History Creator / MattGroening

* CatchPhrase: His work has several ones.

* CapitalismIsBad and CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mr. Burns in ''The Simpsons'', and Mom, owner of Momcorp in ''Futurama'' act as the [[BigBad primary antagonists]] of their respective series. On the other hand Groening himself isn't exactly poor either thanks to his shows' CashCowFranchise.

* BlackComedy: Both ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'', though their brand of black comedy isn't as pitch black as, say, what Creator/SethMacFarlane or [[Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone Parker and Stone]] come up with.

* Creator/BongoComics: The company that distributes ''Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'' comics.

* CorruptPolitician: Always corrupt or not to be trusted. Major Quimby in ''The Simpsons'' and Nixon in ''Futurama'' are perhaps the most prominent examples.
* CrapsaccharineWorld and CrapsackWorld: His work can both be cynical as well as celebral of life.

* GenreBusting: All his series are comedy based series based off a particular genre.
** WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons is a satire of American culture and the dysfunctional family.
** WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} is clearly a comedy series set in the Science Fiction future.
** WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}} is a mockery of epic fantasy.

* HumansAreBastards / HumansAreMorons: Most people in Groening's work are either incompetent or downright mean spirited.

* WorldOfJerkass: A trademark of his works. In both ''The Simpsons'' and especially ''Futurama'', everyone is a cynical, selfish jerk who's biggest concern is their own self-interests and their attempts at sincerity tend to be morally backwards (though as mentioned above, there are also plenty of [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold selfish characters who want to be good deep down]]).

* Creator/BongoComics: The company that distributes ''Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'' comics.

* CorruptPolitician: Always corrupt or not to be trusted. Major Quimby in ''The Simpsons'' and Nixon in ''Futurama'' are perhaps the most prominent examples.
* CrapsaccharineWorld and CrapsackWorld: His work can both be cynical as well as celebral of life.

* GenreBusting: All his series are comedy based series based off a particular genre.
** WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons is a satire of American culture and the dysfunctional family.
** WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} is clearly a comedy series set in the Science Fiction future.
** WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}} is a mockery of epic fantasy.

* HumansAreBastards / HumansAreMorons: Most people in Groening's work are either incompetent or downright mean spirited.

* WorldOfJerkass: A trademark of his works. In both ''The Simpsons'' and especially ''Futurama'', everyone is a cynical, selfish jerk who's biggest concern is their own self-interests and their attempts at sincerity tend to be morally backwards (though as mentioned above, there are also plenty of [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold selfish characters who want to be good deep down]]).

* TheSouthpaw: Bart Simpson is actually left-handed just like Matt Groening is. [[WordOfGod Marge Simpson started out as this, but she trained herself to use her right hand also because she was being insulted for being a lefty, which means that she's now ambidextrous.]]
** In the ''Simpsons'' episode "Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E3WhenFlandersFailed" it turns out that Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns and Moe are all left handed, including a large group of citizens of Springfield as well.

* AnimationBump: Compare the earliest ''Simpsons'' shorts, in which animators were simply tracing over his own crude drawings, to when it went to series and, much later, switched from Creator/KlaskyCsupo to Creator/FilmRoman for it's animation. Many of his projects have also survived so long that they eventually evolved from traditional hand-painted cel animation to digital ink and paint and finally [[Creator/ToonBoom 2D computer animation]].

* AnimationBump: Compare some of the older ''Simpsons'' episodes to the newer ones, and you can clearly see this in effect.

Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954 in Portland, Oregon) began his career in 1977 as an underground cartoonist, best known for his comic strip ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell''. Influenced by ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', UndergroundComics and cult artists like Music/FrankZappa, Music/CaptainBeefheart, Music/TheResidents and Music/TheFugs, the comic is perhaps Groening's most personal work. Its central characters are two gay little men called Akbar and Jeff and a white rabbit family. The cartoons already poked fun at topics that Groening would later attack in his animated shows: politics, religion, school, family, work, relationships and modern society in general. The comic became a cult success and by the mid 1980s Groening was approached by Creator/JamesLBrooks to make an animated TV adaptation of ''Life In Hell''. Initially Groening agreed, until he learned that he would lose the rights to the comic strip. So instead, he came up with a totally new concept, which became ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' started off in 1987 as extremely short cartoons used as bumpers before and after commercials during ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow''. Despite being crudely animated and a lot of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness the segments caught on with the American public. By 1989 Groening got the chance to turn the series into a full length prime time animated series, something that hadn't been done since ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' in the 1960s. The show quickly became a [[BreakthroughHit critically lauded mainstream success]], especially thanks to BreakoutCharacter Bart Simpson. It was the first prime time cartoon series since ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' to become popular both with children and adults. Its clever satire, edgy subversiveness, hilarious gags and all above emotional depth were praised. Its cult success paved the way for other adult cartoon series such as ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'', ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', and ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Yet, the show wasn't without its critics. Especially in the early years many parents and educators complained about certain scenes they deemed to be offensive or unsuitable for children. Even President UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush attacked the series during the 1992 Republican National Convention by claiming that "the American family should be a lot more like ''Series/TheWaltons'' and a lot less like The'' Simpsons''." Only a week later ''The Simpsons'' reacted by rerunning an episode and, before the episode proper began, letting Bart say: "Hey, we're just like ''The Waltons''. We're all praying for an end to the depression too." Coincidence or not, but Bush lost the election later that year.

''The Simpsons'' continued its successful run and is still on television to this day, though many fans believe that the show has lost the magic it once had in the 1990s. In 1999, Groening launched another animated series, ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', around a totally different concept. Set in the far future (and playing out more like a "fish-out-of-water" story mixed with a workplace comedy), ''Futurama'' mostly spoofs every science fiction or future dystopia concept in a similar satirical way like ''The Simpsons''. The program never reached ''Simpsons''-level popularity (mostly due to Creator/{{Fox}} [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screwing the show out of a potential audience]]) and was canceled by FOX, but developed a rabid cult following through reruns via Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/AdultSwim block and was eventually revived and given a proper ending (albeit left with the possibility of another continuation) on Creator/ComedyCentral a few years later.

Groening's third animated series, a ''very'' self-referential medieval fantasy spoof called ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}'', premiered on Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2018.

Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954) began his career in 1977 as an underground cartoonist, best known for his comic strip ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell''. Influenced by ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'', UndergroundComics and cult artists like Music/FrankZappa, Music/CaptainBeefheart, Music/TheResidents and Music/TheFugs, the comic is perhaps Groening's most personal work. Its central characters are two gay little men called Akbar and Jeff and a white rabbit family. The cartoons already poked fun at topics that Groening would later attack in his animated shows: politics, religion, school, family, work, relationships and modern society in general. The comic became a cult success and by the mid 1980s Groening was approached by Creator/JamesLBrooks to make an animated TV adaptation of ''Life In Hell''. Initially Groening agreed, until he learned that he would lose the rights to the comic strip. So instead, he came up with a totally new concept, which became ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: "The Simpsons" managed to avoid using this trope for a long time, but in the episodes "Springfield Up" and "The Way We Weren't" they did give in to it by having the middle-aged adult characters seen as children going to the same school and/or summer camp. In real life Matt Groening also went to college with cartoonists Creator/CharlesBurns and Creator/LyndaBarry.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: His last name is pronounced "Gray-ning".

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Marvin Monroe (Creator/MarilynMonroe), Milhouse ([[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Richard Milhouse Nixon]]), Barney Gumble ([[WestenAnimation/TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]]), Arnie Pye (radio presenter Ernie Pie).

* NoPronunciationGuide: Groening's name is pronounced ''"GRAY-ning"'', not ''"Groaning"''.

* ArtEvolution: Groening has ''never'' been a great artist from a technical point of view. He can only draw people with bug-like eyeballs and huge overbites. The early Simpsons cartoons look very ugly because his animators used to trace his own drawings instead of modifying them. In time, ''The Simpsons''' art became impressively better, though ''Life in Hell'' hasn't evolved that much and ''Futurama'', despite having the bug eyes and overbites of ''The Simpsons'', has better art in its earlier episodes than ''The Simpsons'' did.

* WorldOfJerkass: A trademark of his works. In both ''The Simpsons'' and especially ''Futurama'', everyone is a cynical, selfish jerk who's biggest concern is their own self-interests and their attempts at sincerity tend to be morally backwards (though as mentioned above, there are also plenty of [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold selfish characters who want to be good deep down]].

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: The tone is usually more cynical but when heartfelt moments come in, they are usually very genuine, making the scale a bit more balanced.

** In "How Munched Is That Birdie in the Window?" the Itchy & Scratchy cartoon ''Dog Gone Hellody of 1933'' is a stylistic parody of ''Disney/PlutosJudgementDay''.

''The Simpsons'' continued its successful run and is still on television to this day, though many fans believe that the show has lost the magic it once had in the 1990s. In 1999, Groening launched another animated series, ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', around a totally different concept. Set in the far future (and playing out more like a "fish-out-of-water" story mixed with a workplace comedy), ''Futurama'' mostly spoofs every science fiction or future dystopia concept in a similar satirical way like ''The Simpsons''. The program never reached ''Simpsons''-level popularity (mostly due to FOX [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screwing the show out of a potential audience]]) and was canceled by FOX, but developed a rabid cult following through reruns and was eventually revived and given a proper ending (albeit left with the possibility of another continuation) on Creator/ComedyCentral a few years later.

** WesternAnimation/Futurama is clearly a comedy series set in the Science Fiction future.
** WesternAnimation/Disenchantment is a mockery of epic fantasy.

* TakeThatMe: '''Everybody.''' His most notable one is Comic Book Guy, who is Groeining's personal caricature of all of his worst habits and personality traits.

* ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell''
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''
* ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/OliveTheOtherReindeer'': A Christmas special that occasionally airs on Creator/CartoonNetwork during December, centered around a dog (voiced by Creator/DrewBarrymore) who thinks she's a reindeer and tries to find Santa so she can pull his sleigh. Groening voices Arturo.

* ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'': Appears as himself in the episode "Fashion" to sue Spyke over his "Bart Ska-mpson" shirts.

** ComicStrip/LifeInHell appears to be his most cynical series.
** WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons and WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} seem to both be in the middle of the scale as they portray cynical satire and a lot of genuine heart and human emotion.
** WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}: Might be leaning a little more towards the idealistic side despite the fact it takes place in the dark ages.

Groening's third animated series, a medieval spoof called ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}'', is set to premiere on Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2018.

* ''WesternAnimation/OliveTheOtherReindeer'': A Christmas special that occasionally airs on Creator/CartoonNetwork during December, centered around a dog (voiced by Creator/DrewBarrymore) who thinks she's a reindeer and tries to find Santa so she can pull his sleigh. Groening voices Arturo.
* ''WesternAnimation/HairHigh'': The voice of Will.

!! Guest appearances:

* ''Series/{{Portlandia}}'': Appears as himself in the episode "Fashion" to sue Spyke over his "Bart Ska-mpson" shirts.

** WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons and WesternAnimation/Futurama seem to both be in the middle of the scale as they portray cynical satire and a lot of genuine heart and human emotion.
** WesternAnimation/Disenchantment: Might be leaning a little more towards the idealistic side despite the fact it takes place in the dark ages.

** ''WesternAnimation/Futurama'' is clearly a comedy series set in the Science Fiction future.
** ''WesternAnimation/Disenchantment'' is a mockery of epic fantasy.

* HumansAreBastards and HumansAreMorons: Most people in Groening's work are either incompetent or downright mean spirited.