Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, animator, and voice actor. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Helland the television series The Simpsonsand Futurama. The Simpsons has gone on to become the longest running U.S. primetime television series in history, as well as the longest running animated series and sitcom...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCartoonist
Date of Birth15 February 1954
CityPortland, OR
CountryUnited States of America
Matt Groening quotes about
I thought I had an appetite for destruction, but all I wanted was a club sandwich.
With animation, because you can draw anything and do anything and have the characters do whatever you want, the tendency is to be very loose with the boundaries and the rules.
You just have to keep in mind that the important relationship is the relationship with the audience. That's what I try to do. Everything else is secondary.
I know all those words, but that sentence makes no sense to me.
When authorities warn you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities.
Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers.
I draw a weekly comic strip called Life in Hell, which is syndicated in about 250 newspapers. That's what I did before The Simpsons, and what I plan to do for the rest of my life.
I have to say that The Simpsons comes from a huge number of great writers headed by Al Jean, the show-runner, and the work that they do is really fantastic. It's a blast just to sit around with them in the writers' room and listen to all the filthy jokes that will never get on the air.
I know for a fact, obviously, because my kids grew up watching the show, that there are some things they are introduced to from 'The Simpsons', and then later in life they see the thing we're parodying. My kids had not seen 'Casablanca,' and we'd done parodies of 'Casablanca.'
Sometimes people get mad at The Simpsons' subversive story telling, but there's another message in there, which is a celebration of making wild, funny stories.
I would prefer to listen to a French classical composer like Olivier Messiaen than to the pop hits of the day.
The conundrum that I face on a daily basis is that I have two sons who have grown up watching 'The Simpsons,' so they know exactly what buttons to push. They know how Bart irritates Homer, and they use these lines against me to tell me that I'm not funny anymore.
Back in high school, I wrote a novel about a character named Bart Simpson. I thought it was a very unusual name for a kid at the time. I had this idea of an angry father yelling 'Bart,' and Bart sounds kind of like bark - like a barking dog.
Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on The Simpsons is often overlooked.