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Eric Appel

Director, Producer, Writer, Actor, Editor, Additional CreditsBorn August 13, 1980 (44 years)
Eric Appel (born August 13, 1980) is an American filmmaker working in television, film, and commercials.

Originally from Endicott, New York, Appel attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, majoring in computer animation. Describing his childhood interests, Appel said, "I was always playing around with video cameras, but I was also the kid that drew cartoons. It's weird. I was so obsessed with movies and television, but nobody ever told me that I should go to film school... [W]hen I decided to go to school for animation, it felt like a no-brainer. However, when I actually went away to college, I realized that I had made a mistake (and also that I wasn't that great at drawing). I actually spent more time working on videos with my roommate, who was majoring in video production, than I did working on my own project ."

While in college, Appel also began performing improv comedy after his girlfriend brought him to a "show at the University of Pittsburgh called 'Friday Nite Improvs,' where anyone from the audience could volunteer to go up on stage and perform these improv games." After moving to New York City, Appel started taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, "and it wasn't long before I was basically living at the theatre. I became very involved very quickly. [I was] taking improv classes, interning, running the lights for shows and really helping out in any way that I could so I could just be around comedy as much as possible."

While still in New York, Appel got a job writing for The Andy Milonakis Show, then moved to Los Angeles for that show's third season when its production was relocated to California. He subsequently wrote for Crank Yankers and Human Giant, then went to work for the comedy website Funny or Die. "Funny or Die was such a young company when they hired me...there were about eight of us all sitting around a large dining room table on laptops. Every day a few people would disappear to go shoot some shit and then the next day they would be sitting next to you editing it. Then it would go up on the site and it would either get a million hits or nobody would watch it and it would disappear and then it was on to the next thing. Everyone there worked at their own pace and you were encouraged to just go pick up a camera and make something...I used this as an opportunity to start directing my own sketches and quickly found out that not only do I like directing more than writing, but also that I'm better at it."

Appel would go on pensively direct series television, with credits including Eagleheart, NTSF:SD: SUV, The Office, New Girl, Selfie, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Son of Zorn, Die Hart and The Afterparty.

In 2022, Appel made his feature directorial debut with Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, based on a Funny or Die short that he directed twelve years earlier. The film won a Critics Choice Award for Best Made for Television Movie.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Eric Appel, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • Blue Mountain State

Known For

  • Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine
  • Silicon Valley
  • New Girl
  • The Office (US)
  • Selfie
  • Blue Mountain State
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
  • The Afterparty
  • Die Hart
  • Die Hart
  • Die Hart: Die Harter
  • Go On
  • Son of Zorn
  • Workaholics
  • NTSF:SD:SUV::
  • Happy Endings
  • Growing Up Fisher
  • A to Z
  • Back in the Game
  • About a Boy
  • The Andy Milonakis Show

Filmography

2026
2024
2023
2023
2022
2022
The Afterparty (TV Series)
2020
Die Hart (TV Series)
2017
2016
Son of Zorn (TV Series)
2016
Teachers (2016) (TV Series)
2015
The Grinder (TV Series)
2014
Benched (TV Series)
2014
A to Z (TV Series)
2014
Selfie (TV Series)
2014
2014
Bad Teacher (TV Series)
2014
Silicon Valley (TV Series)
2014
Growing Up Fisher (TV Series)
2014
About a Boy (TV Series)
2014
2013
We Are Men (TV Series)
2013
2013
Back in the Game (TV Series)
2013
Trophy Wife (TV Series)
2013
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV Series)
2012
2012
Animal Practice (TV Series)
2012
Go On (TV Series)
2011
New Girl (TV Series)
2011
Up All Night (TV Series)
2011
Death Valley (TV Series)
2011
NTSF:SD:SUV:: (TV Series)
2011
2011
Happy Endings (TV Series)
2011
Eagleheart (TV Series)
2011
Workaholics (TV Series)
2010
2010
2010
2010
2009
2009
Everything (TV Series)
2009
2007
2005
The Office (US) (TV Series)

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