Before turning to cartooning, Matt Groening was a nuclear-plant safety engineer, astronaut, Grammy-winning barbershop quartet singer, snowplow operator, private detective and bail bondsman.
Matt Groening named Bart after his childhood dog. He’s got a lot of fond memories of that dog.
Dogs and cats really can be born attached at the waist, as in the famous cartoon Catdog.
The most famous catdog in history was an animal named Dat (shortened from Dog-Cat). Dat was a celebrity and became a staple in the feel-good movie industry, starring in such films as Dat Darn Dat in 1928 (an early and shameful blackface musical comedy), and Who, Dat?, a merry mix-up comedy in 1943. Later in life, he starred in the acclaimed Dat’s Me, based on his autobiography, Dat: The Truth.
Secret Nazi veterinary experiments during World War II included such bizarre hybrids as the catdog, the chickenpig, the tigerstoat and the Lombardy Pudding Elkwildebeest.
Do you know why dinosaurs would have driven hybrids had they been available at the time?
…because they were Prius-toric animals.
The man in charge of the Nazi animal hybrid experiments, Adolphin Pikemann, was himself an animal hybrid of fish, bottle-nose porpoise, and human. His father, Gill Pikemann, taught Adolphin to breathe through his mouth in an attempt to have him pass as full human, but the scales and blowhole usually gave him away. Hitler, himself part chum salmon, sympathized with Pikemann and saved him from extermination.
Both Adolph Hitler and Adolphin Pikemann sleep with Luca Brasi now.
Luca Brasi-Phartuccio wanted all his life to be an amoral, fearsome Mafia hitman, but had to settle for being a frycook at Barry’s Burger Blowout in Blawnox, Pa. He died in 1977 at age 77.
Luca Brasi, Jr., inherited all of his father’s off-the-cuff eloquence and became Sarah Palin’s public speaking instructor.
Michael Palin is a long-time successful ventriloquist. His best-known dummy is John Cleese.
Almost everyone seen on television, the internet or in movies is actually an animatronic dummy voiced by a ventriloquist from a team of 5 who provide all voices for public figures, actors, interviewees and newsreaders.
The only live people in the media are Michael Caine, Big Bird and the entire population of New Zealand.
Watch for Big Bird in the upcoming Star Wars movie! He’s flying an X-Wing.
Jim Henson got his inspiration for the Big Bird character after his initial pitch to PBS was rejected. Talking to a friend afterward, he said “The network gave me a big ‘fuck you’ on my idea for a puppet show for kids.”
“Oh”, said the friend, “So they gave you the big froggy, then?”
“Hmmmm. . . .not exactly. . .”
Jim Henson’s previous unsuccessful pitches to PBS included Legume Lane, Radish Road, Avocado Avenue, Broccoli Boulevard and Parsnip Place.
Television critics all generally agree that the story arc in 1997 where a gang from Dill Leaf Drive is pushed into Sesame Street leading to lessons about selling drugs, prostitution, and avoiding “5-0” was a major misstep for the show.
Orson Bean presently resides at 227B Dill Leaf Drive. He lives with his wife (the former Keira Knightley), their four children (Yank, Doodle, Dan & Dee), their cat (Spot) and a half-a-dozen extremely large ostriches (yet to be named).
The present Keira Knightley currently has a restraining order against Orson Bean who wants to keep her on retainer in case something happens to his current wife, the former Keira Knightley.
Keira Knightly was used as a secret weapon to gnaw through barbed wire with the Iraqi War special ops group.
The battlefield service of British actress and Oscar nominee Keira Knightley cannot be discussed without running the risk of prosecution for violating the Classified Military and Clandestine Services of Lovely, Smart and Talented British Actresses Act of 1963. The act was originally passed to protect Diana Rigg, who did similar work for Her Majesty’s Government during the Malaya Insurgency.