‘The Simpsons’ creator reveals which character he based on himself

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has revealed the character in the show that he based on himself.

• READ MORE: Every time The Simpsons predicted the future – ranked in order of weirdness

The beloved animated show recently completed its 36th season on Fox, with a total of 790 episodes now having been made, and Groening was on hand at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Tuesday (June 10) to accept their Honorary Cristal Award.

Groening, who conceived the core Simpsons characters in the late ‘80s as a feature for The Tracey Ullman Show, based the central family his own relatives: his real-life parents were named Homer and Marge, his sisters are Lisa and Maggie and his grandfather was Abe.

During his acceptance speech, however, he revealed that it is not Bart that Groening personally identifies with, but rather his hapless, blue-haired best friend. “I’ll let you into a little secret,” he said. “Je suis Milhouse.”

He also reflected on the show’s success, adding: “We don’t think about being responsible but our main motivation is to surprise ourselves. If we surprise ourselves then we think we can surprise the audience.”

He joked about the show’s often-discussed knack for predicting real world events, saying, “All the conspiracy theories are true”. He then made some new predictions, including “the Statue of Liberty will be returned to France when no one in America can remember what the word ‘liberty’ means”, and “electric cars will use a new energy source powered by a hatred of Elon Musk”.

Last year, the voice actor that has played Milhouse Van Houten for over 35 years, Pamela Hayden, announced that she was retiring. “People come up to me and they quote Milhouse lines,” Hayden said in a video announcing her retirement. “People are always saying what a nerd he is. But one thing that I love about Milhouse is he’s always getting knocked down, but he keeps getting up. I love the little guy.”

Alf Clausen, the composer who scored The Simpsons since its debut in 1990, died at the age of 84. Throughout his career, he received 30 Emmy nominations, with 21 of them being for his work on The Simpsons.

The two-time Emmy award winning composer – for the songs ‘We Put The Spring In Springfield’ and ‘You’re Checkin’ In (A Musical Tribute To The Betty Ford Center)’ – was responsible for iconic Simpsons musical moments like The Stonecutters’ song, ‘We Do’, and Mr Burns’ ode to fur, ‘See My Vest’.

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