You saw the shoes, now to cover the awesome event Aaron K and I attended. Our little rendezvous with TV and animation legends. I know better about next time, I signed up for the mailing list to get a jump on a possible badge should next year’s lineup is worthy of taking a day off. Besides The Simpsons, the Rick and Morty people were in town but you’d think this was all about The Gilmore Girls and Dawson’s Creek reunions; or as Oakley and Weinstein would call it, reminiscing when the WB was the little girl’s network.
Despite being single-ticket event holders, we were semi-guaranteed entry. Semi? If the badge holders (mostly out-of-town “industry” assholes and tourists who may move here to make Austin more overpriced like the shitholes they originated from), we would get a refund. No thanks. I came to see the legendary James L. Brooks speak alongside Al Jean and Matt Selman on how they made the longest-running animated show in America. They defeated The Flintstones in 1996 and pull way ahead of Scooby Doo some years ago. It’s also the longest-running Sitcom in the US; can’t remember when it exceeded My Three Sons (Mr. Brooks wrote an episode of that too). The next milestone to beat is Gunsmoke which Al and Matt ridiculed during the Q&A.
So Aaron and I wanted in line. I tried to trick the crowd outside into turning around the corner to get out of the sun and not obstruct traffic along Congress. I was partially successful, the majority followed suit and then some entitled douches made their own line to add to the confusion. Nice to see those ATX volunteers with free badges doing the work they’re assigned to do. It wasn’t a total loss, I spotted Executive Producer Matt Selman wandering about. He was relatively easy to pick out, I could sort of read his name on his badge, I roughly knew what he looked like from interviews and he was wearing an LA Clippers hat…in Texas? He definitely wasn’t from around here. I followed him, called him Mr. Selman, got a reaction! We spoke quickly and he autographed both shoes, said I would be selling them on eBay tonight. I responded, uh no, these go in a shadowbox and I will be buried with these like a pharaoh. I then asked if there was a chance Mr. Brooks and Jean would sign, he replied, not likely.
I don’t think Matt was being mean or unfriendly, just polite but I spotted them all in the lobby. I went ahead, waited for an opening when whoever was speaking to Mr. Brooks was done to introduce myself. Couldn’t have been a nicer man! I said, it’s a thrill to meet you Mr. Brooks. I have been watching your stuff since I was a kid…Mary Tyler Moore, Taxi, Cheers and I loved The Critic. To this he said, “Hey Al! Here’s someone who liked The Critic!” This brought Al Jean over (he’s famous for more than just two prime-time cartoons, before The Simpsons, he wrote for It’s Garry Shandling Show, ALF and did a tour of duty for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show, for you under 30, he was the host before the sycophantic Jay Leno and whose record David Letterman recently beat).
On to the show!
After we endured the annoying bumpers promoting ATX, I heard these needed to be either mixed up or eliminated as per The AV Club, a out-of-town organization I do respect since they’re tied to The Onion. Then there was a brief montage of great clips from The Simpsons (only one I had never seen). The guests were introduced including one person I wasn’t notified of and I felt terrible I didn’t recognize him…the show’s first supervising director David Silverman! Beyond working for the Yellow Man, he was also the director of Monsters, Inc.
Al Jean answering questions, thanks for the photo AusChron!
The show was moderated by some guy from Entertainment Weekly, I didn’t know weekly magazines still pay a living wage to employ an actual reporter instead of a stringer. He got to ask his pre-written questions. Some good news was conveyed. Harry Shearer isn’t completely out, Al said things remain in the air and the writers hope he returns but his parts are currently being auditioned for. Matt explained how they keep trying to make the show fresh, the first thing is they avoid looking over this because it would intimidate them too much into trying anything. As for a character they would like to develop further, David volunteered via voice the Yes Man (for us TV aficionados, character actor Frank Nelson). Eventually the audience received its turn. How much longer can the show go on? Al had a hilarious reply, the actors are signed on up to season 30, the sun is good for another four billion years and I have bills to pay so I’m good to season 65. He threw in, one mean joke, we could do is give up one show short of beating Gunsmoke at 634 (episodes). When it came to the big stunts (the house in Las Vegas, the jet, etc.) the show has been tied to, James explained that every one of them approached the show first. He was proud they’ve never had to do this since they have the rare luxury of no notes from Fox executives. Matt followed this up with the Simpsons ride at Universal. For those of us who don’t live in LA, he explained how the theme park converted the old Back to the Future ride into a Simpsons ride…and it sucked. The park people came to them to fix it, namely, give the ride a narrative people will enjoy and want to come back for. All the writers stated how awesome the experience was, they got to wear hardhats, see where the cars come up out of the ground and how the effects worked. When will there be a second movie? Al clearly stated probably when the show is off the air. As successful as it was, it was exhausting for the writing staff. Matt interjected it wore out Al, he would wrap up the TV show early in the evening and then was working until 11 PM or later getting the movie, listening to the Italian version of Homer for approval. Is John Swartzwelder a real person? David and Al said, absolutely. He’s just a reclusive guy. Al brought up the commentary when the crew called John’s house and thought they contacted him only to discover it was John’s brother. I’m glad they mentioned John’s hilarious books, I’ve read two as you have seen on my site. Hardest guests to bring on? Al said, they’re still trying to get a living ex-president. Nixon was the closest possible success but he died in 1994. However, they have used an actual recording of Teddy Roosevelt. When will Smithers be changing races again? Al, that was an animation error so never.
Other parts already reached the news probably from ATX: Sideshow Bob will finally kill Bart in an upcoming Treehouse of Horror, Al stated how he always wanted the Coyote to eat the Roadrunner just once. The being Homer and Marge separating too; this comes from Homer finally revealing his ongoing insomnia and Girls‘ creator Lena Dunham playing the pharmacist who provides Homer his meds.
Near the end, James explained the annual writers retreat due to a question about how do they figure out their show ideas. Al threw in how they almost snagged Prince to be on, yet it fell through; Prince didn’t know he couldn’t have his friend write the script. Back to the retreat. It circled around to the cliff-hanger we’re celebrating 20 years later, who shot Mr. Burns? James was having trouble over who pitched and wrote it. Here I had to be rude and shout “Oakley and Weinstein!” Aaron and I were in the front row anyway, I didn’t have to shout too loudly. James said, thank you, yes, Oakley and Weinstein pitched this and had to figure out how to throw people off on the answer. David followed it up on how he had to do the key storyboards near the ending to keep the mystery under wraps. Al added how they came up with the false leads and shooters too. The animating part was too overwhelming for one person, David got permission to include Wes Archer to help.
Anything else? David loves any chance to animate Krusty, a character who bangs his head on a table is always funny. Al identifies with Lisa, his older sister was much more like Bart in the attention-getting department. Matt loves working for the show, before The Simpsons the SitCom landscape was dominated by Major Dad. James is grateful along with David that the original pilot “Some Enchanted Evening” having terrible animation from South Korea was a goof.
Aaron and I then scored David Silverman’s autograph when the show let out. We thanked him for Monsters, Inc. and I told him how I loved his story about The Tracy Ullman Show being a reunion for him and Nancy Cartwright; they were friends at USC when they were younger. Plus, I remembered he gave the pointers on how to draw Mr. Burns in the awesome The Simpsons Handbook, the three spots on his head make a triangle!
Aaron and David Silverman
I regret not getting photos a bit. I felt I had impinged on their time enough and I will never forget this. OK, I did but Al about the movie’s missing stuff ever seeing the light of day, primarily what he told Fresh Air regarding a segment called, “Well, they liked it in Portland.” He said, the DVD market has declined too much, maybe on the Internet. The movie also had another commentary they weren’t able to include.
I will close with two final things as I’m completely geeking out on this post through. Al did give credit to Sam Simon when someone asked about how the one act mislead was developed; a trick Sam learned from his previous career in animation. Then he finished with how today would’ve been Sam’s 60th birthday; this brought applause and I welled up a little. This forum strengthened my resolve to tell the critics who often lament “Oh the show jumped the shark after the insert season here” and “the show sucks ass, it’s a parody of itself,” to go screw themselves. Is it profitable? Hell yes and those people up there have mortgages to pay yet I bet every one of them could move on, do something and probably do better financially if they chose. I’m confident they’re pretty aware of the pressure to keep things interesting and fresh, but they sincerely love those characters and all. So I’ll wrap it up with an old scene I loved the writers did as a screw you to the Comic Book Guy types.
Comic Book Guy: Last night’s Itchy & Scratchy was, without a doubt, the worst episode ever. Rest assured, I was on the Internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.
Bart: Hey, I know it wasn’t great, but what right do you have to complain?
Comic Book Guy: As a loyal viewer, I feel they owe me.
Bart: What? They’ve given you thousands of hours of entertainment for free! What could they possibly owe you? If anything, you owe them!
Comic Book Guy: Worst episode ever.