Merrill Markoe (born August 13, 1948) is an American author, television writer, and occasional standup comedian.

Early life Markoe was born in New York City. Her family moved several times including stays in Miami and San Francisco. She attended UC Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in art in 1970 and an M.A. in 1972. Her first job after leaving the university was teaching art at the University of Southern California.

Career After auditing scriptwriting classes and doing research for the head writer of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Markoe was hired as writer for the 1977 revival of Laugh-In, joining a team that included Robin Williams. In 1978, she was part of the cast of Mary Tyler Moore's first attempt at a variety show, the eponymous Mary, along with future boyfriend David Letterman. In 1980, Markoe was the head writer for The David Letterman Show, a short-lived live NBC morning show whose writing team was recognized with a Daytime Emmy Award.

Markoe shared in three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for her work on Late Night with David Letterman, for which she was the original head writer. She engineered most of the original concepts and architecture for the ground-breaking late-night talk show and created the segment "Stupid Pet Tricks", A review of What the Dogs Have Taught Me as well as "Stupid Human Tricks" and "Viewer Mail". Many of the ideas behind the remote segments outside the studio came from Markoe, who also won a Writers Guild award for her writing/performing work on HBO's Not Necessarily the News.

She has also written for television shows such as Newhart, Sex and the City, and Moonlighting. She appeared on-camera as a lifestyle reporter at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, then for Michael Moore's NBC show TV Nation, and worked on other magazine shows such as Lifetime Magazine. In the early 1990s she wrote and directed a number of HBO and Cinemax comedy specials. She appeared in two episodes of Space Ghost Coast to Coast from 1997 to 1998 as the unwilling subject of the eponymous late night talk show host's affections.

In 2005, Markoe was a regular panelist on Animal Planet's Who Gets the Dog? She has had a number of columns and written for many periodicals, including Rolling Stone, Time, New York Woman, New Woman, U.S. News & World Report, Us, People, Esquire, The Huffington Post, Glamour, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Real Simple, etc. She appears in episode 2 of Friends as irritable museum curator Marsha and can be seen in the movie EDtv as a panelist, as well as in the cast of The Aristocrats.

In 2020, she was awarded the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writers Guild of America.

Filmography As an actress Year Title Role Notes Ref.1982–1985 Late Night with David Letterman Various roles 3 episodes 1994 Dream On Waitress Episode: "Where There's Smoke, You're Fired" Friends Marsha Episode: "The One with the Sonogram at the End" 1997 Duckman Skip Spike Bergenstock Voice; Episode: "With Friends Like These"1998 Mike Hammer, Private Eye Dr. Sylvia Episode: "Dump the Creep" 1999 Edtv Panel Member Feature film Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist Merrill Episode: "Snow Day" 2000 Suddenly Susan Miss Saunders Episode: "Stock Tip" 2025 Hacks Merrill Markoe 5 episodes

As a Writer Year Title Notes Ref.1977–1978 Laugh-In 6 episodes 1978 Mary Episode: "Pilot" 1980 The David Letterman Show Head writer 1981–1982 Open All Night 3 episodes 1982 Making the Grade Episode: "Guess Who's Coming to Class?"1982–1986 Late Night with David Letterman 123 episodes 1983 Buffalo Bill Episode: "Mrs. Buffalo Bill?" 1984 Shaping Up Episode: "Defusing the Muse" 1985 Sara 2 episodes The Best Times Episode: "The Narc" David Letterman's Holiday Film Festival Television special George Burns Comedy Week Episode: "The Borrowing" 1986 Mary Episode: "The Death Threat" 1987 It's Garry Shandling's Show Episode: "It's Garry Shandling's Christmas Show" 1987–1988 Newhart 2 episodes 1988 Cinemax Comedy Experiment Episode: "Merrill Markoe's Guide to Glamorous Living" 1989 Moonlighting Episode: "When Girls Collide" 1989–1990 Not Necessarily the News 9 episodes 1999 Sex and the City Episode: "The Fuck Buddy"

Personal life She and David Letterman were involved romantically from 1978 to 1988, after which Markoe moved to California to continue her writing career. She wrote about the relationship several years later in essays in the book Cool, Calm, and Contentious, giving him the pseudonym "Bobby".

Markoe lives in Malibu with musician Andy Prieboy and four dogs.

Awards and nominations Year Association Category Project Result 1984 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "312") Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "285") Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "291") 1985 Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "Late Night in Los Angeles") Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "The Late Night Morning Show") 1986 Late Night with David Letterman (episode: "4th Anniversary Special") 1989 Writers Guild of America Award Variety - Musical Not Necessarily the News 2020 Laurel Award Paddy Chayefsky Award Television Writing Achievement

Bibliography

Novels It's My F---ing Birthday (2002) The Psycho Ex Game: A Novel (with Andy Prieboy) (2004) Walking in Circles Before Lying Down: A Novel (2006) Nose Down, Eyes Up: A Novel (2008)

Nonfiction Late Night with David Letterman: The Book (with David Letterman) (1985) Merrill Markoe's Guide to Love (1997) We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe (2020)

Essay collections What the Dogs Have Taught Me: And Other Amazing Things I've Learned (1992) How to Be Hap-Hap-Happy Like Me! (1994) Cool, Calm & Contentious (2011)

References

External links