Episode notes
This week, Allie and Julia talk to Simpsons co-executive producer, Jeff Westbrook! Together, he regales them with his unconventional path to the writers room – starting as an algorithms researcher, then a professor at Yale, then an engineer at AT&T Laboratories! We discuss his friendship and collaborations with Ken Keeler – finding his way from science to The Simpsons and crafting the voice of early Futurama. It’s a must listen with one of the smartest “Are you SURE you didn’t waste your life writing silly jokes?” guests we’ve ever had. 3 more episodes to go!
This episode was recorded remotely during quarantine. You might notice differing audio quality from previous episodes (this one sounds like a zoom call … because it is!) – but we’re trying to make it work for you! Heads up: Half way through the conversation Jeff’s cat starts scratching a table and wall for a bit, you’ll hear some of that in the background.
In this episode...
About the show
Round Springfield is a Simpsons-adjacent podcast hosted by Allie Goertz and Julia Prescott where they interview writers, directors, showrunners, and voice-actors from the Simpsons-verse on their various paths to Springfield, failed pilots, other projects, and beyond. In this 20-episode limited series, you’ll hear David X. Cohen talk Futurama, Josh Weinstein talk Mission Hill, and Yeardley Smith dig deep into her diverse path of becoming Lisa Simpson.
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Stream or download episodes directly from our website, or listen via your favorite podcatcher!