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Matt Groening drew Life in Hell in an alternative newspaper for years before Jam
Featured Event 1954 Birth

February 15

Matt Groening Born: Creator of The Simpsons

Matt Groening drew Life in Hell in an alternative newspaper for years before James L. Brooks asked him to develop a cartoon for The Tracey Ullman Show in 1987. Groening sketched The Simpsons in the waiting room, named the characters after his own family, and sold the idea in fifteen minutes. The show premiered in 1989 and is still running. He created Futurama while The Simpsons was already the longest-running American primetime series. He did it with a different studio to avoid the conflict.

February 15, 1954

72 years ago

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