Michael Jay Tarses (born July 3, 1939) is an American screenwriter, producer and actor.
He created and produced The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Slap Maxwell Story, co-created Buffalo Bill (with Tom Patchett), and was an executive producer for The Bob Newhart Show.
[1] He was co-creator and co-writer (with Andy Hamilton) of BBC Radio 4's situation comedy Revolting People, which was set in colonial-era Baltimore; he played the role of sour shopkeeper Samuel Oliphant to Hamilton's cheerfully corrupt British soldier Sergeant McGurk.
He also co-starred with Jim Carrey on the sitcom The Duck Factory in 1984.
[5] An emergency exit at MassMoCA is named in honor of Tarses and his wife.