A young kid asked if Apu was going to stay in the show because he was his favorite character. That is the secret of it all!”Ī more serious moment came once Smith turned to the audience for questions.
“Don't do it, but if you do, get other people to do the hard work. “Animation is too hard,” said Groening, recalling the words of his father. Homer Groening tried to warn his kids off of the industry. Did he nurture Groening into the animation creative he is today? Not really, it turns out. Groening fielded a question about his father, a cartoonist named Homer. Cartwright did a medley of her different voices, from Bart to Nelson to Ralph Wiggum (“I'm a walking non sequitur!”) and it was more than a little surreal to hear Smith jump in as Lisa to have a conversation with Bart right there on the spot. Having tempted fate, the panel began in earnest.
To celebrate their new overlords The Simpsons team started off the panel with a clip reel of the many times they've skewered Disney on the show over the years, including digs at Snow White with a druggie musical number Ho-Hi, Santa's Little Helper spoofing Lady and Tramp's spaghetti scene, their version of Mary Poppins getting sucked into a jet engine, and even the "Steamboat Willie" nod in an episode of Itchy and Scratchy.
Yeardley Smith, voice of Lisa Simpson, acted as moderator, and she welcomed Nancy Cartwright (Bart, Nelson, Ralph Wiggum, and bunches of others) and writer/producers/smart people Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Anderson, and Matt Selman to the stage.