Artist Profile: Nicholas A. Stoller ’98 on Harvard, Writing for TV, and a Career in Comedy

Nicholas A. Stoller ’98 has worked on a wide range of comedy projects, from working as a co-writer on the 2011 feature film “The Muppets” to working as a director on the 2014 feature film “Neighbors.”

In 2017, Stoller co-wrote the comedy series “Friends from College.” Created with his wife, Francesca B. Delbanco, the show premiered on Netflix and spanned two seasons from 2017 to 2019. “Friends from College” follows a set of characters in their forties who became friends as Harvard undergraduates, now navigating a messy web of romantic and interpersonal relationships in New York City. Stoller reflected on the hilarity of the individuals who go back in time with their friendships.

“This idea of a group of friends that are in their 40s, they’re frozen in time — and they’re eight when they’re teenagers essentially,” Stoller said in an interview with The Crimson.

He tied writing the show back to his own experience working and meeting back up with his friends from college in his adulthood.

“The idea just seemed really funny to us, because it’s a dynamic we’ve witnessed among our own friends, and with each other,” Stoller said.

The Harvard setting was very important to the show, as the Harvard culture is an inherently fun premise. For Stoller, there is a certain feeling of “superiority” given by the institution for “literally no reason.”

“The kind of joke was that you have these people that are very smart, but also feel like they’re super important, but aren’t,” Stoller said.

Stoller’s goal was to portray Harvard as an environment in a more natural way than the stereotypes and to explore — in a comedic way — the sense of superiority that Harvard instills in its students.

“But most people from most universities, including Harvard, kind of just live their lives and have a normal life,” said Stoller. “Or don’t even have that successful life.”

Stoller connected this observation to his experience as an undergraduate at the college, where he spent much of his time writing comedy.

“I’ve always loved comedy writing,” said Stoller. “I always — in my dream — wanted to do what I’m doing and be a director and writer.”

During his time on campus Stoller wrote for the Harvard Lampoon and participated in the improv troupe, the Immediate Gratification Players. Stoller’s time in the organizations was “like learning how to write jokes.”

Following Stoller’s graduation, he worked in New York as a copy writer for an ad firm. While Stoller worked with the ad firm for a few years, New York felt “too small” for what he wanted to find in terms of work. Eventually, he moved back to LA and wrote for an Austin Powers animated show, which didn’t air. Despite that, the show opened up several doors for him.

“We wrote for 10 weeks, but I met a bunch of the writers and kind of became friends with some of them,” said Stoller. “I got my agent through that show.”

The show also gave Stoller a connection with director and producer Judd Apatow, who pulled him onto several projects.

Starting with the 2001 premiere of “Undeclared,” Stoller worked on several hits in the comedy world, starting as a director, screenplay writer, and producer.

“I wrote a movie with him, and then I wrote a second movie with him, which became ‘Fun with Dick and Jane’ which was for Jim Carrey and Téa Leoni,” said Stoller, referring to Apatow.

As of 2023, Stoller writes the comedy show “Platonic,” alongside his wife Delbanco, streaming on Apple TV+.

Stoller and his wife met each other through their own group of college friends, which served as inspiration for their first show together, “Friends from College.”

“Our group of friends is how we met each other from college; it’s a really tight group of friends,” Stoller said.

“Friends from College” was not only a fun show to watch on screen, but also one the team really enjoyed putting on together.

“We would have made that show forever,” said Stoller. “It was sad when we weren’t allowed to make more of it because it was such a fun thing to get to work on.”

With the creative control allotted from being creator, Stoller and his wife Francesca were able to decide on “everything.”

“I’m from the movie world. I don’t really understand how I can hand off a script to someone else to direct,” said Stoller.

Stoller’s need to control different aspects of the show’s production was largely grounded in his experience as a writer prior.

For Stoller, passion is key to writing successful TV shows.

“It really has to be something you want to talk about forever because you have to create so much content and so many stories,” said Stoller.

While Stoller’s work has mainly focused on comedy, he would be open to other genres in the future — though comedy would still be an integral part.

“I’ve only made comedies. The idea of trying to make a horror movie seems interesting to me,” said Stoller. “Everything I do would have to have comedy in it.”

Given that comedy for Stoller necessitates a rhythm that makes it a little inflexible, the opportunity to make something new is tantalizing.

“When you do comedy, you’re a little bit hemmed in by the kind of camera work you can do, you have to hit a certain rhythm in order to land those jokes,” said Stoller. “And so it seems fun to try something that’s a little bit different.”

Stoller has plenty to look forward to in the future. He is currently in the writing room for “Platonic” Season 3. This past year he just finished writing and directing a film called “Judgement Day,” which stars Will Ferrell and Zac Efron. The film is currently in production with no set release date.

“That’s like one of the craziest movies, probably the craziest movie I’ve made,” Stoller said.

Looking back on his career, Stoller attributed his future work to his college experience, from being a part of The Lampoon and Immediate Gratification Players, to the very friendships he made through comedy.

“It gave me an ability to kind of riff in the moment which is very important, both with TV writing, screenwriting and also directing, and not be self-conscious about it,” Stoller said.

—Staff writer Neeraja S. Kumar can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @neerajasrikumar.