Graham Linehan (that's /lɪnəhæn/ -- lin-uh-han, rhymes with pin-a-can) is an award-winning Irish writer, director, and occasional actor. Linehan is the co-creator and co-writer of the beloved Father Ted (three differently daft priests, one daft housekeeper, one tiny daft island), the co-creator and a main writer for Black Books, and the creator and writer for The IT Crowd (he seems to have no clue about goths, but the finely-crafted set dressing includes EFF stickers and a Flying Spaghetti Monster poster). All three shows are offbeat, quirky (even for British comedies), and with varying degrees of dark humor. Each show features main characters you'd probably rather not know or even, really, be in the same room as--something might catch fire. The shows are also very, very quotable.
Linehan also has written for various famous British sketch comedy shows such as Alas Smith and Jones. He often works with Arthur Matthews.
Unfortunately, it turns out that Mr. Linehan is also a viciously misogynistic transphobe. In retrospect, looking at certain episodes of certain shows, we should've seen it coming.