George Shapiro
George Shapiro is an American talent manager and multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winning television producer. He represented Andy Kaufman and is among the most successful managers in show business. He represents Jerry Seinfeld. He is Carl Reiner's nephew.[1]
Shapiro graduated from New York University. He then went to work in the mailroom at the William Morris Agency in New York. He advanced within the company and soon became an agent. One of his first assignments was to accompany Elvis Presley during his appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Eventually, he began packaging programs including the hits The Steve Allen Show, That Girl starring Marlo Thomas, and Gomer Pyle starring Jim Nabors. He also packaged a number of specials for Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Channing.
Shapiro left William Morris to become a personal manager and producer along with his partner and friend, Howard West. They formed Shapiro/West Productions and executive produced the Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe award winning series, Seinfeld. Shapiro was Andy Kaufman's personal manager for many years, executive producing the performer's special for Showtime, Andy Kaufman at Carnegie Hall, and one for ABC, The Andy Kaufman Show. He was executive producer with West on the Universal feature film Man on the Moon starring Jim Carrey in the role of Andy Kaufman and had a cameo in the movie as Mr. Besserman. He played a prominent role in the documentary Comedian.
He was portrayed in the Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon by Danny DeVito.
On June 30, 2012, people from the world of comedy gathered at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to honor Shapiro. The David Lynch Foundation presented him with the first Lifetime of Bliss Award. He said he had been practicing Transcendental Meditation for 28 years.[2][3]
References
- ↑ Marc Maron, "Carl Reiner" episode of WTF podcast, 20130207
- ↑ Highlights of David Lynch Foundation’s Night of Comedy Honoring George Shapiro
- ↑ "Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld on Transcendental Meditation". YouTube. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
TM, which I've been doing for, I think, it's 28 years … Andy Kaufman introduced me to it and it's become a great experience for me.