Talking about the Simpsons

April 18, 2013 12:00 PM

Conan O'Brien recently reunited with some of the other writers of The Simpsons who he worked with during his tenure on the show. The panel touches on "... how Jub-Jub became the name of Selma's iguana, how Tracy Ullman always hated the cartoon, and how Conan was the only person in the show's history to have three episode ideas accepted in one story idea day."
posted by codacorolla (20 comments total)

Funny that Ullman always hated the show because I find her permanently unfunny and was impressed that The Simpsons achieved escape velocity...
posted by cbecker333 at 12:10 PM on April 18, 2013 [8 favorites]

Between this and the Patton Oswalt rabbit hole, I wonder how I expected to get any work done today?

No one ever says Italy.
posted by chemoboy at 12:29 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

I watched this thing yesterday, and found myself thinking how awesome Conan's life has been. And how much people just genuinely seem to like him. And how cool it is that he's in this position now. (I was also happy to seem him congratulate Fallon, but god I'd love to know more about what's going through his head there)

Oh yeah, and how I could *NEVER* be a TV writer.
posted by DigDoug at 12:33 PM on April 18, 2013 [3 favorites]

Dammit, geolock. Is that the same clip at the second link at the first?
posted by Jilder at 12:49 PM on April 18, 2013

Oh yeah, and how I could *NEVER* be a TV writer.

Nor could I; but I would absolutely love to just hang out and crack jokes with them!
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:58 PM on April 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

Sit perfectly still! Only I may dance.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 1:07 PM on April 18, 2013 [5 favorites]

Conan also does commentary on the Season 5 DVDs. Even though some of the same ground is covered, it's with a different selection of writers (including the great James L. Brooks!) and well worth tracking down.
posted by Lorin at 1:20 PM on April 18, 2013

Oh yeah, and how I could *NEVER* be a TV writer.

Maybe, but you still could write for The Simpsons if you wanted to.
posted by asra at 2:02 PM on April 18, 2013 [4 favorites]

Funny that Ullman always hated the show because I find her permanently unfunny and was impressed that The Simpsons achieved escape velocity...

Her portrayal of Latrine in Robin Hood: Men in Tights was priceless.
posted by Malice at 2:06 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

(I was also happy to seem him congratulate Fallon, but god I'd love to know more about what's going through his head there)

I like to think it is something like "Fallon is more of the type of product NBC wants in that slot, and boy I hope he doesn't get the same treatment I did."
posted by davejay at 2:17 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

"Fallon is more of the type of product NBC wants in that slot"

A pleasingly blank slate, which America can cast its reflective superego upon.

"America, this is you, if only you were a little bit more charming and amusing! But not too funny! Or weird! Or homo! Or off-color! Or colored! Or..."
posted by markkraft at 2:54 PM on April 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

More about Army Man, the zine that launched George Meyer, as well as John Swartzwelder and Jon Vitti from the show, and Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts:

• The complete run of the magazine
• An interview with Meyer: When the National Lampoon entered its slow-motion death, it really hurt me. It was like losing a friend. There were very few publications that were just trying to be funny. Even Spy magazine, which was in some ways its successor, was not primarily funny. It was subversive and satirical, but I don’t think its goal was to provoke belly laughs. So I tried to make something that had no agenda other than to make you laugh.
• George Meyer's Army Man and the Birth of The Simpsons
• Terrific old story about Meter from the New Yorker

posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:18 PM on April 18, 2013 [6 favorites]

"Have you ever thought about the perfect way to end the show?"

Is 'fifteen years ago' an option?
posted by Sys Rq at 3:53 PM on April 18, 2013 [4 favorites]

Further to Bunny Ultramod's Army Man links, Twitter's @pdpl posted a better scan of issue #1 to his Dropbox of the first issue, from when it was reprinted in the Believer. It's larger than the Picasa scans, which can be frustratingly illegible.

(I will now Pray for the slim chance that someone reading this thread has copies of issue #2 and #3, and does us all the kindest of kindnesses.)
posted by aedison at 6:27 PM on April 18, 2013 [1 favorite]

It was interesting watching the different writers interact, and it was also cool to see Conan drop his talk show host persona.
posted by KokuRyu at 6:44 PM on April 18, 2013

(Oh wow, there's a couple of weird typos in my comment. Apologies.)
posted by aedison at 6:47 PM on April 18, 2013

Thanks for this!

Having listened to all the commentaries from all the episodes from Seasons 1-9 (I swear, I have a life), it's rather bizarre matching the voices to the faces.
posted by littlesq at 7:19 PM on April 18, 2013

Mr. Plow...the show where Homer had, and eventually ate, a pet lobster...the one where Krusty was an evil, murderous voodoo doll and birthday present for Bart....

The first eight seasons are practically flawless.

Don't watch much of the Simpsons these days, but I still like to know that it's on every Sunday night.
posted by rougy at 9:22 PM on April 18, 2013 [2 favorites]

This was a great talk, thanks for posting.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 5:17 PM on April 19, 2013

Vaguely related: Margaret Ruth Groening died peacefully in her sleep on April 22, 2013, in Portland.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on May 6, 2013