Andy Cowan

Andy Cowan (born Andrew Glenn Cowan)^[1] is an American writer and script consultant for television and other media, including two of the five best television series of all time, as compiled in 2012 by ABC News and People magazine, and the number two and number eight best written series as voted on by the Writers Guild of America in 2013 (101 Best Written TV Series). He's hosted the radio comedy talk show, Up & Down Guys, on KPFK 90.7 FM in Los Angeles.^[2] He has appeared on several television shows, and hosted the hour-long talk show pilot, Another Talk Show! with Andy Cowan, featuring Jason Alexander and Sheila Raye Charles.^[3] and was guest commentator on KTTV's Good Day L.A. He has written humor columns for the Los Angeles Times newspaper and magazine, Salon,^[4] special material for The New Yorker, and several songs, one of which won international song contest nods. He's a voiceover artist, and sings in jazz clubs throughout Los Angeles.^[5]

Biography

Cowan received a master's degree in broadcasting from Boston University and began his broadcasting career in radio and TV news in Pennsylvania.^[6]

Career

After gaining media experience in Pennsylvania radio and TV stations, Cowan moved to Los Angeles, writing scripts for several comedy television shows. He gained greater exposure with The Merv Griffin Show during the 1980s, where he wrote, assisted in producing segments, and appeared on-air. He interviewed hundreds of guests, including Jerry Seinfeld and Orson Welles. For the cable TV channel Showtime, he produced, wrote and hosted the 1990 short 6 Minutes,^[7] a spoof of the popular 60 Minutes. That segment won a CableACE Award in 1991.^[8] In 1996 Variety named him one of "50 Creatives to Watch." At the 2009 Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival, Cowan received the Best Comedy Award for the short film, Knocked Down, which he wrote and appears in. He was writing consultant on Prego, best comedy short film at the 2015 Manhattan Film Festival. Cowan has performed in comedy clubs throughout the country.^[9] His voice has been used on audiobooks for the Star Wars audiobook series, as narrator on the Audible Inc. audiobook, Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sidelines, and in TV show voiceovers, including as narrator on Hollywood's Best Film Directors. He has written for MyFM in Los Angeles and wrote for the Jack FM network from 2007 to 2010. He has written 300 panels for the award-winning worldwide syndicated newspaper comic strip [[Bizarro]] in collaboration with Dan Piraro, one of which was featured on NBC's Meet the Press, over 40 panels for the syndicated newspaper comic strip Rhymes with Orange in collaboration with Hilary B. Price, and several for the award-winning British current affairs magazine, Prospect magazine and Reader's Digest.

Cowan's songwriting work includes ... Hitchin' on the Highway of Life (music, lyrics, vocals by Andy Cowan, guitar arrangement by Marty Rifkin, award-winning session musician for Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Jewel) ^[10] recipient of five international songwriting nods and featured in Knocked Down ... And 20th Century Man (music, lyrics, vocals) the theme to Another Talk Show! with Andy Cowan and Our Time is Up with Andy Cowan (host, writer, producer).^[11][12]

Cowan's television writing work includes "The Opposite", one of the top ten Seinfeld episodes.^[13]

In 2016, author/columnist, CNN anchor and radio host, Michael Smerconish, devoted a Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer column ^[14] to Cowan's takes on Donald Trump's opposite approach to running for president, and interviewed Cowan on his SiriusXM show ^[15] about Trump possibly becoming Cowan's epitaph, for which Cowan, as reported in TV Guide's TV Insider, apologized.^[16]

iN 2017, Cowan received a Marquis Who's Who in America Lifetime Achievement Award.

His memoir, Banging My Head Against the Wall: A Comedy Writer's Guide to Seeing Stars, with a foreword by Jay Leno, was released by Black Rose Writing June 28, 2018. Media interviews included KCAL-CBS TV Channel 9; Los Angeles; KTLA-TV Channel 5, Los Angeles; KABC Radio, Los Angeles; WGN Radio, Chicago; The Michael Smerconish Program, SiriusXM; and The Michael Harrison Interview and The Adam Carolla Show on Podcast One; and First Light on Westwood One.

Partial credits include:

• Cheers (3 episodes plus an additional story, 1985-1987) - (writer)
• Throb (1 episode, 1986) - (writer)
• Take Five aka The George Segal Show, (6 episodes, 1987) - (writer, story editor)
• The Pat Sajak Show (1989-1990) - (writer, performer)
• Into the Night (1990-1991) - (writer)
• Seinfeld (23 episodes, 1994-1995) - (writer, program consultant)^[17]
• Double Rush (12 episodes, 1994) - (writer, story editor)
• 3rd Rock from the Sun (16 episodes, 1995–96) - (writer, executive story consultant)
• The Merv Griffin Show 1981-86) - writer, segment producer, talent coordinator, performer)
• 6 Minutes (Showtime, 1990 short segment) - (producer, writer, host)
• My Talk Show (1990, 1991) - (writer)^[18]
• The Best Damn Sports Show Period (3 episodes, 2002) - (announcer)
• Only Human (1990) (CBS pilot, co-writer)
• Barely Fitz (1998) (CBS pilot, writer)
• Howie (2000) (Fox pilot, writer)
• Knocked Down (2008 short film) - (writer, actor, vocalist)^[19]
• Ellen DeGeneres - (writer for 2001 Emmy hosting)
• Phonees (2011 webisode series) - (writer, actor)^[20]
• Up & Down Guys (2010-'11 radio show, KPFK-FM, Los Angeles) - (creator, writer, co-host)
• Another Talk Show! with Andy Cowan (2011 pilot) - (executive producer, writer, host)
• Our Time is Up with Andy Cowan (2015 pilot) - (creator, writer, host)
• Wannabes (2016 pilot) - (Co-creator, writer, actor)
• Donald Trump is George as "The Opposite", The Michael Smerconish Program interview, SiriusXM, March 2016
• The Lost Sessions with Andy Cowan (2018 comedy docuseries pilot) - (co-creator, executive producer, lead)
• Die Job (2019 dark comedy feature) - (writer)

References

External links

• Andy Cowan on IMDb
• http://www.andycowan.net