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Draft:Matt Wickline

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Matt Wickline
Born (1962-04-28) April 28, 1962 (age 62)
Mentor, Ohio, U.S.
Alma materOhio University
Occupations
  • Creator
  • showrunner
  • director
  • producer
  • writer
Years active1983–present
Spouse
Marcy Hardart
​
(m. 1996)​
Children3, including Jane

Matthew "Matt" John Wickline (born April 28th, 1962) is an Emmy Award-winning American television writer, producer, director, and actor best known for being a longtime member of the writing staff for Late Night With David Letterman and for writing for In Living Color, where he created the hit character Homey D. Clown, portrayed by Damon Wayans. He went on to write for Martin, The Jamie Foxx Show, and co-create The Hughleys and Frank TV.

Throughout his career, Wickline was nominated for 11 Emmys and won four.

Early life

[edit]

Matt Wickline grew up in Willowick, Ohio as one of four brothers and the son to William and Elva Wickline. William was the President of the US division of the television antenna company Kathrein[1]. Matt Wickline attended Eastlake North High School and Ohio University.[2]

Career

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After college, he interned at Late Night with David Letterman and started submitting jokes to David Letterman at the suggestion of his boss. When several of the show's writers left in 1983 to write for The New Show, Wickline joined Late Night's writing staff, serving as a member for what critics would call the program's "creative peak."[3][4] He stayed in his position for seven years, occasionally acting in bit parts on the show. Although he didn't create the show's famous Top Ten List segment, Wickline did write the first installment.[5] Wickline quickly became writing partners and best friends with Chris Elliott, another staff member who was promoted to writer in 1983 and one of the only non-Harvard alum writers on the show at the time[6][7]. Wickline and Elliott co-wrote all of Elliott's character bits on the show, including his series of "Guy" characters, The Guy Under The Seats, The Fugitive Guy, The Panicky Guy, The Conspiracy Guy, and The Regulator Guy.[2][8][6]

Wickline and Elliott pitched Late Night's first theme show, an Emmy-winning hour-long interactive episode called "The Custom-Made Show[9] [4][6], leading the program to do a series of ambitious experimental one-off episodes. Wickline pitched two notable theme shows that were developed but never made it to air: an episode entirely in Claymation that the network deemed too expensive [2] and the first talk show filmed underwater, which Letterman canceled due to neck pain after a run-through with a scuba diver in a pool in New Jersey. [4] While at Late Night, Wickline, Elliott, and fellow writer Sandy Frank worked on nights and weekends to write Elliott's critically-acclaimed[10][7] Cinemax Comedy Experiment TV specials FDR: A One-Man Show and Action Family together, with Wickline making his directorial debut on the former. While at the show, Wickline and Elliott had a falling-out and ceased working together, with Wickline frustrated with Elliott's lust for stardom.[4] Elliott switched to collaborating with another writer, Adam Resnick, on his character bits on the show and subsequent projects.

Wickline departed Late Night in 1990, amidst a major turnover in the show's writing roster, to join the original staff of In Living Color. Along with longtime Late Night writer Joe Toplyn, he joined In Living Color following its pilot episode.[11] At the show, Wickline created Damon Wayans's breakout character Homey D. Clown[12][13], based on Paul Mooney's behavior in the writer's room.[14] Homey D. Clown was one of the series' most famous characters, and even spawned his own video game and a planned feature film starring Wayans that was shut down by its studio Fox in the early 2000s just two days before filming was set to begin.[15] Along with many members of the writing staff, Wickline left the show after the first season, though he would return to direct sketches in season two.[15] He joined Martin Lawrence's Fox sitcom Martin as a writer and co-executive producer, hired by his In Living Color collaborator, Martin creator John Bowman. In 1995, Wickline and Frank co-created the short-lived Comedy Central medical drama spoof The Clinic, in which they cast Adam West as the lead after being fans of the cult classic pilot Lookwell.[16] Wickline then co-created The Show, a sitcom focused on the only white writer on a black TV sketch show and based on Wickline and co-creator John Bowman's time at In Living Color and Martin.[17] After the demise of those series, he wrote for The Jamie Foxx Show for a season.

In 1998, Wickline and D.L. Hughley co-created the sitcom The Hughleys as a starring vehicle for the comedian.[18] The series ran for four seasons and 89 episodes on ABC and UPN. Next, Wickline developed sitcoms that didn't make it to air at NBC and The WB centered on standups Joe Matarese[19][20] and Cedric the Entertainer[21] before reuniting with frequent collaborator John Bowman to co-create two TV sketch shows that did make it to air alongside their comedian-stars: Cedric the Entertainer Presents with Cedric the Entertainer and Frank TV with Frank Caliendo.

Filmography

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Year Title Creator Director Showrunner Writer Executive Producer Notes
1983-1990 Late Night with David Letterman No No No Yes No
1987 Action Family No No No Yes No TV special;
Co-written with Chris Elliott and Sandy Frank
FDR: A One-Man Show No Yes No Yes No TV special;
Co-written with Chris Elliott and Sandy Frank
1990-1991 In Living Color No Yes No Yes No
1991 Good Sports No No No Yes No
1993 Homey D. Clown No No No Character Homey D. Clown created by No Video game
1993-1995 Martin No No No Yes Co-executive producer
1995 The Clinic Yes No Yes Yes Yes Co-created with Sandy Frank and Mark Drop
1996 The Show Developer No Yes Yes Co-executive producer Co-created with John Bowman
1996-1997 The Jamie Foxx Show No No Yes No No
1998 Blasto No No Yes No No Video game
1998-2002 The Hughleys Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Co-created with D.L. Hughley
2001 Cedric the Coach Yes No Yes Yes Yes TV pilot;
Co-created with John Bowman
2002-03 Cedric the Entertainer Presents Yes No Yes Yes Yes Co-created with Cedric the Entertainer and John Bowman
2005 Barbershop No Yes No No Co-executive producer
2007-2008 Frank TV Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Co-created with Frank Caliendo and John Bowman
2010-2013 Pair of Kings No No Yes Yes Yes
2013 The Garcias Have Landed No Yes No No No TV pilot

Personal life

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On February 17th, 1996, Wickline married Marcy Hardart[22][23], whom he met when he was writing at Late Night and she was Lorne Michaels's assistant at Saturday Night Live. Hardart switched from entertainment to a career as a pediatrician[24]. They have three children together, including SNL cast member Jane Wickline.

Awards

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As a member of Late Night's writing staff, Wickline won four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program in 1984, 1985, 1986, and 1987. He was nominated for an additional seven Emmys for his work on Late Night and In Living Color.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "William Wickline Obituary (2007) - Mentor, OH - Cleveland.com". Legacy.com.
  2. ^ a b c "The 'Ghoul'-ish Cleveland underpinnings of 'Late Night with David Letterman'". Ideastream Public Media.
  3. ^ Bonanos, Christopher (March 6, 2017). "Revisiting David Letterman's 1987 Writers Room". Vulture.
  4. ^ a b c d Zinoman, Jason (2024-12-07) [2017]. Letterman: The Last Giant Of Late Night. Harper. ISBN 9780062377241.
  5. ^ Abrams, Brian (September 26, 2014). "Inside the Confusing Origins of David Letterman's Top Ten List". Vulture.
  6. ^ a b c Tribune, Chicago (September 8, 1985). "12 WHO MAKE SURE LETTERMAN GETS THE LAUGHS".
  7. ^ a b LLC, New York Media (January 19, 1987). "New York Magazine". New York Media, LLC – via Google Books.
  8. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/02/07/chris-elliotts-ascent-into-madness/3e763b10-bfc9-4cc7-b019-ed1ff72f3fef/
  9. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20241122120409/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/arts/comedy-special-danny-jolles-vishnu-akella.html
  10. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/02/07/action-family-an-inspired-absurdity-on-cinemax/8664b80f-f8da-4593-a538-7d0a8a5f5972/
  11. ^ "Flying Color". Television Academy.
  12. ^ Cheney-Rice, Zak (July 6, 2022). "Larry Wilmore Knows No Bounds". Vulture.
  13. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20230128054858/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/in-living-color-helped-pave-the-way-for-todays-cultural-pacesetters/article38055529/
  14. ^ "Damon Wayans on the inspiration behind Homey D. Clown, 'Men On…' and more". April 14, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Peisner, David (2024-12-09) [2018]. Homey Don't Play That!: The Story of In Living Color and the Black Comedy Revolution. 37 INK. ISBN 9781501143359.
  16. ^ Tribune, Chicago (August 17, 1995). "EX-BATMAN ADAM WEST HEADS CAST OF SOAP SPOOF".
  17. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1996/03/17/the-show/1d7a720f-d3e0-431a-8053-71c670f110cb/
  18. ^ Richmond, Ray (September 18, 1998). "The Hughleys".
  19. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20220926011036/https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/joe-matarese-comedian
  20. ^ Adalian, Michael Schneider,Josef (December 11, 2000). "Overbrook turns on TV".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Adalian, Josef (May 30, 2001). "'Coach,' 'Plum' head to WB".
  22. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/18/style/weddings-marcella-hardart-matthew-wickline.html
  23. ^ "Bronxville Review Press and Reporter 22 February 1996 — HRVH Historical Newspapers". news.hrvh.org.
  24. ^ "Doctors". TENTH STREET PEDIATRICS.
  25. ^ "Matt Wickline". Television Academy.
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Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:American male television actors Category:American male television writers Category:Writers from Ohio Category:Ohio University alumni Category:Screenwriters from Ohio

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