Kevin Bleyer, who won four writing Emmys for his work on The Daily Show, died Sunday in a car crash, his family announced. He was 54.
Bleyer was driving on a rural road in Millrift, Pennsylvania, where he had a home, when he was killed, his publicist told The Hollywood Reporter. No one else was hurt.
Bleyer worked on the ABC late night show Politically Incorrect, hosted by Bill Maher, from 2000 until its 2002 cancellation and wrote for Dennis Miller’s CNBC show during its lone 2004-05 season before he landed on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show at Comedy Central in 2005.
He spent nine years as a staff writer on the program through 2013 while also writing for the 2006 and 2008 Oscars that Stewart hosted. He and others shared Emmys for their work in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012 and were nominated four other times.
The Peabody and WGA award winner also served as a writer and producer on NBC’s Today show and as a supervising producer for MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow Daily; wrote a weekly column for The Daily Beast; and
recurred as a voice for The Onion Radio News.
For scripted television, he wrote on the Disney+ series The Right Stuff — an adaptation of the Tom Wolfe book — Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and Bravo’s Significant Others and created and executive produced pilots for Disney Television Animation, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Showtime.
Born in Bethesda, Maryland, Bleyer was raised in Seattle and attended Stanford University. He called New York City his home for the past 20 years.
He began his career as a dramaturg and assistant to Anna Deavere Smith at New York’s Public Theater and Broadway’s Cort Theatre before moving to London, where he worked for journalist David Brancaccio at the London Bureau of Public Radio International business affairs program Marketplace.
He was a co-author with Stewart and others on 2010’s Earth: The Book and the author of another best-seller, 2012’s Me the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America.
He also wrote with former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson the 2013 book How to Sweet-Talk a Shark, which recounted among other adventures their humanitarian mission to North Korea to negotiate the release of the hostage Kenneth Bae.
As a speechwriter, Bleyer wrote for President Obama, contributing to his addresses at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinners. He also served for a time as the deputy chief speechwriter for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“Kevin Bleyer was a writer’s writer. From his many years on The Daily Show to writing Obama’s WHCD speeches to his many books and his work on numerous scripted dramas, Kevin could literally do it all,” actor and screenwriter Danny Strong said in a statement. “His immense talent was only outmatched by his kind soul. I am in complete shock that he is gone, and my sadness is overwhelming. I already miss him dearly.”
In 2013, Bleyer lived in Kyrgyzstan, where he executive produced Studio 7, the first political satire news show in Central Asia. Upon returning, he co-founded Pilot Media Initiatives, which launches civics-minded media programs in democratically challenged countries. And he produced and helped launch scripted, unscripted and political satire TV shows in North Macedonia, Nigeria, Moldova, Kenya, Jordan and Estonia in the past decade.
“I had the privilege of counting Kevin Bleyer as both a friend and a work partner,” producer Llewellyn Wells added. “Whether developing a series pitch or sitting around sharing stories, Kevin brought the wit, the funny, the satire. But underneath that rare talent lived a man with depth, love and a sincere desire to leave the world a better place than he found it.
“Whether working with the U.S. State Department in Central Asia to bring political satire programming to that part of the world or delivering biting and poignant takes on The Daily Show and many other programs, Kevin did just that. He left the world a better place than he found it. The heavens are shining brighter today, the earth lost an angel.”
Survivors include his wife, Nella; his father, Archie; his brother, Keith; his sister-in-law, Kelly; his nephew, Evan; and his niece, Lauren.
Donations in his memory can be made to the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association or to the ASPCA.
“Kevin spent his life finding the perfect words to make people laugh, think and see the world a little differently,” his wife said in a statement. “I was lucky enough to know the humor, curiosity, mischief and tenderness behind those words — and to be loved by a man who made my own world more joyful, more adventurous and infinitely more beautiful.”
Kevin Bleyer in Scotland in 2024.
Courtesy Bleyer Family