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Matt Groening

Matt Groening26 posts
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Dec 1989

Letterman interview

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Groening is interviewed by Letterman on The David Letterman Show. He talks about how he won a short story contest at age eight and his evolving at drawing.

My friends and I, we sat in the backrow, we kept on getting in trouble with the teachers and we drew comics that they didn’t like.

22 Jul, 1991

Interview

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Groening, Brooks and Sam Simon are interviewed by Inside Entertainment. They talk about how Groening had to come up with shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, the different levels of humor and the competition with The Cosby Show’s air time. Simon comments:

I think that Bill Cosby is a fixture on Thursday night it’s a franchise on Thursday night and you know we’re hoping we do OK.

The Simpson Matt Groening, James Brooks, and Sam Simon With Barry Roskin Blake 1990

22 Jan, 1993

Richard and Judy interview

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Groening is interviewed by Richard and Judy in the United Kingdom. They talk about his original film short and the way The Simpsons used to look and how they traced Groening’s original sketches.

Lisa’s the only one in all of Springfield you feel is going to really grow up and escape and have a really good life.

Matt Groening on Richard and Judy (16th July 2007)

9 Oct, 1996

Space Ghost interview

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Groening is interviewed by Space Ghost on The Cartoon Network. They talk about Space Ghost’s real name, if Groening’s ever been to outer space and advice to future cartoonists.

Watch The Cartoon Network aspire, aim for the stars. Space Ghost, listen to Space Ghost.

22 Apr, 1998

Futurama interview

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Groening and Silverman are interviewed. They talk about the final episodes of Futurama and what the public should expect. They also talk about their favorite moments on the show.

I think that this is an astonishing episode. It delivers the goods no the sappy level, human emotion and all that stuff. But also there’s an incredible amount of violence.

FUTURAMA - Series Finale Interviews (Comedy Central/Nerdist/YouTube Event)

23 Jun, 2000

My Wasted Life interview

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Groening is interviewed in his autobiographical documentary. He talks about how he was inspired to write The Simpsons from shows like Dennis The Menace and Leave It To Beaver. He also talks about being inspired by bland classic sitcoms and how his own family.

The sitcoms that I grew up with presented a sort of weird zombified idea of the American family.

My Wasted Life - Matt Groening part 1

22 Mar, 2005

Annecy Film Festival interview

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Groening and Silverman are interviewed during the Annecy Film Festival in Paris, France. They talk about the use of computers in traditional animation and the elements that motivates them when they work on The Simpsons. Groening comments:

I came up with the idea for The Simpsons and drew them for the first time and one minute later David came on board and refined the characters and gave them their soul.

Interview: Matt Groening and David Silverman | www.NAAOW.org

8 May, 2007

Steve Martin interview

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Groening is interviewed by Steve Martin on a panel discussion. They talk about their news advertisement for Fox News and The Simpsons news parody that they were only allowed to do once.

So they said we could do it once but they said we couldn’t do it again and the reason now is that it confuses the viewers, they may think that it’s real news.

30 Jul, 2007

Charlie Rose interview

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Groening and Brooks are interviewed by Rose. They talk about the origin of The Simpsons characters, their initial design, and how important it was to get a prime-time animated sitcom on the air. Brooks:

The audience would sit there for twenty minutes of entertainment. Sometimes three hours, the hostility was extraordinary. We finally tied all of The Simpsons pieces together and that invariably got the best laughs.

Matt Groening and James L. Brooks Talk with Charlie Rose | Charlie Rose

22 Nov, 2007

Simpsons video game launch

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Groening is interviewed during his Simpsons video game launch in Las Vegas, Nevada. They talk about his franchise and how involved he was with the game.

My kids, they’re huge video game freaks and they told me what to put in the game.

The Simpsons - Matt Groening Interview

29 May, 2008

Homer’s hair design interview

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Groening is interviewed by BTV. They talk about how the characters don’t age on The Simpsons and where the design of Homer’s hair came from.

The very original design of Homer if you look that was my initials. That zigzag was an ‘M’ and that ear was a ‘G’.

BrainFart TV: Matt Groening

12 Aug, 2008

French TV interview

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Groening and Jean are interviewed on a French television channel. They talk about why it took so long to create The Simpsons Movie and Groening’s favorite characters. Jean:

We wrote the script from 2003 to 2006 and then started animating and then continued to rewrite. We just finished rewriting and reanimated so it’s done as of last week.

Interview Matt Groening et Al Jean

2008

The Simpsons Theme Song interview

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Groening talks about the origin of The Simpsons theme song, a collaboration with Danny Elfman.

We hooked up with Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo who had just started to do his film composing. He did Pee Wee’s Big Adventure and Batman and he got it (The Simpsons theme) right away.

Matt Groening on How The Simpsons Theme Was Influenced by Carl Stalling and Other Great Composers

9 May, 2009

Irish talkshow interview

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Groening is interviewed on an Irish talkshow. They talk about Bartmania campaign where everyone was buying Bart merchandise, bootlegs of tshirts and the song Do the Bart Man.

I don’t think Bart would say, I want to be bad like Michael Jackson unless Michael Jackson actually wrote that line.

Popular Cartoon Creator being interviewed by a popular Irish Talkshow Host

2 Feb, 2010

Gary Panter interview

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Groening is interviewed along with Mike Kelly. They talk about his role model Gary Panter. They talk about how they met, Panter’s design inspiration for creating covers for Pee Wee Herman and Frank Zappa.

ForYourArt Interviews Matt Groening and Mike Kelley about Gary Panter

12 Jun, 2010

Annecy Film Festival 2010 interview

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Groening is interviewed during the Annecy Film Festival in Paris, France. He talks about how The Simpsons was inspired by his father’s short films about water and love of animation. They also talk the amount of rewriting that was done before The Simpson’s aired.

The best comedy is by young people. Now I’m not young anymore but I try to keep myself honest and not live too comfortable a life and as a result it makes for better comedy.

5 Sep, 2011

Futurama interview

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Groening is interviewed during a documentary on the making of Futurama. They talk about his lead teenage character and his inspiration to draw sexy one-eyed females.

We do in science fiction what needs to be done. We point at all the absurdities in science fiction and at the same time we honor it.

Futurama - Welcome to the World of Tomorrow

14 Feb, 2012

Hollywood Walk of Fame

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Groening is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame under the category of Television. There to celebrate his induction are The Simpsons voice-actors: Nancy Cartwright, Hank Azaria, and Yeardley Smith.

I accept this honor on behalf of the animators, the writers, the actors, the musicians of The Simpsons and Futurama.

Matt Groening gets a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

Eyebite television interview

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Groening is interviewed by Eyebite television on Hollywood Boulevard. He talks about how he originally thought that only kids would love The Simpsons.

I always thought that kids would love The Simpsons but I didn’t know if adults would give it a chance

MATT GROENING: "I always thought that kids would love The Simpsons"