Peter James Tolan III (born July 5, 1958) is an Americantelevision producer,director, andscreenwriter.

Tolan was born inScituate, Massachusetts, where he was a perennial favorite in the high school's dramatic productions. Before leaving to pursue a career inHollywood, Tolan founded a theater group called YPST (Young People's Summer Theatre). The group performedBroadwaymusicals and rehearsed at a local church. Within three years, the group became so popular that a second production had to be added to accommodate the ever-increasing enrollment.

Tolan attended theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst for four years before dropping out to directly pursue theater. From college Tolan went to Minneapolis'Brave New Workshop (founded by improv great Dudley Riggs) at the suggestion of UMass employee Jim MacRostie, who had appeared at the Twin Cities institution during its early years. Riggs offered Tolan a job over the phone, but when Tolan arrived in Minneapolis several months later, he discovered that the job was that of janitor at the theater.

Within a year, Tolan became the musical director for the theater's touring company, and after that graduated to appearing as a member of the main stage cast. In the mid 80's, Tolan moved to New York City, where he and fellow writer-performerLinda Wallem formed a double act called Wallem & Tolan and began performing on thecabaret circuit inNew York City at such venues as Don't Tell Mama, Eighty-Eights and Broadway Baby. Wallem and Tolan were known for their sketch work and for musical material (written by Tolan) that became the cornerstone of their act. After an extended run at the Manhattan Punch Line Theater, the act was mounted Off-Broadway at the Theater at St. Peter's Church in 1989. TitledLaughing Matters, the show was produced by Sanford Fisher and Zev Guber and directed by Broadway veteranMartin Charnin. For his work in the show, Tolan was named Outstanding Lyricist of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Show by the Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook 1988-1989 Best Plays.

Tolan began his career writing for short-livedsitcomsCarol & Company andWish You Were Here. After writing for and co-producing the first six episodes ofHome Improvement he began writing for the hit seriesMurphy Brown, a three-season tenure for which he would share anEmmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, as co-producer).^[1] In 1992 Tolan began writing for theHBO programThe Larry Sanders Show, for which he received, in his capacity as co-/executive producer, threeCableACE Awards for Comedy Series and an Emmy for co-writing (with series leadGarry Shandling) the series finale "Flip".^[1]

After writing for several more programs (Ellen,Buddies,Good Advice), and creating the short-lived sitcomsStyle & Substance andThe George Wendt Show, Tolan co-created theABC satiric comedyThe Job with comedianDenis Leary, who would also star as an amoral and hedonisticNYPD detective. Though critically lauded,^[2] the series languished in the ratings and was canceled after two short seasons. Tolan went on to create the similarly short-lived sitcomWednesday 9:30 (8:30 Central), a mid-season replacement about an idealistic television executive who joins a strugglingnetwork, that was canceled by ABC after only five episodes aired. In 2004, however, Tolan found success with theFX dramaRescue Me which he produced under his The Cloudland Company banner.^[3] Again, he worked with co-creator Denis Leary asNew York Cityfirefighter Tommy Gavin, who bears many similarities to Leary's character fromThe Job. The series has been well received by both critics and audiences, garnering Emmy nominations for Tolan and Leary and averaging 2.7 and 2.8 million viewers for its first and second seasons, respectively.^[4] It ended in 2011 after seven seasons.^[5]

In February, 2013,Entertainment Weekly reported that "Tolan landedGreg Kinnear to play a defense lawyer with 'zero filter'" on aFox Broadcasting Company television program entitledRake.^[6] Tolan has also produced pilots with comedianJim Gaffigan and another based on the Israeli seriesBilti Hafich through Fedora Entertainment, the production company he started with partners Michael Wimer and Leslie Tolan.

Tolan has also found success in film, having written the hit comedyAnalyze This and its sequelAnalyze That as well as the filmsMy Fellow Americans,Bedazzled,America's Sweethearts,Guess Who andJust Like Heaven. In 2008 Tolan made his directorial debut withFinding Amanda, a semi-autobiographical^[7] film starringMatthew Broderick andBrittany Snow.

Tolan is married to editor Leslie Tolan. They have three children; sons Peter John and Benjamin Mark, and daughter Beatrice Grace. He later came out as gay, but it is unclear if he remains married to Leslie.^[8]

• Carol and Company (1990) (TV)
• Wish You Were Here (1990) (TV)
• Home Improvement (1991) (TV)
• Murphy Brown (1991–1993) (TV)
• The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998) (TV)
• Good Advice (1994) (TV)
• The George Wendt Show (1995) (TV)
• Buddies (1996) (TV)
• My Fellow Americans (withE. Jack Kaplan and Richard Chapman) (1996)
• Ellen (1997) (TV)
• The Dave Chappelle Project (1998) (TV)
• Style & Substance (1998) (TV)
• Analyze This (withHarold Ramis andKenneth Lonergan) (1999)
• What Planet Are You From? (withGarry Shandling,Michael J. Leeson andEd Solomon) (2000)
• Bedazzled (withHarold Ramis andLarry Gelbart) (2000)
• America's Sweethearts (withBilly Crystal) (2001)
• The Job (2001–2002) (TV) (also co-creator, withDenis Leary)
• My Adventures in Television (2002) (TV)
• Stealing Harvard (withMartin Hynes) (2002)
• Analyze That (withHarold Ramis andPeter Steinfeld) (2002)
• Phil at the Gate (withPhil Hendrie) (2003) (TV)
• Rescue Me (2004–2011) (TV) (also co-creator, withDenis Leary)
• Guess Who (with David Ronn and Jay Scherick) (2005)
• Just Like Heaven (withLeslie Dixon) (2005)
• Fort Pit (2007) (TV)
• Finding Amanda (2008) (TV)
• The End of Steve (2008) (TV)
• Council of Dads (2011) (TV pilot)
• Rake (2014) (TV)
• The Jim Gaffigan Show (2015–2016) (TV)
• Outsiders (2016–2017) (TV)
• Guess Who Died (withNorman Lear) (2018) (TV)
• Mad About You (2019) (TV)
• Belated (2022) (TV - 1 episode)

• Peter Tolan atIMDb