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" We've got a bunch of new writers now who tell me they grew up watching The Simpsons. It's bizarre, and they're writing some very funny stuff. "
Matt Groening
Me
Writing
Funny
Related Quotes:
" The nice thing about 'Futurama' for me personally was that it was a way to honor some of the traditional ideas in literary science fiction, not so much movie or television science fiction - although we have that too, obviously. Our situation, a workplace comedy, led to all sorts of stuff. "
Matt Groening
Honor
Ideas
Me
" Cartooning is for people who can't quite draw and can't quite write. You combine the two half-talents and come up with a career. "
Matt Groening
Career
Up
Write
" 'The Simpsons' from the very beginning was based on our memories of brash '60s sitcoms - you had a main title theme that was bombastic and grabbed your attention - and when you look at TV shows of the 1970s and '80s, things got very mild and toned down and... obsequious. "
Matt Groening
Memories
Look
Down
" On 'The Simpsons,' I will say that we definitely like to comment on what's going on in the world, and we try to be funny. If we can figure out a way of being funny about it, then we've gone part of the way of accomplishing our task. "
Matt Groening
Try
Task
Say
" There's always room out there for the hand-drawn image. I personally like the imperfection of hand drawing as opposed to the slick look of computer animation. But you can do good stuff either way. The Pixar movies are amazing in what they do, but there's plenty of independent animators who are doing really amazing things as well. "
Matt Groening
Drawing
Good
Imperfection
" Here's to alcohol: the cause of, and answer to, all of life's problems. "
Matt Groening
Life
Problems
Answer
" 'The Simpsons' obviously is a huge success, and Fox has nothing to do with its success, with its creative success, and as a result they don't really like the show. They don't like 'The Simpsons' at Fox. "
Matt Groening
Fox
Success
Creative
" I loved literary science fiction. In fact, as a kid, when I was reading science fiction, I thought 'I can't wait for the future when the special effects are good' to represent what was in these books by Arthur C. Clarke, Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Jack Vance. "
Matt Groening
Reading
Thought
Future
" I have less to do with 'The Simpsons' every season, but I stick my nose in here and there. Basically, it's just trying to keep the characters consistent and making sure the show has a soul. "
Matt Groening
Soul
Show
Season
" A lot of people believe that if everybody just did what they were told - obeyed - everything would be fine. But that's not what life is all about. That's not real. It's never going to happen. "
Matt Groening
People
Never
Real
" With 'Futurama,' I wanted to do unrequited love, and David Cohen agreed, and although our original plan was never to have Fry and Leela get together, we finally just said, 'You can only string the fans along so far.' "
Matt Groening
You
Love
Get Together
" It's just hard not to listen to TV: it's spent so much more time raising us than parents have. "
Matt Groening
Listen
Hard
More
" It's a funny show. The characters are surprisingly likable, given how ugly they are. We've got this huge cast of characters that we can move around. And over the last few seasons, we've explored some of the secondary characters' personal lives a bit more. "
Matt Groening
Personal
Seasons
Funny
" Basically, everything I try to do is to present an alternative to what somebody else is doing. "
Matt Groening
Doing
Everything
Present
" I think in daily newspapers, the way comic strips are treated, it's as if newspaper publishers are going out of their way to kill the medium. "
Matt Groening
Way
Think
Going
" We've been running a little behind schedule. But only by about 15 years or so. "
Matt Groening
Only
Years
Behind
" I may be biting off more than I can chew, but with 'The Simpsons' and with 'Futurama,' what I'm trying to do in the guise of light entertainment, if this is possible - is nudge people, jostle them a little, wake them up to some of the ways in which we're being manipulated and exploited. "
Matt Groening
I Can
Light
People
" Eat my shorts! "
Matt Groening
Eat
Shorts
" I always say that 'Futurama' is real, and 'The Simpsons' is fiction. "
Matt Groening
Fiction
Always
The Simpsons
" I had been drawing my weekly comic strip, 'Life in Hell,' for about five years when I got a call from Jim Brooks, who was developing 'The Tracey Ullman Show' for the brand-new Fox network. He wanted me to come in and pitch an idea for doing little cartoons on that show. "
Matt Groening
Hell
Me
Life
" Our solution on 'The Simpsons' is to do jokes that people who have an education, or some frame of reference, can get. And for the ones who don't, it doesn't matter, because we have Homer banging his head and saying, 'D'oh!' "
Matt Groening
Solution
People
Education
" I think when 'The Simpsons' first came on, there was an uproar. People got used to it. They realized the show's really funny, it's got a heart, so I think it's pretty safe. "
Matt Groening
Heart
People
Show
" Science fiction and comedy are generally a pretty bumpy mix. "
Matt Groening
Science
Comedy
Pretty
" Most TV shows don't reward you for paying attention. "
Matt Groening
TV Shows
Most
Reward
" I've loved science fiction ever since I was a little kid, mainly from looking at the covers of science-fiction magazines and books, and I've read quite extensively as an adult. "
Matt Groening
Science
Loved
Looking
" As astute followers of 'Life in Hell' will notice, Akbar and Jeff wear the same striped T-shirt as Charlie Brown. 'Peanuts' was very important to me. "
Matt Groening
T-Shirt
Life
Will
" God often gives nuts to toothless people. "
Matt Groening
Nuts
Often
Gives
" I went to Bali, and I was in a small village, and somebody who was with me showed a woman a little figurine of Bart and asked: 'Do you know who this is?' And she said: 'Mickey Mouse.' "
Matt Groening
Me
She
Small
" Everybody doesn't have to get every joke. People really appreciate not being condescended to. "
Matt Groening
Get
Joke
People
" We have 'Doctor Who' references on 'Futurama,' but we have a lot of science fiction references that I don't get; but in the staff we have experts on 'Star Trek,' 'Star Wars,' 'Doctor Who' and 'Dungeons and Dragons.' "
Matt Groening
Doctor
Science
Star