There's just a fantastic interview with Lynda Barry in today's Trib magazine.
A snippet:
Matt Groening says he tried to get Barry to go Hollywood in the '80s. "I said to Lynda, 'Let's write a romantic comedy,' and she agreed." A pitch meeting followed at a Los Angeles movie studio. Groening remembers walking into the executive's enormous office, where Barry immediately moved toward a cagelike sculpture in the corner and stood inside it.
"That was the high point," Groening says. When they sat on the sofa,
Barry cheerfully told the exec that it was Groening's birthday."Happy birthday," the exec replied.
"It's not," Groening said.
"It is," Barry said.
"It's not," Groening said.
"Lynda insisted it was," Groening remembers. "I gave up and said 'Yes, it's my birthday.' I looked crazy."
Afterward, Groening was mortified. Barry remembers spittle plastering Groening's windshield. She says he was frothing at the mouth. Groening remembers his car shaking, but doesn't recall the spittle.
In any case, according to Barry, Groening felt she was torpedoing her career. He felt she wasn't taking herself seriously enough.
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