Eric Kaplan

A TV sitcom writer and producer, Eric Kaplan is best known for his work on "Futurama," "The Late Show with David Letterman," and "The Big Bang Theory." After attending Harvard and studying philosophy at Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley, Kaplan settled into a career as a comedy writer on "The Late Show with David Letterman." After a year working on the show in New York, Kaplan headed off to California in search of sitcom work. Here he met Matt Groening, who, after the wild success of "The Simpsons," was developing his second series, the year 3000-set "Futurama." Kaplan went through something of a trial by fire working on the show, serving as story editor before receiving any writing credits. He eventually penned a number of favorite episodes of the cult animated series, and earned a producer credit. Sadly the series was cancelled, and Kaplan moved on to write for the short-lived office comedy "Andy Richter Controls the Universe" and later on the massive-hit family comedy "Malcolm in the Middle"; he wrote four full episodes of the series, while serving as a supervising producer on the show's fifth season. After this, Kaplan set off on his own, eventually partnering with Tony Millionaire to write, produce, and voice "The Drinky Crow Show," an Adult Swim animated series based on Millionaire's bizarre, grotesque "Maakies" comic strip. Unfortunately the show was cut short after 11 episodes, so Kaplan moved on to produce and write for the hit nerds-out-of-water sitcom "The Big Bang Theory."