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John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

newyorker.com

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Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#31

Post by cogman10 »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #27

I've been debating with my friends about the Simpsons vs Family Guy/South Park. And while Family Guy/South Park definitely have their merits, the Simpsons is just in a different league. There's a great roundtable^[1] of Simpsons writers hosted by Conan O'Brien (who also was a writer). They talk about how with the Simpsons, no matter what, the family fundamentally cares about each other. Whereas with more modern anima…

The golden era simpsons is some of the best comedy ever written. Sometime after season 10 or 11, quality dropped. I'd argue that golden era simpsons is definitely in a different league than southpark/family guy. However, after the golden era they are pretty comparable with, frankly, the simpsons being on the lower end of humor.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#33

Post by tootie »

anamexis wrote: post #30
tootie wrote: post #13

There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inf…

I learned from this interview that The Simpsons are what popularized the word "meh." I had no idea that it was not a common word before this.

This is probably the quintessential example of what I'm talking about. I was actually surprised to learn they didn't coin it themselves. It's not even a word, but it has so much meaning. It's an entire mood and everyone knows what it means. Lisa says it to Homer in an offhand exchange. It's not even a joke but I will never not laugh at it.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#34

Post by mastercheif »

leephillips wrote: post #12
patwolf wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was seeing that too. I switched to a different browser and it started showing the whole article. It was very confusing--I thought for a minute that the article just ended there as some sort of cruel joke about a person that doesn't give interviews.

Yes, the New Yorker paywall is confusing. There is no indication that you are not seeing the complete article. Their website in general is a layered failure of design.

Interesting, Wired does the same thing. Must be a Condé Nast thing.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#36

Post by legitster »

tootie wrote: post #13

There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inf…

My favorite is Mr. Burns answering the phone "ahoy-hoy".

It's funny on so many levels, and it requires an amazingly esoteric bit of knowledge in a time before it was easy to find that kind of stuff on the internet.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#37

Post by swader999 »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #23
tootie wrote: post #13

There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inf…

They were written and then endlessly workshopped to increase the number of jokes per minute. I believe the goal was 6 per minute during early seasons of the Simpsons. Obviously that is really hard to do and its fallen out of style.

Because animation takes so long to produce there's a lot of time to polish and dial the jokes.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#38

Post by davidw »

legitster wrote: post #36
tootie wrote: post #13

There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inf…

My favorite is Mr. Burns answering the phone "ahoy-hoy". It's funny on so many levels, and it requires an amazingly esoteric bit of knowledge in a time before it was easy to find that kind of stuff on the internet.

"Alexander Graham Bell originally suggested 'ahoy' be adopted as the standard greeting when answering a telephone, before 'hello' (suggested by Thomas Edison) became common." - from the Wikipedia page on 'Ahoy'.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#39

Post by ok123456 »

dfxm12 wrote: post #16
gorpomon wrote: post #11

Even though more than the credited writer collaborates on a Simpsons script (as Swartzwelder says in this interview) it's fun to count how many jokes are packed into a John Swartzwelder episode of the Simpsons. I did it for several of his greats and I found it to be around every 10 seconds something comical was happening. I've read a few of his books as well, and while I haven't counted the rate feels similar (of cou…

even though many of the younger folks watching might not know who Barry White is. Many of the younger folks watching when the episode first aired in 1993 probably didn't know who Barry White was, either. His hits were from 20 years prior. Even if you didn't know who he was though, he works in the episode because his distinctive voice is written into the story & used as a plot point. He doesn't just make a cameo appea…

Most people only know who Thomas Pynchon is, is from the guy with the paper head over his head who appeared two times on the Simpsons as a throw away joke.

Re: John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons”

#40

Post by rekwah »

anamexis wrote: post #30
tootie wrote: post #13

There's so many jokes in vintage Simpsons episodes that I can't understand how they were even written. They can't have made sense on paper. The writing was amazing but so was the cast and the writers had to have so much faith that putting a stage direction Homer shrugs and grunts would be devastating at the right moment. It can't be understated how big an impact they had. Every show, even non-comedy, has borrowed inf…

I learned from this interview that The Simpsons are what popularized the word "meh." I had no idea that it was not a common word before this.

It's a perfectly cromulent word.
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