Former writer for The Simpsons and author of I Love You, Beth Cooper Larry Doyle kicked off the tour for his new book yesterday at the Penn Bookstore.
Doyle read two short essays from his new anthology, Please Read Before Suing, and Bad Dog, both of which elicited laughter in the crowd with the blunt satire characteristic of the author.
Maintaining his sense of humor, he answered questions regarding his career as a writer for The Simpsons, but also touched on politics, including his views on the Occupy movement.
“I sympathize with the goals, but their methods won’t get them anywhere,” he said of Occupy.
“The way in which the rich are getting richer is wrong,” he said. “A lot of money is not in the economy anymore, it’s in a separate bag; money being made without any benefit to society.” But he believes that camping out will not induce changes in Congress, where the decisions are made — only votes and money will do that. Although he called Tea Party views “ridiculous,” he cited that movement as the more efficient one.
Doyle believes that the movement should focus on recruiting votes, and noted that if college students voted in greater percentages, the United States would be a different country.
He also discussed his career for his small audience of 11 community members, on the heels of publishing his latest work Deliriously Happy: And Other Bad Thoughts. Doyle worked four years writing for The Simpsons, but in 2001, after selling two pilots and a movie, he felt it was the “right time to move on.”
When asked why younger generations increasingly watch the show less, he alluded to the sheer amount of aired episodes — almost 500 — as a potential cause for stagnation and repetition that alienate younger people. Nevertheless, he believes that the show is at no risk of being canceled due to its popularity and fame.
Although he lamented not earning the “piles of money” he could have earned staying on the show, he expressed gratitude for having the chance to write novels and short essays that he could call his own, something that he claims some writers in the show desire.
After leaving The Simpsons, Doyle went on to write I Love You, Beth Cooper, a novel turned into a major motion picture in 2009. He also continued to write for several national magazines, including The New Yorker.
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