18 People Who Had A Huge Hand in Making ‘The Simpsons’ A Global Phenomenon

The sung and unsung heroes of Springfield
18 People Who Had A Huge Hand in Making ‘The Simpsons’ A Global Phenomenon

We all want the sweet behind-the-scenes goods of any great TV show. Luckily, we get a lot more of it with animation, since everything is technically behind-the-scenes. Sure it shatters our suspension of disbelief, but we love The Simpsons enough to hunt down every little tidbit of info about the geniuses who helped make it an animated cornerstone. 

So here are a few of the zany minds to thank for all this yellow, spiky-haired insanity!

Phil Hartman

PHIL HARTMAN made an impact like no other SNLer CRACKED.COM Before his untimely death, Hartman was both a Simpsons regular and a go-to for new characters. Among his best: shady attorney Lionel Hutz, washed-up movie star Troy McClure, and singing huckster Lanley. Lyle Lanley. Monorail. Monorail. Monorail.

George Meyer

GeoRGe MeyeR HAS CReDIT AS A PRODUCeR, CReAtive CONSULTANT, WRITER, OR STORY eDITOR ON A STAGGeRING 350 ePISODeS OF THE SIMPSONS. IF you HAVE AFAVORITE SIMPSONS LINE OR SPRING MOMENT, It WAS PROBABLY WRITTEN BY GeoRGe. AR POW MOE'S CRACKED.COM http://www.snpp.com/other/interviews/meyer00.html

John Swartzwelder

The weirdest and most reclusive Simpsons writer is a patient at Calmwood Mental Hospital. John Swartzwelder, the writer responsible for some of the greatest and strangest Simpsons episodes, pops up in Hurricane Neddy. When the Simpsons go to meet Ned Flanders in the psychiatric ward, Swartzwelder is shown as they walk by. FREE *When Flanders comes JOHN SWARTZWELDER back home, a Free John Swartzwelder sign can be seen in the crowd. CRACKED.COM

Yeardley Smith

Celebrity Side Hustles Yeardley Smith Podcaster Famous for voicing Lisa Simpson, Smith and her husband Detective Dan host the popular true crime podcast Small Town Dicks. It's had 11 series, including trips to Australia and the UK to look into small-town crimes, with Smith adding humor. CRACKED

Rusty Nails

Krusty The Clown CRACKED.COM Matt Groening grew up watching Rusty Nails, a TV clown who was ubiquitus in Portland. His autobiography was titled Send In The Clowns.

James L. Brooks

James L. Brooks has a condition in his contract that the Fox network cannot interfere with 'The Simpsons.' Не was able to do that, be- cause Fox back then was a minor fledgling network. Former showrunner Bill Oakley compared working on the show to working in a bubble due to the lack of interference. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Eric Stefani

Gwen Stefani's brother Eric left No Doubt to become an animator for The Simpsons. The pair actually wrote Don't Speak together. CRACKED.COM

James Finlayson

Homer's signature D'oh comes from Laurel and Hardy's James Finlayson's D'oooooh The expression was shortened for time. Laurel and Hardy supposedly used it as a fill-in for d**n. In the script, it only reads as annoyed grunt. CRACKED.COM

Nancy Cartwright

Bart Simpson has roots in the real world. CRACKED.COM Nancy Cartwright's most notable role by far is Bart Simpson. But a few years earlier, she got a tiny little part in 1983's Twilight Zone: The Movie, where she's very appropriately banished to a cartoon universe.

Tony Bennett

TONY BENNETT was the first guest to appear as himself CRACKED.COM Bennett wasn't the show's first celebrity voice, but he was first to show up as an animated version of himself. Не crooned in Season 2's Dancin' Homer, welcoming the family to Capital City, my home sweet swingin' home.

Homer Groening

Matt Groening's dad's name is Homer Groening explains, I thought Simpson was a funny name in that it had the word 'simp' in it, which is short for 'simpleton'-I just went with it. CRACKED.COM

Sideshow Bob

CRACKED.COM Frasier The cranes are family even across universes. David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney played Kelsey Grammer's brother and father in both Frasier and The Simpsons.

Tracey Ullman

The show is a spin-off of The Tracey Ullman Show The Simpson family was first featured in a series of interstitial cartoon shorts on the FOX sketch comedy show. CRACKED.COM

Matt Groening (But Of Course)

GRACKED.COM The Simpsons have their iconic looks because Matt Groening believes that cartoon characters should be recognizable from a silhovette.

Marcia Wallace

Marcia Wallace CRACKED.COM THE BOB NEWHART SHOW THE SIMPSONS Wallace had battled breast cancer since before her 23-year stint on The Simpsons. They retired the character after she passed, which was especially tragic, as Mrs. Krabappel had recently married Ned and became a step-mother to the already orphanced Rod and Todd.

Dan Castellaneta

Iconic by random chance Homer Simpson saying s-m-r-t In the Simpsons episode Homer Goes to College, Dan Castellaneta mistakenly said s-m-r-t instead of smart, but the show's creators thought it was so funny that they kept it in the episode. CRACKED

Danny Elfman

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM DANNY ELFMAN SAYS THE SIMPSONS THEME WAS THE EASIEST THING НЕ EVER DID. THE SIMPSONS ١ literally wrote the piece in the car on my way home from the meeting, in my head, he says.

An Unknown Animator

The characters' yellow was designed to be eye-catching An animator showed the color to Matt Groening who approved because when you're flicking through channels with your remote control, and a flash of yellow goes by, you'll know you're watching The Simpsons. CRACKED.COM

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