Editing David Mirkin (section)

===Early career on ''Three's Company'' and ''Newhart''===
Mirkin started out as a stand-up comedian in 1982 and performed across the United States, including at [[The Comedy Store]], where he became a regular, and at [[The Improv]].<ref name=ign>{{cite web |url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/050/050750p1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110831203107/http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/050/050750p1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 31, 2011 |title=Interview with David Mirkin |author=Head, Steve |website=[[IGN]] |date=March 30, 2001 |access-date=February 8, 2010 }}</ref> The first joke he used in his routine was, "Is it just me or has everybody been coughing up blood lately?" Mirkin considers the joke to be "an insight into the way [he writes]".<ref name=lmu /> Stand-up comedy was the most profitable and easily accessible route Mirkin found into the comedy industry, but "it wasn't a lifestyle that [he] particularly coveted," especially due to the traveling required.<ref name=lmu />

He got his first job writing for television on the sitcom ''[[Three's Company]]'' in 1983.<ref name=ign /> Through his cousin, Mirkin met writer George Tricker who became his mentor.<ref name=mean2>{{cite web |url=http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=504:mirkin&catid=170:mirkin&Itemid=384 |title=David Mirkin, A Writer I Love Part II |author=Swanson, Neely |date=March 9, 2012 |publisher=No Meaner Place |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130328175232/http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=504%3Amirkin&catid=170%3Amirkin&Itemid=384 |archive-date=March 28, 2013 |df=mdy }}</ref> Tricker wrote for the ''Three's Company'' spin-off ''[[The Ropers]]'' so Mirkin wrote a [[spec script]] for an episode of ''The Ropers''. Although rejected by the producers of ''The Ropers'', ''Three's Company'' creator [[Bernie West]] was impressed by the script and Mirkin began pitching ideas for that series instead. Mirkin pitched to the series' story editors for several years without success because they had very limited script buying power. He was eventually able to pitch to the show's producers, who bought a script from him, and then hired him as a staff writer.<ref name=mean2 /> Mirkin was apprehensive about the job because he was aiming to work on ''[[Cheers]]'', a show more focused on character-driven humor which Mirkin preferred writing, but felt he could not turn the opportunity down.<ref name=mean2 /> Mirkin considered ''Three's Company'' to have "a classic French farce structure", as "the characters were so stupid they could never say anything clever." This meant Mirkin had to adapt his preference for character-driven comedy to fit the show; it "forced you to put all the cleverness into the plot, a much more difficult thing to do. The plot had to get all the laughs". Mirkin felt the experience "taught [him] a lot about structure" which greatly aided his later work on character-focused shows.<ref name=lmu /><ref name=mean2 />

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|quote="I realized that I had kind of 'done' the multi-camera sitcom. I had done every aspect of the multi-camera sitcom and I was chafing at its limitations. I'd always been a big film freak, into cool camera movement, special effects and different styles of storytelling, different genres, so I very sadly came to the realization that I couldn't do a normal sitcom for the rest of my life where your characters simply congregate around an office desk or living room sofa. Here I had my dream, dream, dream dream job, which was kind of a ''[[Mary Tyler Moore Show]]'' with [[Bob Newhart]], and I realized, to my horror, that I could only do that for four years."
|source=—Mirkin on his decision to leave ''Newhart''<ref name=mean2 />
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Still hoping to work on ''Cheers'', Mirkin sent a spec script of an episode of ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'' to ''Cheers'' writers [[Ken Levine (TV personality)|Ken Levine]] and [[David Isaacs (writer)|David Isaacs]]. The two approved and offered Mirkin a freelance job writing one of the final nine episodes of the show's first season, pending their commissioning by [[NBC]]. The episodes were commissioned, but Mirkin's agent rejected the ''Cheers'' job without telling his client, failing to see why Mirkin would want to work on what was then the lowest-rated comedy on television. Mirkin sacked the agent and signed on with Robb Rothman. Rothman knew [[Dan Wilcox]], the executive producer of ''[[Newhart]]'', which like ''Cheers'' was more character-focused. Rothman persuaded Wilcox to hire Mirkin. Mirkin wrote a freelance script and in 1984 beat seven other writers to a staff position on the series.<ref name=mean2 /> He served as a writer and supervising story editor, before being promoted to [[Executive producer#Motion pictures and television|executive producer]] and [[showrunner]] after one and a half years.<ref name=murder /><ref name=ign /><ref name=mean2 /><ref name=anmag>{{cite news |url=http://www.animationmagazine.net/people/multiple-emmy-award-winning-producerwriterdirector-david-mirkin/ |title=Multiple Emmy Award-winning producer/writer/director David Mirkin |work=[[Animation Magazine]] |access-date=July 17, 2011 |author=Brandenberg, Eric J. |date=December 17, 2004}}</ref> Mirkin "felt [''Newhart''] was where I belonged. I'd finally come to a place in my life where everything I'd ever wanted had come together."<ref name=mean2 /> In 1987, he received a [[Primetime Emmy Award]] nomination for [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series|Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series]] for ''Newhart''.<ref name="emmys">{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |title=Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search |publisher=Emmys.org |access-date=June 17, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403022947/http://www.emmys.org/awards/awardsearch.php |archive-date=April 3, 2009 |df=mdy }}</ref> It was the first nomination the show had received in that category and for the first episode Mirkin wrote as the series' showrunner.<ref name=mean3 /> Mirkin directed several of the ''Newhart'' episodes he wrote because he saw directing as "a means of protecting the writing". A philosophy he carried into his later work, Mirkin felt that "being the head writer... was not enough; you had to see the material through its execution&nbsp;– especially the weirder stuff. You had to be right there to make sure every sick idea didn't lose any disturbing nuance."<ref name=mean1>{{cite web |url=http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=499:mirkin&catid=170:mirkin&Itemid=384 |title=David Mirkin, A Writer I Love |date=February 28, 2012 |author=Swanson, Neely |publisher=No Meaner Place |access-date=June 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130329120901/http://www.nomeanerplace.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=499%3Amirkin&catid=170%3Amirkin&Itemid=384 |archive-date=March 29, 2013 |df=mdy }}</ref> Mirkin left ''Newhart'' in 1988, desiring to work on a [[Single-camera setup|single-camera]] sitcom.<ref name=mean2 />

After leaving ''Newhart'', Mirkin wrote freelance scripts for ''[[It's Garry Shandling's Show]]'' and ''[[The Tracey Ullman Show]]''.<ref name=mean1 /><ref name=odd /><ref name=anmag /> [[Garry Shandling]] asked Mirkin to co-create ''[[The Larry Sanders Show]]'' with him. Mirkin did not have time, but worked as writer and consultant on the show's first season, and later returned to direct the 1998 final season episode "The Beginning of the End".<ref name=odd /><ref name=ign /><ref name=mean3 /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-cast-and-crew/the-larry-sanders-show-the-beginning-of-the-end/ |title=The Larry Sanders Show: The Beginning of the End: Cast & Crew |publisher=[[MSN]] |access-date=July 22, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120923123055/http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie-cast-and-crew/the-larry-sanders-show-the-beginning-of-the-end/ |archive-date=September 23, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>