I've been deadline-driven for my whole grown-up life, and that hasn't gone away. It is nice to be able to reflect about the big picture, about what kind of stories you want to tell, and how to take advantage of success.

The French are funny, sex is funny, and comedies are funny, yet no French sex comedies are funny.

Back in high school, I wrote a novel about a character named Bart Simpson. I thought it was a very unusual name for a kid at the time. I had this idea of an angry father yelling "Bart," and Bart sounds kind of like bark - like a barking dog.

Everybody doesn't have to get every joke. People really appreciate not being condescended to.

You know boys, a nuclear reactor is a lot like women. You just have to read the manual and press the right button.

When The Simpsons came around, there really was nothing else like it on TV. It's hard to imagine, but when Fox first took the plunge with it, it was considered controversial to put animation on prime time.

It's just hard not to listen to TV: it's spent so much more time raising us than parents have.