FURIOUSLY sketching a yellow family on the back of a piece of paper, cartoonist Matt Groening had just minutes to impress a room full of waiting TV executives.
The small-time comic strip maker had been given a shot at coming up with the next big animated series to fill a slot on American sketch series The Tracey Ullman Show.
Little did he know that the rushed doodle of a dad slumped on the sofa, a mother with towering hair and three kids — one loud, one weird and one mute — would soon take the world by storm.
Now, more than 35 years on, The Simpsons is on the brink of celebrating its 800th episode.
In a rare interview, Matt, 71, told how inspiration for the family could not have come from closer to home.
While receiving an Honorary Cristal Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week, he joked: “It’s a little-known fact that my parents’ real names were . . . Itchy and Scratchy.
“No, seriously, I have a real father called Homer, a real mother called Marge, real siblings called Lisa and Maggie and a real grandfather called Abe.”
Contrary to popular opinion, that does not mean that Matt based cheeky practical joker Bart on himself.
Instead, he thinks of himself more like Bart’s nerdy and awkward best friend Milhouse.
The idea for the cartoon may have been simple, but Matt has never run out of steam.
Now in its 36th series, The Simpsons is currently on episode 790, with the milestone instalment due to air soon.
Actress Yeardley Smith, who has been the voice behind Lisa Simpson since the start, revealed that the cast had already gathered for a table read to test out the script for the 800th show, which is believed to be the finale of the current run.
She was joined by Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Sabrina Carpenter’s aunt Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Harry Shearer (Ned Flanders), Hank Azaria (Moe and Chief Wiggum) and Pamela Hayden (Milhouse).
Matt teased: “Our main motivation is to surprise ourselves.
“We figure that if we can surprise ourselves, we will probably surprise the audience as well.
“We have parodies of cinema and references to books, TV shows and personal autobiographical anecdotes.
“As it goes on, we become known for different kinds of jokes.”
One constant that fans love though is the celebrity cameos.
Huge names who have featured over the years include Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney, Gordon Ramsay, Elon Musk and former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
And the writers also famously have a spooky knack for predicting the future.
From Donald Trump becoming President to the creation of Apple’s FaceTime, viewers heard it from Springfield first.
But even with hundreds of episodes under his belt, Matt has no plans to shelve the series any time soon.
In fact, he even hopes it lives on long enough to catch up with the timeline of another hit Groening production, Futurama.
Matt joked: “The Simpsons will still be on air in the year 3000!
“Unfortunately, critics will say the show has really been going downhill in the last one thousand years.”
Here, we take a dive into The Simpsons’ history books to look at its famous cameos and amazing predictions.
The predictions
IT’S not just the gags that have fans hooked, but the fact the hit series has long had an uncanny habit of predicting major future events.
Through the show’s 36 series, a number of storylines have been manifested into real life after first making their appearance in the form of cartoon animation.
In 2000, Bart To The Future saw Lisa Simpson becoming US President, but a billboard in the background of one shot had a billboard ad for “TRUMP 2024”.
Another episode in 1993 predicted COVID-19, when a flu spread through Springfield residents, while the EBOLA outbreak was predicted in a 1997 scene.
Elsewhere, the cartoon predicted the 2013 HORSE MEAT scandal, in its episode aired in 1994, which saw schoolkids unknowingly served horse meat for lunch.
In a 1995 episode titled Lisa’s Wedding, people were seen using SMART WATCH-like devices to communicate – an entire two decades before Apple launched their wearable gadget, while technology similar to FACETIME also featured.
And in 1998, Homer appeared to figure out the mathematical equation behind the HIGGS BOSON discovery, 14 years before particle physicists confirmed the concept.
A 2012 episode, Lisa Goes Gaga, saw the young character watching singer LADY GAGA at the Super Bowl – suspended from the air in the same manner as the star’s real-life 2017 show.
And in 2019, Mr Burns attended an exclusive gathering for celebrities, which was spookily similar to rapper P Diddy’s infamous scandal-hit “white parties”.
The celebrity cameos
THE Simpsons is not short on memorable characters.
But that hasn’t stopped some of the world’s most recognisable stars from wanting to have their moment being reimagined in yellow.
The Beatles’ RINGO STARR was the first of the group to make an appearance in 1991, where he appeared as himself to encourage family matriarch Marge to pursue a career in the arts.
He was soon followed in series five’s Homer’s Barbershop Quartet by GEORGE HARRISON, in 1993, and SIR PAUL McCARTNEY in 1995, who convinced Lisa to go vegetarian.
SIMON COWELL first appeared in the series in 2004 as a brutally honest telly talent judge, while Space X tycoon ELON MUSK landed in a spaceship in an episode in 2015 and TONY BLAIR met with Homer in a 2003 episode that featured an animated version of the Queen.
Needless to say, Her Majesty did not guest star.
While Coldplay’s CHRIS MARTIN sang in an animated concert as part of the series in 2010, telly chef GORDON RAMSAY made his appearance in 2011.
And comedian RICKY GERVAIS cropped up not once but twice, starring in 2006 episode This Is Your Wife, and lending his voice to Season 22’s Angry Dad: The Movie in 2011.
There’s been no shortage of pop stars either, with BILLIE EILISH recording alongside Lisa in an animated short in 2022.
Other big chart names who have featured include TOM JONES, STING, ELTON JOHN, MERYL STREEP and DOLLY PARTON.
