Michael Schur

He has served as a producer of the comedy drama series Master of None (2015–2021) and the comedy drama series Hacks (2021–2026). Schur's comedies typically include large, diverse casts; breakout stars have emerged from his shows. He features optimistic characters who often find strong friendships and lasting love through plots that showcase "good-hearted humanistic warmth". In May 2025, Schur received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Michael Schur studied at Harvard University and Hall High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is television production, literature and television direction. Residence is recorded at Los Angeles. Works named in the authority record are Parks and Recreation, The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Distinctions recorded are Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Comedy Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series and Writers Guild of America Award for Television: New Series.

Schur was born in 1975, at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His father, Warren Schur, was ethnically Jewish (though an atheist) and his mother, Anne Herbert, was Methodist. Schur was raised without religion. The family moved and he grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. Schur attended William H. Hall High School in West Hartford. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in English from Harvard University in 1997, where he was president of the Harvard Lampoon. While at Harvard, Schur was classmates with Rashida Jones. The two later collaborated on The Office and Parks and Recreation.

Starting in 1998, Schur was a writer on NBC's Saturday Night Live. He later said he initially applied for the job in the fall of 1997, but Tina Fey got the job and he was hired that winter. Schur became the producer of Weekend Update in 2001; his first show in the new role was Saturday Night Live's first episode after the September 11 attacks. In 2002, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award as part of SNL's writing team. Schur left Saturday Night Live in 2004. Soon afterward, he became producer and writer for The Office on NBC, for which he wrote ten episodes and won the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Schur appeared on The Office as Dwight's cousin Mose in several episodes, including "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"; "Counseling"; and "Finale". He also co-wrote The Office: The Accountants webisodes with Paul Lieberstein. In 2005, Schur served as a co-producer of HBO's The Comeback and wrote two of its 13 episodes.

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 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 mocumentary. Schur also wrote for Fire Joe Morgan, a sports journalism blog, under the pseudonym "Ken Tremendous". He resurrected the pen name on March 31, 2011, when he began writing for SB Nation's Baseball Nation site. @KenTremendous is also Schur's Twitter handle. Schur collaborated with The Decemberists on their music video for "Calamity Song" from the album The King Is Dead. This video is based upon Eschaton, a mock-nuclear war game played on tennis courts that David Foster Wallace created in his 1996 novel Infinite Jest. Schur wrote his undergraduate senior thesis on the novel and once held the film rights to it. With Daniel J. Goor, Schur created the cop comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which premiered in fall 2013 on Fox. The show was moved to NBC in its sixth season. In 2013, Joe Posnanski and Schur created The PosCast. The podcast primarily discusses baseball but meanders into other sports, subjects, and drafts of random items, and prides itself in being meaningless. The podcast has featured notable guests and co-hosts such as Linda Holmes, Ken Rosenthal, Nick Offerman, Ellen Adair, Stefan Fatsis, Brandon McCarthy, Joey Votto, and Sean Doolittle.

On September 19, 2016, the Schur-created sitcom The Good Place began airing on NBC. The supernatural series concerning philosophy and being a good person, starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, became a surprise critical and commercial success, concluding its four-season run on January 30, 2020. In 2016, Schur and Rashida Jones co-wrote the teleplay of "Nosedive", an episode of the television anthology series Black Mirror, from a story by Charlie Brooker. In 2019, Schur joined other Writers Guild of America writers in firing their agents as part of the WGA's stand against the ATA and the practice of packaging. In 2019, he began development of a scripted comedy, Rutherford Falls, starring Ed Helms. The series premiered on the streaming service Peacock on April 22, 2021. He worked on several projects for IMDb TV. In 2019, he re-upped his overall deal at Universal Television. In 2022, Schur released his first book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, which provides a humorous take on the ethical philosophy questions he studied while writing and producing The Good Place. In 2023, Schur appeared in Sorry/Not Sorry, a documentary about sexual misconduct allegations against Louis C.K. He has developed a comedy series starring Ted Danson titled A Man on the Inside that debuted on Netflix in November 2024. On May 22, 2025, Schur was honored with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Schur is married to J. J. Philbin, who was formerly a writer on The O.C. and is the daughter of Regis Philbin. Their son was born in 2008 and their daughter in 2010. He is a vegetarian.

Executive producer only Master of None (2015–2021) Abby's (2019) Sunnyside (2019) Hacks (2021–2026) Q-Force (2021) Primo (2023) Acting roles