Alan Spencer

Alan Spencer is an American television writer and producer, known for creating the 1980s satirical police series Sledge Hammer!. He was one of the youngest people ever to join the Writers Guild of America, writing for television at the age of fifteen. He is a "script doctor" for feature films.

Spencer, at the age of fourteen, snuck into Twentieth Century Fox Studios and onto the set of Young Frankenstein to watch his hero Mel Brooks direct. Marty Feldman, who had a fondness for mischief, recognized that the young interloper did not belong and took Spencer under his wing as his "guest.". Spencer was a huge fan of Feldman's and knew the comedian's writing credits for British television, a rarity, as most Americans were not well versed in Feldman's versatility, and the normally private Feldman recognized Spencer as a kindred spirit. Feldman had also begun writing at the young age of fifteen and gave Spencer early guidance.

Marty Feldman later died of a heart attack while making the film Yellowbeard and on May 16, 1984 Alan Spencer lost another friend: the legendary and offbeat comedian Andy Kaufman. Kaufman once invited Spencer over to his home and subjected him to a marathon of forty eight hours of The People's Court, a series that Kaufman religiously recorded. The one-two punch of losing both his friends devastated Spencer. He vowed to honor their influences and do unconventional work. In 1988, Mel Brooks tapped Spencer to co-create the short-lived NBC sitcom The Nutt House with him after the success of Spencer's "Sledge Hammer!" Brooks had no idea that Alan Spencer was the same young kid who had been buzzing around the set of Young Frankenstein.

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