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Bongo Beat

47 Secrets About The Simpsons

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Bongo Beat:
47 Secrets About The Simpsons,
A Poem of Sorts, And Some Filler
by Matt Groening
Transcribed with notations by Bruce Gomes (bgomes@simpsonsarchive.com) from Bartman #4
  1. Bart Simpson's middle name is Jo-Jo.
  2. My sixth favorite Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is The Discreet Charm of the Rotisserie.
    (see Notes)
  3. Bart got his middle name at a recording session, when Nancy Cartwirght (who does the voice of Bart) had a line that went, "...or my name isn't Bartholemew J. Simpson." I asked her what the J. stood for, and she said "Jo-Jo."
  4. The rest of the family's middle names also start with the letter J. (Not true, see Notes)
  5. This "J" business is a tribute to Jay Ward's Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel.
  6. I don't remember what the other middle names are.
  7. Marge Simpson has webbed toes.
  8. Homer Simpson's favorite movie is not Look Who's Oinking, as is commonly believed, but Look Who's Oinking III. (see Notes)
  9. Evergreen Terrace, the street on which the Simpsons live, is also the street I lived on as a kid in Portland, Oregon. (see Notes)
  10. My fifth favorite Itchy & scratchy cartoon is 20,000 Shrieks Under the Sea. (see Notes)
  11. Homer loves any chore that involves the licking of frosting off beaters.
  12. Apu loves the luxuriant, silky feel of pure polyester.
  13. My fourth favorite Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is The Blast of the Mousehicans. (see Notes)
  14. In the original design of Homer, I hit my initials in his head.
  15. The M was the zigzag hair above Homer's ear, and I drew his right ear as a G.
  16. I decided that if this secret ever got out, it would be too distracting, so I changed his ear to look more like a regular cartoon ear.
  17. When I draw sketches of Homer for fans, I put in the secret initials.
  18. Bart Simpson's number-one pet peeve: Lisa's slumber parties.
  19. When correctly drawn, Bart has nine points of hair on his head.
  20. When Homer says "d'oh!" on the show, it is written in the scripts like this: (ANNOYED GRUNT).
  21. When Marge makes that displeased noise on the show, it is written in the scripts like this: (FRUSTRATED MURMUR).
  22. My third favorite Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is Romeo and Thumb-screwliet. (see Notes)
  23. In Nathanael West's classic novel Day of the Locust, there's a character named Homer Simpson.
  24. Marge Simpson hates waxy yellow build-up.
  25. Milhouse was named after Richard Milhous Nixon.
  26. I drew a cartoon character in high school name Milhouse Mouse.
  27. In grade school I drew, among other things, cartoon slugs.
  28. There are streets in Portland, Oregon, name Flanders, Kearney, Lovejoy, and Quimby. (see Notes)
  29. Apu was named after the character Apu in Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali (one of my all-time favorite movies).
  30. My mother's maiden name is Wiggum.
  31. As far as I know, Homer's power-plant co-worker Lenny doesn't have a last name.
  32. Homer Simpson's mother is still alive (tune in this fall).
  33. Sideshow Bob's prison number is #24601. (see Notes)
  34. My favorite minor characters on the show include Jasper, Hans Moleman, Bumblebee Man, Jimbo, and the Ol' Sea Captain.
  35. There was once a Krusty the Clown spin-off TV show in the works. Don't hold your breath,
  36. Utterly non-Simpsons-related book recommendation: Eric Knight's You Play the Red and the Black Comes Up. (see Notes)
  37. I write poetry occasionally.
  38. On February 27, 1992, I wrote a poem called "Bossy Blues."
  39. It was inspired by misunderstanding the lyrics of a Mississippi John Hurt song I heard on the radio wihle driving to work.
  40. It goes like this: I woke up this morning / With a cow tied 'round my head / I woke up this morning / With a cow tied 'round my head / I wanted to get some breakfast / But the spoons were in the shed.
  41. My favorite Itchy & Scratchy cartoon is a toss-up between The Unbearable Lightness of Fricaseeing and You're a Good Corpse, Scratchy Brown. (see Notes)
  42. The original title of this editorial was WHY BART'S HAIR IS SO SPIKY: A CARTOONIST'S CONFESSION, but I was too tired to write it, so I did this list instead. Look for the Bart's hair essay in the next issue of Simpsons Comics. [See Simpsons Comics #10.
  43. You want to know a word that I like that repels me at the same time?
  44. Snausages.
Notes:
  • 2, 10, 13, 22, 41: These are all fictional Itchy & Scratchy cartoons
    (were never broadcast and never appeared in comics).
  • 4: Homer's middle name is revealed as Jay in Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo [AABF02] but Lisa's middle name is given as Marie in the invitation for Lisa's Wedding [2F15]
  • 8: In Colonel Homer [8F19] Homer's first choice at the Springfield Gogolplex was Look Who's Oinking.
  • 9, 28: For an exhaustive list of streets in Portland, Oregon used on The Simpsons,
    see The Portland, Oregon Connection.
  • 33: Sideshow Bob's prison number 24601, from episode Black Widower [8F20], is the same prison number assigned to Jean Valjean in Les Misérables.
  • 36: Close; actual book title is You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up, by Eric Knight Hallas, See Amazon.com.

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This page last updated on March 15, 2014 by Bruce Gomes (bruce@simpsonsarchive.com)

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