Daniels said he became interested in comedy by watching Monty Python's Flying Circus as a child, as well as by reading books by humorist S. J. Perelman at age 11. Daniels began his career as a writer on the HBO satirical news show Not Necessarily the News before moving to Saturday Night Live. There he spent three seasons at SNL, winning an Emmy Award in the process. Greg then joined The Simpsons, writing and producing some of the most popular episodes in the history of the series (including "22 Short Films About Springfield", "Homer and Apu", "Bart Sells His Soul", and "Lisa's Wedding"). In 1992, Greg co-wrote an episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Parking Space" which aired during the third season. He won his second Emmy Award while with The Simpsons before co-creating King of the Hill with Mike Judge. King of the Hill is one of the longest running animated series short of The Simpsons and South Park. Greg won another Emmy for his work on King of the Hill. Subsequently, Daniels adapted the popular BBC series The Office for NBC in the U.S. to great success, and he gave the acceptance speech at the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards when the American version of The Office won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Daniels was the recipient of the 2008 Outstanding Television Writer Award at the Austin Film Festival. He is a co-creator and producer of the American TV series Parks and Recreation.
Daniels attended Harvard University and wrote for the Harvard Lampoon with Conan O'Brien. He met his wife when she was working for NBC and he for Saturday Night Live.
Parks and Recreation - NBC - 2009: Co-creator, Writer
The Office - NBC - 2005-present: Co-creator, Executive Producer, Writer, Director, Actor. Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series (2006) and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing for a Comedy Series (2007). 1 other nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series (2007).
Life's Too Short - WB - 2000: Executive Producer, Writer. Michael McKean and Samm Levine starred as father and son.
King of the Hill - FOX - 1997-2009: Co-creator, Executive Producer, Writer. Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Series (1999). 4 other nominations for Outstanding Animated Series (1997, 1998, 2001, 2002).
Seinfeld - NBC - 1992: Writer
The Simpsons - FOX: Writer, Co-Executive Producer, Producer, Co-Producer. Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Series (1995). 2 other Emmy Nominations (Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics-1994, Outstanding Animated Series-1996).
Saturday Night Live - NBC - 1987-1990: Writer. Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Variety Series (1989).
Not Necessarily the News - HBO: Writer.
It is a rare feat that four of the shows that Greg Daniels has written for are still on the air as of December 2009: Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, The Office and Parks and Recreation.