J. Stewart Burns

Last updated
J. Stewart Burns
Other namesJoseph, Joe Stewart
Occupation(s)Writer and producer
Years active1999-present
Known for The Simpsons , Futurama , Unhappily Ever After

Joseph Stewart Burns (born December 4, 1969), better known as J. Stewart Burns or simply just Stewart Burns is a television writer and producer most notable for his work on The Simpsons , Futurama , and Unhappily Ever After . [1]

Contents

Education

Burns attended Harvard University, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon . [2]

Noted in the DVD commentaries of "The Deep South" and "Roswell That Ends Well", Burns has an M.A. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under John Rhodes. [3] Burns is partly credited for The Simpsons' inclusion of a number of complex mathematical concepts and jokes within the series. [4] [5] [6] [1]

Burns was famously referenced in a 1993 Newsweek article about his decision to jump from pursuing a graduate degree in mathematics to writing comedy: "You could read the entire story of American decline in that one career move." [7]

Career

Burns got his start by writing for Beavis and Butthead . [7] Since then, he has written for The Simpsons , Futurama , and Unhappily Ever After .

Aside from writing on the original series, Burns also wrote the script for the Futurama video game as well as one of the Spyro games, Spyro: A Hero's Tail . Burns developed and has served as the game runner of The Simpsons: Tapped Out [8] since its inception.

Awards

Burns has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animation Program four times — for Futurama in 2002, and for The Simpsons in 2006, 2008 and 2019. [9] [10] [11]

Writing credits

The Simpsons episodes

Supervising producer credits

The Simpsons episodes

Co-executive producer credits

The Simpsons episodes

Futurama episodes

Unhappily Ever After episodes

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bart Simpson</span> Fictional character from The Simpsons

Bartholomew Jojo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional character in the American animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed Bart while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic strip, Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. While the rest of the characters were named after Groening's family members, Bart's name is an anagram of the word brat. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for two years, the Simpson family received its own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989. Bart has appeared in every Simpsons episode except "Four Great Women and a Manicure".

<i>Songs in the Key of Springfield</i> 1997 soundtrack album by The Simpsons

Songs in the Key of Springfield is a soundtrack/novelty album from The Simpsons compiling many of the musical numbers from the series. The album was released in the United States on March 18, 1997, and in the United Kingdom in June 1997. This was the second album released in association with the Simpsons television series; however, the previous release, The Simpsons Sing the Blues, contained original recordings as opposed to songs featured in episodes of the series.

"Treehouse of Horror II" is the seventh episode of the third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 31, 1991. It is the second annual Treehouse of Horror episode, consisting of three self-contained segments, told as dreams of Lisa, Bart and Homer and is the only Treehouse of Horror episode to date where each segment name is not stated inside the episode. In the first segment, which was inspired by W. W. Jacobs's short story The Monkey's Paw and The Twilight Zone episode "A Small Talent for War", Homer buys a Monkey's Paw that has the power to grant wishes, although all the wishes backfire. In the second part, which parodies the Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life", Bart is omnipotent, and turns Homer into a jack-in-the-box, resulting in the two spending more time together. In the final segment, Mr. Burns attempts to use Homer's brain to power a giant robotic laborer.

"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 29, 1992. The third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, it features segments in which Homer buys Bart an evil talking doll, Homer is a giant ape which is captured by Mr. Burns in a parody of the 1933 version of King Kong, and Bart and Lisa inadvertently cause zombies to attack Springfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror IX</span> 4th episode of the 10th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror IX" is the fourth episode of the tenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on Fox in the United States on October 25, 1998. This is the ninth Treehouse of Horror episode, and, like the other "Treehouse of Horror" episodes, contains three self-contained segments: In "Hell Toupée", Homer gets a hair transplant and is possessed by the spirit of an executed criminal; in "Terror of Tiny Toon", Bart and Lisa are trapped in a special, extremely violent episode of The Itchy & Scratchy Show; and in "Starship Poopers", Marge reveals that Maggie is the product of a one-night stand with the alien Kang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patty and Selma</span> Fictional characters from The Simpsons franchise

Patricia Maleficent "Patty" Bouvier and Selma Bouvier-Terwilliger-Hutz-McClure-Discotheque-Simpson are fictional characters in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. They are identical twins and are voiced by Julie Kavner, who also voices their sister, Marge. Patty and Selma, both gravel-voiced chain-smokers, work at the Springfield Department of Motor Vehicles. They have a strong dislike for their brother-in-law, Homer Simpson, who likewise loathes them. Selma, the elder by two minutes, longs for male companionship and has had multiple brief, doomed marriages, and has herself offered help in some fashion to Marge and Homer as she envies their loving relationship; she receives occasional compassionate support from Homer who even poses as her husband to help her adopt a child. Patty is an initially closeted lesbian who embraces celibacy until she begins dating women. Kavner voices them as characters who "suck the life out of everything". Patty and Selma debuted on the first Simpsons episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which aired on December 17, 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simpson family</span> Family of five fictional characters in animation series The Simpsons

The Simpson family are the main fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of married couple Homer and Marge who were high school sweethearts and their three children, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town of Springfield, United States, and they were created by cartoonist Matt Groening, who conceived the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted on Fox on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" and were later spun off into their own series, which debuted on Fox in the U.S. on December 17, 1989, and started airing in Winter 1989.

Joel H. Cohen is a Canadian producer and screenwriter for Saturday Night Live, Suddenly Susan and The Simpsons. He is the younger brother of one-time Simpsons writer Robert Cohen, who penned the season three episode "Flaming Moe's". Cohen was born in Calgary, Alberta. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1988 from the University of Alberta and a MBA from the Schulich School of Business in 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Kirkland</span> American animator

Mark Kirkland is an American animation director. He has directed 84 episodes of The Simpsons since 1990, more than any other director.

Steven Dean Moore is an American animation director. His credits include 65 episodes of the animated television series The Simpsons and several episodes of the Nickelodeon series Rugrats (1991–2004). Moore was also one of four sequence directors on The Simpsons Movie (2007). He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002.

Bob Anderson is an American animation director on The Simpsons. He also contributed additional sequence direction on The Simpsons Movie.

<i>The Simpsons</i> season 6 Season of television series

The sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 4, 1994, and May 21, 1995, and consists of 25 episodes. The Simpsons is an animated series about a working class family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional city of Springfield, and lampoons American culture, society, television and many aspects of the human condition.

Tim Long is a comedy writer born in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. Long calls Exeter, Ontario, his home town and has written for The Simpsons, Politically Incorrect, Spy magazine and the Late Show with David Letterman. Currently credited as a consulting producer on The Simpsons, Long was - until Season 20 - credited as an executive producer. His work has also recently appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker. He also wrote the episode "Mr Roboto" for YTV's Mr. Young.

Matthew Nastuk is an animation director on The Simpsons. He started directing during the tenth season, and has since directed over two dozen episodes and continues to direct today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XX</span> 4th episode of the 21st season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XX" is the fourth episode of the twenty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mike B. Anderson and Matthew Schofield and was written by Daniel Chun. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 18, 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XXIV</span> 2nd episode of the 25th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XXIV" is the second episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 532nd episode of the series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 6, 2013. The episode was written by Jeff Westbrook and directed by Rob Oliver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XXX</span> 4th episode of the 31st season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XXX" is the fourth episode of the thirty-first season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 666th episode overall as well as the thirtieth Treehouse of Horror episode. It aired in the United States on Fox on October 20, 2019. The episode was written by J. Stewart Burns, and was directed by Timothy Bailey.

References

  1. 1 2 Alexander, Amir (2014-01-27). "Examining the Square Root of D'oh!". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  2. "The Calculus of Comedy: Math in the Simpsons, Futurama, and the Big Bang Theory". 9 June 2017.
  3. Ellenberg, Jordan. "The Simpsons and Math". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-12-20.
  4. Siddique, Ashik (2013-11-04). "The Simpsons has been tricking you into learning maths for decades". Wired UK. ISSN   1357-0978 . Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  5. "The Calculus of Comedy: Math in The Simpsons, Futurama, and The Big Bang Theory (Bios)". IPAM. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  6. Nuwer, Rachel. ""The Simpsons" Has Been Secretly Teaching Its Fans Complicated Math". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  7. 1 2 http://www.newsweek.com/go-harvard-write-jokes-make-194354 1993 Newsweek article
  8. "How the Mobile Game Tapped Out Brought Old Simpsons Fans Back Into the Fold". Vulture. 25 September 2014. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  9. "J. Stewart Burns". Television Academy. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  10. Milligan, Mercedes (2019-09-15). "Creative Arts Emmys: 'Simpsons' Reclaims Animation Crown". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  11. "'The Simpsons,' 'Love, Death & Robots' Take Home Animation Emmy Awards". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2020-04-20.