HOLLYWOOD — A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled May 21 honoring television comedy writer and producer Michael Schur, who co-created “Parks and Recreation” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and created “The Good Place.”
Ted Danson, who starred in “The Good Place,” and Amy Poehler, who starred in “Parks and Recreation,” were among those joining Schur at the ceremony at 6150 Hollywood Blvd., between Argyle Avenue and Gower Street.
The ceremony coincided with the start of production of the second season of “A Man on the Inside,” the Netflix comedy Schur created that stars Danson as a retiree-turned-amateur private investigator.
“This is truly a surprising moment in my life,” Schur told the crowd. “To be honest, I was not aware that this was an honor that a writer could receive. TV writers get earnestly excited when the lunch order from Chipotle comes with free chips, so you can only imagine how overwhelming this was.”
The star is adjacent to the star of Jean Smart, star of the Max comedy “Hacks,” of which Schur is among the executive producers. Schur’s role as an executive producer gave him his third Emmy when it won for outstanding comedy series in September.
Schur won his first Emmy in 2002 when “Saturday Night Live” won for outstanding writing for a variety, music or comedy program. The nomination was the first of 21 for Schur.
He won his second Emmy in 2006 when “The Office” won for outstanding comedy series. Schur was among its producers.
Schur was born on Oct. 29, 1975, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and raised in West Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from Harvard University in 1997 after being a president of the humor publication The Harvard Lampoon.
He applied for a writing job with “Saturday Night Live” in 1997, but as he told Danson in a 2024 episode of the podcast, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” “They put us in pairs to walk around and meet the producers. I was walking around with this woman, and I remember very clearly thinking I’m never getting hired here because this woman is so much funnier than me and so obviously better for this job than I am.”
The woman was Tina Fey, who was hired, eventually becoming the show’s first female head writer and a “Weekend Update” anchor.
Schur was hired by “Saturday Night Live” in 1998. He became producer of “Weekend Update” in 2001. His first show in the new role was “Saturday Night Live’s” first episode after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Schur left SNL in 2004. He was a writer and producer of the NBC comedy “The Office” from its second episode, which aired on March 16, 2005, through 2008. He also appeared in 14 episodes as Mose Schrute, a cousin of salesman Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson).
Schur and Poehler are set to write the pilot for “Dig,” and will be among the executive producers of the Peacock comedy starring Poehler about four women working at an archeological dig in Greece who are at different crossroads in their lives and uncover a long-buried secret with the potential to rewrite history, finding themselves at the center of a high-stakes international conspiracy.
Poehler was a “Saturday Night Live” cast member for a portion of the time Schur was among its writer-producers.
