Matt Groening

Matt Groening holds the world record for the most DVD commentaries done by one person. All together, he has done over 100 DVD commentaries over the show's first five seasons.

To date, Groening has only written one episode of The Simpsons by himself. It was the season 3 episode "Colonel Homer".

Groening says that all of the characters on The Simpsons are collaborations between the writers, animators, and actors.

Groening is a fan of The Office, Look Around You, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

According to Groening; The Simpsons adopted the idea of a large supporting cast from the comedy show SCTV.

In 1993, Matt founded Bongo Comics which is a publishing company that mainly prints material related to The Simpsons and Futurama, along with original material.

Groening has described getting Futurama on the air to be "the worst experience of my adult life."

It's been about a decade since Groening has written an episode of The Simpsons. Matt leaves the writing duties to the writing team, whom he calls his "Harvard-grad-brainiac-bastard-eggheads."

Matt Groening has won 11 Primetime Emmy Awards from 1991 - 2008, ten for The Simpsons and one for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004.

Groening plays the cowbell in The Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band that plays occasional concerts for charity each year. It has raised $1.5 million by 2007 for various causes.

In the 2007 Ask Men Top 49 men list; Matt was ranked #17.

The names of several characters on The Simpsons were taken from street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon these include Quimby, Flanders, Lovejoy, Kearney, and Powell.

Matt has named the animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians as what got him into cartoons. His biggest inspiration was fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry.

Matt Groening is a liberal and often makes campaign contributions to Democratic Party candidates.

Matt Groening identifies himself as Agnostic.

Matt's favorite band is Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band.

Matt Groening was the middle child of 5 children.

Matt originally made the sucking noises of Maggie's pacifier on The Simpsons.

Matt won the Environmental Media Award in 2001 for continuing to spread awareness of environmental issues through The Simpsons. He accepted the award with an actor wearing a foam costume of Lisa.

While in the waiting room at James L. Brook's office to discuss his ideas for an original animated show, Matt hastily sketched a quirky looking family consisting of one father, one mother, two girls and one boy - and named named all of them but the boy after his own family. The executives loved it and The Simpsons was born.

The genesis of the "Life in Hell" comics came from Matt, who was miserable in LA, drawing a comic book illustrating his horrible time there to send home, it starred Binky the rabbit. Groening chose the name Binky for his "Life in Hell" character because it was the "stupidest" name he could think of. The comic went on to become a cult hit in LA with 500 copies being made. In 1980, it started to feature in the Los Angeles Reader.

During his time in LA, Matt lived in a small apartment where the guy who lived below him would play loud rock 'n' roll in the middle of the night. Initially, Matt tried to get back at him by playing loud reggae music. Matt finally got revenge by dropping a cinder block on the floor which knocked out his noisy neighbor's ceiling light.

"Evergreen Terrace," where The Simpsons live, is based on the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington that he attended.

Even though Matt loved to draw, at a young age he hated coloring books as he was not able to stay inside the lines.

In high school, Matt was badly injured while he was doodling on the parallel bars during Physical Education.

While trying to make it as a writer in LA, Groening worked as a chauffeur and biographer for an unsuccessful movie director. His other jobs included being an extra in the film When Everyday Was The Fourth of July, bussing tables, washing dishes at a nursing home, and landscaping in a sewage treatment plant.

Matt co-wrote The Simpsons 1990 music videos, "Do The Bartman" and "Deep, Deep Trouble."

Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986 and had two sons together, Homer and Abe, both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. The couple divorced in 1999 after thirteen years of marriage.

Matt's traditional use of "J" as his characters' middle initial is a tribute to Bullwinkle. J. Moose and Rocket. J. Squirrel.

In 1990, Barbara Bush, First Lady of the US at the time, called The Simpsons "the dumbest thing she had ever seen". Groening took revenge in 1996 with the episode "Two Bad Neighbors" (season 7, episode 13).

Matt explains that the Tracey Ullman versions of The Simpsons were drawn so crudely because he could not draw well and the animators only sketched over them.

Bart Simpson's name came from the word "brat", which Matt described as himself in his earlier years. Both are left-handed as well.

Groening used to write comics for Apple, the computer company.

Matt was editor of the Evergreen High School newspaper.

Matt graduated from Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon.

Groening attended The Evergreen State College.

Groening's top ten favorite episodes of The Simpsons are: 1. "Bart the Daredevil" (S2) 2. "Life on the Fast Lane" (S1) 3. "Much Apu About Nothing" (S7) 4. "A Streetcar Named Marge" (S4) 5. "In Marge We Trust" (S8) 6. "Homer's Enemy" (S8) 7. "Treehouse of Horror VII" (S8) 8. "Natural Born Kissers" (S9) 9. "Krusty Gets Busted" (S1) 10. "There's No Disgrace Like Home" (S1)

Matt received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award in 2003, and was nominated for the same award in 2000.

Several of his characters have the middle initial 'J'. E.g: "Homer J. Simpson", "Bart J. Simpson" and "Phillip J. Fry".

Matt's favorite music album is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart.

Originally, Homer Simpson from The Simpsons had Matt's initials in his head, the "M" in his hair and the "G" in the ear.

Groening is left-handed.

Matt's father, a descendant of Russian Mennonites, speaks Plautdietsch.

Matt is a huge Godzilla fan.

Matt has 2 sons; Homer Groening (born in 1991) and Abe Groening (born in 1993).

He has 2 sisters: Lisa Groening and Maggie Groening.

Matt's mother is named Margaret Groening, she was also a teacher.

He's son of Homer Groening, animator and producer of surf movies.

Groening provided the voice for "Arturo" in the holiday movie Olive the Other Reindeer.