Joe Keenan, Emmy award-winning writer and producer (Frasier), has won the 2007 Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel My Lucky Star. From the official release:
Keenan is the author of two previous comic novels, Blue Heaven and Putting on the Ritz. He was a writer for Frasier; and his first produced script for that series, titled "The Matchmaker," received an Emmy Award nomination, a GLAAD Media Award and the 1995 Writers' Guild Award for Episodic Comedy. He won a writing Emmy in 1996 for another episode of Frasier, and two additional Emmy nominations including one which won the 2001 Writers' Guild Award for Episodic Comedy. Keenan was with Frasier for six years, rising from executive story editor to co-producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer, and then executive producer. In 2007, he shared an Annie Award for best writing of an animated feature for "Flushed Away". He has written and produced several episodes of Desperate Housewives.
The two runners-up for the Thurber Prize were Bob Newhart for I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny and Merrill Markoe for Walking In Circles Before Lying Down.
Three esteemed judges selected the winner of this year's Thurber Prize for American Humor: humorist Bill Scheft, the former head monologue writer for the Late Show with David Letterman and 2006 Thurber Pirze finalist for his novel Time Won't Let Me; Melissa Bank, author of The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing; and Chuck Klosterman, whose latest book, Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, is a collection of his essays about music, television and sports, among other topics.
The Thurber Prize for American Humor was first presented in 1997 to Ian Frazier for his book Coyote vs. Acme. In 1999, the prize went to the editorial staff of the satirical magazine The Onion for Our Dumb Century; in 2001, to David Sedaris, best-selling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day. In 2004, the Prize was made an annual award and was given to Christopher Buckley for his comic novel, No Way to Treat a First Lady. In 2005, it was presented to Jon Stewart, Ben Karlin and David Javerbaum for America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction. Five-time Emmy winner Alan Zweibel won in 2006 for his novel, The Other Shulman.
Humor writing is a tough gig and Joe Keenan is more than deserving of the award.
