Carvell stumbled into a comedy career "by accident".[1] He heard about an opening on the TV comedy series The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from Steve Bodow, one of the writers on that show. He submitted a writing sample that consisted of the headlines that Jon Stewart reads at the desk and dialogue between Stewart and correspondents. Carvell was then interviewed by the show's head writer and the executive producer. He joined the show in March 2004, just as the 2004 U.S. presidential campaign was becoming a common news topic. Describing the subsequent meeting with Stewart as "surreal", Carvell says, "it felt uncannily like I was suddenly a guest on the show, only without a book or movie to promote."[1] In 2011, Carvell became the series' head writer.[6] As a staff writer for the show, he won six Emmy Awards between 2004 and 2012.[1]
Since 2005, he has written the "Planet Tad" column for Mad magazine.[7] In 2012, he wrote a book based on the column, also called Planet Tad.[8] In 2014, Carvell followed John Oliver to his new HBO series Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, where he serves as showrunner for the series.[9]
Tim Carvell is a native of Bloomfield Hills, a suburb of Detroit. He entered Columbia University in 1991, majoring in history. While there, he wrote news and features for Spectator which he described as "as good a journalism education as you could get. It allowed you to learn by making mistakes, without suffering real consequences." He graduated in 1995.[1]
Carvell married his partner, Thomas Keeton, on June 28, 2014.[10]
Michael Brumm, Nate Charny, Aaron Cohen, Stephen Colbert, Richard Dahm, Paul Dinello, Eric Drysdale, Rob Dubbin, Glenn Eichler, Gabe Gronli, Barry Julien, Jay Katsir, Sam Kim, Matthew Lappin, Frank Lesser, Opus Moreschi, Tom Purcell, Meredith Scardino, and Max Werner (2014)
Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Greg Iwinski, Mark Kramer, Daniel O'Brien, John Oliver, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Chrissy Shackelford, Ben Silva, and Seena Vali (2021)
Daniel O'Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali, Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Greg Iwinski, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofía Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, and Chrissy Shackelford (2022)
Daniel O'Brien, Owen Parsons, Charlie Redd, Joanna Rothkopf, Seena Vali, Johnathan Appel, Ali Barthwell, Tim Carvell, Liz Hynes, Ryan Ken, Mark Kramer, Sofia Manfredi, John Oliver, Taylor Kay Phillips, and Chrissy Shackelford (2023)
