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LA WEEKLY: Q & A With Simpsons Exec Producer @MattSelman: The Food Wife (airs tonight on FOX)

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Nov 132011

Read the full story here: LA WEEKLY SQUIDINK

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Food on Television Q & A With Simpsons Exec Producer Matt Selman: The Food Wife, Food Blogging + Dining at Jitlada With Matt Groening

By Margy Rochlin Wed., Nov. 9 2011 at 2:27 PM

Categories: Food Blogs, Food on Television, Interviews

Just a few weeks ago Fox Studios and the voice actors and producers of Simpsons were engaged in a financial tug-of-war that threatened the existence of the long-running animated series. If you need to remind yourself why we should celebrate the resolution (two more years!), watch The Food Wife this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. on Fox.

Early in the episode, Marge, Bart and Lisa start a food blog called The Three Mouthketeers, an act then followed by a culinary reference tornado that is so unrelenting that to catch them all requires DVR slow-mo or, barring that, multiple viewings. If neither are possible, pay very close attention when Marge, Lisa and Bart’s blog profiles are revealed — (on Bart’s list of grossest foods eaten? “Blood Cheese”) — and for fleeting cameos by every food world celebrity from Paul Prud’homme to The Muppets’ Swedish chef as well as a pointed reference to our own Jonathan Gold’s Essential 99 L.A. restaurants.

If you want to sing along with the foodie rap belted out by Amuse Bruce and Fois Garth (Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job), it is printed in its entirety on Grub Street. If you’d like to read our conversation with the writer of The Food Wife, Simpsons executive producer and food blog scourer Matt Selman, turn the page.

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COMEDY MELTDOWN 23 – THE END?

EXIT INTERVIEW

Marz Richards (www.renfield.com) interviews Linda Pine!

Linda Pine is the impresario behind Comedy Meltdown, the super-successful comedy revue that took place at the Melt Gallery at Meltdown over the past two years. As Comedy Meltdown comes to a close and a new chapter for the Melt Gallery begins, the ever-inquisitive Marz Richards bothered Linda over a period of hours via electronic communiqué to establish this informative dialogue which we now present to you.

thesnakend Q. Aggggggh! It’s over? It’s really over? This is the last Comedy Meltdown? What are we to do with ourselves?

A. Cry into your respective pillows.

Q. Booking anything in Los Angeles is a whirlwind gig, crushing your email and phone lines and consuming your focus. What was the toughest evening you produced during the run?

A. Andy Kindler & Ron Lynch were sick one night and I had to replace both of them on SHORT notice. Of course about 100 people came to the show expecting Lynch and Kindler… I prevented a riot by plying them with Asahi.

This_is_the_end Q. Comedy Meltdown introduced quite a few comedians to myself and the nerderati that enter the store. Were there any breakout performers from the show?

A. Howard Kremer hands down wins that award. www.myspace.com/dragonboysuede

Q. The quality of performance at CM was, to my mind, astonishing. Was there something about the room or the booking that contributed to consistent success, or are we just blessed with a lot of kick-ass comedians at this moment?

A. Thank you, to me too. I was lucky to have amazing headliners before the show really had legs, Dana Gould was on our second show for example… If good headliners build it, they will come. www.danagould.com

Q. Do you have secret plans for the future? Divulge them now and ruin the surprise! We won’t tell anyone!

A. Comedy Meltdown World Tour is looking for sponsors. I am also pitching CM as a show for the TV.

Q. I’m big on learning. What is the primary lesson to be learned from your experiences producing this show?

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A. Comedians work their asses off.

Q. Could you expand on that a little bit? Are they better promoters? Do they always do more than expected as entertainers?

A. I just mean they go up every night, and sometimes more than once a night. Matt Braunger is a good example, many of the shows he’s done at CM were his second set of the night, but he always has the energy and just kills. www.mattbraunger.com

Q. You’re an actor, but you’ve been quite busy with Comedy Meltdown. Are you going to get back into the great game?

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A. Yes, watching these guys and gals instantly produce once they get in front of the mike was inspirational to me.

I need to use that skill at every audition, and remember to roll with the punches.

Q. What did booking this many shows teach you about Los Angeles?

A. That there is always something great going on… and if people show up to CM it means that they passed on any number of awesome screenings, gallery openings, comedy shows, you name it! It’s been very humbling and I am truly grateful that CM found an audience.

Q. This drama may be over, but it’s really not the end. You are curating more than a few art shows at the Melt Gallery at Meltdown through 2010. Tell me about your current installation and what’s next on the agenda?

A. My current show is called An Aurora of Polar Bears: A Children’s Primer. and it’s 26 original works based on terms of venery. My dad, a zoologist, wrote the introduction. I am hoping to make a children’s book (for smart children) out of it. February 27th will be Night of the Knick-Knacks or Return to Oz, all works inspired by the film. http://gallerymeltdown.wordpress.com

Q. Is it safe?

A. Absolutely not.

COMEDY MELTDOWN 23

THE END?

Featuring: Paul F. Tompkins – Howard Kremer

Andrew Donnelley – Heather Thomson – Ron Lynch

Hosted by Jonah Ray

Friday, December 11, 2009 8:00 p.m.

7522 Sunset Blvd, L.A., CA 90046

$8.00 cover charge, sponsored by Asahi beer

fin de

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Kofie+Jim Mahfood: Timelapse of The Simpsons 20th Painting Cretated at Gallery Meltdown

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Nov 222009

From Meltdown’s Simpson’s Exhibit:

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Bart Simpson gets Kramers Ergot-ed. Sammy Harkham dances with Matt Groening creations. Read all about it.

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Jun 212009

Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #15
Edited by Sammy Harkham
$4.99
48 pages/standard format/color/humor
UPC: 01511 (7-98342-02851-5)

Guest edited by Sammy Harkham, the award-winning creator of the popular Kramers Ergot anthology, this year’s issue is a jam-packed with some of the most idiosyncratic (and weirdest) takes on “The Simpsons ” universe ever. Among Halloween-inspired short strips by such visionary cartoonists as Jordan Crane (Uptight), C.F. (Powr Mastrs), Will Sweeney (Tales from Greenfuzz), Tim Hensley (MOME), and John Kerschbaum (Petey & Pussy), are four featured tales of inspired Simpsons lunacy: heralded artists Kevin Huizenga (Ganges, Or Else) and Matthew Thurber (1-800 Mice, Kramers Ergot) collaborate on a weird and wild story equal parts Lovecraftian eco-horror and Philip K. Dick identity comedy. Jeffrey Brown (Incredible Change-Bots, Clumsy) does a creepy and suitably pathetic story featuring Milhouse in a “Bad Ronald”-inspired tale of murder and crawl space living. Harkham and Ted May (INJURY) pull out all the stops for a tragic monster tale of unrequited love, bad karaoke, and body snatching at Moe’s Bar. Ben Jones (Paper Rad) does the comic of his life with an epic tale of how bootleg candy being sold at the Kwik-E-Mart rapidly spirals out of control into an Invasion of The Body Snatchers-like nightmare of a Springfield filled with cheap bootleg versions of familiar characters. And nobody does squishy, sweaty, and gross like up and coming cartoonist Jon Vermilyea (MOME), who outdoes himself with “C.H.U.M.M.,” a C.H.U.D.-inspired parody featuring everybody’s favorite senior citizen, Hans Moleman!

With a cover by Dan Zettwoch, Bart Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror #15 is like nothing you’ve ever seen, and is sure to be one of the most talked about comics of the year by alternative comic readers and Simpsons fans of all ages!

Sammy 1st solo show held at Meltdown. Vintage image found around the web!