#95 [random] I wonder what they're really like?

Random thought:

We sat and talked by the rail road tracks today. It was nice.

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I really do wish time machines could be invented someday. I'd go back to 1991-1994, even though, uhh, technically I was alive then and probably spend an afternoon in the Simpsons writing room when they were still during their prime. It amazes me sometimes with how talented and razor sharp they seemed to be then-- and what some former writers (ALTHOUGH I HATE HIM) like Conan O'Brien went on doing afterward. I think another is a vice president or president of Pixar or something now, too.

Looking into their credentials surprised me how extensive these guys talents are, even if The Simpsons quality has dwindled steadily over the years. Obviously, Simpsons was created by Matt Groening (and I think Al Jean was the producer). Somewhere around 1999 Matt Groening decided to branch out from the Simpsons and create a new TV show, Futurama, and unlike Family Guy splitting the success and creating American Dad! Groening's spin off didn't actually suck. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein wrote for the Simpsons back in the 90's-- branched out also and created Mission Hill.

Which was
usually nothing short of funny and maybe a little strange.



As previously mentioned Conan O'Brien went on to host a tonight show (he used to be a writer too during the 90's) and another writer then and still now-- John Swartzwelder has written five comedy/science fiction books. ("The Time Machine Did It", "Double Wonderful", "How I Conquered Your Planet", "The Exploding Detective", "Dead Men Scare me Stupid"). Sam Simon and George Meyer wrote for Saturday Night Live and later on, Seinfeld. They also produced a shortlived magazine called Army Man.

Al Jean created (and wrote for?) a very funny show called The Critic, which starred Jon Lovitz, probably the only celebrity I really do find beyond annoying in this world.

For Simpsons nerds he's better known as Artie Ziff. Coincidentally he also played the role of Maggie's babysitter when she was placed in a daycare during the earlier seasons and guest starred as "himself" as the critic. There's a scene in a later seasons episode where all three are drinking at Moe's. I know! Enough with the trivia already!



Funnily enough, most of these men attended universities such as Harvard and received degrees in biochemistry, advanced mathematics and other courses of the sort. There's so much more, but I know it wouldn't be very interesting to share to anyone else here.

Reading through all this though really makes me want to try my hand at comedy! writing, or stand up. I KNOW it's something I can do. And that kills me.

Maybe someday still!

And on that note, not for everyone.. our teacher very briefly showed us this in class:



I thought it was kinda cool anyway. Warning: it's definitely not at all comical and ridden with horrible sounding synthesized 70's music. Can you imagine, God aside, that might be all to our reason for existence? It's kinda hard to think about the vast world like that.

Even for me this time.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Start writing more often again! =(
dave said…
i'll try haha. life is getting too busy though :( so close to 100 also!

fsjksafj.
Anonymous said…
i just skimmed through because, to be honest, you suck, but i was watching the new simpsons the other day and while homer was still silly and bart was still a brat and marge was still going HMMM, i think i laughed maybe once. thinking back on all the simpsons episodes i've seen, the older ones definitely have more humor in them. these new ones rely on old jokes and homer's stupidity.

and once i ordered a season of mission hill from netflix, so it was only like 5 episodes, but that show was pretty good.

the same with snl, there are a few skits that i find funny (recent fey-palin skits mostly), but mostly i just sit there going 'huh?'. i was too young when everything good was on but i've seen clips of adam sandler and chris farley and dana carvey, and everything else and i'm rambling!

oh and CONAN KICKS ASS. are you insane? jesus christ i want to punch you so bad right now.
dave said…
no way, conan is annoying. as a writer - yes! he was a writer for some of the better older episodes. his voice annoys me, way too high pitched and weird. and his show in general sucks.