This week, The Simpsons lost a brilliant writer and creative, who penned a dozen episodes of the long-running Fox series and produced a slew of others over the course of 15 years. After a lengthy illness, The Simpsons writer and produce Kevin Curran passed away at his home in Los Angeles. He was 59 years old.
The comedy writer had a prolific career working for television. For the past 15 years he worked as a co-executive producer on The Simpsons on Fox; prior to that he worked as a producer and a writer on Unhappily Ever After and the popular sitcom Married with Children. His early career was spent writing for The Late Show with David Letterman, which garnered him several Emmy Awards. THR also credits him with pitching and writing the very first "Top 10" list on the late night show, a list about words that almost rhyme with peas.
Over at The Simpsons, Kevin Curran is credited with writing several episodes of the sitcom, including episodes that aired during recent seasons of the long-running comedy. Among these are "The Winter of His Content," an episode about people from the Retirement Castle moving in, leading Homer to get excited about retirement activities. Another example of an episode Kevin Curran wrote is the amusingly titled "The Greatest Story Ever D'Ohed," which featured cameo voice work from Sacha Baron Cohen and Yael Naim. That episode aired back in 2010.
Showrunner Al Jean, who had known Kevin Curran since Harvard in the 1970s, spoke out on Twitter about his co-workers passing, noting:
Simpsons producer Mike Scully also had some articulate things to say about his very cynical and hilarious friend:
Kevin Curran was in a previous relationship with Bridget Jones' Diary writer Helen Fielding. He leaves behind their two children, Dashiell and Romy.
It's always hard when a show loses a creative mind to an illness, especially one who has been with a series for quite a long time. Kevin Curran capably contributed to The Simpsons for a good chunk of the show's run, and his humor will be missed. Our hearts go out to his family at home and his family at work during this difficult time.
