Danny Simon was a comedy writer, who together with his brother,
Neil Simon, wrote for such classic 1950s television series as
Your Show of Shows (1950). It
was Danny who mentored his younger sibling and nicknamed him "Doc".
They worked together in radio in the late 1940s and then in television,
a period of their lives chronicled in
Neil Simon's 1993 play, "Laughter on
the 23rd Floor".
The brothers wrote not only for
Your Show of Shows (1950), 90 minutes of live original
comedy starring
Sid Caesar and
Imogene Coca, but also worked for
The Jackie Gleason Show (1952),
The Red Buttons Show (1952) and
The Phil Silvers Show (1955), in which Silvers portrayed the conniving Army Sgt.
Ernie Bilko.
While working on
Your Show of Shows (1950), the Simons collaborated with such writers as
Mel Brooks,
Larry Gelbart,
Sheldon Keller,
Mel Tolkin and later
Woody Allen, who once said,
"Everything I learned about comedy, I learned from Danny Simon".
When Neil grew dissatisfied with the restrictions of network TV and
left to write for the theater, Danny stayed in television as head
writer for NBC's
The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950). He later wrote for
The Danny Thomas Show (1953), starring
Danny Thomas;
Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and
The Facts of Life (1979); and provided material for many of
Joan Rivers
appearances on
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).
You Again?(1986)
What's Happening!!(1976)
Love, American Style(1969)
The Trouble with People(1972)
Diff'rent Strokes(1978)
The Sonny and Cher Show(1976)
The Mac Davis Show(1974)
One Day at a Time(1975)
The ABC Comedy Hour(1972)
Peter Loves Mary(1960)
The Facts of Life(1979)
The Kraft Music Hall(1967)
The New Phil Silvers Show(1963)
The Big Show(1980)
The Carol Burnett Show(1967)
The Danny Thomas Show(1953)
Adam's Radio Hour(2025)
The 57th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards(2005)as Self - In Memoriam
