American screenwriter and producer Dan McGrath died on November 14, 2025, at the age of 61. A key figure in the golden age of The Simpsons and a prolific writer for Saturday Night Live in the early 1990s, he leaves behind a significant body of work for American comedy.
A career marked by "The Simpsons" and an Emmy for a pioneering episode
Born on July 20, 1964 in New York and a graduate of Harvard, Dan McGrath joined Matt Groening's team in the early 1990s. Between 1992 and 1994, he wrote fifty episodes of the cult animated series, before producing twenty-four more between 1996 and 1998. According to Le Point, he died in hospital after a stroke.
Among his most memorable contributions is "Homer's Phobia," an Emmy Award-winning episode in 1997, in which the series addresses homophobia through the unlikely friendship between Homer and an eccentric collector. Several Halloween specials also bear his signature, including "The Devil and Homer Simpson" and "Time and Punishment," cited by BFMTV, as well as "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood," which has become a classic.
Before The Simpsons, McGrath cut his teeth on Saturday Night Live, where he wrote sketches alongside Adam Sandler and Chris Farley, a collaboration praised by the American press.
A unanimous tribute to a talent “one of a kind”
The news of his passing was announced by his sister Gail on Facebook: "We lost my incredible brother Danny yesterday. He was a special, one-of-a-kind man," she wrote, a statement relayed by BFMTV. His family, friends, and the fan community quickly took to social media to pay tribute to him.
His death adds to a particularly dark year for the team of the series, recalls Le Point, after the passing of Steve Pepoon, another historical writer for The Simpsons.
A discreet but influential writer, Dan McGrath shaped a significant part of American television comedy, leaving behind a body of work that continues to be watched, quoted, and loved around the world.
