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Michael Herbert Schur (born October 29, 1975 (2025). 9781982159337, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9781982159337) is an American television writer, producer, director, and actor. He started his career as a writer for Saturday Night Live (1998–2004) before gaining acclaim as a writer and producer of the sitcom The Office (2005–2013), where he also played Mose Schrute. He expanded his career co-creating Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) with Greg Daniels and creating the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013–2021), the sitcom The Good Place (2016–2020), the sitcom Rutherford Falls (2020–2022), and the comedy series A Man on the Inside (2024–). He has served as a producer of the comedy drama series Master of None (2015–2021) and the comedy drama series Hacks (2021–).
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". As of September 2024, Schur has been nominated for 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three for his work on Saturday Night Live, The Office, and Hacks. In May 2025, Schur received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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 a president of the Harvard Lampoon. While at Harvard, Schur was classmates with Rashida Jones, who would later star in Schur's Parks and Recreation.
Schur became the producer of Weekend Update in 2001; his first show in the new role was Saturday Night Lives first episode after the September 11 attacks. In 2002, he won his first Primetime Emmy Award as part of SNLs 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 Schrute'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 with Paul Lieberstein. In 2005, Schur served as a co-producer of HBO's The Comeback and wrote two of its 13 episodes.
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 Dan 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.
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 Movie 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, , which provides a humorous take on the Ethics 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.
| +Television work by Michael Schur | |||||
| 1998–2004 !scope="row" | Saturday Night Live | Wrote 138 episodes; produced Weekend Update (2001-2004) | |||
| 2005–2014 !scope="row" | The Comeback | Wrote 2 episodes | |||
| 2005–2013 !scope="row" | The Office | Wrote 12 episodes, appeared in 13 episodes | |||
| 2006 !scope="row" | Totally Awesome | Television film | |||
| 2009–2015 !scope="row" | Parks and Recreation | Co-creator, wrote 19 episodes, directed 9 episodes | |||
| 2013–2021 !scope="row" | Brooklyn Nine-Nine | Co-creator, wrote 2 episodes, directed 2 episodes | |||
| 2016 !scope="row" | Black Mirror | Episode: "Nosedive"; co-wrote with Rashida Jones | |||
| 2016–2020 !scope="row" | The Good Place | Creator, wrote 5 episodes, directed 4 episodes | |||
| 2020 !scope="row" | Single Parents | Episode: "Yarn and Pebbles" | |||
| 2021–2022 !scope="row" | Rutherford Falls | Co-creator | |||
| 2024 !scope="row" | A Man on the Inside | Creator; based on the documentary The Mole Agent | |||
| TBD !scope="row" | Dig (upcoming TV show) | Co-creator; based on the book Excavations | |||
Executive producer only
Acting roles
| 3 episodes |
| 13 episodes |
| Episode: "The Case of the Franks" |
| Episode: "Pool Party" |
| Episode: "Stride of Pride" |
| Episode: "Second Chunce" |
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