Matt Wickline

Last updated
Matt Wickline
Born (1962-04-28) April 28, 1962 (age 62)
Mentor, Ohio, U.S.
Alma mater Ohio University
Occupation(s)Writer, director
Years active1983–present
Spouse
Marcy Hardart
​
(m. 1996)​
Children3, including Jane

Matthew John Wickline (born April 28th, 1962) is an American television writer, producer, director, and actor known for being a longtime member of the writing staff for Late Night With David Letterman . He wrote In Living Color , where he created the hit character Homey D. Clown, portrayed by Damon Wayans. He went on to write for Martin , The Jamie Foxx Show , and co-create The Hughleys and Frank TV .

Contents

Throughout his career, Wickline was nominated for 11 Emmys and won four.

Early life

Matt Wickline grew up in Willowick, Ohio as one of four brothers and the son to William and Elva Wickline. William was the President of the US division of the television antenna company Kathrein. [1] Matt Wickline attended Eastlake North High School and Ohio University. [2]

Career

After college, he interned at Late Night with David Letterman and started submitting jokes to David Letterman at the suggestion of his boss. When several of the show's writers left in 1983 to write for The New Show , Wickline joined Late Night's writing staff, serving as a member for what critics would call the program's "creative peak." [3] [4] He stayed in his position for seven years, occasionally acting in bit parts on the show. Although he didn't create the show's famous Top Ten List segment, Wickline did write the first installment. [5] Wickline quickly became writing partners and best friends with Chris Elliott, another staff member who was promoted to writer in 1983 and one of the only non-Harvard alum writers on the show at the time. [6] [7] Wickline and Elliott co-wrote all of Elliott's early character bits on the show, including his series of "Guy" characters, The Guy Under The Seats, The Fugitive Guy, The Panicky Guy, The Conspiracy Guy, and The Regulator Guy. [2] [8] [6]

Wickline and Elliott pitched Late Night's first theme show, an Emmy-winning hour-long interactive episode called "The Custom-Made Show, [9] [4] [6] leading the program to do a series of ambitious experimental one-off episodes. Wickline pitched two notable theme shows that were developed but never made it to air: an episode entirely in Claymation that the network deemed too expensive [2] and the first talk show filmed underwater, which Letterman canceled due to neck pain after a run-through with a scuba diver in a pool in New Jersey. [4] While at Late Night, Wickline, Elliott, and fellow writer Sandy Frank worked on nights and weekends to write Elliott's critically-acclaimed [10] [7] Cinemax Comedy Experiment TV specials FDR: A One-Man Show and Action Family together, with Wickline making his directorial debut on the former. While at the show, Wickline and Elliott had a falling-out and ceased working together, with Wickline frustrated with Elliott's lust for stardom. [4] Elliott switched to collaborating with another writer, Adam Resnick, on his character bits on the show and subsequent projects.

Wickline departed Late Night in 1990, amidst a major turnover in the show's writing roster, to join the original staff of In Living Color. Along with longtime Late Night writer Joe Toplyn, he joined In Living Color following its pilot episode. [11] At the show, Wickline created Damon Wayans's breakout character Homey D. Clown, [12] [13] based on Paul Mooney's behavior in the writer's room. [14] Homey D. Clown was one of the series' most famous characters, and even spawned his own video game and a planned feature film starring Wayans that was shut down by its studio Fox in the early 2000s just two days before filming was set to begin. [15] Along with many members of the writing staff, Wickline left the show after the first season, though he would return to direct sketches in season two. [15] He joined Martin Lawrence's Fox sitcom Martin as a writer and co-executive producer, hired by his In Living Color collaborator, Martin creator John Bowman. In 1995, Wickline and Frank co-created the short-lived Comedy Central medical drama spoof The Clinic, in which they cast Adam West as the lead after being fans of the cult classic pilot Lookwell . [16] Wickline then co-created The Show, a sitcom focused on the only white writer on a black TV sketch show and based on Wickline and co-creator John Bowman's time at In Living Color and Martin. [17] After the demise of those series, he wrote for The Jamie Foxx Show for a season.

In 1998, Wickline and D.L. Hughley co-created the sitcom The Hughleys as a starring vehicle for the comedian. [18] The series ran for four seasons and 89 episodes on ABC and UPN. Next, Wickline developed sitcoms that didn't make it to air at NBC and The WB centered on standups Joe Matarese [19] [20] and Cedric the Entertainer [21] before reuniting with frequent collaborator John Bowman to co-create two TV sketch shows that did make it to air alongside their comedian-stars: Cedric the Entertainer Presents with Cedric the Entertainer and Frank TV with Frank Caliendo.

Filmography

YearTitleCreatorDirectorShowrunnerWriterExecutive ProducerNotes
1983-1990 Late Night with David Letterman NoNoNoYesNo
1987 Action Family NoNoNoYesNoTV special;
Co-written with Chris Elliott and Sandy Frank
FDR: A One-Man Show NoYesNoYesNoTV special;
Co-written with Chris Elliott and Sandy Frank
1990-1993 In Living Color NoYesNoYesNo
1991 Good Sports NoNoNoYesNo
1993 Homey D. Clown NoNoNoCharacter Homey D. Clown created byNoVideo game
1993-1995 Martin NoNoNoYesCo-executive producer
1995The ClinicYesNoYesYesYesCo-created with Sandy Frank and Mark Drop
1996The ShowDeveloperNoYesYesCo-executive producerCo-created with John Bowman
1996-1997 The Jamie Foxx Show NoNoYesNoNo
1998 Blasto NoNoYesNoNoVideo game
1998-2002 The Hughleys YesYesYesYesYesCo-created with D.L. Hughley
2001Cedric the CoachYesNoYesYesYesTV pilot;
Co-created with John Bowman
2002-03 Cedric the Entertainer Presents YesNoYesYesYesCo-created with Cedric the Entertainer and John Bowman
2005 Barbershop NoYesNoNoCo-executive producer
2007-2008 Frank TV YesYesYesYesYesCo-created with Frank Caliendo and John Bowman
2010-2013 Pair of Kings NoNoYesYesYes
2013The Garcias Have LandedNoYesNoNoNoTV pilot

Personal life

On February 17th, 1996, Wickline married Marcy Hardart, [22] [23] whom he met when he was writing at Late Night and she was Lorne Michaels's assistant at Saturday Night Live . Hardart switched from entertainment to a career as a pediatrician. [24] They have three children together, including SNL cast member Jane Wickline.

Awards

As a member of Late Night's writing staff, Wickline won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987. He was nominated for an additional seven Emmys for his work on Late Night and In Living Color. [25]

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 "The 'Ghoul'-ish Cleveland underpinnings of 'Late Night with David Letterman'". Ideastream Public Media. Archived from the original on 2024-12-08. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
  3. ↑ Bonanos, Christopher (March 6, 2017). "Revisiting David Letterman's 1987 Writers Room". Vulture. Archived from the original on June 18, 2024. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Zinoman, Jason (2024-12-07) [2017]. Letterman: The Last Giant Of Late Night. Harper. ISBN   9780062377241.
  5. ↑ Abrams, Brian (September 26, 2014). "Inside the Confusing Origins of David Letterman's Top Ten List". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Tribune, Chicago (September 8, 1985). "12 WHO MAKE SURE LETTERMAN GETS THE LAUGHS". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on December 19, 2024. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
  7. 1 2 LLC, New York Media (January 19, 1987). "New York Magazine". New York Media, LLC – via Google Books.
  8. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/02/07/chris-elliotts-ascent-into-madness/3e763b10-bfc9-4cc7-b019-ed1ff72f3fef/
  9. ↑ Zinoman, Jason (13 October 2022). "Stand-Up Sets Where You Can Choose Your Own Adventure". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 November 2024.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2024-12-27. Retrieved 2024-12-08.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "Flying Color". Television Academy. Archived from the original on 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
  12. ↑ Cheney-Rice, Zak (July 6, 2022). "Larry Wilmore Knows No Bounds". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  13. ↑ "In Living Color helped pave the way for today's cultural pacesetters". The Globe and Mail. 21 February 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Damon Wayans on the inspiration behind Homey D. Clown, 'Men On...' and more". April 14, 2015. Archived from the original on December 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  15. 1 2 Peisner, David (2024-12-09) [2018]. Homey Don't Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution. 37 INK. ISBN   9781501143359. Archived from the original on 2024-12-27. Retrieved 2024-12-25.
  16. ↑ Tribune, Chicago (August 17, 1995). "EX-BATMAN ADAM WEST HEADS CAST OF SOAP SPOOF". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on December 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  17. ↑ "THE SHOW' - the Washington Post". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 2024-12-27. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
  18. ↑ Richmond, Ray (September 18, 1998). "The Hughleys". Archived from the original on December 7, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  19. ↑ "Joe Matarese, Comedian". 26 May 2006. Archived from the original on 26 September 2022.
  20. ↑ Adalian, Michael Schneider,Josef (December 11, 2000). "Overbrook turns on TV". Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ↑ Adalian, Josef (May 30, 2001). "'Coach,' 'Plum' head to WB". Archived from the original on December 8, 2024. Retrieved December 7, 2024.
  22. ↑ "WEDDINGS;Marcella Hardart, Matthew Wickline (Published 1996)". The New York Times . 18 February 1996. Archived from the original on 7 December 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  23. ↑ "Bronxville Review Press and Reporter 22 February 1996 — HRVH Historical Newspapers". news.hrvh.org. Archived from the original on 27 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  24. ↑ "Doctors". TENTH STREET PEDIATRICS. Archived from the original on 2024-09-07. Retrieved 2024-12-07.
  25. ↑ "Matt Wickline". Television Academy. Archived from the original on 2024-05-26. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
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