J. Stewart Burns
Joseph Stewart Burns, better known as J. Stewart Burns, is a television writer and producer most notable for his work on The Simpsons, Futurama, and Unhappily Ever After.[1] Burns attended Harvard University, where he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.[2]
Noted in the DVD commentaries of "The Deep South" and "Roswell That Ends Well", Burns has an M.A. in Mathematics from UC Berkeley, where he studied under John Rhodes. Burns is partly credited for The Simpsons’ inclusion of a number of complex mathematical concepts and jokes within the series.[3][4][5][1]
Burns was famously referenced in a 1993 Newsweek article about his decision to jump from pursuing a graduate degree in mathematics to writing comedy: "You could read the entire story of American decline in that one career move."[6]
Burns got his start by writing for Beavis and Butthead.[7] Since then, he has written for The Simpsons, Futurama, and Unhappily Ever After.
Burns has won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animation Program four times - for Futurama in 2002, and for The Simpsons in 2006, 2008 and 2019.[8][9][10]
Aside from writing on the original series, Burns also wrote the script for the Futurama video game as well as one of the Spyro games. Burns developed and has served as the game runner of The Simpsons: Tapped Out[11] since its inception.
Burns lives in Los Angeles and is married to screenwriter Lillian Yu.
Writing credits
The Simpsons episodes
- "Moe Baby Blues" (2003)
- "The Way We Weren't" (2004)
- "There's Something About Marrying" (2005)
- "The Monkey Suit" (2006)
- "Homerazzi" (2007)
- "Marge Gamer" (2007)
- "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" (2007)
- "Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'oh" (2009)
- "Holidays of Future Passed" (2011)
- "The D'oh-cial Network" (2012)
- "What Animated Women Want" (2013)
- "Steal This Episode" (2014)
- "Days of Future Future" (2014)
- "Simpsorama" (2014)
- "Every Man's Dream" (2015)
- "Puffless" (2015)
- "Fland Canyon" (2016)
- "Friends and Family" (2016)
- "Dogtown" (2017)
- "Flanders' Ladder" (2018)
- "Treehouse of Horror XXX" (2019)
- "The Miseducation of Lisa Simpson" (2020)
- "Screenless" (2020)
Futurama episodes
- "My Three Suns" (1999)
- "Mars University" (1999)
- "A Head in the Polls" (1999)
- "The Deep South" (2000)
- "The Cryonic Woman" (2000)
- "Roswell That Ends Well" (2002)
- "Where the Buggalo Roam" (2002)
- "Neutopia" (2011)
Unhappily Ever After episodes
- "Meter Maid"
- "Getting More Than Some"
- "College!"
- "Experimenting in College"
- "Making the Grade"
- "Teacher's Pet"
- "Excorsising Jennie"
- "Shampoo"
- "Rock 'n' Roll"
- "Lightning Boy"
- "The Tell-Tale Lipstick"
- "Jack The Ripper"
- "The Great Depression"
- "The Rat"
References
- Alexander, Amir (2014-01-27). "Examining the Square Root of D'oh!". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- https://www.ipam.ucla.edu/programs/public-lectures-events/the-calculus-of-comedy-math-in-the-simpsons-futurama-and-the-big-bang-theory/?tab=bios
- Siddique, Ashik (2013-11-04). "The Simpsons has been tricking you into learning maths for decades". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- "The Calculus of Comedy: Math in The Simpsons, Futurama, and The Big Bang Theory (Bios)". IPAM. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- Nuwer, Rachel. ""The Simpsons" Has Been Secretly Teaching Its Fans Complicated Math". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- http://www.newsweek.com/go-harvard-write-jokes-make-194354 1993 Newsweek article
- http://www.newsweek.com/go-harvard-write-jokes-make-194354 1993 Newsweek article
- "J. Stewart Burns". Television Academy. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- Milligan, Mercedes (2019-09-15). "Creative Arts Emmys: 'Simpsons' Reclaims Animation Crown". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- "'The Simpsons,' 'Love, Death & Robots' Take Home Animation Emmy Awards". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
- "How the Mobile Game Tapped Out Brought Old Simpsons Fans Back Into the Fold". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-04-20.