His credits include Late Night with David Letterman, The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and The Chris Rock Show.

According to O'Donnell, the Top Ten List was an "almost simultaneous inspiration arriving from staffers Jim Downey, Randy Cohen and Robert "Morty" Morton — largely prompted by the ridiculous 'eligible bachelor' lists in a local New York paper that included the 84-year-old Bill Paley.

He won Primetime Emmy Awards in the "Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program" category on four occasions: for Late Night with David Letterman in 1984, 1986, and 1987 and for The Chris Rock Show in 1998.

[5] In 2017, the Writers Guild of America presented O'Donnell with the Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence.

[7] Steve is the identical twin of Mark O'Donnell, the Tony Award-winning co-writer of the Broadway musical Hairspray[1] who died on August 6, 2012.