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Does Matt Groening really need any introduction? His evolution from cantankerous Los Angeles underground cartoonist to the creator of one of the most beloved and influential comic institutions of the past century is already the stuff of legend. In 1977, Groening began writing the long-running comic strip Life In Hell, a cult favorite about the misadventures of various angst-ridden neurotic rabbits, plus Akbar and Jeff, a pint-sized duo who operate or shill for an endless succession of disreputable businesses.
Life In Hell eventually caught the eye of producer James L. Brooks, who commissioned Groening to create animated shorts to run as bumpers during Fox's The Tracey Ullman Show. Groening famously created the Simpsons in roughly 15 minutes, and Simpsons shorts ran for several seasons on Ullman's acclaimed program before getting their own half-hour spin-off in 1989.
In 1999, Groening and Simpsons veteran David X. Cohen launched the science-fiction cartoon series Futurama, which quickly attracted a rabid cult following in spite of regular preemptions and generally shoddy treatment by Fox. The network ultimately cancelled Futurama, but substantial DVD sales and impressive ratings for the Cartoon Network reruns prompted Fox to green-light four feature-length direct-to-DVD Futurama movies. Groening is also working on a long-rumored, highly anticipated Simpsons movie, in addition to publishing Bongo Comics and still writing and drawing Life In Hell. Just before a recent Simpsons episode written by Ricky Gervais aired and the 2007 release date of the Simpsons movie was announced, The A.V. Club spoke to Groening about why The Simpsons Forever is more than just the title of a book.
The A.V. Club: For my generation, Simpsons references are a language of their own. Do you often get people quoting the show to you?
Matt Groening: Oftentimes, what seems to be a street lunatic charging at me spouting gibberish turns out to be a devoted Simpsons fan quoting their favorite line.
AVC: How does that make you feel?
MG: Very jumpy at first. But they're generally not violent.
AVC: So you're frightened and flattered at the same time.
MG: Frightened first, then relieved.
AVC: What can you say about the Futurama movies?
MG: We're going to do four of them, straight to DVD. And as we speak, I'm exchanging e-mails and ideas with David X. Cohen and Ken Keeler, both of whom worked on the show from the very beginning. Right now we're trying to figure out whether to do a giant epic, or separate crazy movies, or what. But I wager that Bender will be featured prominently.
AVC: He's a fan favorite.
MG: People love Bender. He's the robotic Homer of the Futurama universe.
AVC: Why do you think people relate to him?
MG: Like Homer, Bender has no guilt whatsoever. He wants what he wants. He's one of the few robots in pop culture who isn't either an effeminate little wimp, or an unfeeling psychopath. He has a lot of emotion.
AVC: Why do you think that Fox treated Futurama the way it did?
MG: I think there were just a few executives around at the time who did not understand the show. No amount of explaining the humor of a crab monster and a crazy robot and a one-eyed sci-fi babe could change their minds.
AVC: Didn't they trust you based on your track record? You basically made Fox with The Simpsons. Didn't that buy you some currency?
MG: Well, it got us on the air and kept us on the air for four years, but they didn't get the show, and that's that. There's a long, regal history of misunderstood TV shows, and to Fox's credit, the studio looked at the ratings on the Cartoon Network and how the show does overseas, and saw that there was more money to be made. So now we get to come back and tell some of the stories that we've had lined up that we never got around to. When David Cohen and I put together the show, we spent a couple years building the universe, and we have characters and stories that we haven't even got around to that we already have voluminous notes on.
AVC: Do you feel vindicated over Futurama becoming such a hit on Adult Swim and DVD?
MG: I suppose. One of the great things about this whole process is the fans have always been unbelievably supportive and encouraging, so it's fun to be able to give them what they want, which is more Futurama.
AVC: Is there any chance that it might return to television?
MG: Certainly. That's always a possibility. Look at the example of Family Guy, which came back from the dead and is walking among us.
AVC: Speaking of Family Guy, The Simpsons has taken a few shots at it, and it's shot back. What's your take on Family Guy?
MG: The rivalry is very affectionate. Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, is a good guy and he does great work, and I certainly have no problem with the perceived competition. If anything, we have the same kind of competition that Pugsley Addams and Eddie Munster had in the old days. They duked it out a few times, and so did Seth and I, but that's probably before your time.
AVC: Family Guy often seems like a child of The Simpsons. Do you feel like you're a godfather of a whole school of comedy?
MG: I think Family Guy and American Dad have definitely staked out their own style and territory, and now the accusations are coming that The Simpsons is taking jokes from Family Guy. And I can tell you, that ain't the case.
AVC: At this point, The Simpsons is one of the longest-running television shows of all time. How do you avoid cannibalizing and repeating yourself?
MG: We have an entire staff of writers and animators who are so young that they grew up watching the show. So they have the entire history memorized, and remind us when we're repeating ourselves. The goal is to keep coming up with things that both surprise the audience and the people who've been working on the show for the past 15 or 20 years.
AVC: You collect bootleg Simpsons merchandise. What are some of the prized items in your collection?
MG: Well, I've lost a number of my plaster Tijuana Bart Sanchez figurines to earthquakes. It's quite tragic. Artisans are working day and night to create more unauthorized stuff for me to put on my shelf. I have a lot of Simpsons Russian nesting dolls that people send me, as well as fan paintings and sculptures, weird little toys, and a crazy Russian coloring book of The Simpsons. The artist probably was shown an episode for 15 seconds and then based an entire comic book on his vague impressions.
AVC: So you're inspiring other people's creativity.
MG: Yes. [Laughs.] It looks like The Simpsons as drawn by people on drugs.
AVC: Of the thousands of authorized Simpsons items, which is your favorite, and which is your least favorite?
MG: I like the Simpsons pinball machines. Those are pretty great. I'm not very fond of the Simpsons fishing lures. They just look like little Bart toys, except they've got nasty fishhooks in them. I don't know what kind of fish would be fooled by a Simpsons lure. Probably not a fish you'd want.
AVC: Do you have any control over the merchandise? Can you say, "No, it would degrade the show's integrity if there were Bart Simpson condoms"?
MG: That's a good idea. I need to make a phone call. We do our best to make the stuff as good as we can, and sometimes the tsunami is so big that it gets out of our control.
AVC: When did you realize that The Simpsons wasn't just a hit show, but a pop-culture phenomenon?
MG: Very early in 1990. The show went on the air in December 1989 as a series, and by the spring, Simpsons mania was pretty crazy, with bootleg T-shirts, stuff being sold on every street corner in New York City and [the show] getting condemned by President Bush, and all the rest.
AVC: And then Fox placed The Simpsons against the Cosby show. How do you feel about that?
MG: It definitely hurt the show's ratings, but that was Fox's call, so we just kept on trying to do good episodes. We love Bill Cosby, and the idea that we were put up there to knock him off was certainly not our choice.
