Ken Keeler
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Ken Keeler (Born 1961) is an American comic writer and producer. He has written for numerous TV series, most notably The Simpsons and Futurama.
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[edit] Biography
After graduating from St. John's School in Houston, Texas (which he described as "the worst two years of my life"), he studied applied mathematics at Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 1983. He earned a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1990; his doctoral thesis was on Map Representations and Optimal Encoding for Image Segmentation.
After earning his doctorate, Keeler wrote for David Letterman and various sitcoms, including several episodes of The Simpsons and The Critic, as well as the short-lived FOX claymation show The PJs.
Keeler was instrumental in the creation of Futurama, and served as a co-executive producer in its first three years, and as an executive producer in its fourth year. He was one of the show's most prolific writers, with nine episodes to his name (including the series finale, "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", and the Writers Guild Award-winning "Godfellas"). Keeler wrote many of the original songs on both The Simpsons and Futurama during his time with the shows. He is also the writer of the upcoming direct-to-DVD Futurama movie Bender's Big Score.
Keeler is also a fan of (but of no relation to) Harry Stephen Keeler and won the 2001 Fifth Annual Imitate Keeler Competition. His Futurama episode "Time Keeps on Slippin'" was partly inspired by the (Harry Stephen) Keeler story "Strange Romance" from the book "Y. Cheung, Business Detective".
[edit] Theory of Underpants
Keeler theorizes that the word "underpants" is 20% funnier than "underwear". He has mentioned this in multiple Futurama DVD commentaries.
[edit] Simpsons episodes
- "A Star is Burns"
- "Two Bad Neighbors"
- "El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer)"
- "Brother from Another Series"
- "The Principal and the Pauper"
- "Treehouse of Horror VII" (co-writer)
- "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" (story)
[edit] Futurama episodes
- "The Series Has Landed"
- "When Aliens Attack"
- "Put Your Head on My Shoulders"
- "Anthology of Interest I" (co-writer)
- "The Honking"
- "Time Keeps on Slippin'"
- "Godfellas"
- "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"
