Denis Avakov

“We didn’t even have a real office at the time. The studio had so little faith in us, they housed us in a trailer. I assumed that if the show failed, they’d slowly back the trailer up to the Pacific and drown the writers like rats.”
― Mike Reiss, Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons

“I went into college knowing Latin and calculus. After four years, I'd forgotten them both. Blame the apple bong for that.”
― Mike Reiss, Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons

“I don't feel particularly proud of myself. But when I walk alone in the woods or lie in the meadows, all is well.”
― Franz Kafka, Letters to Friends, Family, and Editors

“This was the tedious process by which I found great writers, like Greg Daniels (creator of The Office) and Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, who three years later had my job running the show. In both cases, they had written pitch-perfect Seinfeld scripts. Greg’s was set entirely in a single parking space and was so good that Seinfeld actually produced it. Bill and Josh’s script had George Costanza accidentally swallowing a jagged piece of glass at a party; all the guests stay for hours, waiting to see if George “passes” the glass safely. It was cringe comedy at its very best.”
― Mike Reiss, Springfield Confidential: Jokes, Secrets, and Outright Lies from a Lifetime Writing for The Simpsons