Brent Forrester

Brent Forrester
Born1967 or 1968 (age 57–58)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materColumbia University
Occupations
  • Writer
  • producer
Years active1992–present
FatherJames S. Forrester

Brent Forrester (born 1967 or 1968)[1] is an American writer and producer, who has written for 6 Emmy Award-winning television comedies. He wrote several episodes of the animated television sitcom The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997. He has worked as a writer on The Ben Stiller Show, Mr. Show with Bob and David, Undeclared, Super Fun Night and The Office. He served as head writer and executive producer on King of the Hill, Love, The Office and Space Force. Forrester has also written feature films.

Early life

Forrester was born in Los Angeles, California,[1] the son of physician James S. Forrester, grew up as a surfer in Malibu, California. He graduated from Columbia University in 1990, working at the university's student TV station, and returned to Los Angeles to begin a career as a TV writer.[2] At Columbia, he roomed with future Chattanooga mayor Tim Kelly in Carman Hall.[2]

Career

Forrester won an Emmy Award in 1993 for his writing on The Ben Stiller Show.[3] Forrester then wrote for The Simpsons between 1993 and 1997,[4] penning "Homer vs. Patty and Selma",[5] "Lemon of Troy",[6] the Krusty Burger segment of "22 Short Films About Springfield",[7] 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?"[8]

Forrester has also served as executive producer on King of the Hill,[9] and written for Mr. Show with Bob and David[4] and Undeclared. He served as a writer and consulting producer on The Office. He has written seven episodes of the show including "The Merger" and "Business School" and directed the episode "Casual Friday".[4] He also directed a 2008 series of webisodes of the show,[10] and wrote the NBC.com web series In Gayle We Trust.[11]

He also wrote the screenplay for the 1996 film The Stupids.[12] Forrester is writing the film The Low Self Esteem of Lizzie Gillespie with Mindy Kaling,[13] and a sitcom pilot for Ron Howard.[14]

Forrester also voiced Leon the Drug Addict in the episode of King of the Hill "Junkie Business".

In May 2012, he became an executive producer for the final season of The Office.[15] In 2014, Netflix announced a two-season comedy series entitled Love co-created by director Judd Apatow, Paul Rust, and Lesley Arfin, with Forrester as executive producer.[16] In 2019–2020 Forrester is executive producer of Space Force directed by Greg Daniels and starring Steve Carell.[17]

Writing credits

The Simpsons written episodes

Forrester has written (or co-written) the following episodes:

Mr. Show written episodes

Forrester has co-written (with Dino Stamatopoulos) the following sketches from the following episodes:

  • "The Return of the Curse of the Creature's Ghost" (December 5, 1997) [sketch: "Pre-Taped Call-In Show"]
  • "Rudy Will Await Your Foundation" (November 9, 1998) [sketch: "Audition"]

Undeclared written episode

Forrester co-wrote (with Judd Apatow) the following episode:

  • "The Perfect Date" (February 19, 2002)

The Office written episodes

Forrester has written or co-written the following episodes:

  1. "The Merger" (November 16, 2006) - Season 3
  2. "Business School" (February 15, 2007) - Season 3
  3. "Product Recall" co-written with Justin Spitzer (April 26, 2007) - Season 3
  4. "Did I Stutter?" co-written with Justin Spitzer (May 1, 2008) - Season 4
  5. "Business Trip" (November 13, 2008) - Season 5
  6. "Blood Drive" (March 5, 2009) - Season 5
  7. "Mafia" (October 15, 2009) - Season 6
  8. "New Leads" (March 18, 2010) - Season 6
  9. "The Search" (February 3, 2011) - Season 7
  10. "Work Bus" (October 18, 2012) - Season 9
  11. "A.A.R.M." (May 9, 2013) - Season 9

Love written episodes

Forrester has written or co-written the following episodes:

  • "One Long Day" (February 19, 2016) - with Lesley Arfin and Paul Rust
  • "The Table Read" (February 19, 2016)

Directing credits

The Office directed episodes

Forrester has directed the following episodes:

  1. "Casual Friday" (April 30, 2009) - Season 5
  2. "New Leads" (March 18, 2010) - Season 6
  3. "Test the Store" (March 1, 2012) - Season 8
  4. "The Target" (November 29, 2012) - Season 9

References

  1. ^ a b Stefanos, Mark (February 26, 2026). "Comedy Q&A: Brent Forrester on How 'Simpsons' Writers Predict the Future". LA Weekly. Retrieved March 10, 2026. Born in Los Angeles...[Forrester] scored his first Comedy Writing Emmy for 'The Ben Stiller Show' at just 25.
  2. ^ a b "The Core Had a Huge Impact on Mayor Tim Kelly '89". Columbia College Today. December 9, 2021. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  3. ^ "Brent Forrester". Television Academy. Retrieved March 10, 2026.
  4. ^ a b c Pressman, Matt (February 12, 2009). "The Office: Tricks of the Comedy-Writing Trade". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 19, 2009.
  5. ^ Mirkin, David. (2005) Commentary for "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", in The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  6. ^ Groening, Matt (2005). The Simpsons season 6 DVD commentary for the episode "Lemon of Troy" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  7. ^ Weinstein, Josh (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Seventh Season DVD commentary for the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  8. ^ Forrester, Brent (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Homerpalooza" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  9. ^ Nollinger, Mark (January 16, 1998). "All hail the Kingmakers". The Courier Mail. p. 006. Archived from the original on November 6, 2024.
  10. ^ Burke, Bill (July 9, 2008). "'Office' supplies summer fun in Webisodes". Boston Herald.
  11. ^ Slusser, Richard; Torrance, Kelly Jane (September 16, 2009). "Arts Etc. Tuning In To TV - Webisodes premiere". The Washington Times. p. B06.
  12. ^ Hartl, John (August 31, 1996). "'Stupids' Has A Lot Of Stupid Violence". The Seattle Times. p. F7.
  13. ^ "Kaling in movie mode". The Boston Globe. December 2, 2009. p. 16.
  14. ^ "Fox Greenlights Ron Howard Pilot". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. January 28, 2010.
  15. ^ "Dan Sterling & Brent Forrester Named Executive Producers On NBC's 'The Office'". Deadline Hollywood. May 21, 2012. Archived from the original on December 18, 2014.
  16. ^ "Netflix Nabs Judd Apatow Comedy Series With 2-Season Order; Paul Rust & Gillian Jacobs To Star, Legendary TV To Produce". Deadline Hollywood. September 16, 2014.
  17. ^ Rabinowitz, Dorothy (May 28, 2020). "'Space Force' Review: Out of This World Office". Wall Street Journal.
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