Althouse: "You think L.A. is Hell, this awful place of corruption and anti-creativity, and when I look at Wisconsin..." said Matt Groening...

March 14, 2015

"You think L.A. is Hell, this awful place of corruption and anti-creativity, and when I look at Wisconsin..." said Matt Groening...

... to Lynda Barry (who teaches at the University of Wisconsin), and she said: "It’s its own kind of Hell... colder than Scott Walker’s tit... When I look at your place in Malibu, and you can see the ocean, I just think, I’d rather die than live here."

Groening and Barry, cartoonists who have known each other for a long time, were doing an appearance together in a bookstore in NYC, where, I presume, the audience looks down on both Wisconsin and Malibu.

43 comments:

Skeptical Voter said...: And these two clowns don't think much of Wasilla Alaska or Crawford Texas either.; 3/14/15, 11:47 AM
Michael K said...: Losers as best I can tell from a 20 second scan of that crap.; 3/14/15, 11:49 AM
Lyle said...: It's always so ugly and emotionally stupid to put down one's home to look good in the eyes of others.

Shame on them. What little, foolish people they are.; 3/14/15, 11:50 AM
David said...: The Simpsons is funny. Matt has gotten rich rich rich from being on the masthead and having no creative input since the first year or so. Perhaps his lack of input is why it has remained funny for so long.; 3/14/15, 11:55 AM
YoungHegelian said...: It would drive me insane to live on a beach in California! That beautiful beach, that lovely water, that just, never, ever, gets warm!; 3/14/15, 12:00 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "Hours after receiving the bad news [Arod father died], he attends a talk by Malcolm Gladwell, who's just published a book, David and Goliath. Gladwell described Rodriguez in a 2013 essay as one of the most disliked athletes of his generation, but oh well. The book topic interests Rodriguez, and besides, readings and lectures and bookstores are his guilty pleasures. Especially bookstores. You can go in, he says, have a cup of coffee, and for an hour or two pretend you're smart."

ESPN: The Education of Alex Rodrigues; 3/14/15, 12:01 PM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: A prerequisite for a successful career as a cartoonist is an unhappy childhood.

I'm quite sure that anybody reading this comment is smart enough to put the rest of it together for him or herself.; 3/14/15, 12:18 PM
ddh said...: As if you can demonstrate that you are worthy of your preening self-regard by looking down your nose at others.; 3/14/15, 12:21 PM
Jimmy said...: I started to read the article, but stopped when I got to "interdisciplinary creativity".; 3/14/15, 12:36 PM
Jaq said...: Groening puts his creative energy into Futurama, which is still funny, unlike the Simpsons, which, when I stopped watching it yonks ago, had devolved into a weekly instruction on liberal morality. It's like Lisa took over the series.; 3/14/15, 12:45 PM
Michael K said...: I must say, I agree with him about Los Angeles but the rest of southern California is beautiful. Los Angeles was also beautiful wham I arrived in 1956 and for years thereafter. Now, it resembles Guadalajara.; 3/14/15, 12:50 PM
traditionalguy said...: Malibu Beach was a big disappointment. That was not the surfing waves we see on Hollywood dramas. They were tiny waves and small swells. The Monterrey coast/Carmel Beach has much bigger waves.; 3/14/15, 12:54 PM
Bill Peschel said...: tim, I don't think Gorening has much involvement in Futurama either.

I love his cartoons, and I loved his Life in Hell back in the day. And the Simpsons and Futurama are both great works. Gorening deserves credit, some, for them. But not much.; 3/14/15, 1:03 PM
William said...: It's possible that they were kidding. Many cartoonists have a sense of humor. Did you ever hear that Pogues' song Dirty Old Town? It was not inspired by places like Malibu and Madison.; 3/14/15, 1:13 PM
rehajm said...: When you self identify as entitled to suck at the government tit...; 3/14/15, 1:18 PM
richard mcenroe said...: I think Hell might be where they're your neighbors...; 3/14/15, 1:23 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Michael K said:
"I must say, I agree with him about Los Angeles but the rest of southern California is beautiful. Los Angeles was also beautiful wham I arrived in 1956 and for years thereafter. Now, it resembles Guadalajara."

Years from now, some will look back and wonder what the hell were we thinking by letting illegals basically take over what is arguably America's most valuable asset [the state of California].; 3/14/15, 1:51 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: I'm a south east coastie and I think Wisconsin is a lovely place. Much more so than than LA (Malibu included) or NYC. Especially the people out state in the Dells, etc. They are real as opposed to Cali-fake have a nice day bullshit.; 3/14/15, 2:10 PM
RecChief said...: Wow, proud to be a badger huh? how's it feel to work with someone like that?; 3/14/15, 2:23 PM
RecChief said...: Thank God I never had any classes with this specimen of Progressivism.; 3/14/15, 2:24 PM
mtrobertsattorney said...: First on the list of UW's budget cuts is the elimination of the Department of Interdisciplinary Creativity.

By the way, what are the good people of Wisconsin paying this Professor of Gobbledygook, Gibberish and Nonsense?; 3/14/15, 3:05 PM
Bob Boyd said...: A cooler reception at the government tit would be a good thing in general.; 3/14/15, 3:15 PM
Alex said...: Considering California is becoming Mexifornia, I'll take the pristine beauty of Wisconsin any day.; 3/14/15, 3:28 PM
Alex said...: You can tell the libs are getting real scared of Scott Walker.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.; 3/14/15, 3:29 PM
Drago said...: Any random lib: we did have an ocean til walker took it away.

Because Kochs.; 3/14/15, 4:21 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: hey that guy's got credentials.

Whom but exceptions would have unwarranted hearlded authority?; 3/14/15, 4:33 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I feel like slapping you commenters and vowing to contribute $3 per month to this blog.

Ain't none of you shits gonna stop me neither.

Fuck it I'm contributing $5 per month for the Althousian experience.

This is no joke yet confirms the jokiness of existence as known to me. Epistemology extrapolation.; 3/14/15, 4:37 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: "Thursday ain't' for shit." - Kid Rock.; 3/14/15, 4:41 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If I knew what irony were I might call my charitable donations to a law professor via blog Buckleyness such.; 3/14/15, 4:44 PM
Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/14/15, 4:47 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Wheels of fire, going down the road.

Quote unquote.

It's my life.; 3/14/15, 4:50 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I was and always have been correct in my assumptions regarding the non-evil of Althouse regarding heavily the evil espoused and moreso acted.

Otherwise I'd say something along the lines of "I am anti-Christ because Jesus causes suffering."

Many liars believe blasphemy and enact it daily.; 3/14/15, 4:55 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The great book, the Bible Holy, taught many easy-to-learn lessons easily.

This willful forgotness equating to horrible abysmal futures never stands.

It always dies and fades away, no matter the conditions what wrought.; 3/14/15, 4:58 PM
Roger Sweeny said...: where, I presume, the audience looks down on both Wisconsin and Malibu.

Oh my god, that was was so well done.; 3/14/15, 5:23 PM
averagejoe said...: NYC has struck me as a place that was built by giants, then abandoned to surly, selfish dwarves.; 3/14/15, 5:54 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: So at .56 dollars (56 cents) per mile..........."....."..............; 3/14/15, 6:28 PM
Scott said...: "[Barry] is currently a professor of interdisciplinary creativity at the University of Wisconsin, Madison."

How does somebody get a gig like that? Is it a tenured position? What kind of PhD do you need?; 3/14/15, 7:22 PM
Scott said...: Maybe University of Wisconsin can hire me as a Professor of Underwater Basket Weaving. Gotta be six figures for sure.; 3/14/15, 7:24 PM
Unknown said...: If I am not mistaken Linda Barry did a brave thing about twenty years ago. When some cartoonist was murdered (or maybe when Salmon Rushdie's fatwha was issued)she proposed that all cartoonists depict Muhamed on the same day. Well I think she was the only one, no one took her up on the proposal, and she was under death threats from the muslim mafia for some time. She is only occasionally funny.; 3/14/15, 7:49 PM
Paul said...: i say give Barry a one way ticket to Malibu and tell her not to come back.; 3/14/15, 9:16 PM
chillblaine said...: I like Groening. He's a fellow Matt.

feel like slapping you commenters and vowing to contribute $3 per month.

I'm holding out for the Althouse Youtube channel and continuing my free ride.; 3/14/15, 10:38 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: David, you're right. The Simpsons was (mostly) hilarious, and mostly NOT due to anything Groening came up with. He provided the kindling, and the spark, but it took Simon, and a team of talents far more worthy than Groening, to build the fire.; 3/15/15, 12:44 PM
walter said...: Like others here, "professor of interdisciplinary creativity" was a new one to me. Sounds like an honorary gig. You folks be creative and I'll note how you relate. Of course she had to get her Walker insult in there..quite creative.
I'm surprised he used names of his own family members for the Simpsons. Surprisingly uncreative.; 3/15/15, 1:01 PM