Dan McGrath, the Emmy-winning comedy writer and producer who had two stints on The Simpsons before spending eight years on King of the Hill, has died. He was 61.
McGrath died Friday at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn after suffering a stroke, his sister, Gail Garabadian, told The Hollywood Reporter.
After writing and editing for The Harvard Lampoon, McGrath landed on Saturday Night Live in 1991 and worked on that show for two seasons, sharing an Emmy nomination in 1992 while frequently collaborating with Adam Sandler and Chris Farley.
McGrath received writing credit on 50 episodes of The Simpsons from 1992-94 and producing credit on 24 episodes from 1996-98 and joked that he was a founder and co-chairman of the Tamaribuchi Heavy Manufacturing Concern.
His more notable episodes included “The Devil and Homer Simpson,” “Time and Punishment,” “Bart of Darkness,” “Treehouse of Horror” installments, “Boy-Scoutz ’n the Hood” and “Homer’s Phobia,” for which he won his Emmy in 1997.
He said he was fired twice from the show.
On King of the Hill, McGrath got writing credit on 11 episodes — those included “Full Metal Dust Jacket” and “The Minh Who Knew Too Much” — and producing credit on 28 episodes from 2002-10.
Daniel Anthony McGrath was born in Brooklyn on July 20, 1964. His father, Gerard, was a machinist and electrician and his mother, Eleanor, a homemaker.
He attended Regis High School in Manhattan and then Harvard University, where he also directed out-of-the-box plays before graduating with a degree in East Asian Studies in 1987. Around this time, he designed computer games for an education software company based at MIT.
McGrath also wrote for Muppets Tonight and the animated shows Gravity Falls, Sammy, Mission Hill and The PJs and taught classes at the Brooklyn Comedy Collective, where he said he could “be appeased and safely approached with the offer of raw steaks and Popeye’s spicy chicken.”
In addition to his mother and sister, survivors include his brothers, Michael and Peter; his sister-in-law, Caroline; his nephew, Dillon; and his nieces, Kylie and Emma. Donations in his memory can be made to Regis High.
A visitation will take place at McLaughlin & Sons Funeral Home in Brooklyn starting at 5 p.m. on Monday, followed by a service at St. Patrick’s Church in Brooklyn at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.