After struggling to establish a career in journalism, he penned material for the television show Not Necessarily the News and the magazines National Lampoon and Army Man.
[1] While working for Saturday Night Live, Maxtone-Graham co-wrote "The Chanukah Song" with Adam Sandler[2] and, according to the DVD commentary for the SNL clip show "The Best of Alec Baldwin", also wrote the controversial "Canteen Boy" sketch in which Canteen Boy is sexually molested by his scoutmaster, Mr. Armstrong (played by episode host Alec Baldwin).
According to the memoir of Jay Mohr, Maxtone-Graham threatened to quit and sue the show during the 1993–94 season after a fistfight with Norm Macdonald: the lawsuit never came to fruition.
[5][6] Although he upset many fans with his comments, Maxtone-Graham has won six Emmys for his work on The Simpsons,[7] and received an Annie Award for writing "The Seemingly Neverending Story".
[8] One of the episodes written by Maxtone-Graham is "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", in which Homer grows a tomato-tobacco hybrid called "tomacco".