The Simpsons Archive: Meet the Artists!

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Meet the Artists!

Terry Delegeane

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Bongo Profile: Terry Delegeane
Transcribed By Bruce Gomes (bgomes@simpsonsarchive.com)
from Simpsons Comics #83
© Bongo Entertainment, Inc. , 2003.

Any true Bongohead recognizes the name Terry Delegeane, but little else is known about Bongo's elusive Managing Editor...until now! Using an Arby's Big Montana, we managed to coax Terry out from under the piles of paperwork that occupy the top of his desk, and he answered a few questions:

1. When did you start working at Bongo?
A little over 9 years ago. We were just putting out Simpsons Comics #4.

2. What did you do pre-Bongo?
I've done a lot of things lo these many years: delivered newspapers; mopped up the lobby at McDonalds; drove a beer truck; worked as a theatre usher; sold shampoo; worked as a janitor, a payroll officer, and a receptionist; taught high school English, performed as a dancing cowboy; and worked in public relations for Turner Broadcasting. All true.

3. What responsibilities does a managing editor have?
The long answer is that I read scripts, write advertisements, and count the money as it rolls in. (See, kids! Reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic really do pay off in the end.) The longer answer is that I also schedule our books, work with foreign licenses, and count their money as it rolls in. I proofread all our books, and for some reason, have a reputation for putting in a lot of commas, bolds, and exclamations!!!!!! But the short answer is that I move papers on one side of my desk to the other side of my desk and tell the folks at Bongo that they do good work.

4. What's the worst part of your job?
Paper cuts.

5. What's the best?
I could complain about having to go to work and "think funny" all the time, but as Homer so simply puts it in this issue, I work in a "dream factory!".

6. What are the managing editor "tools of the trade?"
A good dictionary, a thesaurus... and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Seriously, not a week goes by that I don't have to fact check something in that big ol' book.

7. Married with children?
Yes to both. I have a very supportive wife who encourages me not to bring home too much work (which really means she doesn't like having my comic boxes all over the house). My three children tend to say things like "Why can't you dig ditches like a normal dad?" and "Comics are not literature!" and "Can we go to Disneyland?"

8. Do you read other comics? If so, what are your favorites?
Oh my, yes. Way too many. I love Batman. Batman, Batman, Batman. I just like to say the word... Batman. I read a mixture of mainstream and independent books: Superman, Amazing Spiderman, 100 Bullets, Sock Monkey, Gotham Central, Bone, Alias, Liberty Meadows, Batgirl, Strangers in Paradise, Fables, Daredevil, and the list goes on.

9. What kind of music do you listen to?
Once again, I have a variety of tastes. I listen to a little of everything... except Rap! I like Ben Folds, Diana Krall, Barenaked Ladies, Basia, Randy Newman, Sting, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, and have amassed a fairly large collection of instrumental movie soundtracks, but all said and done, at the end of the day, I'm probably listening to Broadway showtunes... something by Stephen Sondheim.

10. Name some of your favorite movie comedies.
How are these for some great comic premises: a washed up producer and his accountant cook up a scheme to get rich by staging a Broadway flop (The Producers); a dentist gets caught up in international intrigue when he does his potential in-law, who may or may not be a CIA agent, a favor (The In-Laws - the 1979 original); and two musicians witness a gangland execution and escape by posing as woman in an all-girl band (Some Like It Hot). If you like gender-bender comedies, Tootsie, the story of an out of work method actor who takes a job playing a woman on a soap opera, can't be beat.

11. What books are on your nightstand?
An interesting mix: Cold Mountain (Charles Frazier), Dogland (Will Shetterly), Motherless Brooklyn (Jonathan Lethem), Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkein), The Life of Pi (Yann Martel), The West Wing Script Book (Aaron Sorkin), and the Bible (God). I'd say my favorite books are probably: The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez), The World According to Garp (John Irving), Prince of Tides (Pat Conroy), How Green Was My Valley (Richard Llewellyn), The Princess Bride (S. Morgenstern), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card, but you should first read the book in the series that precedes it, Ender's Game). Geez, there are so many more.

12. Anything good on TV? (Besides The Simpsons and Futurama, of course)
I'm a TV addict, so I have to stay away from cable and satellite TV. But I watch Alias, Boomtown, 24, American Idol, Ed, and The West Wing. The family favorite is Survivor.

13. Do you have any hobbies?
It's a funny thing when your hobby becomes your job. I do buy a ton of books that I never have time to read and a lot of DVD's that I have no time to watch, but I try to spend all my free time with my family. Now, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you mention something about an Arby's Big Montana?