As a longtime fan of The Simpsons, I can’t tell you how delighted I was to see that Matt Groening, the genius behind the franchise, had chosen to make me an honorary citizen of Springfield. I stumbled across this image online a few weeks ago, and though it doesn’t exactly resemble me, I could scarcely contain my amusement.
“Look,” I told my friends. “Matt Groening drew me!”
Part of the reason I was so flattered, is because I really am a fan. I was watching in 1987, when Homer first appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show, and I was watching three years after that when the series premiered on Fox, and I’m still watching today, thirty-six later. In fact, during my QVC days, in the shows first season, friends would gather every Sunday night at the mansion where I lived as a caretaker, and watch The Simpsons while helping me deplete the wine cellar, which was also left in my care. Those were the days…
Mostly though, I was flattered because I’ve never met Matt. And now, to think that a man I’ve never met but so admire was sitting in his home, watching me crawl through sewers and dangle from bridges and castrate lambs with my teeth – at the height of his own career – that’s gratifying in ways difficult to describe. And the fact that he would ensconce my visage under glass – in what appears to formaldehyde – it’s just perfect!
I know it’s silly, but stumbling across proof that one of America’s true comedic geniuses not only knows who I am, but admires me enough to draw me, has affected my mood in the most positive way, for the better part of three weeks now. In fact, I was just about to replace my current profile picture with Matt’s handiwork, when I discovered that Matt Groening has worked for years with a man who looks a lot like the gentleman under the glass. A dear friend, apparently, with the same likeness on his IMDB page.
Another man, named Mike Rowe.