Paul Simms favours deadpan silliness and comedies confident enough to leave things unexplained. We value his work as a writer and producer, with Flight of the Conchords a warmly recommended example, despite some waiting between songs.
Fi1m perspective
In Flight of the Conchords (2007), the songs make Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement's deadpan performances funnier. We laughed at their restrained delivery in the musical numbers, and the warmth made their company worth keeping between songs. That is a useful starting point for Paul Simms, who favours silly, sometimes fantastical comedy over attempts to make the form more dramatic. His part in this series needs keeping in proportion: he directed one episode, wrote two and served as consulting producer. We should be careful about giving him credit for everything that works.
NewsRadio (1995) gave him the responsibility of creator, head writer and executive producer after his writing work on The Larry Sanders Show in 1992–1994. The workplace ensemble became an important part of his reputation, and the later credits suggest someone comfortable helping other people's comedies retain their peculiarities. On Atlanta (2016), he worked as a writer and executive producer alongside creator Donald Glover. What connects these jobs is his willingness to leave some things unexplained when a programme has a clear point of view.
The qualification is there in Flight of the Conchords. Its ordinary plots sometimes leave too much waiting between songs, and affection for McKenzie and Clement does not make every slow stretch rewarding. We recommend the series warmly, but its comic patience occasionally becomes a demand on ours. The numbers show how well the performers and material can work together; the scenes between them are less dependable.
What We Do in the Shadows (2019) gives his taste for the absurd an everyday setting, mixing supernatural elements with mockumentary comedy. As writer and showrunner, Simms has a broader responsibility there than he did on Flight of the Conchords, and that is the work to follow when looking for his influence. His contribution is best considered through the writing and the handling of an ensemble; there is too little directing here to claim a visual signature. Start with Flight of the Conchords, if songs and deadpan company sound like a good evening.
Biography
Paul Simms is an American television writer and producer. He began his career writing for Late Night with David Letterman in 1990 and contributed to The Larry Sanders Show. He created and served as head writer and executive producer on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio (1995–1999).
Simms has written for and directed episodes of Flight of the Conchords (2007–2009), for which he also acted as consulting producer. His other credits include writing episodes of Boardwalk Empire (2010), Girls (2014–2015) and What We Do in the Shadows (2019–2024), and serving as executive producer on Atlanta (2016–2022) and Divorce (2016). He has also written for English Teacher (2024).
He grew up partly in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, graduated from Harvard University, and previously worked at Spy magazine. Simms has contributed to The New Yorker.
