David X. Cohen
David X. Cohen | |
---|---|
Period | 1992–present |
Genre | Comedy |
Spouse | Betty Cohen |
Children | 1 |
David Samuel Cohen (born July 13, 1966), better known as David X. Cohen, is an American television writer. He began working on Beavis and Butt-Head, has written for The Simpsons, and served as the head writer, showrunner and executive producer of Futurama and a producer of Disenchantment.
Early life
Cohen was born in
Cohen graduated from
In high school, Cohen wrote in MOS 6502 assembly language, an Apple II compiler, and computer game, and unsuccessfully tried to publish the latter through Broderbund.[6] His most notable academic publication concerned the theoretical computer science problem of pancake sorting.[7]
Writing career
After three years of graduate school, Cohen took a leave of absence and started writing sample TV scripts. In 1992, this landed him a job writing two of the earliest
Futurama
Cohen co-developed Futurama, along with The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Cohen served as head writer, executive producer, showrunner, and voice director of the series. He was also the voice director of the Futurama video game. After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with Cohen in 1997 and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000.[12] By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and storylines; Groening claimed they had "gone overboard" in their discussions.[12] Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of [his] grown-up life".[13] The show premiered on March 28, 1999.
After four years on the air, the series was canceled by Fox. In a situation similar to the animated
Comedy Central picked up the show for 26 new half-hour episodes that began airing in mid-2010.[18][19][20]
Cohen told Newsday in August 2009 that the reported 26-episode order means "[i]t will be up to 26. I can't guarantee it will be 26. But I think there's a pretty good chance it'll be exactly 26. Fox has been a little bit cagey about it, even internally. But nobody's too concerned. We're plunging ahead."[21] Two episodes were in the process of being voice-recorded at that time, with an additional "six scripts ... in the works, ranging in scale from 'it's a crazy idea that someone's grandmother thought of' to 'it's all on paper'. ..."The first episode is tentatively titled 'Rebirth' — and in a surprisingly literal fashion, as things turn out". It aired June 24 on Comedy Central.[21]
Cohen designed one of the robots in the robot strip club which he said was "his one artistic contribution to the show". The robot's waist gyrated sexily using a
He makes some brief cameo appearances in cartoon form, first in the Futurama episode "A Bicyclops Built for Two", along with several other people who worked on the show, and second on "I Dated a Robot" as a member of the eBay audience. Both appearances are pointed out during DVD commentaries.[citation needed]
Name change
When the FOX primetime animated shows unionized in 1998, Cohen was forced to use a different name for professional purposes, as there was already another member credited as
Writing credits
Cohen is credited with writing or co-writing the following episodes:
Disenchantment
- "For Whom the Pig Oinks" (2018)
- "Stairway To Hell" (2019)
Futurama
- "Space Pilot 3000" (with Matt Groening) (1999)
- "Xmas Story" (1999)
- "Anthology of Interest I" (Part 3) (2000)
- "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" (shared story credits with Jeff Westbrook) (2001)
- "Anthology of Interest II" (Part 2) (2002)
- "The Why of Fry" (2003)
- Bender's Big Score (story with Ken Keeler) (2008)
- The Beast with a Billion Backs (story with Eric Kaplan) (2008)
- Bender's Game (both story and part 4 of the teleplay) (2009)
- Into the Wild Green Yonder (story with Ken Keeler; Parts 1 & 4) (2009)
- "Rebirth" (2010)
- "Free Will Hunting" (2012)
The Simpsons
- "Treehouse of Horror V" ("Nightmare Cafeteria") (1994)
- "Lisa the Vegetarian" (1995)
- "Treehouse of Horror VI" ("Homer3") (1995)
- "22 Short Films About Springfield" (co-contributor) (1996)
- "Much Apu About Nothing" (1996)
- "Treehouse of Horror VII" ("Citizen Kang") (1996)
- "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show" (1997)
- "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" ("Chief Wiggum, P.I.") (1997)
- "Treehouse of Horror VIII" ("Fly vs. Fly") (1997)
- "Lisa the Skeptic" (1997)
- "Das Bus" (1998)
- "Bart the Mother" (1998)
- "Treehouse of Horror IX" ("Starship Poopers") (1998)
- "Podcast News" (2020)
Beavis and Butt-head
- "Couch Fishing"[25]
- "Plate Frisbee"
Cohen has also been credited with inventing the word "
See also
References
- ^ "I am David X. Cohen, head writer on FUTURAMA - AMA!". Reddit Ask Me Anything. July 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
- ^ David X. Cohen interview with frontwheeldrive.com Archived 2008-11-19 at the Wayback Machine; accessed February 6, 2007
- ^ Wills, Adam (22 July 2009). "Jews Get Geek on at Comic-Con". Jewish Journal.
- The Record (Bergen County). Archived from the originalon November 11, 2013.
After graduating from Englewood's Dwight Morrow High School, he headed off to Harvard.
- ^ David X. Cohen interview with gotfuturama.com; accessed February 6, 2007
- ^ Guizzo, Erico (2009-05-01). "The Truth About Bender's Brain". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
- .
- ^ Alaina G. Levine, "Profiles in Versatility: The Futurama of Physics with David X. Cohen", American Physical Society, May 2010 (access date March 18, 2013)
- ^ "David X. Cohen IMDB Page". IMDb.
- ^ "Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Futurama Page".
- ^ "Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Simpsons Page".
- ^ a b Needham, Alex (October 1999). "Nice Planet...We'll Take It!". The Face (33). Archived from the original on August 24, 2000.
- ^ Doherty, Brian (March–April 1999). "Matt Groening". Mother Jones. Retrieved January 14, 2007.
- ^ Katz, Claudia (2007-11-16). "Claudia Katz on Futurama the Movie: Bender's Big Score" (Interview). Interviewed by Evan Jacobs. Archived from the original on 2008-12-16. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (2006-04-26). "Matt Groening". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ Wortham, Jenna (2008-11-04). "Futurama Animators Roll 20-Sided Die With Bender's Game". Wired. Retrieved 2009-02-28.
- ^ Leopold, Todd (2009-02-26). "Matt Groening looks to the future". CNN.com. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (2009-06-09). "It's official: 'Futurama' is reborn!". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2009-06-09.
- ^ "'Futurama' Returns to Production with an initial order of 26 New Episodes to Premiere Mid 2010". Press Central Comedy Central Press Release. 2009-06-10. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2009-06-24.
- ^ Goldman, Eric (2009-06-09). "Futurama Return Made Official". IGN. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
- ^ a b Lovece, Frank. "'Futurama' finds a new future on Comedy Central", Newsday, August 28, 2009 (posted online August 27, 2009)
- ^ "IMDB Page for David Steven Cohen". IMDb.
- ^ Cohen, David X. "UGO Networks" (Interview). Interviewed by David Robert Epstein.
- The Star Ledger. p. 33.
- ^ Simon Rodgers (2 November 2012). ""Beavis and Butt-Head" Couch-Fishing (TV Episode 1993)". IMDb. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
- ^ Oakley, Bill (2005). The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
- ^ a b "cromulent definition". Reference.com. Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English. Retrieved 2009-03-04.
External links
- David X. Cohen at IMDb
- IGN Interview With David X. Cohen
- Interview with David X. Cohen about the return of Futurama
- An Interview About Math in Futurama with David X. Cohen, by Dr. Sarah Greenwald
- Levine, Alaina G. "Profiles in Versatility: The Futurama of Physics with David X. Cohen". American Physics Society. Retrieved June 10, 2012.