Thomas Pynchon Edits His Lines on The Simpsons: “Homer is my role model and I can’t speak ill of him.”

In 2002, the elusive novelist Thomas Pynchon made two cameo appearances on The Simpsons. Of course, we didn’t actually get to see Pynchon. His cartoon depiction wore, rather humorously, a bag over his head. But, we did get to hear Pynchon’s voice. And apparently that, alone, was a first.

This past week, Matt Selman, an executive producer for The Simpsons, shed some more light on those playful cameos. On Twitter, he posted a copy of the script Pynchon edited and faxed back to the show’s writers. (Click on the image above to see it in a larger format.) In some cases, Pynchon, always the writer, tweaked the language to make it flow as he liked. In other cases, he added his own material to the script — new sound effects, jokes, and puns. (The word “Scrumptious” gets turned into Vi-licious.) And, in one case, he removed a joke. Deleting the words “No wonder Homer is such a fat ass,” Pynchon scrawled the comment: “Sorry, guys. Homer is my role model and I can’t speak ill of him.” Finally, Homer gets some respect.

via The Wall Street Journal

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