Andy Cowan is an award-winning writer/producer/performer associated with 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 ...Show More
Andy Cowan is an award-winning writer/producer/performer associated with 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 by the Writers Guild of America in 2013 (101 Best Written TV Series). Credits include Cheers (multiple episodes), Seinfeld, 3rd Rock From the Sun (both staff) and numerous other comedies and talk/variety shows among his writing credits. He began his Hollywood career as a segment producer, writer and performer on The Merv Griffin Show during the '80s, and interviewed hundreds of luminaries, from Orson Welles to Jerry Seinfeld. He produced, wrote and hosted his CableACE award-winning 60 Minutes send-up, 6 Minutes, for Showtime, drawing kudos from 60 Minutes' own creator, Don Hewitt. He's written several feature scripts and over half a dozen original pilots (and hosted some) including several for Fox and CBS, wrote for Ellen DeGeneres' prime time Emmy-hosting stint, has performed in comedy clubs throughout the country, jazz clubs throughout Los Angeles, and as a voiceover artist on Seinfeld, 3rd Rock, Lucas Films' Star Wars, Dark Empire I & II audio books, Hollywood's Best Film Directors, HBO Europe, Ovation Channel, the Audio Inc. audiobook, Tales from the Oklahoma Sooners Sidelines, and many other projects. He regularly contributes humor pieces to multiple publications, including the L.A. Times, Salon The New Yorker, Prospect Magazine, Reader's Digest wrote for MyFM in Los Angeles and the Jack FM Radio Network from 2007-'10, and has written nearly 300 comic panels (one was featured on NBC's Meet the Press) for King Features' Bizarro, in over 300 newspapers worldwide, the winner of three consecutive National Cartoonists Society "Best Cartoon Panel" awards and its highest honor winner in 2011, and written over 40 panels for King Features' Rhymes with Orange panel. He wrote and performed Hitchin' on the Highway of Life, a semi-finalist in the 2008 UK Songwriting Contest, top 20 finalist in the 2007 and 2008 Unisong International Songwriting Competitions, 2007 Song of the Year "Suggested Artist" and "Honorable Mention" winner, recipient of a 2007 The Great American Song Contest Honor Award, and selected for placement in two motion pictures, including the 2008 short comedy feature he wrote and appears in, Knocked Down, an official selection in the 2008 San Fernando Valley International Film Festival, 2009 Show Us Your Shorts Film Festival, 2009 Cut! Film Festival, and 2009 Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival - Winner of Best Comedy. In 2010, his comedy talk show, Up & Down Guys, upanddownguys.com, premiered on KPFK 90.7 FM, Los Angeles. Opposite Andy, a comedy hybrid in development with Steel Wool Media in which he plays the lead, centers on his exploits tackling "the opposite" in his own life, the theme of an acclaimed top ten Seinfeld episode he wrote. He wrote, produced and hosted the hour 2011 comedy talk show pilot, Another Talk Show! with Andy Cowan, featuring guests, Jason Alexander and Sheila Raye Charles. He is the head writer and a performer in the comedy sketch show pilot, The Middle Ages, Delevie Productions, 2013. In 2014: Creator/writer/EP/lead in the half hour comedy web series pilot, Wannabes, StoryArc New Media, FirstRun.TV, and creator/writer/lead/producer on the comedy pilot, Our Time is Up, Cindi Rice EP. His memoir, Banging My Head Against The Wall: A Comedy Writer's Guide to Seeing Stars, with foreword by Jay Leno, will be released in 2017 by New York Publisher, Library Tales. Profiled in Who's Who in America, he earned his Master's Degree in Broadcasting from Boston University and began his broadcasting career in radio and TV news in Pennsylvania. Hide
