almost cancelled before it hit the air, secret trivia of the show, insane dealings with network censors, and lots of juicy gossip about celebrity guest stars. Reiss also delves into the current state of television programming, describing with his characteristic wit why TV is so rotten and what steps need to be taken to bring the medium back to life.        

A former editor of both The Harvard Lampoon and The National Lampoon, Reiss continues as a consulting producer on The Simpsons. In addition, he is a frequent contributor to Esquire, Games Magazine, Modern Humorist and is an award-winning mystery writer. He has published four children's books, including the surprise best seller How Murray Saved Christmas (soon to be a feature film on Nickelodeon), a Christmas story for Jewish kids. His other children's books include, The Boy Who Looked Like Lincoln, Santa Claustrophobia, and the award winning, Late for School. He has lectured on comedy and animation at over one hundred colleges and institutions, on four continents.    

Mike Reiss holds a B.A. from Harvard University. A native of Connecticut, he currently lives in California.