Matt Groening

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Matt Groening

Matt Groening
Born February 15, 1954 (age 53)
Flag of United States Portland, Oregon, USA
Known for The Simpsons
Futurama
Life in Hell
Bongo Comics
Occupation Cartoonist
Religious belief Agnostic[1]
Children Homer "Will" Groening
Abe Groening
Parents Margaret Groening
Homer Groening
Website http://www.mattgroening.com

Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954[2] in Portland, Oregon;[3] his family name is pronounced /'greɪnɪŋ/, rhymes with raining) is an Emmy Award-winning American cartoonist and the creator of The Simpsons,[4] Futurama and the weekly comic strip Life in Hell.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Groening grew up in Portland, Oregon, the middle child of five children. His mother Margaret was once a teacher and his father Homer was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist.[5]

He attended The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, a progressive school which he called "a hippie college, with no grades or required classes, that drew every creative weirdo in the Northwest."[6] He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal and he was a regular writer and occasional cartoonist for the paper. He became friends with 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.[7]

[edit] 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.[8]

Groening started the comic in 1977 by photocopying and distributing it in the book corner of Licorice Pizza, the record store he was working in. 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.[9]

In 1982, the editor of the Reader gave Groening his own weekly rock and roll column, "Sound Mix". However, the column would rarely be about rock and roll, as he would instead write more about his life and childhood, his pet peeves, and even things he found in the street. “I think the people who ran the Reader felt so guilty about how little they were paying people that they let them write about whatever they wanted”, Groening later reflected.[6] In an effort to add more rock to the column, he would often simply make up stuff, writing reviews of fictional bands and non-existent records. The following week, he would confess to fabricating everything in the previous column, then swear that everything in the new column was true. Finally, he was asked to give up the "music" column and perhaps write a humor column under a different title.[10]

In the late 1980s, Groening drew several print advertisements for Apple Computer in the form of Life in Hell comic strips.[11] The strip 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.[3]

[edit] The Simpsons

Main article: The Simpsons
Groening's first drawing of the Simpsons, circa 1987.
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.[12][13] 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. Reportedly, he designed the look of the Simpson family in only fifteen minutes.

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.[14]

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."[6]

Matt Groening is credited with writing or co-writing "Some Enchanted Evening", "The Telltale Head", "Colonel Homer" and "22 Short Films About Springfield".

Sometime in the 1990s, he tried to pitch a live-action spin-off about Krusty the Clown, but was unsuccessful. He has also pitched “Young Homer” and a spin-off about the non-Simpsons citizens of Springfield. Supposedly, there were also plans for a live-action movie based on the character Troy McClure, to be played by Phil Hartman, but this was canceled due to Hartman's death.

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”,[15] 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 a creative consultant, as well as a writer and producer on the upcoming movie.[16]

[edit] Simpsons character names

Main article: List of The Simpsons name origins

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.[9] 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.”[15]

Groening says he refused to name Homer's dad after his own father's dad, leaving it to other writers to choose a name. He says that the writers named the character Abraham, which by coincidence turned out to be the name of Groening's grandfather. Homer and Abraham are also the names of Groening's two sons.[17]

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, and Terwilliger.[18]

[edit] Futurama

Main article: 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."[19]. His sole writing credit for the show was "Space Pilot 3000", co-written with David X. Cohen.

After five 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.[20] Comedy Central commissioned 13 new episodes to be aired in 2008.[21]

[edit] Other

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".[15] 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 is a member of 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.[22]

[edit] Awards

Matt Groening has been nominated for 25 Emmy awards and has won ten: nine for The Simpsons and one for Futurama.[23] Groening received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for 2002, and had been nominated for the same award in 2000.[24] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.[25]

[edit] Personal life

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 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.[26] Following this, he was in a six-year commitment with dating expert Lauren Frances.[26][27]

He identifies himself as an agnostic.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Allen, Norm. Yes, There Is A Hell. Free Inquiry. Retrieved on February 26, 2007.
  2. ^ Matt Groening IMDB. Retrieved on February 7, 2007
  3. ^ a b Matt Groening's profile The Simpsons.com. Retrieved on March 4, 2007
  4. ^ Idato, Michael (2000-07-18). Matt Groening's family values. The Age. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
  5. ^ Matt Groening Q&A (1993). The Simpsons Archive (June 1993). Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
  6. ^ a b c Lloyd, Robert (1999-03-24). Life in the 31st Century. LA Weekly. Retrieved on December 30, 2005.
  7. ^ Groening, Matt (c). Life in Hell. January 14, 2000, Acme Features Syndicate.
  8. ^ McKenna, Kristine (May -June 2001). Matt Groening. My Generation. Retrieved on February 3, 2007.
  9. ^ a b Turner, Chris. Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation. ISBN 0-679-31318-4. 
  10. ^ Groening, Matt (2001). "My Rock 'n' Roll Life, Part One: So You Want To Snort Derisively", Simpsons Comics Royale. New York: Perennial, 92-93. ISBN 0-060-93378-X. 
  11. ^ Matt Groening Apple Ad from 1989
  12. ^ BBC. (2000). The Simpsons: America's First Family (6 minute edit for the season 1 DVD) (DVD). UK: 20th Century Fox.
  13. ^ Kim, John W. (October 1999). Keep 'em Laughing. Scr(i)pt. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
  14. ^ Heintjes, Tom. The David Silverman Interview. Hogan's Alley. Retrieved on January 13, 2007.
  15. ^ a b c Paul, Alan (1995-09-30). Life in Hell. Flux Magazine. Retrieved on December 26, 2005.
  16. ^ Fleming, Michael (2006-04-02). Homer going to bat in '07. Variety.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-03.
  17. ^ Groening, Matt. (2002). The Simpsons season 2 DVD commentary for the episode "Old Money" [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.
  18. ^ Blake, Joseph (2007-01-06). Painting the town in Portland. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved on January 13, 2007.
  19. ^ Doherty, Brian (March /April 1999). Matt Groening. Mother Jones. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
  20. ^ Rabin, Nathan (2006-04-26). Matt Groening. The Onion AV Club. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
  21. ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (June 22, 2006). "Futurama" gets new life on Comedy Central. Reuters. Retrieved on 2006-10-08.
  22. ^ Rock Bottom Remainders Official site URL accessed on March 4, 2007
  23. ^ Emmy Awards official siteemmys.org. Retrieved on March 4, 2007
  24. ^ THE OUTSTANDING CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR reuben.org. URL accessed on January 13, 2007
  25. ^ British Comedy Awards britishcomedyawards.com. URL accessed on January 18, 2007
  26. ^ a b Matt Groening nndb.com. URL accessed on January 13, 2007
  27. ^ Oberkreser, Lyssa (2006-10-17). Free Panties and Dating Advice. Riptide. Retrieved on January 13, 2007.

[edit] External links

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Preceded by
—		 (with James L. Brooks and Sam Simon)
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1989–1991		 Succeeded by
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Former recurring writers
Richard Appel • Donick Cary • David X. Cohen • Jonathan Collier • Jennifer Crittenden • Greg Daniels • Larry Doyle • Brent Forrester • Matt Groening • Ken Keeler • Brian Kelley • Jay Kogen • Jeff Martin • Tom Martin • Dan McGrath • Frank Mula • Bill Oakley • Conan O'Brien • Bill Odenkirk • Jace Richdale • David Sacks • Brian Scully • Sam Simon • David M. Stern • John Swartzwelder • Steve Tompkins • Jon Vitti • Josh Weinstein • Wallace Wolodarsky
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Persondata
NAME Groening, Matthew Abram
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Groening, Matt
SHORT DESCRIPTION United States cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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