Brent Forrester

Brent Forrester is an American writer, who wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has also worked as an executive producer on King of the Hill, and a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, and The Office. Forrester has also written feature films.

Early life

Forrester, the son of noted physician James S. Forrester, grew up as a surfer in Malibu, CA. As an undergraduate John Jay Scholar at Columbia University he worked on the university's student TV station, and returned to Los Angeles to begin a career as a TV writer.

Career

Forrester wrote for The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He wrote the episodes: "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", "Lemon of Troy", the Krusty Burger segment of "22 Short Films About Springfield", and "Homerpalooza". "Homerpalooza" was based on a story by David X. Cohen, although Forrester wrote the script. To do research for the episode, Forrester went to one of the Lollapalooza concerts, which ended up being a horrible experience. Several of the jokes in the episode are based on his experiences: cameras (including his own) were being seized and thrown in the garbage, there were numerous advertisements, several "sour faced teens", a real freak show and at one point a stranger approached Forrester and asked "how's it going, nark?"

Ben Stiller

Benjamin Edward Meara "Ben" Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and the late Anne Meara.

After beginning his acting career with a play, Stiller wrote several mockumentaries, and was offered his own show entitled The Ben Stiller Show, which he produced and hosted for its 13-episode run. Having previously acted in television, he began acting in films; he made his directorial debut with Reality Bites. Throughout his career he has written, starred in, directed, and/or produced more than 50 films, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Zoolander, Zoolander No. 2, The Cable Guy, There's Something About Mary, the Meet the Parents trilogy, DodgeBall, Tropic Thunder, the Madagascar series, and the Night at the Museum trilogy. In addition, he has had multiple cameos in music videos, television shows, and films.

Stiller is a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as the Frat Pack. His films have grossed more than $2.6 billion in Canada and the United States, with an average of $79 million per film. Throughout his career, he has received multiple awards and honors, including an Emmy Award, multiple MTV Movie Awards and a Teen Choice Award.

Brent

Brent is an Old English place name and surname. The place name can be from Celtic words meaning "holy one" (if it refers to the River Brent), or "high place", literally, "from a steep hill" (if it refers to the villages in Somerset and Devon, England) (Mills 1991). The surname often indicates that one's ancestors lived in a place called Brent.

Brent has also become a regularly used given name in some countries, being among the thousand most common names for boys born in the United States since 1933. When used as a given name today, Brent is sometimes a short form of Brenton, but this was probably not the original inspiration for Brent's use as a given name, since Brenton's own regular use as a first name came many years after Brent was established in that role.

References

The Ben Stiller Show

The Ben Stiller Show is the name of two sketch comedy television shows that aired on MTV from 1989 to 1990, and then on Fox from September 27, 1992 to January 17, 1993. The Fox show stars Ben Stiller, Andy Dick, Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk. Character actor John F. O'Donohue also appeared in every episode. The series featured numerous filmed comedy segments, many of which parodied mid-1980s to early 1990s pop-culture. Despite mostly positive reviews, Fox canceled the series after only 13 episodes due to low ratings.

Unlike most sketch comedy shows, The Ben Stiller Show did not use a studio audience or a laugh track, and was the only Fox sketch comedy program not to use a laugh track. The semi-spinoff, The Andy Dick Show, used the same format.

After cancellation, the series won the 1993 Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.

MTV series

The original MTV version of The Ben Stiller Show aired in 1990-1991 and ran for 13 episodes. It is not available on DVD, although excerpts from the program are featured as a bonus on that release. Produced by Jim Jones, who would go on to produce the Fox series and starring Ben Stiller and co-writer Jeff Kahn, it was a self-effacing show-within-a-show format. Part of MTV's pre-RealWorld and experimental Vid-Com season of 1989-1990, it was interspersed with music videos that Ben and company would introduce in their short comedy sketches. Regulars included Harry O'Reilly and Ben's sister Amy Stiller. Guest stars included Ben's parents Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller, as well as John F. O'Donohue, Melina Kanakaredes, Al Lewis and MTV regular Martha Quinn.

The Office

The Office is a popular mockumentary sitcom that was first made in the United Kingdom and has now been remade in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide.

The Office original UK version was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It starred Gervais as the boss and main character. First broadcast on BBC Two on 9 July 2001, the show ran for 14 episodes – two series of six episodes and a two-part Christmas special. The longest running version is the U.S. version, which ran for 9 seasons from 2005 to 2013. The German version has seen 46 episodes over five seasons and a movie aired 2014 in German cinemas.

Counterparts

Awards and honors

Selected major awards won only