Paul Simms receives the WGA East’s Herb Sargent Award

Paul Simms, creator of the NBC comedy NewsRadio and currently showrunner at FX’s What we do in the shadows and executive producer Atlanta, receives this year’s WGA East Herb Sargent Award for Outstanding Comedy. The honor is given by Atlanta‘s Donald Glover at the 75th Annual Writers Guild Awards at New York’s Edison Ballroom on March 5.

“I am deeply honored to receive the Herb Sargent Award and am truly grateful for the writers I have worked with over the years,” said Simms. “I can’t even come up with a funny quote without her input, and I look forward to her assessment of all the different ways this quote you’re reading fell short and could have been better.”

Simms joined the Guild in 1990 as a writer Late Night with David Letterman. He was a writer and producer for the first three seasons of HBO The Larry Sanders Showand founded the NBC sitcom in 1995 NewsRadio, with the late Phil Hartman. His many other writing achievements include Flight of the Conchords and girl.

“Paul Simms has been a creative spark for many of the greatest comedic voices of this generation,” said WGA East President Michael Winship. “He brings out the best in those he works with and has often been the not-so-secret ingredient that makes a show a hit. Simms has proven time and time again that he is more than deserving of the Sargent Award. We are very pleased to honor him at this year’s ceremony in New York.”

The Herb Sargent Award is named after the former president of the WGA East, who a Saturday night live Writer and producer for over 20 years. The guild says it is awarded to a writer “who embodies Mr. Sargent’s spirit, dedication and comic brilliance, and his commitment to mentoring new writers”. Past honorees have included Judd Apatow, Lorne Michaels, James L. Brooks, Tina Fey & Robert Carlock, Steve O’Donnell, Norman Stiles and Paula Pell.