Interview: Simpsons creator
Matt Groening

"The Simpsons" and "Futurama" creator Matt Groening stood in the shadows near a doorway at the famed Yamashiro restaurant, a gorgeous establishment perched high on a hill over Hollywood.

Big stars Costumed Simpsons characters gather with some series talent for the unveiling of the Simpsons star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Jan. 14, 2000. Bottom row, from left, Yeardley Smith, Matt Groening, James L. Brooks, Nancy Cartwright and Pamela Hayden.

The Japanese restaurant offered an elegant backdrop July 21 for a gathering sponsored by the Fox television network for its stars, producers and executives to meet with journalists from the Television Critics Association.

For about 20 minutes, we chatted with Groening and "Futurama" executive producer David X. Cohen. The topics dealt, not surprisingly, with Groening's two shows, including the status of merchandise.

The following is a partial transcript of that conversation. We also talked to Matt and David about general developments with the shows, especially the upcoming season of "Futurama." You can find a transcript for that at our sister site, Collecting Futurama!

Q: Do you mind if I ask you a little about Simpsons merchandise?

Groening: I love talking about merchandise.

Q: The new action figures seem to be doing well, with a lot of collector interest in the secondary characters.

Groening: The first time around, when "The Simpsons" first hit the scene in 1990, Bart outsold everything else 100 to one. Now the hot characters are Grampa and Mr. Burns. I don't think any toy manufacturer would have ever taken a chance on little kids playing with a Mr. Burns character back in 1990, so it's gratifying to see Apu and Chief Wiggum and Barney being coveted figures. It's not actually kids buying the stuff, either.

Q: Maybe not to the "Star Wars" level, but over the past couple of years I've seen more and more collectors interested in "The Simpsons."

Groening: Great. Great.

Q: What new stuff this year do you really like?

Groening: I like the fact they talk and they interact. That's new. Ten years ago, we couldn't do that. You know, there's so many prototypes that come by, I don't know exactly what's going to get out there. But I've seen some really wild stuff.

We're doing a second set of action figures that talk. You know, "The Simpsons" continues to roll and roll along. And now we're starting to put together "Futurama" merchandise, and that's really cool. ... If you're a cartoonist, to be able to see two-dimensional drawings in 3D form, even if it's in a little toy, to just to be able to play with your own drawings with little figurines, it's a dream come true.

Q: Someone I know who sells Simpsons figures and other Simpsons merchandise tells me he gets a lot of people from the studio who buy it because they like to have it at their desks for inspiration when they're drawing.

Groening: Oh, yeah. Animators are the biggest collectors. You know, I think they sold the first run of the Simpsons characters and the "Futurama" characters coming up to the animators, you know. They have them all over their desks. You go to their houses and they're filled with stuff.

Personally, after working on cartoons all day, to go home and to stare at more Simpsons stuff, I go, "NO! (Laughs.) Give me a break!" But, you know what, we had a guest bedroom in my house that was all Simpsons. It was Simpsons lamp shades, Simpsons curtains, Simpsons sheets and blankets and towels. I figured, if anybody came to stay with us, they'd only stay for a day or two at most before they were driven out. (Laughs.)

Q: Do you still have it?

Groening: No, no. You know what? We started giving this stuff away. We needed a quick birthday present. "Oh, let's give away the pillowcase."

Q: Do you have a big warehouse somewhere where you have one of everything?

Groening: You know, I don't. I have a lot of it. You know, I thought I had a secure archive. But my kids and their friends raided it, you know. So I don't have everything. There are some things I really miss. I want to get ahold of some early Simpsons video games. I played them all, but I don't have them anymore.

One of the things I'm really most excited about, we're working on a couple of new Simpsons games. We've got a Simpsons bowling game, arcade bowling game coming out, and we're working on a really wild Simpsons wrestling game. And we're working on a "Futurama" game for the X-Box, the Microsoft game system coming out.

And we just finished Futurama Comics No. 1. That will be out (in November).

David X. Cohen: It's already selling 20 times face value. (David apparently is referring to Bongo's special edition of the comic given away at the recent San Diego Comic Convention.)

Q: And you've got Issue 50 of Simpsons Comics coming out.

Groening: (Pauses a moment to think.) Oh, yeah, 50. You know, we're working on stuff so far ahead that I have to sort of make an adjustment. Actually, talking to you, it actually makes sense, because you're talking about stuff that's happening now.

Q: I appreciate your time.

Groening: Thanks a lot, man.

Updated: 8/8/00

Copyright 2000, William LaRue.