John Altschuler (born 1963) is an American television and film writer and producer known for his collaborative projects with Mike Judge and Dave Krinsky. Early life Altschuler grew up in a Jewish family in Carbondale, Illinois. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a merchant seaman who became an anthropologist. In his early teens, his family moved to Greenville, N.C., followed by a move to Cary, N.C. He graduated from Cary High School in 1981. Altschuler attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he majored in economics and anthropology While at UNC, he served on the staff of The Daily Tarheel newspaper. He also co-created and performed in the Half-Hour Comedy Show, the first comedy show produced by UNC Student Television, with fellow student Dave Krinsky. Altschulers recalls, "We’d have things like Bonnie and Clyde and Ted and Alice. We had a sketch called plant boy about a boy that was raised by wild plants." Altschuler and Krinsky began collaborating on manuscripts for National Lampoon. Altschuler says, "National Lampoon…was kind of important back then meant a lot to me. And what I found out is that they didn’t accept unsolicited material. What do you do? So what Dave and I…put a packet together and we send it to the three editors who ran National Lampoon…. And I said I know you don’t accept career letters blah blah blah but here’s a little something for your time. And I enclosed a dollar with each letter." Editor Chris Simmons responded and accepted their pitch for an article about the woman who was charged with selling the drugs that killed actor John Belushi. Altschuler said," I kinda felt like she was being railroaded because they were blaming her. Now, this is an out-of-control actor. And so basically the premise of our first piece was that she was going to get out of prison and all of Hollywood was terrified because they thought, 'Oh my God!' …Richard Pryor was scared of what she was going to do to him because she obviously has this power." Ultimately, working for National Lampoon gave the duo the credibility they needed to be taken seriously by the television and film industry. Career Altschuler and Krinsky moved to Hollywood, CA after graduating from UNC in 1985, and worked as drivers and production assistants for two years. His break came after being a P.A. for