Careercow Dan Harmon - Creator of Community, co-creator of Rick and Morty, and barely functional alcoholic

Well, it's not the whole thing, but I found another reddit thread that has bits of his Myspace Rant to Sarah Silverman post-firing. Just from the few excerpts it sounds like a damn goldmine:




Also according to the thread, he supposedly deleted all his Myspace posts around the time Community was green lit, so it sounds like he was trying to delay the inevitable by destroying the evidence of what an asshole he was before an executive found it lol
Lol, of course Dan Harmon used Myspace.
 
Well, it's not the whole thing, but I found another reddit thread that has bits of his Myspace Rant to Sarah Silverman post-firing. Just from the few excerpts it sounds like a damn goldmine:

Here's the whole thing.

While heading back from a meeting yesterday, I was told by a co-worker that a friend at Comedy Central had inquired about my "drug problem." Cursory investigation into this rumor's origin confirmed my suspicion: a special friend who once fired me appears to have landed upon a more comfortable answer to the question "why did you fire him," drawing upon information conveniently available to the public via any conversation or blog entry that composes my transparent life.

When you're honest with dishonest people, they can't believe their luck.

For those of you who don't know, by asking me or reading here, I sometimes use recreational drugs. For those of you who care, and who trust me, I did not get fired for having a drug problem. I have never used drugs while working, excepting bong hits or cocktails while shooting improvisational non-profit videos with people I think are my friends.

If I ever did use drugs while working, indeed, if I had a drug problem when I wasn't working, I would tell you without shame, just as I've always told anyone anything they want to know, because I'm an honest man and I'm good at what I do, and if I do it with a mouse up my ass, then maybe that's a crime to the mouse and maybe it's not and we can discuss it all you want.

I did drink a lot of coffee on one writing job, when I was writing for a certain someone for whom an episode a day just wasn't fast enough, and I felt I needed a stimulant to fill the tank inside me that had previously contained my soul. I didn't even have time to drink during my employment on that job. I got fired for a very different reason than being on drugs or being bad at my job. I got fired for a reason that's got to be incredibly hard and not very fun to explain. I won't speculate or go into any more detail than that because I'm a professional, and I don't slander. It would only make me seem, well, like I was crazy.

Let's change the subject.

Young writers: sometimes, in this business, you meet bad people. Reversed people, dishonest people, what the less enlightened would call evil people. They're really just mentally ill people that choose to be ashamed of their illness and strive to make that shame yours instead.

As an example, someone you know might be truly dependent on chemicals, through no fault of their own, due to run-of-the-mill mental illness. They might wake up, go to work and go right back to bed having spent the entire day on mind altering pills designed precisely to keep them from being who they really are, because who they really are is basically unemployable. They might have to legitimately spend every day, on a doctor's advice, using government approved medication, constantly upping their own dosage, dilating their pupils more and more just to keep a little light in their ever-darkening lives. And while there should be no shame in this, because being crazy isn't any more a choice than being gay, some people make the choice to be ashamed, and that's when they become bad people. In this example, they might tend to compensate for their shame by diagnosing a lot of the people around them as being addicts. This would make a reliable safety net for them whenever they felt threatened.

Some people are crazy, for real- not crazy like me and my friends, who call ourselves crazy to keep ourselves in check. Some people are bona-fide crazy people and they live with a very real shame, a very real fear of being "caught" being crazy, being "pitied" for being crazy, and they will do anything and say anything, and hurt anyone, or suck anyone's dick, to keep that day from coming.

It's not the crazy that makes them bad, it's the shame. These are people that feel like they have to claw at the world with white knuckles just to keep from flying off into obscurity, and they wish you felt the same, because then they'd be normal. Unconsciously, they know there is a reason why nobody will work with them, in spite of their talent and charm, and behind closed doors, they often find themselves curled up and bursting into tears. They claw at their melting bodies and brains and they convulse to try to get their record to stop skipping but nothing works.

So they put on their makeup, take a deep breath and step outside into a world that they believe hates them, and as far as they're concerned, it's time for the rest of us to make it up to them. Time for us to pay their piper. Their pain is going to be yours, by hook or by crook.

If you ever find yourself working with someone like that, get out fast and stay quiet. Get fired- it's as easy as telling them how you feel, so do it, because if you quit, you don't get paid. Be professional; don't slander them, even if it gets back to you that they've been slandering you in one of the lowest, least professional ways.

Pain is a living thing that wants to spread. When you get hurt by someone, you want to hurt them back. You might even want to hurt others. But can break the cycle if you choose to break it. Feel the pain, feel the urge to spread it, and realize that the person who hurt you, by definition, is overflowing with it. They don't need to be punished because they're already serving a life sentence. It is no concern of yours, even if they keep talking shit and it keeps getting back to you.

Don't blog about it. Don't post anything about it in any forums. My friend Dino once posted details about working with a certain fading starlet, and her celebrity husband, while burying the hatchet with him over drinks, confided that they had flirted with the notion of taking up their Brazilian masseuse's offer to hire thugs to physically beat him senseless. They had a whole plan. They had thought about it enough to plan it. In their minds, it was what Dino deserved. For talking about them. In a way they didn't want to be talked about. In a way not approved by their publicist.

Don't talk about these people. Let them talk about you, let them say what they want to say and hope the truth will find a way to the surface.

Just take the opportunity to improve yourself. God knows you're not perfect. Practice counterintuitive actions: forgive the unforgiveable, love the poisonous, empathize with the unbelievably psychotic. You're not exactly sane yourself, you know. Nobody is, and if you can accept that, you can grow.

The universe comes predisposed for balance; if you want bad people to feel bad, it's as easy as doing nothing.

Like honesty, it's hard at first, but in time, it's as easy as just not lying .

That's not the email he sent to Sarah, though, just a myspace blog (which he also published as a book lol) he posted about her. He also posted this response from her on his blog: " 'The way you portray yourself in your blogs and your emails -- it's bizarre how perceptive you are with everyone but yourself.' That's a line from an email I got from my special friend, the one who fired me."

The actual email he sent to Sarah is this:

9/2/2006 Subject: I'm sober now and I hate you again.

Just kidding. I want to make it official that I meant everything I said in New York and I hope you did, too.

We were a good team that got broken up for the very reason it was good- because we're passionate people. Those "eggshells" on which we were both walking weren't the fault of either one of us. They were there because we were fans of each other and we could scare each other a little (I know that's super presumptuous to say but I'm risking saying it because I think it's true). Nobody wants to think that someone they like doesn't like them, and nobody likes themself very much when they're working so hard. We were writing like an episode a day and that energy between us got overheated. It happens to normal people all the time but if you and I were normal we would be out of a job.

It's behind us, now, if you want. We don't have to talk about it ever again.

I hadn't seen your face, not even on TV, since the last writer's meeting. And when you came out and did your Paris Hilton thing, I just kept thinking, "This is the person that I think is the funniest woman in the world, and she was my friend, and now she's not. "

It's amazing to think about how close we came to NOT running into each other. And how, if we hadn't, I wouldn't be writing this. I spent six months wondering what I'd do when I saw you, but the one thing I never thought would happen is that I'd just be happy to see you.

We're both fine separately; we could both have perfectly fulfilling careers and lives without each other; we could never speak to each other again and we could still die happy people and the world would keep turning without us and the price of tea wouldn't change.

But we only have one lifetime, and I don't want to spend mine wasting any energy. I'm really lazy that way. Forcing myself to not like you was a big waste of energy because it wasn't a natural thing. I am a fan and I like you by default. It's the easy thing to do.

Would you still like to do a Channel 101 pilot with me for this month? I could write something and bounce it off you.

I can't wait to see the show, Jeff Davis told me there was a screening of the stuff at Cinespace and that the daughter episode was genius. Have a good weekend.

Your friend, Dan Harmon

Sarah's reply:

9/4/2006

Subject: (no subject)

A weird thing happened. I had written an email back to you but hadn't sent it yet. I was happy.

Was online reading blogs and went back and read some of yours that I'd missed. The one about black nerds in particular.

Then I went back and read the last couple emails you sent me.

If you want to be friendly, that would be great. But as for working together, I'm gonna pass.

All I can think is THANK GOD I read that blog before sending you the email I had written. I wonder who you think you're talking about when you say,

"Unconsciously, they know there is a reason why nobody will work with them, in spite of their talent and charm"

Bummer.

s

Harmon's reply back:

9/5/2006

Subject: RE: (no subject)

Oh, shit! Duh. I was working FOR you. This is so simple. This is why there was so much tension. You kept wondering why your employee was being such a dick and I kept wondering why my friend and creative partner had become an insufferable twat. You're actually right, it's bizarre how unaware I can be.

I really am crazy. I'm looking at that tantrum email I sent you. "I love and respect you... you have the power to hurt my feelings... if you care about that, you should be nicer.." Blah blah blah. Boo hoo. I sent THAT email... to you. Have you ever seen the documentary "Grizzly Man?"

Oh, well. Made sense at the time. Not to defend myself, but just to explain: I was thinking that your position as my employer was a technical, contractual matter, superceded by the unbreakable bond that exists between collaborators. I was also thinking of the character you play as just being a character.

For all my supposed genius, in a lot of ways, I'm not too bright.

Getting smarter, though. Every day. Be patient. We're friends, now.

Harmon

And finally, the initial email he sent that he says got him fired:

3/29/06

I don't mind you insinuating that we may have lost sight of your character. I think it's weird that you had that reaction to one line in #3. You're a special person, nobody is ever going to be thinking exactly what you're thinking 100 percent of the time. That would be weird. You touching your breasts isn't me losing sight of your character, it's me typing that you touched your breasts and it's easy to fix.

I guess we almost made it through this phase without a major fight, but I don't understand why sometimes it's okay that something I write is not your cup of tea and you simply suggest a fix, but then other times it's like the end of the world and your character is in jeopardy and you don't know what to do because I'm such a hack.

And if that wasn't the message you sometimes try to send, then I'm crazy, in which case, I'm fucking crazy, and I'm not going to get un-crazy any time soon. And by the way, I hope this doesn't blow your mind, but you're fucking BAT SHIT INSANE and I adjust and I have fun and I am honored to write for you. So you need to know that I'm a little crazy, too, in certain specific ways, and adjust how you communicate with me, and if you're not willing to do that, then tell me, and I'll adjust to you even more.

In case you care, you have the power to say things that deflate me, make me hate myself, make me want to cry. Do you remember how you felt after we wrapped on the last day of shooting the pilot? That's me right now, I'm at the center, I'm under pressure, coming face to face at every moment with my limitations. This is my difficult time. I almost got through it with my mind in one piece, it's Wednesday, we have two scripts to go. Now my fucking spirit is broken. Maybe it's not your fault, maybe you just put a straw on the camel's back at the right time. Maybe I just needed to blow up and heal.

I'm sorry I said it was better than deadwood. I didn't mean if there's anything wrong with this script, then you should be bewildered and depressed. I meant, hey, thanks for cutting and pasting something together that really inspired me. I have high hopes for this episode after you and I get done writing it. I was joining in with your woo hoos. so please don't punish and humiliate me by prefacing every single sentence in the future with "I don't want to make you cry, but..." I'm saying please take ten extra seconds before you click send on your emails and scan for any instances where you talk to me like Im a Starbucks employee that spilled something on you. I think there's a clear enough line there, when we have more time, maybe I can show you and we can learn to work together better. Its great 97 percent of the time and then you fucking kidney punch me, that's how I feel.

Yes, I will be sitting here with my stomach in knots going through it.

By the way, after we perfect this draft, its going to go to the network and the network is going to say, "lose the bees and the flashbacks." At which point maybe I won't be the bad guy as much.

I'm sure I'll regret sending this to you but this is how I feel right now. I wouldn't get so upset about it if I didn't love and respect you.
 
I admire you masterful Google-fu.

Also holy shit this is like a precursor to Harmon's whole career: airing dirty laundry onto social media, the manipulative language and acting like a clingy, jealous boyfriend with a business partner (the email opening with touching Silverman's boobs is just the icing on the cake), a belief that "admitting" to your problems is counts as good enough while actively working on them is secondary, the references to therapy/medication that border on being the anti-treatment/recovery sentiment that's currently seen on Tumblr (is it any wonder he and a good chunk of Tumblr latched themselves onto Rick?), the absolute inability to handle any sort of criticism, all wrapped up in a bunch of pity-partying TL;DR dribble to try and cover up all the above.

He makes Sarah Silverman of all people look sympathetic in comparison.

Wonder if we're going to see a similar emails leaked when the inevitable falling out with Roiland happens.
 
the manipulative language and acting like a clingy, jealous boyfriend with a business partner

I was going to mention this. The language he uses is very strange and manipulative. And being a writer, I'm sure he's well aware of what he's doing. The Grizzly Man comment stood out the most personally. It's hard for me to put words to it, but he's definitely acting like a jealous, abusive boyfriend. He seems to act like Sarah is a lover that scorned him or something, when really they are just business partners. He treats everyone that dislikes him or hurts his feelings that way and it's really weird and uncomfortable.

Also forgot to mention - the whole comment about drinking cocktails with other writers while coming up with ideas...Does Harmon not consider himself an alcoholic? I thought he did. He certainly acts like one. And since it's pretty clear he has issues with alcohol, there's no way those little "after work cocktail sessions" didn't turn into Harmon being completely wasted. From videos, it's clear he just makes people really fucking uncomfortable when he's shitfaced, so imagine how that would impact the workplace during work hours.
 
I was going to mention this. The language he uses is very strange and manipulative. And being a writer, I'm sure he's well aware of what he's doing. The Grizzly Man comment stood out the most personally. It's hard for me to put words to it, but he's definitely acting like a jealous, abusive boyfriend. He seems to act like Sarah is a lover that scorned him or something, when really they are just business partners. He treats everyone that dislikes him or hurts his feelings that way and it's really weird and uncomfortable.

Also forgot to mention - the whole comment about drinking cocktails with other writers while coming up with ideas...Does Harmon not consider himself an alcoholic? I thought he did. He certainly acts like one. And since it's pretty clear he has issues with alcohol, there's no way those little "after work cocktail sessions" didn't turn into Harmon being completely wasted. From videos, it's clear he just makes people really fucking uncomfortable when he's shitfaced, so imagine how that would impact the workplace during work hours.
I know that at the very least Harmon came up with the concept of Community's Remedial Chaos Theory episode while shitfaced.

It was one of the series' best received episodes, if that speaks for anything.
 
I was going to mention this. The language he uses is very strange and manipulative. And being a writer, I'm sure he's well aware of what he's doing. The Grizzly Man comment stood out the most personally. It's hard for me to put words to it, but he's definitely acting like a jealous, abusive boyfriend. He seems to act like Sarah is a lover that scorned him or something, when really they are just business partners. He treats everyone that dislikes him or hurts his feelings that way and it's really weird and uncomfortable.

Also forgot to mention - the whole comment about drinking cocktails with other writers while coming up with ideas...Does Harmon not consider himself an alcoholic? I thought he did. He certainly acts like one. And since it's pretty clear he has issues with alcohol, there's no way those little "after work cocktail sessions" didn't turn into Harmon being completely wasted. From videos, it's clear he just makes people really fucking uncomfortable when he's shitfaced, so imagine how that would impact the workplace during work hours.

Dan "One more drink, it helps me think" Harmon only drinks to help the creative process. And his crippling depression. And life in general.
 
Does Harmon not consider himself an alcoholic? I thought he did. He certainly acts like one.
Dan "One more drink, it helps me think" Harmon only drinks to help the creative process. And his crippling depression. And life in general.
To be fair this was written in 2006, so he might not have considered himself an alcoholic at the time and was in denial that he had a problem.

But that being said, it's now 10 years later and he still doesn't show any signs of even trying to stay sober what with continually showing up on Twitter and his podcast in recent years absolutely shitfaced. His fans and coworkers also seem to be enablers, what with how no one seems to ever go "wait aren't you an alcoholic" outside of jokes and continually giving him gifts like moonshine and home-brewed beer when he does his live podcast sessions.
 
To be fair this was written in 2006, so he might not have considered himself an alcoholic at the time and was in denial that he had a problem.

But that being said, it's now 10 years later and he still doesn't show any signs of even trying to stay sober what with continually showing up on Twitter and his podcast in recent years absolutely shitfaced. His fans and coworkers also seem to be enablers, what with how no one seems to ever go "wait aren't you an alcoholic" outside of jokes and continually giving him gifts like moonshine and home-brewed beer when he does his live podcast sessions.
If anyone cared about him, they would have staged an intervention.
But nobody cares about that drunken hobo fatso.
 
If anyone cared about him, they would have staged an intervention.
But nobody cares about that drunken hobo fatso.
Joke's on him if he ever does get an intervention though because it'll probably go something like this:
Screenshot-2017-10-21 Dan Harmon on Twitter.png
 
Joke's on him if he ever does get an intervention though because it'll probably go something like this:
View attachment 300099

Someone would probably say Dan was a pretty shitty kid, too, if they had a fit of honesty. Seriously, this guy was obviously a dick for most of his life.
 
Of course this is assuming anyone at this point's ever going to stage an intervention for Harmon. We're talking about the guy who had this to say about his alcoholism when talking with Vice (archive.is being a bitch right now, will save it later)

Dan "Chug some liquor and bitch to Twitter" Harmon said:
What I know about conversations about addiction is that if you deny it, then that’s when the real high-maintenance conversations start. Because people who bring it up to you, they’re not really trying to help you most of the time. So if you just say, “Yes, I’m an alcoholic,” it makes the conversation as short as it should be. Because nobody should be talking to you about what you do for longer than, like, five seconds before tending their own garden.

So if someone says, “Are you an alcoholic?” I go “yes.” If someone says, “Are you racist?” I usually go “yes." If someone says “Are you sexist“...?

They don’t usually ask those questions as yes or no questions [laughs] but when the topic comes up, I find it’s a shorter path to people tending their own garden to go “yep!” Because then they either have to help you or move on.

MOD EDIT: Thanks for the link @OtterParty, now go make a thread about killing chris

https://web.archive.org/web/2017102...sses-his-new-documentary-and-going-to-therapy
 
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So less than ten minutes in Dan Harmon was apparently black out drunk (keep telling yourself it was from "man shame" Harmon, you drunken cuck) and doesn't remember his own show and went off on a whole stereotypical "male feminist ally" tirade about how guys need to keep each other in check and have "talks" with each other about social justice.

Might as well start the betting pool on when Harmon's sexual harassment scandal will unfold now.

Edit: He also mentions that some girl who's staff(?) that quit and/or is no longer going to be listening to Harmontown? I don't recall them mentioning a name, but anyone know who he's talking about?
 
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