A Look Inside The Simpsons Writers' Room
Unauthorized! I am a menace!
Secret’s out!!
I had the unbelievable honor of getting to co-write a second episode of The Simpsons with my dad for season 36. The title of the show is “Bottle Episode” and it’s really cute - I can’t wait for you all to see it!
I’ve written for a number of shows now, but none of the credits have been as meaningful personally as The Simpsons. A lot of that is that I get to work with my dad, Rob, which I never take for granted; I know so many people who have complicated and fraught relationships with their fathers, and I’m so lucky that not only do we have a very solid familial relationship, but a healthy professional one as well.
As I’ve referenced many times before, I grew up on The Simpsons, and getting to be a small part of this cultural monolith is unspeakably fulfilling. I attribute so much of my comedic voice to growing up watching this show over and over, and seeing my name in that iconic font feels like completing a circle.
But another chunk that I haven’t gotten to talk about much is how cool it is to spend a little bit of time in one of the most famous writers’ rooms in the history of television. Non-writers will hear about my work on the show and immediately ask something about how The Simpsons predicts the future, but writers almost always ask if I got to spend time in the room, and what it was like.
Because I am not a gatekeeper, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some fun facts that you might not know about The Simpsons writers’ room, and about the show itself. So without further ado -
Johnny LaZebnik, Smiling Politely: A Peek Inside The Simpsons Writers’ Room
The Simpsons writers’ room has the best snack closet.
It’s amazing. Growing up, my siblings and I were always so excited to visit the Fox lot. We didn’t really understand that television history was being made there, but we did know that they were stocked up with everything you could possibly want to eat and drink. It’s amazing, and ever-changing depending on what the writers are into that particular month.
Guest stars autograph large posters on the walls.
Most guest stars who record their parts in person (some do it remotely) get to add their autograph to a Simpsons poster that hangs in the writers’ room. This is really fun because you have totally random/unrelated guest stars nearby each other. Of course, the show has had so many guest stars that they have to keep adding new posters to the wall, and they’re running out of wall space!
The writers have go-to catch-phrases that are bandied about daily.
When you pitch a great joke in the room, someone will inevitably say “That joke is good. That joke is Good Morning America!” However, if the joke really stinks, someone will usually say “That was egregious. That was egregious and Kelly.” (Apparently, this joke came about in 2003, when the show was still called “Live with Regis and Kelly,” and by the time Regis retired, the phrase was firmly part of the lexicon.)
The Simpsons relies heavily on improvisation.
The Simpsons uses a “Curb Your Enthusiasm” model of television writing, which is all the rage in comedy right now. First, the writing team writes a loose outline for the episode, then they hang out in the room, improvising on those ideas into a tape recorder (a lot of the writers’ assistant’s training is in how to use the tape recorder). Those tapes are then sent to the animation team, who animate every word - even the discussions about where to get lunch - and then the producers look through the hundreds of hours of animated content and choose their favorite bits. Those bits are strung together, re-recorded by the actors, and that’s the episode!
They work on a bunch of scripts at once!
The Simpsons writers’ room is usually working on around 10 scripts at any given time. Of those 10, often up to two are for the FOX show The Simpsons.
There are four “co-runners.”
The Simpsons has an interesting system of delegating responsibility - four senior writers have been deputized to supervise a group of episodes each season. They were chosen in 2019 by the classic industry method of “name Polishness.” My dad wanted the position so badly that he changed his last name from “Barrington” to “LaZebnik,” which, as you might imagine, was very inconvenient for the family (and misguided, since “LaZebnik” comes from Czech). But it paid off - Rob is currently one of the four co-runners!
The Simpsons has their own unique production code system.
For years and years, The Simpsons used a production code system of a letter, followed by ABF, followed by the episode number (for example, my last episode, Portrait of a Lackey on Fire, is UABF01). Since The Simpsons has been around for so long, though, they ran out of letters in season 35, and are now using a creative new system - a rainforest animal + a slur. So episode 1 of season 36 will be known as FrogFrog (like poison dart and Frenchman respectively).
The network pays for their lunches!
Everyday at 1pm, the writers are given gruel if they’ve been naughty, and taffy if they’ve been dandy. The writers have yet to receive taffy.
The writers are part of a union.
Many of you may not know this, but there are two unions that represent animation television writers - The Animation Guild, part of IATSE, and the Writers Guild of America. Racked with guilt about putting the show’s formidable political power behind just one of them, the writers chose instead to join the Local UA 342, the Plumbers and Steamfitters Guild. As such, in addition to their writing duties, the Simpsons writers are responsible for fixing and maintaining the building’s central AC.
The Simpsons is inspired by a real family.
There is a widespread rumor that The Simpsons was loosely based on Matt Groening’s (pronounced GREHM-linn, by the way) family growing up. Television’s favorite family is based on a real family - a strange ensemble of crude, 3-inch-tall, yellow creatures that Matt stumbled upon in the Oregon woods in the 1980s. He collected them in a jam jar and took them back to his home to study and sketch them, and they’ve remained in his custody ever since. Now, of course, they have an elaborate bio-dome built for them on the Fox Lot, and are very comfortable. The writers still sometimes visit them for episode inspiration, though the “Bart” creature tragically died in 2014 (fungus).
The Simpsons writers room is often compared to the study of Gertrude Stein.
This is because Stein’s study also smelled like lesbians.
That’s all I’m allowed to share (you know NDAs!). Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed these fun facts, tune into “Bottle Episode,” premiering on Fox on December 29th.
With love and “Dome!” (Homer’s iconic catchphrase),
Johnny Barrington LaZebnik