MATT GROENING

'Matthew Abram Groening' (born February 15, 1954^[2] in Portland, Oregon;^[1] his family name is pronounced , rhymes with ''raining'') is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of ''The Simpsons'', ''Futurama'' and the weekly comic strip ''Life in Hell''.

Contents

Early life

Career

''The Simpsons''

''The Simpsons'' character names

''Futurama''

Other pursuits

Awards

Personal life

References

External links

Early life

Groening grew up in Portland, Oregon,Matt Groening's Simpsons profile ''simpsons.com''. Retrieved on March 4, 2007 the middle child of five children. His mother Margaret was once a teacher and his father Homer was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist.^[4]
From 1972^[5] to 1977, he attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington,^[6] a progressive school which he called "a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every creative weirdo in the Northwest."^[7] He served as the editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, ''The Cooper Point Journal'', where he was a regular writer and occasional cartoonist. He befriended fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry after discovering she had written a fan letter to Joseph Heller, one of Groening's favorite authors, and had gotten a reply back.^[8] Groening has credited Barry with being "probably [his] biggest inspiration." ^[9] He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity

Career

In 1977, at the age of 23, Groening moved to Los Angeles to become a writer. He described life in Los Angeles to his friends in the form of a comic book, and called it ''Life in Hell'' which was loosely inspired by a chapter entitled "How to Go to Hell" in Walter Kaufmann's book ''Critique of Religion and Philosophy''.^[10]

Groening started the comic in 1977 by photocopying and distributing it in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, the record store in which he worked. He made his first professional cartoon sale to the avant-garde ''Wet'' magazine in 1978. The strip, entitled "Forbidden Words", appeared in the September/October issue and by 1980 the strip had become so popular in the underground that it was picked up by the ''Los Angeles Reader''.^[11]
The ''Reader'' gave Groening his own weekly rock and roll column, "Sound Mix," in 1982. However, the column would rarely be about music, as he would often write about his "various enthusiasms, obsessions, pet peeves and problems" instead.⁷ In an effort to add more rock to the column, he would fabricate and then review fictional bands and non-existent records. In the following week's column, he would confess to fabricating everything in the previous column and swear that everything in the new column was true, until he was finally asked to give up the "music" column.^[12]
In November 1984, Deborah Caplan, Groening's then-girlfriend and co-worker at the ''Reader'', offered to publish "Love is Hell", a series of love-themed ''Life in Hell'' strips, in book form.^[13] Released that December, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Soon afterward, Caplan and Groening left the ''Reader'' and put together the Life in Hell Co., which handled syndication and merchandising for Groening’s projects.^[14]
''Life in Hell'' is still carried in 250 weekly newspapers and has been anthologized in a series of books, including ''School is Hell'', ''Childhood is Hell,'' ''Work is Hell,'' ''The Big Book of Hell'' and ''The Huge Book of Hell.''

''The Simpsons''

Groening's first drawing of the Simpsons, circa 1987.

''Life in Hell'' caught the attention of Hollywood writer-producer and Gracie Films founder James L. Brooks, who had been shown the strip by fellow producer Polly Platt.^[15][16] In 1985, Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation on an undefined future project. That project would turn out to be developing a series of short animation skits (now known as ''The Simpsons shorts''), called "bumpers", to be featured on the FOX variety show ''The Tracey Ullman Show''. Originally, Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his ''Life in Hell'' characters for the show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening decided to create something new. He designed the look of the Simpson family in only ten minutes.^[17]

Groening on the ''Simpsons'' panel at Comic Con International in San Diego.

Groening storyboarded and scripted every short, which were then animated by a team including David Silverman and Wes Archer, both of whom would later become directors on the series.^[18]
Premiering on the Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987, the shorts became very popular, which led to a half-hour spin-off in 1989. The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. Groening said: "Nobody thought ''The Simpsons'' was going to be a big hit. It snuck up on everybody."
Matt Groening is credited with writing or co-writing "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Telltale Head", "Colonel Homer" and "22 Short Films About Springfield".
Attempts at spin-offs have been unsuccessful. In 1994, Groening and other ''Simpsons'' producers pitched a live-action spin-off about Krusty the Clown (with Dan Castellaneta playing the lead role), but were unsuccessful in getting the show off the ground.^[19]25 Groening has also pitched "Young Homer" and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield.
In 1995, Groening got in a major disagreement with Brooks and other Simpsons producers over "A Star Is Burns", a crossover episode with ''The Critic'', an animated show also produced by Brooks and staffed with many former Simpsons crew members. Groening feared that viewers would "see it as nothing but a pathetic attempt to advertise ''The Critic'' at the expense of ''The Simpsons''",^[20] and was concerned about the implication that he had created or produced ''The Critic''. He requested his name be taken off the episode.
He has had several cameo appearances in the show, with a speaking role in the episode "My Big Fat Geek Wedding". He currently serves at ''The Simpsons'' as executive producer and creative consultant, as well as a writer and producer on the ''The Simpsons Movie''.^[21]

''The Simpsons'' character names

Groening named the main Simpson characters after members of his own family: his parents, Homer and Margaret (Marge or Marjorie in full), and his younger sisters, Lisa and Margaret (Maggie). As for himself, he decided it was a bit too obvious to name a character after himself and chose the name "Bart" (an anagram of brat). However, he stresses that aside from some of the sibling rivalry, his family is nothing like the Simpsons. Groening also has an older brother and sister, Mark and Patty, but these siblings were left out of the main Simpson family. In a 1995 interview, he divulged that Mark "is the actual inspiration for Bart."
Groening says he refused to name Homer's dad after his own father's dad, leaving it to other writers to choose a name.^[22] The writers ended up using the name Abraham, unaware that it was also the name of Groening's grandfather.
The name "Wiggum" for police chief Clancy Wiggum was Groening's mother's maiden name. The names of a few other characters were taken from major street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, including Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby, Kearney.^[23] Despite common fan belief that Sideshow Bob was named after SW Terwilliger Boulevard in Portland, he was actually named after the character Dr. Terwilliker from the film ''The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T''.^[24]

''Futurama''

After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with ''Simpsons'' writer/producer David X. Cohen (still known as David S. Cohen at the time) and developed ''Futurama'', an animated series about life in the year 3000. By the time they pitched the series to Fox in April 1998, Groening and Cohen had composed many characters and story lines. Groening described trying to get the show on the air as "by far the worst experience of [his] grown-up life." His sole writing credit for the show was "Space Pilot 3000", co-written with Cohen.
After four years on the air, the show was cancelled by 20th Century Fox. However, in a similar situation to ''Family Guy'', strong DVD sales and very stable ratings on Cartoon Network and Teletoon have brought Futurama back to life, which is slated for four direct-to-DVD movies, as confirmed by Groening in an April 2006 interview.^[25] Comedy Central commissioned 16 new episodes (cut from the four DVDs) to be aired in 2008. "Futurama" gets new life on Comedy Central Wallenstein, Andrew

Other pursuits

In 1994, Groening formed Bongo Comics Group (named after the character Bongo from ''Life in Hell'') with Steve Vance, Cindy Vance and Bill Morrison, which publishes Simpsons and Futurama comics (including a two-part comic special entitled ''Futurama Simpsons Infinitely Secret Crossover Crisis'', a fictional crossover between the two), as well as a few original titles. The goal with Bongo is to "[try] to bring humor into the fairly grim comic book market".²⁰ He also formed Zongo Comics in 1995, an imprint of Bongo that published comics for more mature readers, which included three issues of Mary Fleener's ''Fleener'' and seven issues of Groening's close friend Gary Panter's "Jimbo" comics.
He plays the cowbell in the all-author rock and roll band The Rock Bottom Remainders, whose members include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Kathi Goldmark, and Greg Iles.^[26]

Awards

Matt Groening has been nominated for 25 Emmy awards and has won ten: nine for ''The Simpsons'' and one for ''Futurama''.^[27] Groening received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 2002, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000.^[28] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.^[29]

Personal life

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986^[30] and had two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe, both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in ''Life in Hell''. The couple divorced in 1999 after thirteen years of marriage.^[31] Following this, he was in a six-year commitment with dating expert Lauren Frances.^[32]
Groening identifies himself as an agnostic.^[33] and has often contributed to funding Democratic party candidates.^[34]
His brother-in-law is Craig Bartlett, creator of the animated series ''Hey Arnold!.'' Bartlett is married to Matt's sister Lisa.. URL accessed on January 13, 2007

References

1. Groening, rhymes with reigning Jeff Baker
2. . Retrieved on February 7, 2007
3. Groening, rhymes with reigning Jeff Baker
4. Matt Groening Q&A (1993)
5. Matt Groening, , Gary, Groth, The Comics Journal,
6. Matt Groening at Evergreen
7. Life in the 31st Century
8.
9. Matt Groening
10. Matt Groening
11. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation, , Chris, Turner, , , ISBN 0-679-31318-4
12. Simpsons Comics Royale, , Matt, Groening, Perennial, 2001,
13. Love is Hell: Special Ultra Jumbo 10th Anniversary Edition, , Matt, Groening, Pantheon Books, 1994,
14. Los Angeles Times Magazine, , Joe, Morgenstern, , 1990-04-29,
15.
16. Keep 'em Laughing
17.
18. The David Silverman Interview
19. From a radio interview with Groening that aired on the Apr 98 April 22, 1998 edition of ''Fresh Air'' on NPR. Link to stream (''13 minutes, 21 seconds in'')
20. Life in Hell
21. Homer going to bat in '07 Fleming, Michael
22.
23. Painting the town in Portland
24. 'Simpsons' Trivia, From Swearing Lisa To 'Burns-Sexual' Smithers
25. Matt Groening
26. Rock Bottom Remainders Official site URL accessed on March 4, 2007
27. Emmy Awards official site''emmys.org''. Retrieved on March 4, 2007
28. THE OUTSTANDING CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR ''reuben.org''. URL accessed on January 13, 2007
29. British Comedy Awards ''britishcomedyawards.com''. URL accessed on January 18, 2007
30. 'Life' Before Homer
31. Matt Groening's Portland Don Hamilton
32. Free Panties and Dating Advice
33. Yes, There Is A Hell
34. Matt Groening's Federal Campaign Contribution Report

External links

★

★ Incomplete list of Matt Groening appearances on ''The Simpsons'' at The Simpsons Archive