I went through a phase where people would introduce me at parties as a cartoonist, and everybody felt sorry for me. 'Oh, Matt's a cartoonist.' Then people further feeling sorry for me would ask me to draw Garfield. Because I'm a cartoonist, draw Snoopy or Garfield or something.

'The Simpsons' obviously is a huge success, and Fox has nothing to do with its success, with its creative success, and as a result they don't really like the show. They don't like 'The Simpsons' at Fox.

Nihilism in American comedy came along way before 'The Simpsons.' There was a fairly nihilistic point of view to 'Saturday Night Live,' for instance, back in the beginning, and a lot of really dark comedy had a really anti-sentimental take on life.

I think human beings probably resonate with audiences more than bunnies, but who knows?

Because good writing in a TV cartoon is so rare, I think the animation on The Simpsons is often overlooked.

Part of the fun of being alive is knowing that you're annoying the hell out of someone else.

My standard comment is, If you don't want your kids to be like Bart Simpson, don't act like Homer Simpson.