For the last 35 years, there’ve been a few recurring features that have become staples of The Simpsons. Bart writing increasingly off-the-wall lines on his classroom’s chalkboard. The annual Treehouse Of Horror special at Halloween. And, of course, the iconic “couch gag”.
Across more than 750 episodes, each instalment of The Simpsons features a distinct sequence at the end of its opening titles, which sees the family running to their living room sofa where something unusual will happen.
Over the years, these have become more elaborate and chaotic. While at the beginning of the show, “couch gags” would revolve around someone falling off the sofa, The Simpsons doing a fun dance before sitting down or there being an unexpected guest on the couch already, more modern offerings have included ponderings on the wider universe, intricate parodies of other popular franchises and, in one memorable instance, a controversial two-minute satirical sequence directed by Banksy himself.
On Sunday, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening made an appearance at Disney’s D23 fan convention (the show is now Disney property, after all, since the studio acquired Fox in 2019).
During the panel discussion, Matt shared the surprisingly wholesome inspiration for The Simpsons’ “couch gags”, which was very fitting for the occasion.
“From the mid-1950s, in the Mickey Mouse Club there was this very long animated title sequence,” he told The Audience. “It went, ‘M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E’, right? And then Donald Duck would hit a gong, and he’d hit it in a different way each time.
“And so that gave me the idea for the couch gags. So there you go.”
Should you find yourself with a spare two hours, check out every Simpsons couch gag between 1989 and 2023 below:
And why not see what Matt Groening was talking about with regard to Donald Duck and his gong too...”