Steve Kaplan

Personal Bio

For many years, Steve Kaplan has been the industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other top universities, Steve Kaplan created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. He regularly serves as a consultant and script doctor to such companies as Dreamworks, Disney, HBO, Paramount, Touchstone and others.

In New York, Steve was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, where he developed writers such as Peter Tolan (Analyze This, Finding Amanda), writer and producer David Crane (Friends, Joey, The Class), writer/producer Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty, Will & Grace), Michael Patrick King (The Comeback, Sex and The City, Will & Grace),David Ives (Venus in Fur), Will Scheffer (Big Love), Howard Korder (LAKEVIEW TERRACE starring Samuel Jackson and Ashton Kutcher), Lisa Loomer, Tom Donaghy, Sandra Tsing Loh (CHICKEN LITTLE), Kenneth Lonerganand Mark O’Donnell (HAIRSPRAY starring John Travolta) and introduced such performers as Lewis Black, Mercedes Ruehl, Oliver Platt, Helen Slater, Fisher Stevens, Veanne Cox, Sam McMurray, Vickie Lewis and Illeana Douglas.

In Los Angeles, he created the HBO New Writers Project, discovering HBO Pictures screenwriter Will Scheffer and performer/writer Sandra Tsing Loh; and the HBO Workspace, a developmental workshop in Hollywood that introduced and presented performers such as Jack Black and Tenacious D, Kathy Griffin, Bob Odenkirk and David Cross (Mr. Show), Josh Malina and Paul F. Tompkins. At the Workspace, he was Executive Producer for the award-winning HBO Original Programming documentary DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. Steve has directed in regional theaters and Off-Broadway (including Sandra Tsing Loh’s ALIENS IN AMERICA at Second Stage).

Steve has been teaching his Comedy Intensive workshops to thousands of students for more than 10 years. He is currently presenting his two-day Comedy Intensive workshops around the world, with workshops scheduled in Los Angeles, New York, London and Milan.