Megan Ganz

American comedy writer

Megan Ganz

Ganz at the 2012 Comic Con

Born|

Megan Ann Ganz[1]

(1984-06-01) June 1, 1984 (age 39)

Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.

Alma mater| University of Michigan
Occupations|

* Writer
* editor
* Director

Years active| 2006–present
Spouse|

Humphrey Ker

(m. 2015)​

Megan Ann Ganz (born June 1, 1984) is an American comedy writer, podcaster, and former associate editor of The Onion. She has been a writer and executive producer on the FXX series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia since 2017. She previously wrote for the NBC series Community for three years from 2010 to 2013, and left to write for Modern Family from 2013 to 2015, where she won an Emmy.[2] She also wrote for the Fox comedy series The Last Man on Earth, and co-created the Apple TV+ comedy series Mythic Quest alongside Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day.

## Early life and education[edit]

Ganz was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was born at 4:20.[3] Her father died when she was eight years old.[citation needed] She graduated from Hackett Catholic Central High School in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2002.[4]

In 2006, she graduated with honors from the University of Michigan, where she was editor-in-chief of The Every Three Weekly.[5]

## Career[edit]

After completing her junior year at the university, she interned at Mad magazine in New York City. Ganz had planned to move back to Michigan after her internship was over, but Mad's editor-in-chief John Ficarra encouraged her to remain in New York and pursue comedy writing.[6] She returned to New York and became assistant editor at The Onion and was later promoted to associate editor.

In 2008 Ganz was featured on an episode of This American Life along with other Onion staff members. An agent from United Talent Agency heard the broadcast and suggested that she move into television writing.[7] In summer 2009 Ganz left her job at The Onion and moved to Los Angeles to become a writer for the Comedy Central sketch show Important Things with Demetri Martin.[8]

In 2010, she began writing for the NBC comedy series Community.[9] In 2013, after the shortened season 4 of Community had wrapped, Ganz joined the writing staff of the ABC series Modern Family.[10] In 2015, Ganz created and produced an animated action-comedy pilot called Cassius and Clay which was expected to be paired with Archer on FXX, but the show never progressed beyond the pilot stage.[11]

In 2016, Ganz announced on her Instagram that she had been hired as a writer for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where she has since been promoted to executive producer and director for certain episodes. She also stars, edits and produces the Always Sunny podcast, alongside Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton & Charlie Day.[12]

In 2019, Apple TV+ announced Ganz as co-creator, along with Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, of the new comedy series Mythic Quest, which premiered February 7, 2020 on the streaming platform.

Ganz cites Dave Barry, Kaitlin Olson, Louis Sachar, Mad, Charles Schulz, and Bill Watterson as influences.[6]

## Personal life[edit]

Ganz began dating British comedian Humphrey Ker in 2013. The couple were engaged in late 2014, and married on May 30, 2015.

In 2018, during a Twitter exchange with Community creator and executive producer Dan Harmon, Ganz accused Harmon of engaging in inappropriate behavior toward her during their time on the show together.[13] Harmon detailed his behavior on an episode of his podcast, Harmontown, in which he went into detail about his wrongdoings which included making advances on her and then mistreating her after she turned him down. Ganz said that she felt vindicated by the admission and accepted his apology, urging her Twitter followers to listen to this episode of Harmontown, and calling it a "master class in how to apologize", ultimately forgiving him.[14][15] The exchange, the apology and Ganz's thoughts about them were covered in episode 674 of This American Life in which she was interviewed.[16]

## Filmography[edit]

The following is a partial list of television episodes written or directed by Ganz.

### Community[edit]

Main article: List of Community episodes

* 2.08 "Cooperative Calligraphy" (writer)
* 2.16 "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking" (writer)
* 3.08 "Documentary Filmmaking: Redux" (writer)
* 3.17 "Basic Lupine Urology" (writer)
* 4.02 "Paranormal Parentage" (writer)
* 4.13 "Advanced Introduction to Finality" (writer)

### Modern Family[edit]

Main article: List of Modern Family episodes

* 5.09 "The Big Game" (writer)
* 5.17 "Other People's Children" (writer)
* 5.19 "A Hard Jay's Night" (co-writer)
* 5.24 "The Wedding (Part 2)" (co-writer)
* 6.02 "Do Not Push" (writer)
* 6.16 "Connection Lost" (co-writer)
* 6.23 "Crying Out Loud" (co-writer)

### It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia[edit]

Main article: List of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia episodes

* 12.08 "The Gang Tends Bar" (writer)
* 13.02 "The Gang Escapes" (writer)
* 13.04 "Time's Up for the Gang" (writer)
* 14.03 "Dee Day" (writer)
* 14.06 "The Janitor Always Mops Twice" (writer)
* 15.05 "The Gang Goes to Ireland" (director)
* 15.06 "The Gang's Still in Ireland" (director)
* 15.08 "The Gang Carries a Corpse Up a Mountain" (writer)
* 16.04 "Frank vs. Russia" (writer)
* 16.05 "Celebrity Booze: The Ultimate Cash Grab" (director)
* 16.07 "The Gang Goes Bowling" (director)

### The Last Man on Earth[edit]

Main article: List of The Last Man on Earth episodes

* 4.02 "Stocko Syndome" (co-writer)
* 4.08 "Not Appropriate for Miners" (co-writer)
* 4.13 "Release the Hounds" (writer)

### Mythic Quest[edit]

Main article: Mythic Quest

* 1.01 "Pilot" (co-writer)
* 1.03 "Dinner Party” (writer)
* 1.08 "Brendan" (writer)
* 1.09 "Blood Ocean" (co-writer)
* 1.10 "Quarantine" (co-writer)
* 2.01 "Titans' Rift" (co-writer)
* 2.02 "Grouchy Goat" (co-writer)
* 2.05 "Please Sign Here" (director)
* 2.08 "Juice Box" (co-writer)
* 3.01 "Across the Universe" (co-writer)
* 3.02 "Partners" (co-writer)
* 3.07 "Sarian" (director)

## Awards and nominations[edit]

Ganz has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series for Modern Family twice, winning in 2014, and nominated in 2015.[17]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Megan Ganz [@meganganz] (December 16, 2009). "I submit to you, twitter followers, that I have the most boring, Midwestern name ever: Megan Ann Ganz. Who dares dispute me?" (Tweet). Archived from the original on March 5, 2016 - via Twitter.
2. ^ Megan Ganz (January 3, 2013). "Reddit Post".
3. ^ "It's Always Sunny Podcast". It's Always Sunny Podcast.
4. ^ "NBC's 'Community' writer Megan Ganz, a Kalamazoo-area native, takes writing job for 'Modern Family'". MLive.com. January 5, 2013. Retrieved February 26, 2015.
5. ^ Van Hyfte, Laura (July 4, 2005). "Court limits student publishing freedom". The Michigan Daily.
6. ^ a b Singer, Andrew (August 5, 2008). "Inside With: Megan Ganz, Assistant Editor at The Onion". The Apiary.
7. ^ "Interview: 'Community' Writer Megan Ganz". Feminist Film. February 22, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2011.
8. ^ Konigsberg, Eric (November 2, 2009). "Collecting Headlines Funnier Than This". New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
9. ^ Frucci, Adam (March 28, 2011). "Behind the Scenes at Community with Writer Megan Ganz". Splitsider. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
10. ^ Zakarin, Jordan (January 3, 2013). "'Community' Writer Megan Ganz Heads to 'Modern Family'". Hollywood Reporter.
11. ^ "'Cassius and Clay' Animated Series Dead at FXX". The Hollywood Reporter. January 4, 2016.
12. ^ "Megan Ganz (@meganganz) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com.
13. ^ Barsanti, Sam (January 3, 2018). "Former Community writer Megan Ganz calls out Dan Harmon for misconduct". AV Club. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
14. ^ Framke, Caroline (January 11, 2018). "Most harassment apologies are just damage control. Dan Harmon's was a self-reckoning". Vox. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
15. ^ Bromwich, Jonah Engel (January 14, 2018). "Megan Ganz on Dan Harmon's Apology: 'I Felt Vindicated'". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
16. ^ "Get a Spine!". This American Life. Public Radio Exchange. April 26, 2019. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
17. ^ "Megan Ganz Awards, Nominations and Wins". Emmys.com. Retrieved July 4, 2021.

## External links[edit]

* Megan Ganz at IMDb
* Megan Ganz on Twitter
* This American Life episode featuring Megan Ganz
* Megan Ganz Reddit Questionnaire (January 7, 2012)

* v
* t
* e

The Onion

Main projects|

* The Onion
* The A.V. Club

Former projects|

* ClickHole
* StarWipe

Video productions|

* Onion SportsDome
* Onion News Network
* The Onion Movie

Books|

* Our Dumb Century
* Our Dumb World

Podcasts|

* A Very Fatal Murder

The Onion people|

* Rich Dahm
* Scott Dikkers
* Megan Ganz
* Joe Garden
* Todd Hanson
* Tim Harrod
* David Javerbaum
* Ellie Kemper
* Peter Koechley
* Carol Kolb
* Maria Schneider
* Robert D. Siegel
* Ward Sutton
* Jack Szwergold

AV Club people|

* Max Cannon
* Amelie Gillette
* Nathan Rabin
* Stephen Thompson
* Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
* Claire Zulkey

Articles and
other content|

* Joe Biden (The Onion)
* "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens"
* "Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point"

Related|

* G/O Media
* Univision Communications (former parent)
* Fusion Media Group (former owner)
* Novak v. City of Parma

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States

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