Merrill Markoe (born August 13, 1948) is an American author, television writer, and occasional standup comedian.
Early life
Markoe was born in New York City. Her family moved several times including stays in Miami and San Francisco. She attended UC 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 the University of Southern California. She engineered most of the original concepts and architecture for the ground-breaking late-night talk show and created the segment "Stupid Pet Tricks", 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 a Writers Guild award for her writing/performing work on HBO's Not Necessarily the News. She appeared on-camera as a lifestyle reporter at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, then for Michael Moore's NBC show TV Nation, and worked on other magazine shows such as Lifetime Magazine. In the early 1990s she wrote and directed a number of HBO and Cinemax comedy specials. She appeared in two episodes of Space 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 on Animal Planet's Who Gets the Dog? She has had a number of columns and written for many periodicals, including Rolling 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 of Friends as irritable museum curator Marsha and can be seen in the movie EDtv as a panelist, as well as in the cast of The Aristocrats.
In 2020, she was awarded the Laurel Award for TV Writing Achievement by the Writers Guild of America.
Filmography
As an actress
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
! class="unsortable" | Ref.
|-
|1982–1985 || Late Night with David Letterman || Various roles || 3 episodes ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1994 || Dream On || Waitress || Episode: "Where There's Smoke, You're Fired" ||
|-
|Friends || Marsha || Episode: "The One with the Sonogram at the End" ||
|-
|1997 || Duckman || Skip Spike Bergenstock || Voice; Episode: "With Friends Like These"
|-
|1998 || Mike Hammer, Private Eye || Dr. Sylvia || Episode: "Dump the Creep" ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1999 || Edtv || Panel Member || Feature film ||
|-
|Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist || Merrill || Episode: "Snow Day" ||
|-
|2000 || Suddenly Susan || Miss Saunders || Episode: "Stock Tip" ||
|-
|2025 || Hacks || Merrill Markoe || 5 episodes ||
|-
|}
As a Writer
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Notes
! class="unsortable" | Ref.
|-
|1977–1978 || Laugh-In || 6 episodes ||
|-
|1978 || Mary || Episode: "Pilot" ||
|-
|1980 || The David Letterman Show || 2 episodes ||
|-
|1981–1982 || Open All Night || 3 episodes
|-
|1982 || Making the Grade || Episode: "Guess Who's Coming to Class?"
|-
|1982–1986 || Late Night with David Letterman || 123 episodes ||
|-
|1983 || Buffalo Bill || Episode: "Mrs. Buffalo Bill?" ||
|-
|1984 || Shaping Up || Episode: "Defusing the Muse" ||
|-
|rowspan=4|1985 || Sara || 2 episodes ||
|-
| The Best Times || Episode: "The Narc" ||
|-
|David Letterman's Holiday Film Festival || Television special ||
|-
|George Burns Comedy Week || Episode: "The Borrowing" ||
|-
|1986 || Mary || Episode: "The Death Threat" ||
|-
|1987 || It's Garry Shandling's Show || Episode: "It's Garry Shandling's Christmas Show" ||
|-
|1987–1988 || Newhart || 2 episodes ||
|-
|1988 || Cinemax Comedy Experiment || Episode: "Merrill Markoe's Guide to Glamorous Living" ||
|-
|1989 || Moonlighting || Episode: "When Girls Collide" ||
|-
|1989–1990 || Not Necessarily the News || 9 episodes ||
|-
|1999 || Sex and the City || Episode: "The Fuck Buddy" ||
|-
|}
Personal life
She and David Letterman were involved romantically from 1978 to 1988,
|-
| Late Night with David Letterman <small> (episode: "285") </small>
|
|-
| Late Night with David Letterman <small> (episode: "291") </small>
|
|-
| rowspan=2| 1985
| Late Night with David Letterman <small> (episode: "Late Night in Los Angeles") </small>
|
| rowspan=2|
|-
| Late Night with David Letterman <small> (episode: "The Late Night Morning Show") </small>
|
|-
| 1986
| Late Night with David Letterman <small> (episode: "4th Anniversary Special") </small>
|
|
|-
| 1989
| rowspan=1|Writers Guild of America Award
| Variety - Musical
| Not Necessarily the News
|
|
|-
| 2020
| Laurel Award
| colspan=1| Paddy Chayefsky Award
| Television Writing Achievement
|
|
|-
|}
Bibliography
Novels
- It's My F---ing Birthday <!-- dashes are in the actual title --> (2002)
- The Psycho Ex Game: A Novel (with Andy Prieboy) (2004)
- Walking in Circles Before Lying Down: A Novel (2006)
- Nose Down, Eyes Up: A Novel (2008)
Nonfiction
- Late Night with David Letterman: The Book (with David Letterman) (1985)
- Merrill Markoe's Guide to Love (1997)
- We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe (2020)
Essay collections
- 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)