Kevin Bleyer, Emmy-Winning ‘Daily Show’ Writer, Dies at 54 in Car Crash

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 worked on the ABC late-night show Politically Incorrect, hosted by Bill Maher, from 2000 until its 2002 cancelation 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.

For scripted television, he wrote for 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 was a co-author with Stewart and others of 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.

More recently, he was the co-author, with former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, of 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 hostage Kenneth Bae.

As a speechwriter, Bleyer wrote for President Obama, including all of his addresses at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinners.

“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.”

Survivors include his wife, Nella; his father, Archie; his brother, Keith; and his sister-in-law, Kelly.