Tara McCauley July 13th, 2021 - 1:20 PM
Everything’s coming up Allie Goertz (Jo and the Pirates, Fire Talk with Me) and Julia Prescott (Archibald’s Next Big Thing, Townies)! The two podcast hosts and Simpsons’ fanatics are bringing their podcast Round Springfield – formerly Everything’s Coming Up Simpsons/Everything’s Coming Up Podcast – to a close, but not before one last special guest paid a visit. The Simpsons‘ creator Matt Groening (Futurama, Disenchantment) declared his interview on Round Springfield’s last guested-episode as his first official podcast interview.
Six years ago, @juliaprescott and I started a Simpsons podcast. Today we bring on our final guest: MATT GROENING. https://t.co/5bjtowW4Ft pic.twitter.com/mG6GtUWC4s
— Allie Goertz (@AllieGoertz) July 12, 2021
Round Springfield’s interview with Groening dropped on the Maximum Fun podcast network Monday, though Goertz and Prescott had recorded their interview with Groening over Zoom months earlier. On the podcast, Groening discussed the threads of his childhood that eventually provided fodder for his zeitgeist-defining and podcast-inspiring animated series, The Simpsons. A television staple since 1989, Groening even hypothesized what a possible ending for the series could look like on Round Springfield.
In addition to The Simpsons, Groening discussed cult-favorite Futurama and his Disney princess satire, Disenchantment. Unlike other series he has worked on, Groening hinted that Netflix’s Disenchantment, written with a bingeing audience in mind, is building toward a clear and decisive ending, hints of which have already been woven into the fabric of the series’ narrative.
On Round Springfield, Groening also discussed the entertainment properties that captured his own imagination – such as rock band Sonic Youth, The Prisoner, The Sopranos and the first couple seasons of Lost. The Simpsons has served as similar point of creative and comedic inspiration for throngs of fans throughout the decades, including Prescott and Goertz.
The two podcasts hosts helm from the Los Angeles comedy scene and first became friends through a shared love of The Simpsons, and would invite guests who shared their passion about the series in the podcast’s early days as Everything’s Coming Up Simpsons/Everything’s Coming Up Podcast. The podcast then evolved into Round Springfield, a discussion with the creative forces behind The Simpsons, including David X. Cohen (Futurama, Disenchantment), Dana Gould (Stan Against Evil) and Yeardly Smith (Herman’s Head, Maximum Overdrive).
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In 2018, Goertz and Prescott co-authored 100 Things Simpsons Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die, an essential guide for pursuing a love of The Simpsons beyond-the-screen. Goertz, a former Mad magazine editor and musician who infuses her prevailing love of pop culture into her music, has highlighted The Simpsons in tracks like “Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse”. As for Prescott, the self-proclaimed Young Pope of CityWalk penned season 32’s “Treehouse of Horror XXXI,” achieving a dream of writing on the series.
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Overall, Round Springfield was a journey of passionate Simpsons fandom that carved Goertz and Prescott out their own place in the animated series’ storied history and culminated in Groening’s final guested episode on Monday. “To say this podcast changed my life is a vast understatement,” Prescott reflected on Twitter, explaining that the show had allowed her to form community, meet her heroes, achieve her dreams, and, perhaps most importantly, find a life-long friend in fellow Simpsons enthusiast Goertz.
To say this podcast changed my life is a vast understatement. It connected me to a community. Let me meet my heroes. And let me realize those heroes ain’t too different from lil ol me. It was a silly space to fan out but it made me feel seen. It led to my dreams coming true. ❤️
— Julia Prescott (@juliaprescott) July 12, 2021
“If any of you have the chance to create something simple & beautiful with someone you love (or suspect you will love). Do it.” Prescott reflected on her podcast-fostered relationship with Goertz on Twitter. “I liked Allie starting this but I *love* her now with the fiery of a thousand suns.”
Though Prescott and Goertz are about to say farewell to Springfield, in a podcast-capacity, the tale of their ongoing love for The Simpsons and one another is far from over. Groening’s appearance in Round Springfield’s final guested-episode helped give the hosts a definitive finale, something Homer’s dad himself hopes to achieve one day, whenever The Simpsons comes to an end.
