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Jay Kogen

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Affiliated Divisions:

John Wells Division of Writing for Screen & Television

Jay Kogen has been in show business since he was 5 years old. He is an actor, director, stand-up, and Groundlings alum but mostly he has written and produced many of the most popular TV comedies over the last 30 years. He helped develop and wrote on the first five seasons of The Simpsons

He wrote and produced Frasier,Malcolm In The Middle, Everybody Loves Raymond, The George Lopez Show, School of Rock, and Henry Danger to name a few.  He has written, rewritten, punched up many films including Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor, all the Austin Powers comedies,  most of the Shrek films, MadagascarZombieland 2, and the academy award nominated Kubo And The Two Strings.   

Jay has won many awards including a WGA Award, The Humanitas Award, a People’s Choice Award, and a Golden Rose of Montrose (whatever that is). Jay has been nominated for 14 Emmy awards and won 4 of them.  He’s had numerous pilots written and made. He created a show based loosely on his life, Wendell and Vinnie, and he co-wrote and produced the cult comedy, The Wrong Guy, which won the HBO Comedy Festival Award.  Jay is currently writing and producing a few pilots and writing a movie he wants to direct and proudly teaching his future employers at USC.