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Merrill Markoe (born August 13, 1948)^{[citation needed]} is an American author, television writer, and occasionalstandup comedian.

Markoe was born in New York City.^[2] Her family moved several times including stays in Miami and San Francisco.^[3] She attendedUC 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 theUniversity of Southern California.^[1]

After auditing scriptwriting classes and doing research for the head writer ofMary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Markoe was hired as writer for the 1977 revival ofLaugh-In, joining a team that includedRobin Williams.^[1] In 1978, she was part of the cast ofMary Tyler Moore's first attempt at a variety show, the eponymousMary, along with future boyfriendDavid Letterman.^[2] In 1980, Markoe was the head writer forThe David Letterman Show, a short-lived liveNBC morning show whose writing team was recognized with aDaytime Emmy Award.^{[citation needed]}

Markoe shared in threePrimetime Emmy Awards forOutstanding Writing for a Variety Series for her work onLate Night with David Letterman, for which she was the original head writer.^[4][5] She engineered most of the original concepts and architecture for the ground-breaking late-night talk show and created the segment "Stupid Pet Tricks",^[6] 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 aWriters Guild award for her writing/performing work onHBO'sNot Necessarily the News.^[4]

She has also written for television shows such asNewhart,Sex and the City, andMoonlighting.^[7] She appeared on-camera as a lifestyle reporter atKCOP-TV inLos Angeles, then forMichael Moore's NBC showTV Nation, and worked on other magazine shows such asLifetime Magazine. In the early 1990s she wrote and directed a number of HBO andCinemax comedy specials. She appeared in two episodes ofSpace 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 onAnimal Planet'sWho Gets the Dog? She has had a number of columns and written for many periodicals, includingRolling 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 ofFriends as irritablemuseum curator Marsha and can be seen in the movieEDtv as a panelist, as well as in the cast ofThe Aristocrats.

In 2020, she was awarded theLaurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by theWriters Guild of America.

She and David Letterman were involved romantically from 1978 to 1988,^[6] after which Markoe moved to California to continue her writing career. She wrote about the relationship several years later in essays in the bookCool, Calm, and Contentious, giving him the pseudonym "Bobby".^[3]

Markoe lives inMalibu with musicianAndy Prieboy and four dogs.^[3]

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

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

• 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)

• Official website
• Merrill Markoe atIMDb

• 1948 births
• Living people
• 20th-century American novelists
• 21st-century American novelists
• American columnists
• American humorists
• Screenwriters from California
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• Writers Guild of America Award winners
• American women screenwriters
• University of Southern California faculty
• American women columnists
• 20th-century American women novelists
• 21st-century American women novelists
• American women humorists
• American women non-fiction writers
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• American women academics
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• 21st-century American screenwriters
• American women comedians
• American stand-up comedians
• Comedians from New York City

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