Kevin Bleyer, who won four writing Emmy Awards for his work on The daily showdied Sunday in a car accident, his family announced. He was 54 years old.
Bleyer was driving on a rural road in Millrift, Pa., where he owned a home, when he was killed, his publicist said. The Hollywood Reporter. No one else was injured.
Bleyer worked on the ABC late night show Politically incorrecthosted by Bill Maher, from 2000 until its cancellation in 2002 and wrote for Dennis Miller’s CNBC show during its single 2004-05 season before landing on Jon Stewart’s show. Daily show on Comedy Central in 2005.
He spent nine years as the program’s editor until 2013, while also writing for the 2006 and 2008 Oscars hosted by Stewart. He and others won Emmys for their work in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012 and were nominated four other times.
The Peabody and WGA Award winner also served as a writer and producer on the NBC show. Today show and as supervising producer for MSNBC Ronan Farrow on a daily basis; wrote a weekly column for The daily beast; And
reemerged as a voice for THE Onion radio news.
For scripted television, he wrote on the Disney+ series The good things — an adaptation of the book by Tom Wolfe — Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and well done Other important people and created and produced pilots for Disney Television Animation, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Showtime.
Born in Bethesda, Maryland, Bleyer grew up in Seattle and attended Stanford University. He has called New York home for the past 20 years.
He began his career as a playwright and assistant to Anna Deavere Smith at the Public Theater in New York and the Cort Theater on Broadway before moving to London, where he worked for journalist David Brancaccio on the international business affairs program at the London Bureau of Public Radio. Walk.
He was a co-author with Stewart and others on the 2010s. Earth: the book and author of another bestseller, 2012 I, the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America.
He also wrote with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson the 2013 book. How to Talk Kindly to a Sharkwhich recounted, among other adventures, their humanitarian mission to North Korea to negotiate the release of hostage Kenneth Bae.
As a speechwriter, Bleyer wrote for President Obama, contributing to his speeches at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinners. He also served for a time as deputy speechwriter for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Kevin Bleyer was a writer writer. For many years The daily show “Writing Obama’s WHCD speeches, his many books, and his work on numerous scripted dramas, Kevin could literally do it all,” actor and screenwriter Danny Strong said in a statement. I am completely in shock at his passing and my sadness is overwhelming. I already miss him a lot.
In 2013, Bleyer lived in Kyrgyzstan, where he produced Workshop 7the first political satirical news program in Central Asia. Upon his return, he co-founded Pilot Media Initiatives, which launches civic-focused media programs in democratically challenged countries. And he has produced and helped launch scripted, unscripted and political satire television shows in North Macedonia, Nigeria, Moldova, Kenya, Jordan and Estonia over the past decade.
“I have had the privilege of counting Kevin Bleyer as both a friend and working partner,” added producer Llewellyn Wells. “Whether developing a series pitch or sharing stories, Kevin brought the wit, the funny, the satire. But beneath that rare talent lived a man with depth, love and a sincere desire to leave the world better than he found it.
“Whether it’s working with the US State Department in Central Asia to provide political satire programs in that part of the world or providing biting and poignant takes on the situation. The daily show and many other programs, that’s exactly what Kevin did. He left the world a better place than he found it. The heavens shine brighter today, the earth has lost an angel.
Survivors include his wife, Nella; his father, Archie; his brother, Keith; his sister-in-law, Kelly; his nephew, Evan; and his niece, Lauren.
Donations in his memory may be made to the New York Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association or the ASPCA.
“Kevin spent his life finding the perfect words to make people laugh, think and see the world a little differently,” his wife said in a statement. “I was lucky to know the humor, curiosity, mischief and tenderness behind those words – and to be loved by a man who made my own world more joyful, more adventurous and infinitely more beautiful.”
Kevin Bleyer in Scotland in 2024.
Courtesy of the Bleyer family
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