'Simpsons' creator gets his cameo

Posted Tuesday, March 30, 2004 at 3:58 PM Central

by John Couture

The Simpsons has long used the cameo trick to keep the material fresh for the long-running TV show, as well as a way to appease celebrities who want to see what an animated version of themselves would look like. Well now, after almost 15 seasons, creator Matt Groening is finally ready for his own close-up.

On the April 4th episode of The Simpsons, Groening will appear as the creator of Futurama, another animated series that Groening produced for Fox until last season. "The writers wrote it in as a goof. I thought, 'I'll show them. I'll do it.'"

Asked why he didn't opt to be introduced as the creator of The Simpsons, Groening replied that it wouldn't have worked. "The whole universe would implode."