“The character Bart was not named after a real person but is an anagram of “brat,” chosen by Groening to avoid naming a character after himself.”—Perplexity

Dan Castellaneta voiced Grandpa, too.

They started as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show. My dad was working on the show at the time and from how he tells it, it was very low key and low committal animated sketch. Nobody really expected it to go anywhere. My dad has original drawings of the full family by Groening before the sketch aired but he somehow lost the sketch of Bart.  

Yup, it was a comic that was appearing in the Village Voice which had spawned books, t-shirts and other merch.   

He was worried that if he pitched the characters, he'd lose the rights and the income, so he pitched his own family.  

Groening makes about $20MM per year from The Simpsons, so it seems to have worked out. 

I love this because i can hear Homer's voice coming up with the "characters"

Same goes for the South Park creators. Randy, Sharon, Gerald and Sheila are the names of the creators’ parents

If you head up into North Portland you’ll find Van Houten Ave up by St Johns. The Simpsons names are a love letter to Portland.

A bouncer in Eugene told me a decade ago that springfield oregon is the springfield Groening based the show on. He said Groening’s mom had lived there.

Honestly kind of makes sense: iirc there is statue of some fur trapper in the center of town reminiscent of Jedidiah Springfield. Springfield is the more working class town with Eugene the more white collar town right next to it across the river.

Also, while the basis of the show is Groenings, but Sam Simon added all the details we all know and love.

I find it kinda hilarious that they all earn the same, yet one of them only voices one character instead of multiple.

It's really not unusual to replace voices in animated programmes. In various languagea the Simpsons' voices have changed before already... 

I never understood why they get so dramatic and kill characters when the English VA dies or quits. 

Edit: they didn't mind changing Dr Hibbert with a completely different voice actor recently. 

Gabbo is voiced by Azaria, not Castellaneta, but yeah.

And then there is Family guy, where Seth McFarlane voices everyone who is male

Azaria is one of the youngest members of the cast and barring a major health issue should be around for some time yet. 61 isn’t that old.

Harry Shearer was already going to retire like 10 years ago but changed his mind. The showrunner said he believes that those roles can be recast if it comes to it.

Hold on, voice acting on an animated show isn't the same as being a muscle bound action star? Say it ain't so!

The review, “Bit enjoyed by all,” speaks for itself.

Do you think they paid Jon to say “Hello” 4 times or did they just pay him to say it once and then quadruple it on the track?

ACTING!!!

It stinks!

https://i.redd.it/3ai4852p43te1.gif

Rick and Morty are obviously currently going through a pretty high-profile change of voice actors. I'm not sure how that's playing out, I haven't watched the show for a while.

I'm guessing as long as the writing was strong and the voices not too egregiously altered then it could be business as usual.

I'd settle for just replacing Julie Kavner. Let the poor woman rest 😥

https://youtu.be/1oUXUn30hts?si=UOY5a0m__j8ROdne

But to consider your question... Disney is probably gonna AI the main cast voices, just like they are doing with Darth Vader.

Networks like animation 'cause they don't have to pay the actors squat!

Plus they can replace them, and no one can tell the diddly-ifference.

I know one they won’t…

Billy West and Tom Kenny are the men that voiced our generation, and then Terra Strong and Cree Summer were the women who voiced our generation.

We grew up in the golden age of cartoons where voice actors were actually actors and not just random non-acting celebrities who phone it in for a couple of hours in a booth and move on to the next clout-chasing endeavor.

Look up Andrea Romano's work as a casting director and voice director. She had her hands in almost everything we enjoyed growing up. It's largely thanks to her efforts that we grew up during a sort of animation renaissance.

Including the one and only Fry!!

No. I married Doug….

https://preview.redd.it/zzm4w1cu37af1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4939a7ec455d21e34dc5567c0bef9e4234274dd2

Now divorced but no ill will. Yes he was dressed up as Doug for Halloween but yes his name is Doug. Also Jim Jinkins was going to OSU when the ex was a kid. It’s uncanny. I feel he saw him wandering around a grocery store or shit.

Tehe Billy West, what a stupid phony made up name.

When I worked the lube desk at Beaverton Toyota back in the early 2000’s I had a little blue Camry come in for an oil change. I pulled up the plate in our system and the name that popped up was Margaret Groening.

While I was checking her in I had to ask if she was related to Matt. He is her son, and he had bought her the car after the Simpson got really big. She was a very sweet lady.

So, yes, I have met the real life inspiration for Marge Simpson.

Don't forget about Reverend Lovejoy, NW Lovejoy.

Don’t forget Sideshow Bob Terwilliger !

Every time I see a NE Flanders sign, I think of Ned.

Down here in Eugene, next to Springfield, we have Skinner Butte. I used to work for the power company in Springfield and felt a little like Homer.

Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer do the most outside of The Simpsons now, with Julie Kavner doing the least.

I doubt anyone is terribly concerned about their post-Simpsons career.

They’re all, like, 70+ year-old multi-gazillionaires - how many of them do you think will even still be alive by the time the show is over, much less would ever even need to work again even if they do survive the show?

Go nowhere? Where is there to go? They are old and have hundreds of millions of dollars of FU money. Lol. Who cares?

When the rolling stones break up I could really see Mick Jagger making a name for himself

they're all retirement age and had careers before the simpsons, this is an odd premise for a question

Phil Hartman, in perpetuity

Kelsey grammer

Hank Azria. RIP Apu...

Herschel Krustofsky, the voice behind Talking Krusty

Partly that, and partly the residual income everytime that episode is broadcast. As far as I'm aware, you get paid more each rerun when your voice is used more than once

Seth McFarland created the show and the characters and he’s a voice actor so he likely had an idea for how they should sound and didn’t have anyone else who could take the role.

Edit: “the show” being Family Guy