TV writer Michael Schur traces his love of comedy to hearing “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Eat It” at age 8. Schur describes the parody singer as a “gateway drug” to the world of being funny.

“Once Weird Al cracked open that part of my brain, it was just like, ‘Where is there more of this?” Schur recalls. “I just wanted comedy everywhere. I wanted everything to be funny. I wanted to be around funny people. I wanted to read funny books and watch funny movies.”

Schur went on to become president of the Harvard Lampoon, a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” and the creative force behind beloved comedies “The Good Place,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” The second season of his latest hit, “A Man on the Inside,” starring Ted Danson, premieres Nov. 20 on Netflix. (And if Schur looks familiar, it might be from his scene-stealing performance as Mose Schrute on “The Office,” for which he was also a writer and producer.)

Schur’s shows have a distinctive signature: They don’t just make you laugh — they make you think about morality and what it means to be human. 

“In ‘Parks and Rec,’ it was about existing in the world of civic engagement. And obviously ‘The Good Place’ is very directly about that,” he says. “‘A Man on the Inside’ begins with a man who’s grieving the loss of his wife of 50 years, and his world is getting very small, and he takes a sort of leap of faith — that maybe by getting out of his house and engaging with other people and with the world, he might become a little happier or feel more useful.”

In this episode of “Life in Seven Songs,” Schur charts the music that helped make him the writer he is today — from the Neutral Milk Hotel album that taught him to wear his heart on his sleeve to the Taylor Swift song that pulled him out of a creative rut during the Covid pandemic.

“I remember thinking, like, ‘Thank you, Taylor Swift. Like, you have reminded me that the process of writing can be an imaginative journey,’” Schur said. “She didn’t intend this, but it was a very meaningful message in a bottle that washed up on my particular shore, and I am very grateful to her for that.”

Here’s his playlist.

🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

🎵 Explore the episode playlist on Spotify (opens in new tab)

💌 Contact the team: [email protected]