❝Story16:30
The David Foster Wallace Friendship Schur Wishes He Rekindled
After Infinite Jest transformed Schur's view of writing, he invented a Harvard Lampoon award to bring David Foster Wallace to dinner. Their correspondence later faded, and Schur regrets not reaching out after both moved to California before Wallace died.
- Infinite Jest changed how Schur thought about literature
- The Lampoon award was created solely to invite Wallace
- Wallace corresponded generously with many people
- Schur regrets letting their contact lapse
“something about it just altered my brain chemistry and changed the way that i thought about literature and writing and the world”
“i really do regret not sort of trying to rekindle our little epistolary friendship when i moved out to california”
#david foster wallace#infinite jest#regret#writing
❝Story27:30
Why Schur Needed Escape Velocity from SNL
SNL offered Schur a prestigious, well-paid New York job that might never end, unlike most television work. A long-distance relationship, the end of his twenties, and a desire to grow creatively convinced him that staying comfortable could prevent the next chapter.
- SNL could provide an unusually permanent television career
- Schur's future wife was living in Los Angeles
- He felt he had given his twenties to the show
- Leaving created room for broader creative growth
“snl is a little bit of a i guess you call like a golden handcuffs kind of a situation”
“if i didn't achieve escape velocity i might just stay there forever”
#snl#career change#comfort zone#relationships
❝Story32:00
The Meeting That Made The Office Schur's TV University
After a treadmill of nearly identical Hollywood meetings, Schur spent two and a half unusually specific hours with Greg Daniels. He left believing Daniels could teach him to write, took the job despite doubts about adapting The Office, and describes the experience as a PhD-level education in story and character.
- Daniels asked detailed questions about Schur's writing choices
- The meeting felt distinct from standard general meetings
- Schur prioritized learning over certainty that the show would work
- Daniels taught plot, motivation, story, and character
“i don't know if that guy's gonna offer me a job but if he does i'm gonna take it because i think he's gonna teach…”
“he taught a class he taught a phd level class and i soaked it all up”
#greg daniels#the office#mentorship#television writing
❝Story57:30
How Ken Tremendous Became a Verified Fake Identity
The name Ken Tremendous appeared to Schur as a college joke and later became his privacy-minded internet identity. He used it on the sports blog Fire Joe Morgan and Twitter, where the platform eventually verified the fictional name despite knowing it was not his real one.
- The contrast between an ordinary first name and Tremendous amused Schur
- He adopted the name when online identity felt risky
- Ken Tremendous fronted his sports writing
- Twitter verified the acknowledged pseudonym
“the name ken tremendous popped into my head as a funny name to use in something”
“i'm verified on twitter as an imaginary fictional personality”
#ken tremendous#internet identity#twitter#sports writing
❝Story1:13:30
The $836 Bumper Dispute Behind The Good Place
Schur challenged a driver to forgo an $836 repair in exchange for a growing Hurricane Katrina donation, then felt that something about the campaign was wrong. Philosophers and friends exposed competing ethical readings, and Schur traced a decade of ethical study and The Good Place back to the incident.
- A minor collision produced an $836 repair request
- The proposed charity trade grew into a public campaign
- Different philosophers offered conflicting moral analyses
- Schur recognized his response as unfair whataboutism
- The incident made ethics a lasting focus
“i couldn't get over the idea that there was a right answer”
“there are ethical components to almost everything that happens and that we are better off when we pay attention to them”
#ethics#the good place#hurricane katrina#moral philosophy
❝Story2:04:00
Todd May Became The Good Place's Philosophy Emergency Line
The writers found Todd May through his book Death while trying to understand whether morality matters to an immortal being. His clarity and congeniality turned one timely source into a lasting advisory relationship for the show and Schur's book, alongside UCLA philosopher Pamela Hieronymi.
- Death addressed the morality of immortality
- May explained difficult philosophy conversationally
- The writers consulted him whenever a script raised a question
- He later checked Schur's philosophical accuracy in the book
“mortality gives sort of shape and definition to our lives because we know that everything ends”
“if we had a question about philosophy we would smash the glass pick up a red phone it would be connected directly to todd may”
#todd may#the good place#philosophy advisor#immortality