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
brown characters charlie half strip
With Charlie Brown, it was about loneliness and isolation. I always thought that the thing about Charlie Brown and those characters was the absence of the parents. Half the strip was about who wasn't there. The parents were never in the picture.
stupid character trying
The tendency in comedy is to have a character who's stupid get more stupid, because you're trying to top yourself and not just repeat.
character soul trying
I have less to do with 'The Simpsons' every season, but I stick my nose in here and there. Basically, it's just trying to keep the characters consistent and making sure the show has a soul.
mother father character
I basically drew my own family. My father's name is Homer. My mother's name is Margaret. I have a sister Lisa and another sister Maggie, so I drew all of them. I was going to name the main character Matt, but I didn't think it would go over well in a pitch meeting, so I changed the name to Bart.
character done tone
Since I was there in the very beginning, I know the history of the characters. So, I make comments about the tone and sometimes remind the writers that we've done that before.
funny moving character
It's a funny show. The characters are surprisingly likable, given how ugly they are. We've got this huge cast of characters that we can move around. And over the last few seasons, we've explored some of the secondary characters' personal lives a bit more.
character want boundaries
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.
sales time ya
Sales man: You got time for lunch?Homer: Yeah..but I usually have 2 or 3.Salesman: You like thai?Homer: Yeah, ya like shirt?
across american-cartoonist flips frozen funny love racing
Love is like racing across the frozen tundra on a snowmobile which flips over, trapping you underneath. At night, the ice-weasels come.
cute-love emotional families love maker overcoming simpsons sweet-love
Families are about love overcoming emotional torture. - Maker of the Simpsons
best great kids mark provide sort stories teach tools
The best stories in our culture have some sort of subversiveness - Mark Twain, 'Catcher in the Rye.' You provide kids with great stories and teach them how to use the tools to make their own.
charles comic drew emotions expect himself simply strip work wrote
Charles Schultz is a really interesting case. He wrote that comic strip and drew it himself from beginning to end, and it's a work of genius. It's very simply drawn, but it has some really deep emotions that you don't expect in a silly-looking comic strip.
continue gave knew life record sold stores time
I gave away 'Life in Hell' when it was a little 'zine, and sold it at record stores for $1, and I knew from the time that I first did it that I would continue to do it, because it was fun.
act acting advertising apparently asking available babies believe bother careful clues diligent dogs figure hours insipid lie near observed offers peculiar playground points popular research ride ridiculous several similar song study tv
Where do babies come from? Don't bother asking adults. They lie like pigs. However, diligent independent research and hours of playground consultation have yielded fruitful, if tentative, results. There are several theories. Near as we can figure out, it has something to do with acting ridiculous in the dark. We believe it is similar to dogs when they act peculiar and ride each other. This is called "making love". Careful study of popular song lyrics, advertising catch-lines, TV sitcoms, movies, and T-Shirt inscriptions offers us significant clues as to its nature. Apparently it makes grown-ups insipid and insane. Some graffiti was once observed that said "sex is good". All available evidence, however, points to the contrary.