{{Short description|American television and film writer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{BLP sources|date=August 2015}} '''Jon Vitti''' is an American writer best known for his work on the [[television]] series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. He has also written for ''[[King of the Hill]]'', ''[[The Critic (TV series)|The Critic]]'', and ''[[The Office (American TV series)|The Office]]'', and has served as a screenwriter or consultant for several animated and live-action movies, including ''[[Ice Age (2002 film)|Ice Age]]'' (2002), ''[[Robots (2005 film)|Robots]]'' (2005), and ''[[Horton Hears a Who! (film)|Horton Hears a Who!]]'' (2008). He is one of the eleven writers of ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'' and also wrote the screenplays for the film adaptations ''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks (film)|Alvin and the Chipmunks]]'', its [[Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel|sequel]]; and ''[[The Angry Birds Movie]]''.
==Career== Vitti is a graduate of [[Harvard University]], where he was president of the ''[[Harvard Lampoon]]'' along with [[Mike Reiss]]. He was also very close with [[Conan O'Brien]] while at Harvard. Prior to joining ''The Simpsons'', he had a brief stint at ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', describing his experience on a DVD commentary as "a very unhappy year."
Vitti was among the earliest writers hired for ''The Simpsons'' in 1989; he is credited as a story editor for the show's first season alongside contributing numerous scripts. He would remain on the show's writing staff until his departure in 1993 - following the completion of the show's fourth season - following which he wrote for the HBO series ''[[The Larry Sanders Show]]''. Although he would contribute occasional scripts to ''The Simpsons'' throughout the following decade - most notably "[[Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily]]" - Vitti remained largely uninvolved with the series from the fifth to the twelfth season; he would ultimately return as a producer for seasons 13 and 15.
Beginning in its seventh season, he was also a writer for ''[[The Office (American TV series)|The Office]]''.
He is the fifth most prolific writer for ''The Simpsons''. His 25 episodes place him after [[John Swartzwelder]], who wrote 59 episodes, [[John Frink]] who has written 33, [[Tim Long]] who has written 30, and [[Matt Selman]] who has written 29.
Vitti has also used the pseudonym Penny Wise. Vitti used the pseudonym for episodes "[[Another Simpsons Clip Show]]" and "[[The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular]]" because he did not want to be credited for writing a [[clip show]] as expressed on ''Simpsons'' DVD commentaries (though his name was credited for writing the first Simpsons clip show "[[So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show]]").
On the season four ''Simpsons'' episode "[[The Front (The Simpsons)|The Front]]," Jon Vitti is caricatured as a Harvard graduate who gets fired from I&S Studios for penning mediocre episodes and gets hit on the head with a name plate by his boss, Roger Meyers.
==Personal life== His wife, Ann, is the sister of fellow ''Simpsons'' writer [[George Meyer]]<ref name="New Yorker">{{cite magazine|title=Taking Humour Seriously|first=David|last=Owen|magazine=[[The New Yorker]]|date=March 13, 2000}}</ref> (who was also a ''Saturday Night Live'' writer-turned-''Simpsons'' writer who did not like working on ''SNL''). He is a distant cousin of Los Angeles Lakers trainer Gary Vitti, award-winning author [[Jim Vitti]], and actor [[Michael Dante]] (the stage name of Ralph Vitti).
== Writing credits ==
===''The Simpsons'' episodes=== He is credited with writing the following episodes:
*"[[Bart the Genius]]" (1990) *"[[Homer's Night Out]]" (1990) *"[[The Crepes of Wrath]]" (with [[George Meyer]], [[Sam Simon]], and [[John Swartzwelder]]) (1990) *"[[Simpson and Delilah]]" (1990) *"[[Bart's Dog Gets an "F"]]{{-"}} (1991) *"[[Lisa's Substitute]]" (1991) *"[[When Flanders Failed]]" (1991) *"[[Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk]]" (1991) *"[[Radio Bart]]" (1992) *"[[Bart the Lover]]" (1992) *"[[Black Widower]]" (Teleplay) (1992) *"[[Treehouse of Horror III]]" (with [[Al Jean]], [[Mike Reiss]], [[Jay Kogen]], [[Wallace Wolodarsky]], and [[Sam Simon]]) (1992) *"[[Mr. Plow]]" (1992) *"[[Brother from the Same Planet]]" (1993) *"[[So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show]]" (1993) *"[[Cape Feare]]" (1993) *"[[Another Simpsons Clip Show]]" ''(credited as Penny Wise)'' (1994) *"[[Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily]]" (1995) *"[[The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular]]" ''(credited as Penny Wise)'' (1995) *"[[The Old Man and the Key]]" (2002) *"[[Weekend at Burnsie's]]" (2002) *"[[Little Girl in the Big Ten]]" (2002) *"[[Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays]]" (2004) *"[[Simple Simpson]]" (2004) *"[[Sleeping with the Enemy (The Simpsons)|Sleeping with the Enemy]]" (2004)
===''The Larry Sanders Show'' episodes=== *"Jeannie's Visit" *"Hank's Sex Tape" *"Larry's Sitcom" (Teleplay, with [[John Riggi]]) *"Everybody Loves Larry" *"Make a Wish" Vitti was nominated for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series|Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series]] for "Hank's Sex Tape" and "Everybody Loves Larry". He was also credited as co-executive producer for 30 of the 89 episodes.
===''The Critic'' episodes=== *"Dr Jay" *"Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice" *"I Can't Believe It's a Clip Show"
===''King of the Hill'' episodes=== *"[[King of the Hill (season 3)|Jon Vitti Presents: 'Return To La Grunta']]" *"[[Dog Dale Afternoon]]" *"[[Rodeo Days]]" *"[[Hank's Bad Hair Day]]" *"[[King of the Hill (season 5)|Hank's Choice]]"
===''The Office'' episodes=== *"[[Viewing Party]]" *"[[Garage Sale (The Office)|Garage Sale]]"
==Films== ===Screenwriter=== * ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'' (2007) (With [[James L. Brooks]], [[Matt Groening]], [[Al Jean]], [[Ian Maxtone-Graham]], [[George Meyer]], [[David Mirkin]], [[Mike Reiss]], [[Mike Scully]], [[Matt Selman]] and [[John Swartzwelder]]) * ''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks (film)|Alvin and the Chipmunks]]'' (2007) (With [[Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi]]) * ''[[Surviving Sid]]'' (2008) (Short film) (With [[Mike Reiss]] and Yoni Brenner) * ''[[Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel]]'' (2009) (With [[Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger]]) * ''[[The Angry Birds Movie]]'' (2016)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shaw |first=Lucas |date=2013-05-25 |title='The Simpsons' writer Jon Vitti to script 'Angry Birds' movie |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-simpsons-writer-jon-vitti-to-script-angry-birds-movie/2013/05/23/1c6dd3d6-c23e-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html |access-date=2023-01-30 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> * ''[[Fixed (film)|Fixed]]'' (2025) (With [[Genndy Tartakovsky]])
===Consultant=== * ''[[Ice Age (2002 film)|Ice Age]]'' (2002) (story consultant) * ''[[Robots (2005 film)|Robots]]'' (2005) * ''[[Horton Hears a Who! (film)|Horton Hears a Who!]]'' (2008) (story consultant)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0900140}} * [http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710120351/http%3A//www.snpp.com/other/interviews/vitti91.html Jon Vitti interview]
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