7 Questions for Matt Groening

Before Matt Groening spoke to his fans at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City, he took a few minutes to chat with us in the green room about Lisa, his dad (the Original Homer), and more fun stuff. Mr. Groening was sweet, hilarious, and worried about the freezing fans camped out in the bitter February cold, waiting to see him.
What was your inspiration for Lisa? I think she’s one of the smartest characters ever and I have identified with her in some way at every age of my life.
It was fun to have one character you knew would grow up and escape Springfield. Everyone else is stuck there forever. I wanted to create the typical overlooked middle child. With a baritone. [Originally, Lisa played the baritone.] I thought it was funny that a little girl would have such a big instrument.
She’s why I’m a vegetarian.
I’m happy to hear that. She became a vegetarian in the episode with Paul and Linda McCartney. They agreed to the idea as long as Lisa remained a vegetarian for the rest of the series. I’m turning into a vegetarian now, too. I know it’s the right thing to do.
What’s Lisa’s favorite book?
I haven’t read it, but Little Women. I know she likes Beverly Cleary books, because I did. The Ramona books inspired me. They took place in Portland, where I’m from. Love Joy, Flanders—those are all street names in Portland.
What’s Bart’s favorite book?
Moby Dick, because he’d laugh at the title.
What cartoons did you watch when you were little and did they influence The Simpsons?
Rocky and Bullwinkle and it was absolutely an influence. The writing, music, and voices were brilliant. But as I got older, the quality of cartoons got worse. So when I was creating The Simpsons, I just asked myself, “what would I have wanted to watch?” Plus, I really wanted a show where the main character was really bad. I loved Dennis The Menace in the 60’s. At the beginning of the credits, Dennis would be spinning around like a hurricane. I thought, “This is great! He even has a slingshot!” But he never used the slingshot. So I created Bart.
What cartoons do you like now?
There are so many. I like Bob’s Burgers, Adventure Time, Rick and Morty, and Regular Show. I loved Beavis and Butthead.
You walk into a big, beautiful Barnes & Noble. What’s the first thing you do?
I absolutely love bookstores. I usually want to find out what the newest thing is. I also run to the art books section—I like reading about photography, film, and music books. There isn’t a section of the bookstore I don’t enjoy. Except the section for handicrafts.