Richard James "Rich" Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former
attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an Executive Producer and co-showrunner of
Family Guy on Fox. Growing up in
Wilmette, Illinois, Appel developed a love of comedy and dreamed of a career as a comedy writer; he attended
Harvard University and wrote for the
Harvard Lampoon. Following in his mother's footsteps, Appel instead became a lawyer. After attending law school he started out as a law clerk for Judge
John M. Walker, Jr. before becoming a federal attorney, serving as assistant U.S. attorney for the
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for three years. In 1994, he moved into comedy writing when he was hired for
The Simpsons, writing seven episodes of the show including "
Mother Simpson". He moved on to become
showrunner and executive producer of
King of the Hill before creating the sitcom
A.U.S.A.. He then worked on
The Bernie Mac Show,
Family Guy and
American Dad! before co-creating
The Cleveland Show. He was married to the writer
Mona Simpson.