Matt Groening’s favourite line from any comedy movie ever
As the creator of The Simpsons, Futurama, Life is Hell, and Disenchantment, Matt Groening has perhaps been responsible for more laughs than anyone else in human history.
Vitally, he’s annoyed a few people in the process, too. “The Simpsons is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen,” Barbara Bush felt compelled to say upon its release. That’s quite something, given that she’s seen her son almost choke to death as a grown man after getting a little too enthusiastic with a pretzel.
She had good reason to condemn the series, however. In its dumbness, it ridiculed the fallacy of the American Dream and the faux ideals clung to by middle America, like a nun clings to a crucifix as she wanders into a brothel. Attainment, it proved, is a stupid battle of unending anarchy.
Homer lays out a truth that doesn’t necessarily aid the claims of capitalism: “You tried your best, and you failed miserably. The lesson is ‘never try’.”
Groening is a symbol of the power of not trying. He had dreamed of creating such a show pretty much his whole life. And it took a fair bit of luck before he was in the unlikely position to do so.
Once he got there, his influence on American comedy quickly became apparent. Hundreds of shows and movies began popping up with slacker sensibilities and a justified appreciation of stupidity. Chief among them was the charming indie era classic Napoleon Dynamite from 2004, starring Jon Heder and Aaron Ruel as hapless brothers in high school.
Writer-director Jared Hess had a hard time getting the film made, with many producers dismissing it as simply “too weird”. But for millions of working-class teenagers (and their parents) around the world, it was almost ‘too accurate’. Sure, the oddness of the characters might have been amplified by about 20%, but strange young folks searching for obscure identities is the most familiar coming-of-age tale there is.
Napoleon is at odds with the world. And that is perfectly encapsulated by an innocuous little scene that Matt Groening told HMV was ‘My Inspiration’ when they asked him for his favourite comedy line of all time. The scene plays out as follows:
Napoleon Dynamite: “Do the chickens have large talons?”
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Farmer: “Do they have what?”
Napoleon: “Large talons?”
Farmer: “I don’t understand a word you just said.”
That’ll be all, thanks. Go back to your daft lives.
