Paul Greenberg is a Canadian comedy writer, producer, actor, comedian and voice actor. He was a founding member of the Toronto sketch-comedy troupe The Vacant Lot and later became a television writer and producer whose work has included the Tony Awards, the Academy Awards, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Weakest Link and the sitcom Return of the Mac.
Greenberg won a Primetime Emmy Award for special material written for The 63rd Annual Tony Awards and received three additional Emmy nominations for subsequent Tony Awards broadcasts. He also won Writers Guild of America Awards for The 66th Annual Tony Awards and the 2020 revival of Weakest Link. Greenberg has had long-running creative associations with Neil Patrick Harris and Jim Carrey.
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Career
Greenberg began his career performing sketch comedy in Toronto. He formed The Vacant Lot with Rob Gfroerer, Nick McKinney and Vito Viscomi. The troupe developed original material while performing at Toronto venues including the Rivoli. A 1994 profile by comedy critic Andrew Clark praised the group's writing. Greenberg, Gfroerer, McKinney and Viscomi served as the writers and performers of the troupe's television series, The Vacant Lot. The six-episode sketch series aired on CBC Television in Canada and was subsequently broadcast by Comedy Central in the United States. Greenberg and the other members of the troupe received a 1995 Gemini Award nomination for Best Writing in a Comedy or Variety Program or Series for an episode of The Vacant Lot.
After The Vacant Lot, Greenberg worked as a sketch and character performer in American film and television. He played multiple roles on MTV's The Jenny McCarthy Show and VH1's Random Play. Greenberg also performed in Los Angeles with actress and comedian Jackie Harris Greenberg, his wife. Both appeared in Andy Prieboy's musical comedy White Trash Wins Lotto. The production was developed during a three-year residency at Largo in Los Angeles. An LA Weekly profile described Greenberg as "an excellent physical comedian". They later appeared together at SF Sketchfest in Don't Say... with Paul and Dave, a live comedy show.
Television writing and producing
Greenberg increasingly moved from performance into television writing and producing. By the mid-2000s, his credits included consulting and producing work on Viva La Bam, Blue Collar TV, The Reality Show, Party @ the Palms, the MTV Movie Awards and other comedy and variety programming. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has credited Greenberg's television work as including The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Primetime Emmy Awards and the People's Choice Awards.
Greenberg developed a long-running professional relationship with actor Neil Patrick Harris, who has stated that Greenberg has been his go-to awards-show writer throughout their working relationship. Greenberg wrote special material for the 63rd Tony Awards, hosted by Harris, and won the 2010 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special. He received further nominations in the corresponding variety-special writing category for the 65th, 66th and 67th Tony Award ceremonies. Greenberg was part of the team which received the Writers Guild of America award for Comedy/Variety—Music, Awards, Tributes—Specials for their work on the 66th Awards. Greenberg was one of Harris's writing team for the 87th Academy Awards. Greenberg also collaborated with Jim Carrey during the development of Carrey's character material for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
Greenberg co-created, wrote, produced and appeared in the paranormal-comedy series International Ghost Investigators: Hollywood Division with David Anthony Higgins. The series aired on DirecTV's Audience network. In 2016, Pop ordered Return of the Mac, a scripted comedy starring Joey McIntyre. Greenberg co-created the series and served as an executive producer and writer. The show premiered in 2017 and ran for eight episodes. Greenberg was a writer on NBC's revival of Weakest Link. In 2021, its writing team won the Writers Guild of America Award for Quiz and Audience Participation.
Awards and nominations
Sources: Television Academy, Writers Guild of America, Writers Guild of America East, Playback and Gale.
