Playwright Shawn's early plays, such as
Marie and Bruce (1978), portrayed emotional and sexual conflicts in an
absurdist style, with language both lyrical and violent. In a conversation with
Andre Gregory, parts of which were used to create
My Dinner with Andre, Shawn said these plays depicted "my interior life as a raging beast." Critical response was extremely polarized: some critics hailed Shawn as a major writer, while
John Simon called
Marie and Bruce "garbage" and Shawn "one of the unsightliest actors in this city." His 1977 play
A Thought in Three Parts caused controversy in London when the production was investigated by a
vice squad and attacked in Parliament after allegations of pornographic content. Shawn received an
Obie Award for playwrighting in 1975, for
Our Late Night. Shawn's later plays are more overtly political, drawing parallels between his characters' psychology and the behavior of governments and social classes. Among the best-known of these are
Aunt Dan and Lemon (1985) and
The Designated Mourner (1997). Shawn's political work has invited controversy, as he often presents the audience with several contradictory points of view. He has called
Aunt Dan and Lemon a cautionary tale against
fascism. Shawn's monologue
The Fever, originally meant to be performed for small audiences in apartments, depicts a person who becomes sick while struggling to find a morally consistent way to live when faced with injustice, and harshly criticizes the United States' record in supporting oppressive
anti-communist regimes. In 1997, Shawn discussed the political nature of
Aunt Dan and Lemon,
The Fever and
The Designated Mourner in an interview in which he talked extensively about the thematic connections among them, as well as his own views on
Marxist,
communist and
socialist politics, their relevance to
American liberalism, and how governmental and individual responsibilities for finding solutions to the dichotomy between rich and poor in the world take hold in his characters.
Aunt Dan and Lemon earned Shawn his second Obie Award for playwrighting in 1986, and
The Fever won an Obie for Best American Play in 1991. Three of Shawn's plays have been adapted into films:
The Designated Mourner (basically a film version of
David Hare's stage production),
Marie and Bruce and
The Fever.
Vanessa Redgrave stars in
The Fever (2004), which first aired on
HBO on June 13, 2007. Shawn has also written political commentary for
The Nation, and in 2004 he published the one-issue-only progressive political magazine
Final Edition, which featured interviews with and articles by
Jonathan Schell,
Noam Chomsky,
Mark Strand and
Deborah Eisenberg. Shawn is credited as translator of
Bertolt Brecht's
The Threepenny Opera, which opened at
Studio 54 in
Manhattan on March 25, 2006. He appeared briefly in voiceover during "Song about the Futility of Human Endeavor". He published his first nonfiction work,
Essays, on September 1, 2009. It is a collection of essays that express his perceptions of politics and other aspects of his life.
Acting Shawn's involvement with theater began in 1970 when he met
Andre Gregory, who has since directed several of his plays. As a stage actor, he has appeared mostly in his own plays and other projects with Gregory. He made his film debut in 1979, playing
Diane Keaton's ex-husband in
Woody Allen's
Manhattan and an insurance agent in
Bob Fosse's
All That Jazz. His best-known film roles include Earl in
Strange Invaders (1983) and Mr. Hall in
Clueless (1995). After seeing his performance in
My Dinner with Andre (1981), casting director Janet Hirshenson was so fond of his delivery of the word "inconceivable" that she cast him as Vizzini in
The Princess Bride (1987), for whom the word is a catchphrase. Other roles include Baron Von Westphalen in
Southland Tales, Cyrus Rose on
Gossip Girl, Marty in
Vegas Vacation (1997), and Ezra in
The Haunted Mansion (2003). His rare non-comedic film roles include two collaborations with
Andre Gregory and
Louis Malle: the semi-autobiographical dialogue
My Dinner with Andre, and a combined production-and-backstage-drama of
Uncle Vanya titled
Vanya on 42nd Street. Shawn quite often appears on television, where he has appeared in many genres and series. He has had recurring roles as the
Grand Nagus Zek on
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Stuart Best on
Murphy Brown, Jeff Engels on
The Cosby Show, Dr. Howard Stiles on
Crossing Jordan, Arnie Ross on
Taxi, Charles Lester on both
The Good Wife and
The Good Fight, a reprisal of his role as Mr. Hall on
Clueless (based on the film), and Father Frank Ignatius on
Evil. He appeared in the 1985 music video for
Chaka Khan's "This Is My Night". On February 4, 2010, Shawn appeared as Alan Rubin on
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
A Master Builder opened in New York City in June 2014. In 2018, he joined the cast of
Young Sheldon in the recurring role of Meemaw's boyfriend and Sheldon's physics professor, Dr. John Sturgis. Shawn starred in Woody Allen's 2020 film ''
Rifkin's Festival'', set in
San Sebastián, Spain. Shawn was honored in 2005 with the
PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award as a Master American Dramatist.
Voice acting Shawn is a voice actor for animated films and television series, including the
Toy Story franchise,
Monsters, Inc. (during the outtakes in the closing credits),
Kingdom Hearts III,
The Incredibles,
A Goofy Movie,
Family Guy, ''
Happily N'Ever After, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers, Regular Show, BoJack Horseman and Animal Crackers''. Shawn said that
Toy Story director
John Lasseter might have seen both
My Dinner with Andre and
The Princess Bride and seen him as "excitable" like Shawn's character, Rex. During production of
The Fox and the Hound, Shawn was originally cast as Boomer, but dropped out and was replaced by
Paul Winchell. In
Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, he replaced
Jon Lovitz as the voice of
Calico. He also voiced Mr. Mustela in
The Addams Family 2. ==Political activity==