The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Has it really been 25 years since The Simpsons rejuvenated the idea of animated TV in primetime? Well, yes and no. Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson first emerged as shorts on the fledgling FOX network during The Tracey Ullman Show in April 1987 — 26 years years ago. …
For his next episode of his spin-off video podcast, Serious Jibber-Jabber With Conan O’Brien, O’Brien reunites with his former co-workers from the writers’ room of The Simpsons to discuss the early days of the FOX animated classic. Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jay Kogen, and Jeff Martin talk about comedy, fatherhood and how …
A few months ago, comedy director Jason Woliner decided to launch his own novelty T-shirt business, selling a parody of the red Che Guevara T-shirts that replaced Che’s face with that of Jay Leno. But he quickly backtracked from his “Che Leno” shirt, replacing it with a “Jay Guevara” shirt, …
Seth MacFarlane isn’t just hosting this year’s Academy Awards; he’s also a first-time nominee! MacFarlane earned an Oscar nomination this morning in the Best Original Song for writing the lyrics to “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from his live-action talking teddy bear buddy movie, Ted. That category historically has been …
While FOX News tries to use propaganda to make you feel bad for “demonizing the rich,” the writers on long-running FOX hit comedy, The Simpsons, have a long-running mega-millionaire who does the demonizing himself. Mr. Burns. Missssssterrrrrr Burrrrrrrrnnnnnnss. Usually, if you pay close enough attention during the opening credits, you’ll …
For Conan O’Brien’s second installment of his Web-only uninterrupted talk show, “Serious Jibber-Jabber,” the front man for Team Coco on TBS welcomes writer/director/producer Judd Apatow to the table. Over the course of 69 minutes and change, we learn from Apatow that: Upon learning that one of Apatow’s first spec scripts …
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That was fast. A couple of days after we learned how much cash FOX and News Corp. could bank by canceling The Simpsons, and just hours after voice actor Harry Shearer published his own statement willing to negotiate, the entire cast and the show agreed to a new two-year deal …
Harry Shearer, who has provided many voices for The Simpsons over its 23 seasons — including Charles Montgomery Burns, Ned Flanders, and Principal Skinner, among others — has released this statement regarding tense negotiations over pay cuts and the future of the series. It reads as follows: For many years …
Could this be the final season of The Simpsons? The animated FOX sitcom, currently in its 23rd season, finds itself in another tough round of salary negotiations with its voice actors, with 20th Century Fox Television asking the cast to take a 45% pay cut to renew their contracts. That’s from …
