In the early days of "The Simpsons," Mr. Groening used to preside over all aspects of production, from scripts to story boards to voice-overs to animation. Groenings grandfather named Abraham Groening, worked as a professor at Tabor College, a Mennonite Brethren liberal arts college in Hillsboro, Kansas, prior to moving to Albany College (now named Lewis and Clark College) in Oregon in 1930. His favorite artist is Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and his favorite album is Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart (which was produced by Zappa). In 1987, Groening married fellow Weekly staffer Deborah Caplan. ", "I had a real strong sense of drama as a kid," he said, "and I couldn't believe adults didn't remember what it was like to be a kid. He married Deborah Caplan 1986 . His sister Maggie is not mute. "I wake up every morning thinking how lucky I am. [27] He showed his cartoons to the editor, James Vowell, who was impressed and eventually gave him a spot in the paper. Deborah Kaplan is currently available. [99], Groening is a self-identified agnostic. Bob Cesca Show, Bio, Wiki, Age, Married, Salon, Salary, And Net Worth, Mark Blyth Political Scientist, Bio, Wiki, Age, Height, Wife, Books, Podcast, and Net Worth, Copyright 2023 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes, List of States in the US, Alphabetical list of States in the U.S., and Abbreviation of States in United States. The two married in 2011 after a four-year relationship. But before delirium set in, Groening spun a lingering bad mood and an "accidental" cartooning career into a billion-dollar print, broadcast, merchandising and licensing empire. During this time he was the editor of college paper The Cooper Point Journal. Matt and Deborah married in 1986, and had 2 sons Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe, both who Matt portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. [11], Groening grew up in Portland,[12] and attended Ainsworth Elementary School[13] and Lincoln High School. The Simpsons is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. But while he used to drive a beat-up Dodge Dart, he now drives a sleek new BMW. Groening worked as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which Groening also wrote articles and drew cartoons. [107] He received a British Comedy Award for "outstanding contribution to comedy" in 2004. So, how much is Matt Groening worth at the age of 67 years old? [47], The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. Before, Groening was married to his first wife Deborah Caplan. It is currently running in its 27th season. She was Groenings long-time girlfriend before she married him in 2011. [63], The series quickly became a worldwide phenomenon, to the surprise of many. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. Before proceeding to the informational portion of this essay, please take a moment to complete the following questionnaire: 1) Are you disillusioned? [58], Although The Tracey Ullman Show was not a big hit,[59] the popularity of the shorts led to a half-hour spin-off in 1989. About Matt Groening is a 68 year old American Cartoonist. Patricia was an art dealer. Le fils de pre Homer Philip Groening et mre Margaret Ruth est comdien de stand-up, crivain & caricaturiste, anno 2023 clbre pour The Simpsons & Futurama. The shorts were spun off into their own series, The Simpsons, which has since aired 742 episodes. In 1997, he and retired Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999, ran for four years on Fox, then picked up by Comedy Central for more seasons. He found some work along those lines, whipping up slogans for horror movies, but also took on. [109], He was awarded the Inkpot Award in 1988. In 2016, Groening developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018. [38] After Groening ended the strip, the Center for Cartoon Studies commissioned a poster that was presented to Groening in honor of his work. "[46] He also formed Zongo Comics in 1995, an imprint of Bongo that published comics for more mature readers,[46] which included three issues of Mary Fleener's Fleener[84] and seven issues of his close friend Gary Panter's Jimbo comics. What may never happen again is another show that comes along and had the overall importance to a particular company like 'The Simpsons' has had for News Corp.", Groening was outspoken about his criticisms of Fox's business practices and its inexplicably shabby treatment of him and his new show. Deborah Caplan and Matt Groening are divorced after a marriage of 13 years. Ever since his syndicated comic strip "Life in Hell" -- that series of nihilistic but cuddly dispatches from the epicenter of gloom -- first appeared in 1980, Groening has been raising the dampened spirits of the fashionably alienated by dunking Binky, his rabbity, buck-toothed proxy, into a weekly bog of self-pity, anxiety and existential despair. His sister Lisa does not play the saxophone. After marriage, he became step father to Augustina Picassos daughter Camille. When Comedy Central committed to sixteen new episodes, it was decided that four straight-to-DVD films Bender's Big Score (2007), The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008), Bender's Game (2008) and Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009) would be produced. Many members of the Simpson family are named for members of his own family: Homer, Marge, Maggie, Lisa and Patty. The Simpsons is the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history and the longest-running U.S. animated series and sitcom. [96] In January 2022, Groening's tenth child Satori was born. "I judge my life by how miserable it used to be," Groening told an interviewer last year, speaking of his early days as a lowly alternative cartoonist. Nowadays, you can't throw a rock at a TV set without hitting an irreverent animated social satire. The final episode aired on September 4, 2013. Groening went on to the liberal Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where he butted heads with the more extreme countercultural types that populated the campus. 3) Disgusted? He simply shrugs and buys more computer games, like the electronic ant farm that once caught his fancy. "The success of the show," he has said, "has gone beyond my wildest dreams and worst nightmares.". They divorced in 1999 and Groening married Argentine artist Agustina Picasso in 2011. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Quote Of The Day | Top 100 Quotes, See the events in life of Matt Groening in Chronological Order, (Cartoonist, Writer and Producer Known for His TV Series The Simpsons, Futurama and Disenchantment), https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/matt-groening-netflix-in-talks-report/, http://www.technobuffalo.com/2016/01/17/simpsons-creator-matt-groening-in-talks-with-netflix-for-new-animated-series/, http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/matt-groening-netflix-comedy-talks/, http://www.shannonmcclean.com/new-pagemosaics/. 6, the list of recipients had grown from 20 to 500. Groening worked at the Reader for six years, as a typesetter, editor, paste-up artist and rock critic. A self-published anthology of "Love Is Hell" led to a deal with Pantheon Books, and eventually Caplan began running Life In Hell Inc. The show is watched by more than 60 million people weekly in more than 60 countries around the world -- beating out even the lowest-common-denominator friendly "Baywatch" as the world's most-watched show. In conversations over two days and several venues -- at a party at his friend Frank Zappa's house, over lunch at the Fox commissary and in his office -- he revealed a deep association with the adolescents who form the core audience of "The Simpsons." Spouse/Ex-: Agustina Picasso, Deborah Caplan, siblings: Lisa Groening, Maggie Groening, Mark Groening, Patty Groening, children: Abe Groening, Homer Groening, Nathaniel Philip Picasso Groening, Ancestry: Norwegian American, Canadian American, Notable Alumni: The Evergreen State College, Founder/Co-Founder: Bongo Comics Group, Zongo Comics, The Curiosity Company, Quotes By Matt Groening | [12] Although Groening previously stated, "I'll never give up the comic strip. His mother, Margaret, though, used to have "huge hair.". On the radio, a drunken DJ wept a final farewell to his job. This is likely influenced by the name of Groening's own parents. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Yet Groening's DNA is all over the show, from the characters named after the streets of his hometown (Flanders, Lovejoy, etc. His father, Homer Philip Groening, was a writer, filmmaker and advertiser and his mother, Margaret Ruth, was a teacher. Its first ten episodes premiered on the streaming service in August 2018, with the remaining ten episodes of the initial order scheduled to air in September 2019. Agustina is an Argentinian artist. "[17] The Simpsons was co-developed by Groening, Brooks, and Sam Simon, a writer-producer with whom Brooks had worked on previous projects. But that's not my point of view.". It was thanks to Brooks' reputation that "The Simpsons" was granted a level of autonomy not normally given to television shows -- especially one as risky as "The Simpsons" seemed at the time. Matt Groening received the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program for The Simpsons in the years 1998, 2000 and 2001. He first sold his comic to magazine Wet, in 1978. [49] Marge's distinct beehive hairstyle was inspired by Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue. (29 October 1987 - 1999) ( divorced) ( 2 children) In fact, to prove that he didn't mean anything by naming a fat, incompetent slob like Homer Simpson after his father, he named his first son Homer, too. [64], Like the main family members, several characters from the show have names that were inspired by people, locations or films. Matt Groening Futurama His then-girlfriend and co-worker at the Reader Deborah Caplan offered to publish Love is Hell, a series of relationship-themed Life in Hell strips, in book form. He currently serves at The Simpsons as an executive producer and creative consultant. ", .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}James Cameron Keeps Smashing His Own Records, The Cocaine Bear Drug Smuggler Was a Real Person, Meet The Last of Us Creator Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us Cast Guide: Actors and Characters, Biography: Jon Stewart (Community Heroes), Biography: You Need to Know: Dorothy Arzner. The PJs (1999-2001) In 1973, he moved to LA and sold his comic strip Life in Hell to the LA weekly. Groening started sending the comic back home to friends in Portland in lieu of doleful letters about his miserable life. Executive producer and show runner Mike Scully once told the New Yorker, "People are always asking why 'The Simpsons' is still so good after all these years, and, at the risk of pissing off all the other writers, I think I'd have to say that the main reason is probably George." Deborah Kaplan has been divorced from Matt Groening since 1999. When he and former "Simpsons" show runner David X. Cohen (now the show runner on "Futurama") first approached Fox with the new idea, the network went into instant paroxysms of ecstasy. Matt Groening sa constellation est Verseau et . He studied at Evergreen State College and edited the campus newspaper. His television series titled Futurama also earned him the Annie Award for Best General Audience Animated TV/Broadcast Production in the years 2010 and 2014, while his other work The Simpsons won the award in this category in the years 2011, 2012 and 2015. Matts youngest child is named after writer Nathaniel West. In 1972, he enrolled at the Evergreen State College in Olympia and studied there for five years. ", The Simpsons are offspring of Bongo, Akbar and Jeff, only slightly less hapless. Deborah Caplan Born - Unknown Deborah is a publisher. Olive, the Other Reindeer (1999) Perhaps, were he to walk in off the street, he could get a job as a writer on the show. The couple has two sons, Homer and Abe. They had been married for 11.1 years. Groening is a guy who lunches with Rupert Murdoch and finds him congenial. "I showed it to the editor of the Los Angeles Reader," he once told an interviewer, "and he hired me immediately -- to deliver newspapers." ------------------------------------------. Over the years, "The Simpsons" and its irreverently unsentimental outlook have provoked a mountain of commentary about the decline of American culture. You know, "Meet George Jetson. His Norwegian American mother, Margaret Ruth (ne Wiggum; March 23, 1919 April 22, 2013),[6] was once a teacher, and his Russian Mennonite father, Homer Philip Groening (December 30, 1919 March 15, 1996),[7] was a filmmaker, advertiser, writer and cartoonist. "[19] He first became interested in cartoons after watching the Disney animated film One Hundred and One Dalmatians,[20] and he has also cited Robert Crumb, Ernie Bushmiller, Ronald Searle,[21] Monty Python,[22] and Charles M. Schulz as inspirations. In 2016, he developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which began in August 2018. (2002). But he realized that Fox would own whatever characters went on the air. His work The Simpsons grabbed the Annie Award in the Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Program category for the year 1999. He found some work along those lines, whipping up slogans for horror movies, but also took on a series of jobs that included chauffeur, dishwasher and record store clerk to make a living. In 2002, Groening received the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award due to his work on Life in Hell. Ian Maxtone-Graham, another writer on the show, has said in an interview, "I would rather make George Meyer laugh than get an Emmy." The strip continued to be published in the LA Weekly until 2009, when they were unable to pay Matt Groening anymore. Born in 1954 in Portland, Oregon, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening had, in many ways, an idyllic childhood. Alexandre de La cerda Tlcharger Le Pays Basque d'antan Livre PDF Franais Online . Groening's success owes as much to his own work as it does to the work of a slew of others, including co-creators James Brooks and Sam Simon, and "The Simpsons'" writing staff. [8][50] Bart's original design, which appeared in the first shorts, had spikier hair, and the spikes were of different lengths. His father Homer, born in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada, grew up in a Mennonite, Plautdietsch-speaking family. Groening's rough-and-tumble early days in Tinseltown provided endless fodder for a comic he titled Life in Hell, featuring the anthropomorphic rabbit Binky. Leslie Jordan. After marriage, he became step father to Augustina Picasso's daughter Camille. Matthew Abram Groening (/ren/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954)[1] is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. [65] The names of a few other characters were taken from major street names in Groening's hometown of Portland, Oregon, including Flanders, Lovejoy, Powell, Quimby and Kearney. Deborah Caplan and Matt Groening are divorced after a marriage of 13 years. In 1988, James L. Brooks, looking for a filler in the television show, The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), turned towards a framed "Life in Hell" strip on his wall and contacted Groening. [17] He served as the editor of the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, for which he also wrote articles and drew cartoons. And he has "gone Hollywood" enough, he concedes, that when he is picked up by a limousine, he no longer feels that he has to keep the chauffeur entertained for the whole ride. he said in a Mother Jones interview. He made a name exploring his own alienation and a fortune exposing the absurdities and hypocrisies of our culture, and nowadays, Groening is as powerful an insider as they come. These days Mr. Groening, who lives in Venice, Calif., tries to stay home one morning a week to write "Life in Hell." Some seven years after Binky and his one-eared son, Bongo, first began delving into their epic disaffection, and the heroically insecure (but enterprising) gay twins Akbar and Jeff opened the first of their reprobate money-making "huts," "The Simpsons," the first animated series to hit prime time in 20 years, made its television debut. Then, no sooner had they ordered 13 episodes than the doubts set in. He is from OR. Groening and Deborah Caplan married in 1986[27] and had two sons together, Homer (who goes by Will) and Abe,[44] both of whom Groening occasionally portrays as rabbits in Life in Hell. He also invited the off-the-wall submissions of campus cartoonists, finding himself inspired by the original works of fellow undergrad Lynda Barry. "So much humor is based on 'life is horrible, sex is nasty and you can't trust anyone,' " he said. As Groening told Spin magazine. [41][44] However, he stresses that aside from some of the sibling rivalry, his family is nothing like the Simpsons. Along with mailing the comics to friends and family back in Portland, he attempted to sell his stapled-together books from his record store. Let us look in detail into Groenings family tree. She joked that "his godfather is SpongeBob's creator Stephen Hillenburg". He is 68 years old. But for now, at least, it continues to thrive; it is consistently the most-watched show in its time slot, Thursday at 8 P.M., and is Fox's No. The show premiered under the Fox Broadcasting Company banner, in 1999. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. On this date in 1954, Matthew Abraham Groening was born in Portland, Ore., to Homer Groening, an advertising agent and amateur cartoonist, and Margaret Wiggum. When he was asked by producer James L. Brooks to create animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, Groening came up with The Simpsons. Groening has said that due to his limited drawing ability, it's unlikely he could get a job as an animator on "The Simpsons" today. He still draws the ear as a 'G' when he draws pictures of Homer for fans. '", Sharing one inane series of meetings, he told the magazine, "I said, 'Look, I told you "Futurama" is not going to be bland and boring like "The Jetsons." Matt Groening is married to Deborah Caplan in 1986. After four years the show was cancelled, however, it maintained a strong fan following. By his own description, Mr. Groening behaved as a child much as Bart Simpson would if only he had more scholastic aptitude. After spending a few years researching science fiction, Groening got together with Simpsons writer and producer David X. Cohen (known as David S. Cohen at the time) in 1997 and developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000. While at college, he befriended famous cartoonist Lynda Barry, whom he also regards as a great inspiration. The animated shorts that Groening created were The Simpsons (1989). A thousand years in the future -- a wry, bleak version of a future where suicide booths and celebrity heads preserved in jars are part of the landscape -- work is still hell. Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde magazine Wet in 1978. [36] Released a month later, the book was an underground success, selling 22,000 copies in its first two printings. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, he created a new set of characters, the Simpson family. AT WORK WITH: Matt Groening; The Fun of Being Bart's Real Dad, https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/25/garden/at-work-with-matt-groening-the-fun-of-being-bart-s-real-dad.html.