From the joke mines to the main stage
Dave King’s path through the wilds of television comedy hasn’t resembled a straight line so much as an over-caffeinated rollercoaster. For almost two decades, he’s holed up in writers’ rooms, crafting miniature worlds where government offices erupt in dance, Boston sports fans pack Fenway, and Good Places might not always be what they seem. But in early 2025, the universe decided to drop an actual mushroom bomb on King’s career. Enter “Common Side Effects,” Adult Swim’s smart, psychedelic skewering of Big Pharma and American healthcare, with King not behind the scenes, but right up front. He’s Marshall Cuso, the fumbling, oddly tenacious scientist who just may have found a cure for, well, everything. And — here’s the twist — he still writes, produces, and executive produces while starring. Try doing that without caffeine.
Let’s trace King’s peculiar journey, starting from his early comedic roots to his first-ever starring role, and peek into how the man manages to juggle pencil, pen, mic, and mushroom all at once.
Early days: Jokes, sketches, and the mythos of late night
You don’t wake up one morning as the lead for a slick, sci-fi, animated series. First, you take a lot of twists and make more than a few questionable wardrobe choices in writers’ rooms. In the early 2000s, King sharpened his teeth cranking out segments for “Last Call with Carson Daly” and molding puppet oddities at “Crank Yankers.” He navigated those slightly grimy late-night corridors where jokes land, fail, and then get mummy-wrapped by the censors. This was the proving ground for King — and they say once you’ve survived late night, you can survive anything (except maybe network notes).
But King refused to stay in the shadows. He bounced into the world of TV comedy writers’ rooms, picking up credits on “Frank TV,” “Traffic Light,” and “The League.” While none of those shows made him a household name, they stamped his passport into sitcoms.
Workaholics: Finding footing amid the mayhem
“Workaholics” felt like a beer-soaked fever dream in its early 2010s heyday, and Dave King was part of that backstage crew. Not only did he write punchlines, but he also contributed as a consulting producer, corralling chaos with the tiniest hint of a straight man’s sensibility. Some seasons saw him credited as “David King,” but make no mistake — it’s the same guy who would later end up with three Emmy nominations and one “Simpsons” episode to his name.
“Workaholics” wasn’t just a stepping stone; it was the inflatable raft bobbing in the storm-tossed sea between sketch comedy and network sitcoms. But then, the next phone call changed everything.
Parks and Recreation: Knope, hope, and a whole lot of Lerpiss
In 2011, Mike Schur and Greg Daniels knew what they were doing when they brought Dave King to the “Parks and Recreation” team. The show was rising from early growing pains into a sitcom rocket ship, and King fit right in. He wrote “Citizen Knope” (a Leslie love letter, honestly), helped orchestrate not-so-average bachelor parties in “Two Parties,” and unspooled small-town weirdness in “Partridge.” All those episodes still pop up in fan “Best Of” lists.
And it wasn’t all behind the scenes. Hardcore Parks maniacs will recognize King moonlighting as Kurt Lerpiss throughout seasons 5 to 7, the kind of recurring in-joke you’d only catch on a second or third rewatch. Sometimes, writers really do sneak into their own worlds.
But it was the work as story architect and line polisher that made his Parks run something special. On the “Parks and Recollection” podcast, King describes how the producers welcomed him, and how working with folks like Schur, Daniels, and Amy Poehler shaped his view of comedy. Plus, he admits getting roped into the on-camera Lerpiss gig after a writing session got punchy. Classic Parks move.
And lest you think he left empty-handed: King scored an Emmy nomination in 2015 as producer. That’s not nothing — especially when Parks and Rec is still quoted everywhere from city hall to wedding vows.
One wild trip to Springfield
In 2016, Dave King got to cross another item off the comedy bucket list: writing “The Simpsons.” Specifically, Season 28’s “The Town,” an episode absolutely marinated in Boston references and wicked local color. The producers tapped King because he knows Boston (and because he’d been noodling in the “Love” writers’ room at the time). Once again, he proved adaptable. Local press in Boston promptly dissected every micro-joke and NESN reference, while King’s script got fan circles arguing about whether the Springfield Americans should really have lost that one game.
It’s one thing to land a Simpsons episode in the fourth decade of the show. Another to score a 2017 Best Writing Emmy nomination for it. But that’s par for King’s 2010s trajectory — he’s always one step ahead, never too settled in any comfort zone.
The Good Place and English Teacher: Getting philosophical, then educational
Schur liked King’s Parks work enough to reel him into “The Good Place,” NBC’s shimmering afterlife fable. From 2019 to 2020, King rode in the co-executive producer chair, helping guide that existential comedy through banana afterlife logistics and still keeping it funny. His fingerprints — writing and producing — run deep there, and yes, he even popped in as “Phil” in the show’s final stretch. That stint landed him another Emmy nomination, this time for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2020.
But King wasn’t content to stay with only ethereal worlds. By 2024, he popped up as executive producer, writer, and sometimes director of FX’s “English Teacher.” Brian Jordan Alvarez created this sharp, awkward, and weirdly realistic workplace comedy, but King’s deft writer-producer hand helped the first season feel so delightfully grounded that it bagged a quick renewal for Season 2. If you caught a particularly spicy joke or marvelously tense teacher lounge scene, there’s a good chance King typed at least half of it himself.
Here’s where it got hilariously busy. In fall 2025, with “English Teacher” Season 2 barreling onto Hulu and King wearing three different hats (EP, writer, director), he was already prepping something very different for Adult Swim.
Common Side Effects: King grabs the mic, eats the mushroom
February 2025. Adult Swim rolls out “Common Side Effects”—a strange, trippy, animated thriller about a scientist, a mushroom called “Blue Angel,” the DEA, and the world’s most dysfunctional pharma conglomerates. There, smack at the center, is Dave King’s voice as Marshall Cuso, the sweetly befuddled discoverer of the mushroom that can cure almost anything but also absolutely pulverizes the American healthcare system’s bottom line.
King didn’t just sign on to act. He came in as co-executive producer, writer (with a big hand in Episode 5, “Star-Tel-Lite”), and all-purpose architect of Cuso’s arc. This wasn’t a background cameo; this was his first-ever lead performance — animated, voice, or otherwise. After twenty years in writers’ rooms, he finally gets to mold a character from the inside out.
The creators, Joe Bennett and Steve Hely, brought along big names — Greg Daniels and Mike Judge among them — but trusted King not only to write and polish but to actually inhabit the main character. That trust paid off. Critics’ circles quickly pointed to “Common Side Effects” as a funny, biting, oddly sincere adult cartoon with an Emmy-nominated run (yes, King snagged his name on that ballot as co-executive producer). Between tortoise-assisted mushroom growth gags and actual plot tension, his Marshall Cuso brought more to the table than most animated scientists.
And just so you know, it’s not lost on anyone — including King himself — that this marks his first time as series star. He’s said as much in multiple CSE cast interviews. Twenty years and finally, the voice everyone hears is his.
Balancing act: Two worlds, one sharp pencil
So, how’s he pulling off this two-pronged attack? That’s where King’s background as a long-haul showrunner and fix-it writer kicks in. He splits his days (and probably several nights) between “Common Side Effects” Season 2 meetings — a gig confirmed by Adult Swim’s renewal and CSE’s own buzz — and prepping, writing, and sometimes directing episodes for “English Teacher” on FX. Oh, and he’s still editing jokes, reworking scenes, and recording new Marshall Cuso dialogue to keep CSE’s next batch even weirder and better.
Sometimes he’s writing a therapy session for teachers. Sometimes he’s navigating a psychedelic pharmaceutical chase. It helps that both shows embrace that sweet spot where reality gets undercut by pure, uncut comic exaggeration.
After years where networks shuffled him just behind the curtain, King now gets the chance to craft — then actually be — a lead character, while keeping a producer’s eye on the show’s direction. You bet he relishes it. And based on interviews and press, the Adult Swim and FX teams seem happy to let him stay in both lanes.
Where’s this mushroom trip going?
Here’s the kicker: Dave King isn’t done. “Common Side Effects” got greenlit for a second season before the first finale even aired. Meanwhile, FX’s “English Teacher” barrels into its second season, with King still serving up awkward faculty meetings and more reluctant leadership.
More than twenty years into his TV marathon, King embodies a sort of creative persistence — a guy who’s rewritten punchlines in every corner of comedy, gotten his share of nominations, and only just now started collecting lead roles. If there’s anything to learn from the current moment, it’s that persistence, weird timing, and a willingness to say yes to new risks just might land you your biggest role yet.
So if you’re hearing Marshall Cuso’s voice in your head on late-night reruns, or catching a particularly savage joke about tenure on “English Teacher,” just know: that’s pure, distilled Dave King. And he’s only getting started.
