Name: Matt Groening Talks About The Lost "Simpsons" Episode | David Letterman
Uploaded: 2024-12-05T16:00:02.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Matt Groening Talks About The Lost "Simpsons" Episode | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-12-05. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Matt Groening Talks About The Lost "Simpsons" Episode | David Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2024-12-05. Transcript available.

thanks for coming back you were on the program when uh december a couple years
ago a couple
years ago and you know then if i knew that this show was going to become such a
huge success
i would have been much nicer to you yeah you had no idea who i was no i wasn't
sure what was going
on uh now take us through this what is the uh genesis of this thing this
started out as a little
comic strip is that where it began it started out on the tracy omen show but
where did it come from
before that was that the first oh i'm a cartoonist with a print cartoon called
life in hell i have
little rabbits uh here in the village voice uh the la weekly right yeah right
so so james brooks saw
this is this what i hear is that right yeah he saw my stuff he hired you to do
something for tracy
a chance in the tracy yeah yeah and those were the simpsons that we saw the
little kind of like in
between things on the that show those were the simpsons yeah that's where they
got their debut
and uh and then it became its own show how did that happen uh uh they did very
well on the tracy
omen show everybody liked him they were very short and they wanted to see
something longer yeah fox is
the only network that had the nerve to put a cartoon on in prime time right and
what is your
relationship like now with fox it's great yeah but you are happy with us you
understand now though
those mutant little pinheads over there the fox executives you now can just
push them anywhere you
want well that's the idea do you do that do you squeeze them do you scare them
do you do
do you frighten them we're all dancing we're all so happy over there because
the show's doing so well
it's unbelievable isn't it now uh i understand your father's name is uh is
actually homer yeah is that
right now and and that's the father's name on the little show isn't it yeah
yeah now is that a
problem for your dad uh i can't talk about it until the lawsuits are over so
there has been some friction
no actually i named the characters after all the members of my family uh-huh
yeah my mom is margaret
there's marge simpson i have a younger sister lisa younger sister maggie there's
no bart yeah and and uh
are they are they flattered by this or are they uh they're flattered i also
have a brother and sister
who i have not humiliated by by naming cartoon characters after that so and
they're saying well
what's the matter with us yeah that's exactly what's the problem here that's
exactly cartoon
material come on let's go actually i named my son homer to make up for the fact
that i named
as a as a term of uh endearment there yeah uh now let's talk a little bit about
this oh yeah and
you have uh huge stars now doing voices for the show is that right well yeah
but they don't uh
they'll they want to do the show but then they say we can't publicize their
names yeah it's sort of
like if somebody came out on your show wearing a paper bag over there right
right but we wouldn't
like that no now so can you tell us who some of the stars are or give us a hint
so we might guess
no i really can't come on come on what do you care you're worth billions well
we've had harvey
firestein and uh danny devito and uh dustin hoffman i i i really can't talk
about it i don't
want to start denying it because yeah all right but assuming that it might be
dustin hoffman
would he be playing himself on the cartoon show or would he became just a voice
of like
a shopkeeper we have tony bennett playing himself now see that's nice that's
very larry king playing
himself yeah yeah yeah uh and the the animation i understand is done in uh
south korea yep and how
long does it take to produce one episode six months six months yeah that's
about what it takes here too
um now but why does the now explain how does this work people nobody does any
drawing at the fox lot there
it all goes to south korea no no no all the creative decisions are done in los
angeles at a
animation studio and and then the actual uh ink and paint and camera work are
done in south korea
and why is that money it's cheaper really cheaper yeah american animators uh
charge too much we
couldn't do the show if we did it here i see and are the american animators
upset with this or do
they they don't care no it's a it's a tough thing in animation that had that
stuff gets done overseas but
that's the way it happens all the time but it's still we still run into problem
with american
animators too i mean they're they want to throw in their own jokes yeah we have
a whole first show
that we can't show anymore it'll be of the lost simpsons episode really because
because they've
added things that weren't in the script they put there we have a show in which
the simpsons watch
uh the happy little elves meet the curious bear cub they're all gathered around
the tv all gather
around they're watching this little show and in the show the happy little elves
are having fun with the
curious bear cub but in the the animators uh actually had the bear cub ripped
the head off of one of the
elves and drink drink blood out of his neck and we didn't expect this is what
the family is sitting
around watching yeah we didn't want that i think i think that was an old
episode of cosby one of the
early they did some of that now this must be like cosby for like two or three
years in a row was the
most successful half hour situation comedy in television and now you guys are
right there neck
and neck with them yeah that must be a great source of satisfaction huh well it
wasn't our choice we
want we like sunday night that's where we were originally and uh you know it's
tough two good
shows people have to make a choice i think the same audience yeah and and the
merchandising i understand
now you're when you leave here you're going somewhere to unveil a brand new simpsons
pinball machine
it's a great pinball machine i'm going down to new orleans to the pinball
convention and uh and play pinball
yeah and and how does this distinguish itself from other pinball machines uh
this pinball machine
taunts you when you lose um i really i wanted to put in a lot of insults on the
machine and they
the pinball people told me they have they have bad luck when you do that they
had a a machine they
did a few years ago called millionaire and when you lost the machine said get a
job and uh and people
turned over the machine right over yeah but so now you have you have little
bart probably saying things
don't you know how to use flippers you know it looks like we're both underachievers
uh well juice
congratulations now are you working does fox want you to work on another show
that's what they want
they say oh now come up with another one put another one on are you going to do
that maybe you don't
have to do anything you don't want to do no we're having fun squeeze those
little worms right uh we
gonna what one two three friday night videos has got the groove and the moves
so get up and dance
with delight and a broadcast premiere by prince it's america's day at the races
the richest event in the
sport of kings live from belmont park the breeders cup saturday on nbc all
right this concludes our
salute to pro call harem we'll see you monday ladies and gentlemen have a
lovely weekend thanks for being
here good night everybody